by Natalie Ann
“You’re quiet,” he said to her an hour later.
“Just thinking.”
“About what?”
“I kind of feel bad. This is almost like throwing you to the wolves by bringing you to a wedding. I just want you to know I’m not getting any ideas in my head about white dresses and diamond rings.”
“We’d have to be dating for that,” he said back to her. “We’re just friends, remember?”
“You like throwing that out there a lot, don’t you?”
“Your criteria, not mine.”
“So if I said I was open to dating a doctor you’d be okay with it?” She wasn’t sure what possessed her to ask that, especially when he whipped his head toward her. “I mean you’re the one who said being set up was for losers.”
“You said the same thing,” he argued.
She had. “That was before I knew you better.” Before she took a hard look at the facts and her reasoning for the way she felt. That was then and this was now and Grey was nothing like the group she’d lumped him into.
“Ah, so I can be a doctor and a nice guy.”
She winked at him. “Maybe I just want you for your body.”
“Well then, it’s all yours tonight.”
“Can’t wait,” she said back. They really didn’t clear the air at all on anything in terms of what their status was. Guess it was still friends.
And why was she so concerned about it when he was right—it was what she wanted more than him.
“Tell me about this cousin of yours.”
“Which one?”
“The one getting married,” he said, laughing.
She was a basket case. “Sorry. Marissa is a few years younger than me. She’s been dating Josh for probably five years. They weren’t engaged and I’m not sure why or what was holding them back.”
“Yet she got pregnant and they are rushing to get married?” he asked.
“I know it sounds weird. It’s not like they are strangers. They’ve lived together for a few years. I guess the ring was just a formality in their eyes.”
“Not everyone gets married when they are pregnant,” he said.
“Would you?” she asked. “If you got someone pregnant would you marry them?”
“It depends,” he said. “If it was someone I just started dating and it was an oops, I would try to make any relationship work but marriage is a big commitment. I take things like that seriously so I’d want to be confident that person was for me whether there was a child involved or not. It wouldn’t make me any less a part of that child’s life or love them any less, but being married to someone I didn’t love doesn’t do anyone any good.”
It was statements like that that brought him down to earth for her. The real deal when so many weren’t.
“That makes sense. But Marissa doesn’t like to be judged. She doesn’t like to be talked about or looked at. Being pregnant and not married would do that to her. She doesn’t handle those things well.”
“Everyone is going to know she is pregnant and rushed to get married for that reason,” he pointed out.
“She knows that but is kind of playing it up, joking and saying she planned it to get the ring. Josh just laughed and went along with it.”
Grey’s smile faded. Matter of fact the temperature might have dropped a few degrees on top of it. “Do you think she might have done that on purpose to force his hand?”
“I don’t think so,” she said honestly. “Marissa cares too much about public opinion. She’d nag him for the ring if she really wanted it bad enough, but setting herself up to be talked about? No. Trust me on this. She doesn’t want any eyes on her in a negative light.”
Grey was trying to keep a straight face listening to Sierra talk about her cousin. He didn’t want to judge the woman, but it sure sounded like someone that wanted to get their way and took matters into her own hands.
It wasn’t his place or business so he was going to push it aside. It wasn’t his problem or his family either.
“So what does Marissa do?” he asked.
“I thought I told you. She’s a nurse at the same hospital I worked at. She’s in the maternity ward, I was in the OR.”
She might have told him, he couldn’t remember. He’d been trying to keep so many other things about them straight and figuring out a way to get her to see him as more than a friend or a booty call.
Would he have liked to drop her jeans and slam into her against the wall last Saturday? Shit yeah, but he told himself to wait. He said this weekend and that was what was going to happen. Tonight to be exact.
“You might have. So how big is this wedding, do you know?”
“Fifty to seventy people I think. Mainly family and some close friends or coworkers. It was such short notice that even though they invited more, not everyone could make it. The ceremony and reception are all at the restaurant in the hotel. We don’t even have to leave and can drink all night if we want.”
“Don’t even think of getting drunk.”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” she said. “I want to remember everything you’re going to do to me tonight and I want to make sure you know what you held out for.” Her hand reached over and rubbed his thigh.
He gulped. She was the devil’s daughter putting him on the ledge of insanity just waiting to tap him over the edge with the pitchfork in her hand and a smirk on her face.
They finally pulled into the hotel and checked in, only having an hour to spare to get to the restaurant downstairs. “Do I have time to take a shower?” he asked. “I feel sweaty after sitting in the car for hours.”
“Sure. If you don’t mind me jumping in first. I’m not going to wash my hair or anything, I did that earlier, but like you, I just want to freshen up.”
Thoughts of her naked in the other room were going to make it hard for him to concentrate. “That works fine.”
“Or we can save time and take one together.”
“We’ll never make it to the restaurant then,” he said.
“Good point. Though my family might understand since I said we’ve only been dating a few weeks. They could suspect that this is the honeymoon hot sex phase.”
He laughed. It was that or grab her and kiss her to shut her up.
Once they were in the hotel room, she snagged her dress that was hanging in a bag and her overnight bag and went into the bathroom. He used that time to get his suit out of his garment bag.
He was flipping through the channels trying to find anything to distract himself from the fact the water was running in the other room and Sierra was in there in her birthday suit.
When the door opened, he turned to see her come out in shorts and a T-shirt. “I decided to put my dress on when you’re in the shower so you get to see it all at once.”
“That good?” he asked.
“That great,” she said back. “I’ll do my makeup and fix my hair out here while you’re getting ready.”
He nodded and walked by her with his pants and shirt, caught a whiff of her fresh scent and almost pushed her against the wall again to claim her as his.
With his shower done, he put on his dress pants and shirt, then decided two could play at this game and opened the door with his pants undone while he buttoned up his shirt.
Sierra turned, her mouth opening, probably mirroring his own face.
She was standing there in a black dress that could be described as nothing more than sex on a candy stick. It was above her knees, fitted in all the right places, and when she turned there was a sparkle to it.
Her hair was pulled away from her face, the back with a few artfully tousled waves, and more makeup on than normal. Not enough to make her look different, but enough to make his mouth water and want to lock them in for the night.
“Do I meet with your approval?” she asked.
“Shit yeah.”
“Need help getting dressed or removing the little you’ve got on? I’m game for either.”
That she managed to get m
ore control of herself than him was almost mortifying. “I’m good,” he said as he buttoned up his shirt and tucked it into his pants, her eyes never leaving his every move.
“You do know the next few hours are going to suck. We really shouldn’t have put everything on this one night.”
“I’m starting to think that myself. Will your family care if I spend more time looking at you than the wedding couple?”
“I don’t care what they think,” she said. “It’s about what I want.”
“And what is that?”
“Right now, I want you, but you started this little game of waiting and that is what we’re going to do.”
15
In Their Place
Looking the hottest she’d ever been? Check.
Gorgeous successful man on her arm? Check.
Confident her knees wouldn’t buckle when she walked into the restaurant surrounded by people that may judge her? Her pen just ran out of ink!
She took a deep breath, slid her arm through Grey’s and handed him over the keycard to put in his wallet. “Ready to go?” she asked.
“I am. Are you? You seem nervous for some reason. Considering this is your family, I find it odd.”
Should she be honest or lie? She settled somewhere in the middle. “Things are complicated. There may be a few here today that are cold. Actually cold would be on their best behavior.”
He frowned. “Are you sure you want to go then? We can skip it and you can blame it on me. Say that I was just so insatiable that I wouldn’t let you out of the room.”
She smiled at him, got up on her tiptoes of the black pumps she had on and kissed him softly, her hand gliding down his cheek. “You know the right things to say.”
“I’m glad someone thinks that.”
“I find it hard to believe anyone would think differently.”
“We all have things in our past, Sierra.”
Which was what she kind of suspected with him but hadn’t wanted to ask. Maybe another day.
“We do. Some more than others. Anyway, let’s go have some fun and let me show you off.”
“Sorry, but it’s me that gets to show you off.”
She smiled and leaned against him. “It’s things like that that make me wonder why you’re single.”
His smile stayed in place, but she knew it was forced.
The two of them made their way to the elevator and down to the room off the restaurant where the festivities were going to be held.
She didn’t want to be late, but she wasn’t keen on showing up thirty minutes early like her parents. In the end they arrived with ten minutes to spare and noticed that only half the guests were there.
Both sets of her parents spotted her and waved. “That has to be your mother,” Grey said. “You look just like her.”
“It is. I see my sister and brother are at her table, so my guess is we will be too.”
“Why not your father’s table?” he asked. “It’s his side, right? Well, his new wife’s side.”
“Yes, it’s Beth’s niece, but they will be sitting with Beth’s siblings.” They’d moved over to the table with the place cards, found hers and grabbed it, then made their way to her mother’s table. “Mom, this is Grey Baxter. Grey, my mother Aileen and her husband Alan. My brother, Adam and sister, Lily.”
“Nice to meet you all,” Grey said, shaking hands with everyone.
“Look at you,” Lily said. “Nice and sparkly and putting everyone in their place today. The move looks good on you.”
She winked at her sister for knowing the right things to say too. Grey held her chair out for her and sat down next to her brother, her next to her mother. The table was filled at this point and she was happy to know it was just them here.
“So what do you do, Grey?” Alan asked.
“I’m an orthopedic surgeon.”
Adam started to laugh. “Talk about putting people in their place.”
She shot her brother a look to shut the hell up. “Happy coincidence.”
“Sierra has told me many times she doesn’t date doctors, but I managed to persuade her otherwise.”
“I bet you did,” Lily said. “Do you have any brothers? I don’t care what they do for a living. I’m not picky.”
Grey laughed. Lily always was outspoken and not afraid to say what she wanted and when. But in this case it wasn’t the place either.
“I do have two brothers. My youngest brother, Jake, is recently engaged.”
“He is?” Sierra asked. “You didn’t tell me that?”
“I didn’t mention it?” he said. “It was last weekend. He took Rachel up in a chopper ride to Lake George and proposed there. He wanted to tell her about his book deal at the same time.”
“Book deal?” she asked, too late realizing that everyone was looking at them. For two people who should have been dating for over a month she didn’t know much about what was going on in his family.
“Sorry. Jake isn’t really telling too many people so that has been on the hush hush. I kind of slipped right now myself.”
That made her feel better. “Oh. For a second I was going to feel horrible for not mentioning it to him at Colt’s party.”
There that sounded better, that she had met his family, which she had.
“Colt is my other brother,” Grey said. “He’s a lawyer and he’s single. By the way, Jake is a Medevac pilot at Albany Med too. He isn’t just a writer, though knowing my younger brother, he will be soon, no doubt.”
“That’s wonderful,” her mother said. “What does he write?”
“Mystery and suspense. I can’t wait to read his book, but no one has been allowed to look at it. Not even Rachel.”
“That’s wonderful,” Sierra said. “I’m so happy for him. We’ll have to have dinner for everyone when we get back.”
Grey looked at her, smirked, and then said, “I think we can plan on a family dinner at my house in a few weeks.”
Shit, she’d done it again. Put her foot in her mouth. “Sounds fun.”
Grey hadn’t really wanted to put Sierra on the spot, but it happened to be that way.
Her sister asked about his brothers and he just started to talk. Should he have told Sierra about Jake’s engagement and book? Yeah, he might have if he thought of it. But even he didn’t find out until Sunday, the day after it happened…the night he and Sierra were at the movies.
Then work this past week was nuts and when he and Sierra talked, it wasn’t about their families but just what was going on this weekend. They didn’t have a lot of time together. Not as much as he would have liked.
But she wanted to play those games for her family and he was just going to go along with it.
She couldn’t complain that she didn’t know about Jake and Rachel when he was trying to figure out what her sibling’s comments were meant to be.
Why were they so shocked she was with a doctor? Was it just a bad breakup in her past with one and that was why she swore them off? He didn’t get that impression since she never said she dated any doctors when they talked about their past relationships.
There had to be more to it and he wondered when or how he was going to find out.
The ceremony started shortly after, then dinner was served. He was enjoying himself with her family and thought she was having a good time too, even if it did feel like there were icebergs in the room at times when he looked around.
“Sierra,” her cousin Marissa said, coming to their table and giving her a hug. Sierra had stood up and hugged her and the groom too. “I’m so glad you could come. And beyond thrilled that you could forgive me.”
“It’s in the past,” she said. “Congratulations on the wedding and the baby.”
“She trapped me good,” Josh said, laughing.
“You let her,” Sierra said, winking.
“You know I did,” Josh said.
“I wish we could talk more,” Marissa said. “I’ll be in touch when we get back from our honeymoon.”
>
Sierra nodded and they went back to talking around the table. When the plates were all cleared away and the DJ started to play some music, guests went to the floor to dance.
“Do you like to dance?” she asked him.
He leaned down and whispered in her ear. “Only if it’s holding you tight to my body.”
“Well then, once the music slows down, I’m all yours.”
A few songs later it did slow down and he didn’t hesitate to put his hand out for her to take it. When they were on the floor, her body snug against his, he heard a bunch of whispering around them. Her name, then, “He’s a doctor. Talk about ironic.” Or “Wonder if he knows enough to watch his back.”
He wanted to ask her what it all meant, but when she stiffened in his arms and her face paled, he knew it wasn’t worth it.
Instead, he leaned down and put his lips to hers. “Just look at me. Let everyone know how much you don’t care what they say. That you only have eyes for me. That I’m the only one you’re thinking of. The only one you care about.”
Her complexion changed, a blush filling her face. “You are reading my mind.”
“Just give me the word when you’ve had enough and I can get you out of this dress that you’ve been teasing me with all night.”
“Now,” she said, her hands going up and around his neck. “Right now. I’ve had enough and stayed longer than I thought.”
He grabbed her hand, then went back to their table to get her purse and his suit jacket that he’d taken off. They said their goodbyes, and walked away to the laughter of her family.
Not bad for a night’s work in his eyes. Seemed they fooled everyone tonight.
Now he just had to get Sierra to believe he wasn’t playing but was dead serious about them.
16
Time Was Limited
It took a massive amount of willpower on Sierra’s part to not pull Grey’s shirt out of his pants and run her hands up his rock-hard abs she’d gotten a glimpse of while he was teasing her in the hotel room earlier by coming out of the bathroom half dressed.