Page 15 of Lovers at Seaside
She’d wandered through the house, sat on the deck, and looked over the designs Grayson had drawn up, which, as expected, were gorgeous.Like him.That thought had sent her reeling back to their mind-blowing kisses—and she’d been stuck there ever since.
Now she was camped out on the media-room floor, consuming mounds of candy and determined to get through at least four horror movies. She wasn’t overly sad, but she was nursing a pretty strong bout of jealousy over Grayson and his very full life that didn’t include her. Chicken dog was sleeping with his head beneath a pillow. She was halfway throughA Nightmare on Elm Streetand three-quarters of the way through a giant bag of pretzel M&M’s. She’d have to spend a month getting back into shape before her next film, which reminded her that she needed to call her agent, Phillipa Grace. She picked up her cell and scrolled through the messages. Phillipa had left more messages than an obsessive teen, and by the multitude of messages from Luce, it appeared Phillipa had pulled her public-relations rep into her obsessive loop.
She sent Luce a quick text.Still alive. Missing Bert. Have my back for a while? I promise to behave.
Luce texted her back immediately.Always. Want to talk? Get loaded? Pretend you’re normal for a while?
She smiled at Luce’s response. She always knew exactly what Parker needed. And now Parker felt guilty, because she’d told Grayson she didn’t have anyone, and that wasn’t really true. She’d just been too upset to think straight. If she had one true friend who would tell off someone or hold her while she ugly cried, it was Luce. They didn’t see each other that often, since Luce split her time between California and New York, but Parker knew Luce would come running if she asked, just as she would for her.
She sent Luce a reply—I’m in Wellfleet. Already got loaded. Knee-deep in pretending. Thank you. Will call when I’m sane.
Scrolling through her contacts to Grayson’s number, she hovered her thumb over the green phone icon. She’d looked over the designs and debated using them as an excuse to call. Nearly everything he did threw her for a loop, from his caring nature to his unwillingness to let her go see Abe by herself. She’d felt his mounting tension as Abe became more and more disrespectful, and when Grayson had finally snapped on her behalf, her first reaction had been to stop him, which she’d acted on solely because she’d been groomed by the industry to nix anything that could tarnish her reputation. That had never been a problem before. The guys she knew had reputations to think about, images to protect, and they’d never put that at risk. Grayson didn’t seem to worry about any of that. She wasn’t used to selfless people, which made it a little harder to accept him at face value. But the more time she spent with him, the easier it became.
Grayson had already put her ahead of himself in so many ways it blew her mind. And she was surprised at not only how good it felt to be protected like that, but also by how much she enjoyed being with him. He was stubborn and defiant, but so casual about that defiance, she found it alluringly seductive. She wished he were there now, but apparently she was the only one without a busy social calendar. She’d been careful over the months they were emailing not to ask if he had a girlfriend, telling herself it was to keep from having to share the details of her nonexistent private life or her past, but she knew better. She hadn’t wanted to think about him with any other woman. But after those kisses, how could she not? He said he kissed his special friends like he’d kissed her.
And hehad a life.
If he has a girlfriend, then he shouldn’t have kissed me at all.
She set the phone down, tapping a frustrated beat with her foot. He was probably out on a date right now, kissing some otherspecial friend. She shoved her hand in the M&M bag and put a fistful of the crunchy treats into her mouth. Staring at the movie, she tried to get into it again, but all she saw was Grayson’s dark eyes and his scrumptious lips as they came down over hers. She rested her head back against the couch and groaned. Christmas’s head popped up from beneath the pillow with a whimper. He licked her arm and scooted closer.
“I can’t bury everything in candy, can I?”
He cocked his head to the side.
“Yeah, I know. This new habit of mine is pretty sucky. Bert wouldn’t want me to be this person for much longer.” She knew Bert would understand her need to grieve, but she could picture him standing before her now, his hands perched on his hips, shaking his head.This is no kind of life for you,he’d probably say. He was forever trying to get her to go out with other people her age. But she had a hard time relating to most of them. So many were materialistic or only interested in gaining press—bad or good. She hated the paparazzi that seemed to be everywhere back home, which was probably one of the biggest reasons she liked staying in, or visiting with Bert, where she could be herself without worrying about what anyone else thought. Which, she realized, was something she really liked about Grayson, too. He was so real and so confident in who he was. It made her long to be Polly even more than she ever had.
Christmaswoofedand darted out of the room, startling her from her thoughts. The dog must have selective supersonic hearing, because he hadn’t heard Grayson last night until he’d appeared in the room. She turned off the movie, grabbed another handful of M&M’s, and shoved them in her mouth for the walk upstairs.Dinner of champions.
She found Christmas standing on his hind legs looking out the sidelight window by the front door, whimpering.
“More birds?” She cupped her hands and peered out the other sidelight. She couldn’t see anything in the dark yard, so she nudged past Christmas and peered out that window. Grayson smiled back at her. Her heart—and her dog—went a little crazy as she threw open the locks and the door. Christmas barreled headfirst into Grayson’s crotch.
“Whoa, hey, buddy. Careful there.” He redirected Christmas’s snout, eyes on Parker. “Hey. Sorry I didn’t call first.”
“Seems like a habit.”One I’m beginning to like.
Christmas’s giant paws inched up Grayson’s stomach to his chest, and he licked Grayson’s face. She wanted to shove her pup out of the way and take a turn climbing—and tasting—Grayson. But she was frozen in place, watching Grayson’s gaze drop to her mouth. Her lips tingled with anticipation. His gaze moved lower, lingering on her breasts and waking upallof her very best parts for the party.
Christmas ran into the yard, apparently having had his fill of Grayson. She was beginning to wonder how anyone could get their fill of him. Two tastes and he was almost all she could think about, which was perfect, because he provided a happy distraction to her grief.
He reached into his pocket and handed her a ten-dollar bill.
“What’s that for?”
“Sweetheart, if you don’t know, you probably shouldn’t offer it up.” He shoved the money into his pocket.
She followed his gaze to the words emblazoned across her chest and gasped.
“Ohmygosh. I forgot I had this on.”
“Were you expecting someone else? I can take off.” He pointed to his truck in the driveway.
“No!”
He flashed a wicked grin and reached into his pocket again. “No?”
“No, don’t leave. And no, don’t…dothateither.”
