Page 36 of Lovers at Seaside
“Nothing. All they did was speculate that you were my new man, which is true. I mean, it puts us in the spotlight, and Luce said the photogs will probably try to take pictures of me with other guys to stir up trouble—and sales. But you know I’m not like that, so I’m not worried.”
“That’s a relief. We’ll be more careful from now on.” His eyes shifted away, the muscles in his jaw suddenly tense.
“I don’t want to be more careful, Grayson.” His expression remained tense. “What is it?”
“Who was youroldman?” he asked in a low voice.
“You’re jealous.” She poked his chest. “You! The most confident guy I have ever met is jealous? Over me?” She laughed, and he cracked a smile.
“I’m not jealous. I’m curious.”
Oh, this was going to be too much fun. “Well, there was Bradley Cooper, but we only dated for a few weeks because he sucked in bed and, well, who wants to deal with that? And Liam Hemsworth, but he was on the rebound from Miley, so I don’t count him.”
Grayson ground his teeth together, and she couldn’t resist saying, “I guess you could call Christian Bale myoldman, because he was the last one I slept with, but only to bide my time as I waited for—”
“Parker? What the heck are you doing withme?”
Taken aback, she pressed her hands to his cheeks and, in her most serious voice, she said, “You didn’t let me finish.”
“Do I really need to hear who you were waiting for? I’m not anything like those Hollywood guys, Parker. This is me. This is my life. Going out to shabby bars with friends who don’t care about what they wear, not caring who sees me because I’m happy as me, and…” He shook his head, and her stomach sank.
“I was teasing, Grayson. I haven’t dated any of those guys, and I was going to say that I was waiting foryou, but you’re really worried about this, aren’t you?” He’d knocked her completely off-balance, and she didn’t know how to right herself again. “What happened to all that stuff about this is our reality and dealing with things as they come up? I thought we were growing legs? I want legs!”
Great, now she was on the verge of tears. She snapped her mouth closed and fought against the torrent. Grayson’s lips split into a wide grin, and understanding dawned on her, bringing with it a flash of anger.
“You jerk!” She smacked his chest, and he laughed, which only made her angrier. “You scared the bejeezus out of me! Stop laughing!”
He grabbed her face and kissed her right through her mini tantrum, until she was moaning and laughing intermittently right along with him.
“Your pretty-boy actors have nothing on me, baby.”
“I hate you a little right now,” she said. “And I’m concerned that you reallyareworried about those things.”
His eyes turned serious again. “Not the men, baby. Never the men. But the other stuff? I think we both are, but as you said, we’re growing legs. And boy do I love these legs.” He slid his hand up her thigh.
“But maybe we should figure it out,” she said. He kissed her again. “You’re really good at distracting us,” she said.
“We’ll figure it out,” he promised, and brought his mouth to her neck—he knew just how to make her brain stop working.
“I want…Oh, that feels good.” She struggled for focus. “I want you to come spend time with me next month in LA, after you’re done with the railing and before you go to Texas, and…”Ohmygosh that feels so good.
“Whatever you want.” His breath slid over her skin.
Eyes closed, reveling in the feel of his lips on her neck, a memory of something he’d said in one of his emails came back to her. “But you hate LA.”
“But I would do anything for you.” His tongue slicked over her bottom lip.
“Me too,” she said breathlessly.
He took her face in his hands and his eyes turned coal black. “Good, baby. Now stop overthinking. There’s nothing we can’t handle. We’ve got this.”
He kissed her again, and she closed her eyes, trusting his promise and soaking up his confidence—and his glorious kisses—as the next one extinguished her worries, replacing them with something much sweeter.
Chapter Fourteen
OTHER THAN DEALING with a week of ribbing from his family and friends about the photograph of him and Parker kissing on the cover ofUs Weekly, Grayson had had a fantastic week. And it passed at a perfect pace, each day beginning and ending with Parker in his arms. Christmas adjusted well to Parker’s new bedmate. The smart dog waited until they were done with their evening lovemaking to crawl not so stealthily to the foot of the bed, where he slept until morning. They definitely needed a bigger bed, but Grayson didn’t mind the company. After all, Christmas had been there before him, and the big dog needed love, too.
By Saturday the three of them had fallen into sync with other aspects of their lives as easily as they’d fallen into each other’s hearts. Grayson spent his days at Grunter’s working on the railing, which Parker had made only one change to—adding two birds for Christmas. Christmas had jumped into his truck and gone to work with him twice this week, and he had to admit he liked the company. He liked the railings even more as each piece was forged and the roots came to life, just as he’d noticed Parker coming into her own as time passed and she healed from her grief. She’d gone out with Sky and the girls twice this week, and now they were texting one another like old friends, which thrilled him to no end.
