Page 22 of Give Me More
“I never meant to hurt RJ or any of you.” Grace sighed and shook her head. “And I’m not here to cause any more pain. But you should know that ‘perfect’ can be misleading.” Nothing in her life had ever been perfect. Not when she always felt like she was fighting to find her place. Her relationship with RJ hadn’t made her feel that way in the beginning, but the moment he mentioned marriage, she’d seen all the possibilities run through her mind like a movie trailer and she’d known she had to go. “Sort of like Ron and Tobias working together at RGF. They were seemingly the perfect duo of fresh new talent, set to take the fashion world by storm. Then something happened and it all fell apart.”
The conversation, thankfully, took a turn with her words and the interview questions she’d planned were asked and answered. The three women gave her insight into so many aspects of the two men and their impact on the fashion industry. Nina spoke of how she’d wanted desperately to work with one of the two top fashion houses to build on the app she’d created. Desta talked about working at RGF and learning from Ron’s work ethic and dedication to his family. She didn’t know much about Tobias except for how his company was positioned as RGF’s biggest competitor, but she liked Chaz and thought he was bringing a dynamic edge to King Designs and their new branding.
It was Riley who pricked Grace’s heart with the story of her parents and how they’d met at a party sponsored by RGF and fallen in love. From Riley’s perspective her father had been driven by Tobias’s betrayal, pushed to work harder to make RGF bigger and better than any other company. She spoke of how everything RJ did was in his father’s image and how much RJ was looking forward to taking over the company in just a few months.
“He’ll be the CEO at around the same age my father was at his peak in the industry. My parents were newly married and my mother was about to have RJ. My father says that’s when he first realized he had everything he needed to succeed in life. When he had his wife beside him, a baby about to be born, and he sat in the CEO’s chair for the first time.”
Riley’s words resonated with Grace well into the time they walked along the beach in preparation for the volleyball game. Ron Gold ran his company and built a family. Now his children were doing the same thing—Riley and Chaz, Nina and Major, Desta and Maurice. RJ was the only one who wasn’t married. Just as she was the only one in her family who wasn’t. What did that mean? Nothing, and then again, to Grace, everything.
It reinforced the pressure she’d already felt about what her life should and shouldn’t be. Could she have been the wife that Marva Gold was to Ron? Or that her mother was to her father? Could she be a wife, period? All the fears that had lain dormant these past ten years were bubbling to the surface now, until the next question she had to ask was: What if coming here was a mistake?
The answer came the moment she saw RJ walking toward her. The sun was at his back, framing his muscled body in golden light. He wore black shorts and a white T-shirt. His feet were bare and dark sunglasses covered his eyes. But she knew he was watching her; she could feel the warmth of his gaze as it filled her body, circling around to clench her chest.
A mixture of anxiety and need settled there as he came closer. No, coming here hadn’t been a mistake. She’d needed to see RJ again, to touch him and hold him in her arms as a reminder that she had loved him and he had loved her. Where those past emotions were taking them now, she had no idea.
The way Grace was looking at him had RJ’s heart racing. She’d been on his mind all night, starting from the second he watched her walk into her building until just about an hour ago, when some of his family had barged into his villa demanding answers to their questions.
“Did you really think it was better to strike some sort of deal with her instead of coming to me and discussing this beforehand?” His father had spoken first, while Major, Maurice and Chaz had found seats in the living area.
RJ had just gotten out of bed and was on his way to take a shower when he’d heard them at the door. He’d pulled on a pair of shorts but was otherwise undressed for what turned out to be an intervention of sorts.
“You’re turning the company over to me in a few months. Don’t you think I’m capable of dealing with issues on my own?” He’d asked his father that question, even though he knew this situation was different from anything RGF was liable to face in the future. Still, he needed his father to understand his position.
“I don’t doubt your abilities, son. But I know you realize this is a sensitive subject,” Ron had replied.
“Which is exactly why I decided to handle it the way I did. Keep her close, keep my eye on what’s being discussed. Having control of the situation cuts down on the chances that it’ll cause more harm than good.” With all that said, the “keep her close” part was what resonated with him most this morning.
“Are you sure you’re the right one to try to control Grace, considering your history?” Major asked.
RJ had sent his brother a death glare for that remark. “Don’t go there.”
“We kinda have to go there, man. She’s writing a story about us. She knows us better than any other reporter out there. She broke your heart.” Leave it to Maurice to put that last nail in the coffin.
“All that might be true but our relationship is in the past. I can handle this.” He’d told them that a few more times during the exchange, but now seeing Grace at this moment on the beach, he wasn’t quite sure.
He stopped walking toward her and she closed the rest of the distance between them. “Hey.” She spoke with a light cheeriness to her tone.
“Hey.”
“You ready for part two of the butt-whoopin’ we served y’all last night?” Desta asked as she walked past them.
“Oh, she’s talking smack already,” Major said. “Mo, come get your lady!”
RJ couldn’t help it—he chuckled. His brothers were just as competitive as he was, but it was pretty comical to see them this way with the women they loved. It was fun watching them straddle the fence between being full-on obnoxious about winning and distractingly apologetic to their significant others at the same time.
“Guess we better get ready to play,” Grace said.
He shrugged. “I guess we better.” He watched her walk away, staring at her legs and remembering them being wrapped around him last night.
“You gonna be able to play without drooling?” Chaz asked him.
RJ frowned at his soon-to-be brother-in-law. “I’m not the one who just finished kissing and groping all over the competition.” He’d watched his sister greet Chaz as he’d been walking toward Grace. Months ago the site of his sister hugging and kissing any guy disturbed the hell out of him. Now that he’d gotten to know Chaz and trusted the guy wasn’t going to break Riley’s heart like the last asshole she’d been engaged to, he was sort of okay with them touching.
“Yeah, that’s because I’m marrying her next week and we’re getting in all the practice we can leading up to our honeymoon.”
RJ frowned. “TMI, man! TMI!”
The second game of volleyball between the guys and the girls went a lot better than last night’s water version. The guys claimed victory and boasted about it all the way through lunch. After that Chaz wanted the guys to join him for a few rounds of golf, and since RJ had already bailed on the fitting yesterday, he figured he should go, even though he really wanted to spend more time with Grace.
