I hope he can stick around long enough to help me make a plan.
Because obviously I pretty much suck at those.
“Can we sit down for this?” I ask, swallowing. Mortified. “Look, I called you not because you’re the back-up… but because you’re Grady.” I shrug, not knowing how to explain that he is more than my brother’s best friend. “The one person who always seems to be there for me without judgement.”
“I wouldn’t judge you, Georgie. You can be straight with me.”
Taking a deep breath, I begin to explain Karen, how I came across her at the grocery store a few months ago and how she invited me out for drinks.
“So we were drinking lemon drops, catching up. She was telling me about her finance degree and how she lives in a loft downtown and the whole time, I couldn’t help but notice the luxury brands she was dripping in, head to toe.” I twist my lips, wanting to be honest. “I felt lame saying I’m a part-time virtual assistant. It barely pays the bills. So I told her how I’m working on a novel…” My words falter here because my novel has become somewhat of a joke in my family. “I didn’t tell her the part about only having written five chapters in over a year.”
“Hey, don’t do that,” Grady says, reaching for my hand. I let him take it and as he does, I feel a thousand pinpricks run over my skin. The best kind of prickling. Because it’s Grady who’s touching me.
“Don’t do what?” I ask.
“Put yourself down. Your job doesn’t have to define you, and who cares if she has a bunch of cash? You’ve got an amazing personality.”
“Easy for you to say.” I sigh, pulling back my hand, embarrassed at how I fell for Karen’s surface appeal.
“Why’s it easy for me?”
“Because you’re Grady.” I roll my eyes. “You own your business and home. You take care of everyone who works for you. You have this golden reputation. You know that. You’re the perfect man.”
He chuckles. “And yet I’m single. In fact, I’m so cool I spend my weekends in the garden.”
“I love your garden,” I say, defensive.
He lifts his eyebrows. “Yeah? You don’t think of me as a seventy-year-old stuck in a twenty-six-year-old’s body?”
I laugh, shaking my head. “No way. You’re way sexier than you give yourself credit for.”
The moment the words leave my mouth, I feel my cheeks turn bright red. Dropping my head in my hands, I groan. “I can’t believe I said that.”
The room seems to grow small, and Grady sits back on the couch. “I can’t believe you did either.”
I lick my lips, mortified, but when I look over at him, he doesn’t seem embarrassed for me. No, there’s something else in his eyes. Hope?
I have to change the subject. Messing this up would be terrible. I’ve already lost so much — I can’t lose his friendship too.
“Um, how about some watermelon? It looks delicious,” I say, overeager, knowing my words are coming slightly out of nowhere as I stare at the green melon that sits on the coffee table before us.
“Uh, sure.” Grady frowns, then moves to pick it up. “That’s what you want?” he asks, steeling his gaze on mine. “A slice of melon?”
I swallow. “Not the only thing I want.” I take him in, head to toe, knowing what I really want. Him.
But I don’t want just a slice. I want it all.
Chapter Three
Grady
I have to walk away because my cock is hard as rock and she’s gonna notice any damn second if we keep standing there staring at one another.
This can’t go on much longer. The sexual tension in this apartment is through the goddamn roof — but I know she didn’t call me here tonight for a hook-up. She called me because she was in trouble.
But what kind?
I open a cabinet and pull out a cutting board, grab a knife from the block on the counter. Holding the melon steady, I cut off the end, then cut it in half, another half. Then another. I slice it quickly, with practice — focusing on the fruit instead of the real juicy thing standing about two feet away from me.
God, she smells delicious. Sweeter than this melon and that’s saying something.
She moves toward me, jumping up on the counter, inches from me now, and I inhale, knowing this is bad. I want to step in between those legs, nestle myself between her knees and kiss her hard.