State of Grace (14 page)

He hung back, walking behind the women with her brother. Grace’s bottom wiggled enticingly as she walked in front of him, and he felt himself harden uncomfortably.

Shit.

If he didn’t know any better, he’d have sworn she was trying to drive him insane. He shoved his hands in the pockets of the trunks to create some room between the fabric and his cock. He needed to get in the pool … and fast. A raging hard-on during ‘family time’ would not be good.

As they got to the lounge area, he saw Grace dig into her beach bag and whip out a pair of sunglasses, shoving them on her face as she settled onto the lounger. He wanted to laugh but thought it wiser to stay quiet. She was so damned cute.

Again, he felt himself getting harder, and he wanted to yell at his penis for betraying him.

Resolving that he needed to get in the water ASAP, he quickly removed his white polo and was about to jump into the water when he heard a low whistle from Lucas. “Someone did a number on your back, bro.”

Shit.

He quickly jumped into the water, feeling some relief as the cool water hit his skin. He grinned before turning around to face them.

“Yeah, I picked up a real wildcat in a bar one night a few months back.”

Someone made a choking sound over by the loungers.

“A few months ago? That many scratches?” Lucas asked dubiously.

Shrugging, he snuck another look at Grace, but he couldn’t see anything through those damned glasses. He did notice that her breathing had quickened, if the rise and fall of those delicious breasts was any indication. “We keep going at it. I guess weeks of hot sex with a repressed woman will do that to you.

Lucas raised a brow in doubt. “Months? You?” He pointed at Sean. “Months with one woman? The same woman?”

“Prime piece of ass, brother.”

Before he finished his sentence, Grace bolted up from her lounger. The telltale blush that had been on its way to fading roared back into her cheeks. “I’m going to get a drink. Anyone want anything?” she squeaked as she hurried to the other side of the pool.

He couldn’t help himself. “Get me a beer, will ya, Gracie? Stella, Lucas usually has it. Otherwise, anything will do,” he yelled obnoxiously.

She turned to face him, and he noticed a fist clenching and unclenching. If he wasn’t already in the pool, she probably would have pushed him in. He wished he could have seen her eyes.

She turned around and stalked off in the direction of the outdoor bar, as Sophie turned her full wrath on them.

“In case you two idiots didn’t notice, that conversation made your poor sister extremely uncomfortable. She’s a lady, and I don’t want you two discussing Sean’s escapades with his sluts around her,” she demanded heatedly.

Lucas rubbed his wife’s back in soothing gestures and murmured an apology in her ear as Sean managed to get out a “sorry” without choking.

If they only knew.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Drowning out the conversation around her, Grace decided this dinner was going to be the death of her.  It was bad enough that Sean had unexpectedly shown up while she and Sophie were out lounging by the pool, but then he couldn’t keep his big mouth shut and leave her alone.

Not to mention that he’d seen her in her bathing suit in the bright-ass light of day.

Despite the fact that they’d had sex hundreds of times (by her count), there was always the comfort of dim to no light. 

Or, it happened spontaneously with just not enough time to get all of their clothes off before they could do the deed. They’d done exactly that just yesterday, in fact. 

A vision from last night flashed through her mind, and she felt her heart beat pick up in pace.

“Are you okay, Grace? Grace?”

Snapping out of her daze, she realized her brother had been talking to her while she’d tuned out. Three faces stared back at her, waiting for her response. Lucas and Sophie seemed concerned, while Sean, the jerk, looked mildly amused. 

“I’m fine,” she croaked, thinking that she would be if the frog in her throat didn’t jump out. She tried to smile encouragingly at her brother while averting her gaze from her erstwhile lover. 

“Are you sure? Your cheeks are all red. Sure you’re not coming down with something?”

Was he trying to make her crazy? Did no one else notice the suggestive tone in his voice?  Especially as he said the word
coming
…  As his warm voice poured over her, heat unfurled in her belly, an insane mix of fury and lust. She sent a momentary prayer of thanks that she wasn’t seated across from or next to him and surreptitiously avoided looking at him. 

Her fork speared into a piece of potato. 

“I’m fine,” she muttered curtly, before lifting the fork to her lips and shoving the potato inside. She chewed slowly, hoping the large bite would keep her from having to speak for at least a few seconds. Dimly, it registered that the food was delicious, but she might as well have been eating sawdust for all the pleasure it brought her. 

Nerves, annoyance, and an unhealthy paranoia that her big brother would find out that she was sleeping with his best friend had killed any of her pleasure sensors. 

A self-proclaimed amateur chef, Sophie had prepared a four-course meal.  They’d already gotten through a caprese salad, seafood bisque, and were now working through a roasted leg of lamb with herbed potatoes. All she had to do was make it through dessert, and she could escape to freedom.

Escape to freedom and give that snake Sean a piece of her mind for this unholy torture. 

She was conscious of the questioning looks she got from Lucas and Sophie, but she ignored them. The conversation had turned to the golf game the men had played earlier that day. She focused on bite after bite, drawing every morsel out as slowly as she could while managing to keep her mouth constantly chewing so she wouldn’t have to contribute to the conversation. 

Her mind floated away from the dinner table once again as she wished her phone hadn’t died earlier that day so she could get a head start on reaming Sean.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They’d just finished the main course, and of course when Sophie cleared their plates and went to get dessert, Grace raced after her. She’d appeared eager to help her sister-in-law, but Sean knew she was just looking for escape. 

Chicken
, he thought fondly and slipped his phone out of his pocket to text her just that. He unlocked his screen and frowned when he didn’t see any new messages flashing on the screen. He’d sent her several earlier on in the day so she’d have a heads up on what her brother wanted him to do. 

A sharp pain exploded in his shin, jolting him from his reverie. 

He glared at the table’s only other occupant.

“What are you doing?” Lucas whispered harshly.

He raised his brow in question, fighting the urge to rub against the sharp pain that throbbed in his shin. 

“You’re supposed to antagonize her,” Lucas hissed. 

“Doing it,” he grit out.

“Do it better.”

Just then, the two women re-entered the dining room, each holding two bowls with hot apple pie and ice cream. Grace set a bowl in front of her brother before returning to her seat. 

Sean didn’t miss the questioning look Sophie gave her as she set a bowl down in front of him before setting her own bowl down and taking her seat.

“This looks amazing honey, thank you,” Lucas smiled warmly at his wife before digging into his dessert. 

They sat in companionable silence for a few moments, the only sound, forks clinking against the china. Lucas looked at him again, almost in warning, and Sean wisely tucked his legs under the space beneath his seat. 

The silence dragged on, almost verging into uncomfortable, before Sophie attempted to break it. “Grace, we didn’t get to talk about it earlier. You seeing anyone?” Sophie asked brightly.

Grace’s fork paused mid-air. The question obviously caught her off guard, and she bit into the corner of her lower lip before responding. “Nothing serious,” she mumbled, before forking another bite into her mouth.

His temper flared. No, fuck that. It didn’t just flare, it fucking roared. Of course, they hadn’t talked about the status of their relationship, but after spending every single moment together, he’d expected a different response from her. He set his fork down and glared at her, but of course, she refused to meet his eye. Something nasty rose up inside him, and before he could stop himself, he retorted, “What, no one good enough to meet your impossible standards, Gracie?”

He didn’t miss the pleased look Lucas gave him or the telltale red flush that stained her cheeks. He knew better than to think it was solely due to embarrassment, although there probably was a little bit of that mixed in. 

Oh no, she was pissed as hell.

Deliberately, she dropped her fork into the bowl, the harsh sound of metal against china permeating the air. Sparks flying from her gray eyes, she finally met his gaze, head-on. 

“Someone good enough? Let me ask you this Sean, do you think someone like 
you
 would ever be good enough for me?”

His eyes took on a hard glint. “Good enough, yeah, but just you baby? There’s enough good in me to go around, and you know I’m not a one woman kind of man.” 

A pang of remorse pierced through him as he saw the color drain out of her face … and Lucas looked downright pleased. He knew things were going straight to shit, but before he could open his mouth to change the course of the conversation, she beat him to it.

“You sure it’s not the opposite, and the women who are with you know there isn’t anything more to you, so they don’t care if it’s just sex? ‘Cause they know there isn’t anything else there?” she goaded.

Now it was his turn to lose his color. “Is that what 
you
 really think, Gracie?” he sneered.

She looked furious at his intimation, but it was clear that no one else at the table had picked up on what he was really asking. Lucas was starting to look uncomfortable, and his poor wife kept volleying her head from Sean to Grace and back to Sean.

“Grace, don’t be too tough on him,” Lucas intervened. “He’s been seeing someone for a little while now, remember? Maybe he’s getting steady in his old age.” 

His tone was light, and Sean knew he meant to be funny to try and lighten the atmosphere, but his joke fell flat. That strange feeling tightened once more in his chest, and he couldn’t help but lash out.

“It’s okay, bro. Figured she’d lighten up some now that she’s clearly getting laid by her not-serious boy toy.” 

Her gasp pierced through him, and she quickly dropped her gaze from him to her lap. He felt like a world-class asshole, and judging by Sophie’s stunned look, and the tic pulsing in Lucas’s jaw, it was clear they agreed.

“Sean, I need to talk to you in my office,” Lucas said tightly, rising from his chair. 

Silently, he rose and followed his friend down the hall to the study. Lucas walked straight over to the bar cart in the corner and poured bourbon into two crystal glasses. He turned back and handed one to Sean. 

Sean tipped back the glass, downing the liquor in one shot. It burned all the way down his throat to his belly as he watched Lucas do the same before setting his glass down.

“What the fuck was that?” his friend asked curtly.

The one problem with having a best friend since childhood was that they knew when to call bullshit, he thought, his mind racing with possible answers.  

He tried for nonchalance. “You wanted me to rile her up,” he shrugged. 

“I wanted you to ruffle her fucking feathers, not hurt and embarrass her!” Lucas almost shouted.

He clenched his jaw and stared at his friend. There wasn’t a point in arguing. He’d been an asshole, and he had hurt and embarrassed her. Remorse traveled through his veins as he wondered if he could fix this. 

He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I was out of line. I’ll apologize to her.”

“Make sure that you do. And what the hell were you thinking, asshole? In what universe do I want to hear about my baby sister’s sex life?” Lucas was almost incredulous as he asked the question.

Again, he shrugged. “I don’t know what to say, man. I guess I wasn’t thinking.” 

Lucas stared at him thoughtfully before strolling back to the cart and refilling his glass. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were the one who got riled up. Something going on I should know about?” he asked before taking a sip from his glass.

Warning bells went off in Sean’s brain, and he swallowed nervously. He felt the corners of his lips turn up in an attempt to smile as his shoulder raised in yet another shrug. He’d been doing a lot of that lately. “Nothing but the usual, bro.”

His friend’s unwavering gaze never left him. “You know if you ever need something, we’re here for you.”

Ah, shit. 

He shook his head no as guilt seeped over him like a poisonous fog. 

Now he could add liar to his resume, along with asshole. 

Chapter Eight