The Borrowed Boyfriend (9 page)

Deb and Patrick nodded in understanding. “We thought it was time.”

“Enjoy,” Patrick said, his face sunny. “Say, would either of you like a beer?”

“I’d love one,” Grady said.

“Allison?” Patrick asked.

“That’s a definite yes!”

Patrick pulled two bottles from the refrigerator and uncapped them as Deb returned to her work. “Why don’t you carry these back to your room for you and Grady while you unpack?”

“Don’t you need any help around here?”

“Yeah,” Grady inserted, “I’d be glad—”

“Uh-uh,” Deb said firmly. “Tonight’s on us. Tomorrow, you may not be so lucky.”

“Tomorrow’s our night!” Brevard protested. “Beer-braised short ribs on the grill!”

“With homemade au gratin potatoes,” Queenie added temptingly.

“Very gourmet!” Grady said, hefting the luggage off the floor. “Allison and I will have a hard time keeping up.”

“That’s okay,” Queenie said smoothly. “We’re willing to cut you new lovebirds some slack.”

“Just no fast food,” Brevard requested.

“Or anything processed,” Deb agreed. She glanced apologetically at Grady. “It’s kind of our rule.”

“Sounds like you all run a tight ship.” Grady called. “But a very healthy one.”

Allison led the way down the hall and paused between two identical-looking doors.

“The one on the left!” Deb shouted. “The other is the laundry and the half bath.”

Allison nodded and repositioned the beer bottles in her grasp so she could open the door.
 

“Have fun in there!” Queenie called.

To everyone’s surprise, Brevard added. “And check out the claw-foot tub!”

Allison shut the door at her back and burst into giggles. “Oh...my…goodness!”

“Your friends are really sweet,” Grady said, placing their luggage beside the queen-size sleigh bed with an oversized down comforter and a stack of big plush pillows. “They welcomed me without question.” Grady appeared a little in awe of this.

Allison angled toward him and whispered, “That’s because they have no reason to doubt you.”

“Queenie gave me a scare.”

“In the beginning, you mean? She’s just a big tease. You’ll understand her better once you get to know her.”

Allison set their beers on two coasters on a bedside table and glanced around the well-appointed room. It had its own wood-burning fireplace, centered between two windows to the right that afforded partial ocean views. A sturdy reading chair and a brass lamp were positioned beside it. A fire had been laid in the hearth, and was ready to go at the strike of a match. At the back of the house, abutting the cove, a solid oak dresser with a swivel mirror stood opposite the bed between two ocean-facing windows.
 

Grady followed Allison’s gaze around the room. “Whoa. Nice.”

This wing took up the width of the house, with the laundry room and half bath situated behind the master and facing the drive. The en suite bathroom and large walk-in closet backed up to the kitchen, forming a buffer between the bedroom and the great room, and making this area as private as you could get in a house of this kind. If that wasn’t enough, there was also an exterior door leading directly onto the wraparound porch, which was likewise accessible through the kitchen.
 

Beyond the darkened windows, the ocean rolled in waves as skittering gray clouds partially cloaked the moon. Allison couldn’t resist a peek outside and Grady was two steps ahead of her. He pushed open the porch door and they both went outdoors. The slap of brisk air against Allison’s face was refreshing. She inhaled deeply, absorbing the salty breeze, and tugged the door shut behind her.

A charming set of rockers lined the broad covered porch separated from the soapstone patio below it by a low railing. Center steps led down to an outdoor seating area, complete with a fire pit in the center. To the patio’s left, Allison spied a gas grill housed in a brick surround that included a separate gas cooktop large enough to accommodate a hefty lobster pot. To the right, a raised boardwalk led over the low-lying dunes and out toward the sea. Sea grass danced in the wind, prettily offsetting the patio’s ocean panorama. Allison caught her breath. “It’s—”

“Amazing,” Grady said, taking her hand.

Suddenly, Grady realized what he’d done, and he froze, staring aghast at Allison’s hand in his. He didn’t know why, but he’d been overcome. Unexpectedly swept up in the moment. The view was so spectacular, and the timbre of the waves had been particularly romantic. There’d been music in his soul and a pounding in his heart and he’d instinctively reached out. Grady generally thought with his head, but in that instant, emotion had overwhelmed him. After her meltdown on the road, Allison had seemed to change. She’d been so thoughtful in buying him the sort of cookies his grandmother used to make, and the gesture had warmed his heart. Perhaps a little too much.

“There you two are!” came a bright voice from the other end of the porch.
 

Grady squinted through the shadows, willing himself to release Allison’s hand. But somehow he couldn’t. It was like his fingers were stuck, clamped tightly around hers.

“Carla?” Was it Grady’s imagination, or had blood flooded Allison’s face? “Is that you?”

Footfalls echoed across the planks as a woman with wavy orange hair dressed in a puffy jacket approached. A buff-looking guy in a field coat trailed her, his face lighting up in a grin. “It
is
them!”

“Bruce! Carla!” Allison cried, tightening her fingers around Grady’s in surprise.

Bruce and Carla both looked down to find Allison and Grady’s grips sweetly entwined. “I guess this must be Grady!” Carla said with an approving smile.

Chapter Eleven

After the necessary introductions, Allison asked. “So, when did you all get here?” She also developed the presence of mind to reclaim her hand. She slipped it out of Grady’s grasp and into her windbreaker pocket, before it could cause her any more trouble. She didn’t know what had gone on just then, but Grady’s move had surprised her. It was like he’d lost track of where he was, or—even worse—who he was with. She and he had established firm ground rules. One of the most important ones, and something Kate had naturally insisted on, was that their interactions would remain platonic. Plenty of couples weren’t big on PDA. It wouldn’t make her and Grady’s relationship appear any less legitimate if they each employed a degree of reserve.

“We just pulled in,” Carla explained, “and were getting the lay of the land.”

“We decided to check out the porch, and that’s how we found you two.” Bruce motioned to the pair of them with his beer bottle and Allison recalled that she and Grady had left theirs on the bedside table.

“We forgot our beers,” she said to Grady. “Maybe we should grab them and join the others in the great room?”

“I’ll get the beers,” Grady offered quickly. “You go ahead with Carla and Bruce and start catching up.”

Allison nodded and Carla pulled her into a one-armed hug as Bruce walked ahead of them. “He seems really cute,” Carla whispered. “I can’t wait to get to know him.” With her free hand she pinched up a handful of tresses. “What do you think of the color?”

“Oh! Um… It’s hard to say in the dark.”

Carla frowned with disappointment.
 

“But it looks really good!” Allison rapidly amended. “I mean, from what I can see of it! Love the new shoulder-length cut!”

“It’s a little on the orange side, isn’t it?” Carla asked worriedly as Bruce held open the kitchen door in front of her. Light streamed from the kitchen, casting a halo-like glow around Carla’s hair. Allison had to admit it appeared tangerine.

“Orange?” Allison nearly choked on the word. “Not at all! What would make you think that?”

“Queenie,” Carla whispered in annoyance. “When it’s obviously strawberry blonde!”

Grady ducked into the bedroom as the threesome disappeared into the kitchen. Good thing he had the excuse about getting the beers. Grady needed a chance to gather his wits. He also needed to send Kate a text. Posthaste. It wasn’t just guilt prodding him along. He’d planned on doing it earlier. Grady slid his cell from his pocket and sent Kate a quick note, saying he hoped her flight had gone well and that he missed her. The telling truth was that Grady didn’t miss her. Not in any sort of overwhelming way. He’d barely considered Kate at all until he’d gotten his and Allison’s luggage out of the car, and then it had been to make an unfavorable comparison.
 

Grady sighed to himself, wondering if his deal with Kate was all that it was cracked up to be. It occurred to him that playing the fake boyfriend wasn’t exactly a new role. It was in fact becoming routine for him. He and Kate weren’t in love; they were together for the sake of convenience. Yet when others saw them together, they naturally assumed them to be an amorous pair. That was clearly the picture Kate was trying to paint for her sister, Marie. Hence all the extravagant vacations with lavish accommodations. Grady didn’t mind funding these excursions, because he could afford them and he and Kate generally had a good time. They got along and were compatible enough. And having Kate organize his downtime left Grady free to focus his energies on his job. He was doing well at it too, and making loads of money. But sometimes, when Grady was being very honest with himself, like after fending off another round of questions from his grandmother, he felt that something about his ultrasuccessful life rang hollow.

Grandma O’Brien’s voice came back to him.
 

When are you going to find a nice girl for yourself?
 

I have a nice girl, Grandma,
he’d answered.
I’m dating Kate.

I’ve met this Katie Fagan,
his grandma had said in her deep Irish brogue.
She’s not the one for my Grady.

When he’d asked what made her think that, his grandma claimed to have seen it in Kate’s eyes.
You can always read a woman by looking in her eyes,
his grandma had said.
Particularly when she’s observing her man.
 

Grady had caught Kate staring at him once, when she hadn’t expected him to. He’d been working at his desk in the office while his assistant had been away on her lunch hour. Kate had apparently walked right in and then had stopped to study him a moment without interrupting. When Grady looked up and met her eyes there was a weird gleam there, almost like Kate had been scheming. Or maybe she’d been summing him up. In either case, her gaze hadn’t felt warm and complimentary. In a really weird way it had given him shivers.

Grady shook off the memory and picked up the beers, thinking it wasn’t the time or place to question his arrangement with Kate. It wasn’t her fault that she’d been called away to a conference, and Kate certainly had her strengths. Didn’t the fact that she’d wanted to help out a friend, by urging Grady to spend this week with Allison, attest to the better side of Kate’s character? Nobody was perfect. Least of all Grady. If there was any fault in his arrangement with Kate, he was equally to blame. But there’d be time for relationship evaluation later. At the moment, Grady needed to set thoughts of any problems with Kate aside and focus on the task at hand: getting to know Allison better and impressing the daylights out of her friends.

Chapter Twelve

When Grady returned to the great room, Allison was settled comfortably by the fire with her friends. Deb and Patrick had apparently finished any early dinner preparations and had decided to join them.

“Just let us know when you get hungry,” Deb said as Grady approached, “and we’ll start the fish.”

Patrick glanced pleasantly around the room. “We don’t mean to starve anyone. The slaw, cornbread and fruit salad are ready.”

Deb nodded and added, “The fish won’t take more than ten minutes.” She and Patrick sat companionably together, with her in an armchair and him perched on an ottoman beside her. Queenie was in the other armchair and Brevard had pulled up a ladder-back chair from the corner of the kitchen to join her. Carla, Bruce and Allison sat on the large three-cushioned sofa. Carla nudged Bruce and he instantly scooted toward her to make more room. “There’s plenty of space here on the sofa,” Carla said sweetly. “I’m sure Allison won’t mind the close quarters.”

Allison glanced at Grady, her cheeks rosy pink. “Of course not.” She politely patted a sofa cushion. “Please, sit.”

Grady handed her one of the beers and then, almost as an afterthought, passed her the second one too. “Would you mind hanging on to this for just a sec?”

Allison’s brow rose with a question.

“I’ve just remembered our housewarming gifts!”

“Housewarm…” Allison’s words fell off, then she added a little, “Oh. Yes! That!” clearly having no clue what Grady meant.
 

“That’s too sweet!” Carla said.

“Aren’t housewarming presents generally for home-owners?” Deb questioned.

“Yes, but we’re all warming this house,” Grady said with a wink. “Just look at that roaring fire, and this great company! I…I mean,
we
…brought you all some small presents. It was the least we could do for you all agreeing to let me tag along. Right, Allison?”

The color in her cheeks intensified. “Ye…es.”