As I'm walking up to the front door, it opens and I see Gray standing there with what I'm surprised to say is a welcoming smile.
"Is everything okay?" she asks cautiously as she steps back and invites me inside. I know the girls won't be here as it's midmorning and they should be well situated in their classrooms by now.
"Yeah, it's all fine," I tell her with what I hope is a firm, happy voice as she closes the door. "Is Ryker here?"
"He's at his office at the arena, handling a few more things," she says, turning to the right and a short hallway off the living area. I follow, gearing myself up for the best way to broach the subject of Roman.
"Not to rush you or anything, and I'm happy you dropped by, but I was just in the middle of packing for the trip. Come on in my room and we can talk while I finish that."
"Okay," I say. We head into the master bedroom, and sure enough, a large suitcase is opened on the bed half filled with clothes.
"So what's up?" Gray asks pleasantly, then moves to an open dresser drawer and starts pulling out some workout clothes.
"Are you still doing yoga throughout your pregnancy?" I ask with curiosity as she refolds the items and places them neatly in the suitcase.
Gray laughs. "I am, although some of the poses are getting a little difficult to get into. I just try to adapt as best I can."
"And how's the pregnancy going?" I ask, because the Gray I'm getting today is light of spirit and seems open to personal conversation.
"It's going fantastic," she says, giving her tummy a light pat. "All the checkups have been perfect."
"I'm so glad." I make myself at home and sit at the end of her bed while she packs. "Have you decided names yet?"
Gray nods, her eyes sparkling, and it's the most beautiful and almost human I've seen her look so far. "Willow if it's a girl and Harrison if it's a boy."
"Oh, I love those names," I say with excitement.
"Me too," she says with an answering grin, but then gives me a pointed look as she starts to pull some underwear out of another drawer. "So what's up with the impromptu visit?"
"I'm really sorry to sort of just barge in like this," I say, but she cuts me off with a wave of her hand.
"I never mind you dropping by, Lexi," she says adamantly. "Save for the DNA results proving what we already know is probably very true, you're my sister and there's an open-door policy. Now granted, I'm so busy that I hardly have time for Ryker and the girls at times, but still...if I have the time I'll give it to you."
My heart warms at that, and it truly does seem that Gray is giving me a chance. I know she's run hot and cold with me, but maybe all she needed was time to adjust to the situation.
"So, I wanted to talk to you about Roman," I say casually, but am immediately dismayed when I see Gray's shoulders tighten.
"What about?" she asks lightly, not looking at me but concentrating on refolding her emerald-green panties before she puts them into the suitcase.
"I've given your advice some thought, and I do appreciate it and your concern, but I've decided I'm going to continue seeing him," I say, laying out my news in one fell swoop.
"And you want my approval?" she asks curiously, raising her gaze to mine.
"No," I say gently. "I want your understanding that I'm going to try things out for myself. I'm the type who will follow my heart, and if I get burned, will learn from the experience and do better the next time."
"I see," she says impassively, her eyes boring into mine.
"And I promise you that I will never intentionally do anything to harm the organization. If I ever thought Roman was a risk in that way, I'd stop it cold. I'll do my family duty and protect that."
Gray's eyes bore into mine, weighing my words in consideration. The she surprises me when she throws the panties she's been refolding onto the bed and turns toward the bedroom door.
"Come on," she says lightly. "I want to share something with you and this calls for tea."
Puzzled, I follow Gray into the kitchen and watch silently as she uses a hot water dispenser on her sink to fill two cups, then drops two teabags into them. "Do you like anything with your tea? These are peppermint."
"No, just plain is fine," I say, and she motions me to the kitchen table where she meets me with the two cups in hand.
I sit and accept one of the cups, but immediately set it down on the table to cool off for a few moments.
Gray sits down opposite of me, gently bobbing her teabag in her cup. "Do you know how Ryker and I got together?"
I shake my head, because I had not heard this story. I just know through the media that it was a big deal, as she was the person in charge of deciding his employment status and it was a little bit of a conflict of interest that they were involved.
"Well, it started off with this crazy attraction," she says fondly, her eyes twinkling at the memory. "It was almost chemical, and it was just a deep down physical attraction at first. We hid it from everyone."
"Because you were his boss," I say, and then explain, "I sort of followed the media on this story."
"Yes," she agrees with a delicate laugh. "But pretty quickly, we both realized that there were true feelings involved, and it was just awful having to hide from the world...running around in secret."
"I can imagine."
"When my dad found out what was going on between us, he was disappointed in me." Gray's eyes flicker with a tiny bit of pain, which makes her even more human and sisterlike to me.
"Why would he be disappointed?" I ask.
"Partly because I kept things hidden from him," she tells me, and then smiles almost wistfully. "But mostly because he believes you should never let something stand in the way of love. Not ever. And thus, I'm glad to see you following that line of thinking. It took me a bit longer to get there."
I'm shaking my head adamantly before I even say, "But I don't love Roman."
"Of course you don't, silly," she chides me. "But you might one day, and you'll never know unless you try, right?"
"So what are you really saying?" I ask hesitantly, because I'm a little off-kilter with Gray sitting here with me sipping tea and talking about love.
"I'm saying that if you want to pursue something with Roman, you should go for it." She smiles at me, picks up her tea, and takes a sip as she looks at me with bright eyes.
"But you were just warning me off of him last week," I blurt out.
Gray shrugs. "And I still have the same reservations today that I had last week. But I'm also a big girl and can admit that you might know him better than me, and you seem like a levelheaded kind of woman. So maybe I don't know what I'm talking about."
"Well, your advice was well intentioned," I say lamely.
"Or," she counters as she sets her cup down. "I may very well know exactly what I'm talking about and he could be very bad for you. The point being, you have to figure that out on your own, and I swear right now I won't rub your face in it or tell you I told you so if he ends up being a douche and hurting you."
"You expect he'll do that," I say glumly.
"I don't expect anything and I truly hope he doesn't do that. I only have my observations and what I know about Roman to go on. I'm being a big sister and warning you about him."
"And from the business side of things?" I ask curiously.
"That goes back to my story about Ryker and me," she says. "Yes, worry about the organization to some degree, but don't let that stand in the way of love. If it's real with Roman, it's not something you need to worry about."
I take in a deep breath and let it out slowly, and admit to Gray, "This is so not how I thought this conversation was going to go. I know you don't like Roman--"
"I really don't," Gray admits to me. "He seems to be brash, egotistical, and has control issues. But honestly, I don't know him outside of what I've read in the media, so perhaps we can change that. Still, I'm not going to lie to you. I'll watch him with a jaundiced eye."
"--but I'm really glad you took the time to tal
k to me," I continue, ignoring her summary of all of Roman's bad qualities. "It means a lot."
Gray nods and her eyes fill with apology. "Look...I know I haven't been the easiest on you these last few weeks, but I do hope you understand it was nothing against you personally. I'm pregnant, hormonal, and trying to run a multimillion-dollar company, so on any given day my stress level is high. Add a secret sister who's managed to make my dad smile brighter than he has in a very long time, and my emotions are into overdrive. So now I'm hormonal, stressed, slightly jealous, and completely unsure of what to do. Nothing I've said or done was meant to hurt you, but speaks more to the fact I may have been acting out a little."
"Oh wow," I say softly, my eyes round with surprise at her apology. And that was an apology of epic proportions in my book. "Thank you for saying that, Gray."
As if to prove she's raging with hormones, Gray's eyes mist up and she blinks rapidly to dispel the tears so she doesn't show any weakness to me. I want to giggle but I don't, instead choosing to stand up from the table with my tea untouched and say, "Okay, I'm getting out of your hair so you can get packed."
Gray stands as well, her hand coming to her rounded belly. "I'm glad you came by."
"Me too," I agree, and then we both walk back to the front door.
After she opens it to let me out, she surprises me by saying, "Listen...maybe when I get back from the West Coast, you and I can go shopping for baby stuff or something."
"I would love that," I tell her enthusiastically.
"It's a plan then," she says brightly, and then surprises me further when she leans over to give me a quick and efficient hug, but it feels so good I almost don't let her go.
When I do pull away, I wave to her and say, "Have a good trip."
"See you later," she calls back to me, and I almost stumble on the last step when she adds, "Sis."
I don't bother to look back at her, but call out again, "Bye" in a shaky voice. I don't look back at her because my eyes are now swimming with happy tears and the minute I blink, they start to trickle down my face.
--
When I get into my car, I start the engine to get the heat going, then immediately pull out my phone. I turn it on, my thumbs flying over the screen to shoot off a quick text to Roman.
Mission accomplished. Amazingly fantastic talk with Gray. I know you're busy packing, but just wanted to let you know.
I hit Send and dump my phone onto the passenger seat. I put my car in reverse and start backing out of Gray's driveway, tugging my seatbelt on with one hand at the same time. Just before I get out to the road, my phone rings and I see it's Roman.
I stop the car, unable to contain the smile on my face when I grab the phone and answer, "You didn't have to call me. I know you're busy."
"Not so busy I can't chat with my girl for a minute," he says in response.
My girl.
I like that.
"So tell me everything that happened," Roman says, then teases, "but in a more condensed version of what really happened."
I snicker into the phone. "Gray told me I should follow my heart. Same advice as my dad."
"She did, huh?" he says in surprise.
"Well, she was still a bit skeptical of you," I admit softly.
"Shocker," he says sarcastically.
"You'll just have to prove her wrong," I tease.
"I don't have to prove anything to her, Lexi," he says. "Your opinion is the only one that matters."
"I know," I say. "And you're good to go, because my opinion of you is quite high."
That seems to get us past the awkwardness of discussing the rift between him and Gray, and he banters with me. "And why is your opinion of me so high?"
"Well," I say with sly mischief in my voice. "You're pretty amazing in bed. And you cook a damn fine meal. Plus...you're really hot in your hockey uniform, so bonus points for that."
"And that's all you like me for?" he asks with a laugh.
"No," I say gently. "Those are just the cream on top. I really like you because you're a guy that got charmed by a girl who plays a ukulele in a coffee shop for tips and who is very happy with that existence. A lot of guys like you wouldn't be so charmed."
He's silent for a moment, but then his voice is low, reflective, when he says, "Well, I like you too, Lex. Now I have to get going. Still have a few errands to run before I head to the airport."
"Okay," I say with a small measure of disappointment, because I believe I could happily talk to Roman on the phone all day and be damned with the fact I have to be at work in a few hours.
"It will be too late when we land, but I'll call you tomorrow, okay?" he says.
"If you have time," I reply. "I know you've got a game and everything."
"I'll always have time for you, Lexi," he says gruffly, his Czech accent seeming a bit heavier when he's speaking from the heart.
"Same here. Have a great trip. I'll miss you."
"Miss you too," he says softly, then he disconnects.
I tap my phone against my chin and my smile feels a million miles wide. I've never been this excited about the potential of a relationship before. Add it seems that my relationship with Gray has now achieved steady footing and I'm beyond ready to see where that goes.
My life is freaking fantastic right now.
Chapter 19
Brian
The doorbell rings and my nerves spring into overdrive. I've been pacing by the door for probably ten minutes, waiting for Georgia to arrive. I'd invited her over for dinner tonight, and now I'm wondering if that was the right thing to do.
We've gone out twice since our lunch last week when she confronted me in my office. We ended up uniting nicely to get to the bottom of Lexi's issues, and I was so relieved to have done so, I impulsively invited her to dinner that night.
That went very well, and I found out that not only is Georgia gorgeous and clearly brilliant, she's also an amazing conversationalist. She's still nutty as hell and constantly provoking, but I'm finding that I like the way she tries to get under my skin.
One more lunch two days ago, also a fabulous time, and then I had a business trip that took me to New York for two days. I talked to her last night and invited her over to dinner, and it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Now I'm not so sure, because inviting her to my house sends all kinds of messages that could become mixed up in that crazy head of hers.
But now it's too late to worry about it, as she's standing on the other side of my door. After taking a deep breath, looking down at my body and hoping she appreciates the fact I went with jeans and a casual sweater tonight, I swing the door open.
I take in everything about her in a quick sweep of my eyes, noting the gloriously long and curly hair, the multitude of jewelry, and the brightly patterned skirt that hangs loose and flowing down her legs with what looks like cowboy boots underneath. She's topped it off with a dark brown leather blazer, an equally bright scarf around her neck, and a subtle whiff of perhaps vanilla and honey when she walks in.
"Jesus, Brian," she says as she turns around in the grand foyer, taking it all in. "You live in a freaking palace."
Hardly, I think to myself, but I watch her carefully. Her gaze goes to the curved floating staircase under which is a marble koi pond with a waterfall built into the underside of the stairs. She looks past that into the massive formal room with its red and gold carpet custom rug that holds couches, chairs, and chaises, along with tables and a grand piano. It could easily hold a hundred people and not be cramped. Finally, her gaze drifts across the cream marble flooring to the dining room to the right with a table that seats twenty and a chandelier hanging low over it that's as big as a small car.
When she completes her circle and faces me, she cocks an eyebrow. "I'm not sure what to make of this."
"What do you mean?" I ask curiously. "Surely you get I'm rich, right?"
She snorts at me, drops her purse onto the round foyer table, and starts to take her leather jacket o
ff. "Of course I knew you were rich. I just didn't realize you lived in a freaking palace."
"It's hardly a palace," I mutter as I hold my hand out for her jacket.
"It's got to be at least ten thousand square feet," she says in awe as she looks around again. "What could one man do with that much room?"
"It's a little over sixteen thousand square feet," I correct her as I take her by the elbow and start to steer her through the house. "And Gray did live here before she went off to college."
"You know," she says sweetly as we enter the kitchen. "This ostentatious display of wealth could be overcompensation."
"Excuse me?" I ask with surprise as I drape her jacket over the back of an island stool and motion with my hand for her to sit. "Overcompensation for what?"
Georgia's eyes flash mischievously but she shrugs with an innocent air. "Oh, I don't know...I'm just saying..."
Yeah, I know exactly what she's saying, and I also don't even bother to engage her because I know that's what she wants. Georgia loves to bait me.
Narrowing my eyes at her, I redirect her attention. "Would you like some wine or perhaps a mixed drink?"
"Why?" she challenges me. "You going to get me drunk and take advantage of me?"
My brain actually wars with itself. The stuffy, staid executive within me wants to take offense she would ever think I'd do something like that, and another part of me wants to drag her off to my bedroom so I can assure her I don't need wine to loosen us up.
"Georgia," I chide, hell-bent on getting the upper hand. "Why do you have to resort to these underhanded tactics to get me to admit that I want you?"
And for the first time since I've met this wicked and wild woman, her jaw drops and she's absolutely speechless. I just smile blandly at her, waiting for her to get her bearings back.
Because Georgia is fruity at the best of times and unpredictable at the worst, I have no clue how she'll respond. So I'm not exactly surprised when she bypasses the stool I'd offered her and instead walks right into my personal space until we are mere inches from each other. I top her by almost a foot, so I look down as she looks up, and her brown eyes are dark but glittering with something I can't quite put my finger on, but it makes my blood start to race.
"You need to kiss me right now," she demands, although it's done sweetly, and with her southern twang that makes it adorable.