Boycotts and Barflies (16 page)

To show he understood every word she said, he took charge, possessively  pulling her even closer. He held her in his arms so tightly, she couldn’t move an  inch. His lips turned up into a sexy grin and before she could stop herself,  Bianca kissed him. Her arms went around his neck, holding on for dear life. Their mouths moved together in perfect harmony, instantly taking her breath  away. His lips were so warm and gentle even though the kiss had more passion  in it than she had ever imagined possible in a single kiss. The gentle scratch of  his beard against her cheek set her body on fire.

Jack seemed surprised by the jolt that went through him as he kissed her. There wasn’t time for slow and gentle; this kiss was about fire and possession. His tongue swept past her lips and took command of her mouth, pouring  everything he had into those few short moments they had together.

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Bianca felt her knees give a little and her head spun when she reluctantly pulled back, ending their all too brief kiss.

“Wow …” she muttered.

“Wow doesn’t even come close,” Jack said, as stunned as she was by what just happened between them. He slowly ran his thumb across her now swollen bottom lip and chuckled….

Bianca touched her lip as Jack had, still lost in the beautiful memory, while  Grace and Meg sat silently on the floor at her feet. She closed her eyes and, with a smile on her lips, replayed the kiss one more time in her head.

“And did his oral skills meet your incredibly high standards?” Grace asked, even though the way Bianca was beaming gave it away.

“Absolutely. I mean the things he did with his mouth. If I made a list of the ten best kisses of my life to date, he completely blew them out of the water. I was tingling by the time we came up for air. I can’t even explain. It was … it was …”  Bianca trail ed off trying to find the words. Meg had become very quiet next to  Grace, but then finally spoke.

“It was … the kiss of a lifetime,” Meg mused as she absently brushed her fingers across her own lips. Grace and Bianca exchanged a shocked look.

“Meg Tomlin!  Did you kiss Ryan?” Grace shrieked. Meg glanced around uncomfortably and eventually nodded her head up and down very slowly. “Where did you see him?” Bianca grilled her friend, wanting every single detail of the encounter.

“I bumped into him at the mall. I was in a store and saw him waving at me

through the window. We spent the next hour shopping, and he insisted on

following me home to help carry all the packages I bought.” She waved her

hand at the colorful parcels that were scattered on the floor.

“When  he brought up the last bag, I was walking him to the door, and I don’t

know what came over me. He had just been so wonderful and I just felt so

happy. I curled my finger at him and he bent down to see what I wanted.

When his face got close enough, I grabbed his face and kissed him. He slipped

his arms around my waist, picked me up off the floor, and gently held me in his

arms as he kissed me back. It was incredible.”

Grace’s mouth was actually hanging open by the time Meg finished. She was so happy for both of her friends, happy they had found someone special and taken advantage of their one kiss. She noticed they were both staring at her expectantly, waiting for her to make a confession of her own.

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“Sorry to disappoint  you, girls, but I didn’t use my free kiss yet.” Grace tried to  play it off as no big deal, but on the inside, she was holding back a flood of tears  that threatened to ruin their happy moment.

“Well, that’s OK, Grace. It’s no big deal. You’re probably smarter to wait.” Bianca put a loving hand on Grace’s shoulder to reassure her.

“Yeah, it’s smarter,” she muttered as she headed for her bedroom. “I’m going to  go lay down. My head is bothering me again.”

As soon as Grace reached the safety of her room, the tears fell uncontrollably.  She slid to the floor and let her insecurities consume her.

Smarter to wait. Yeah, that way I don’t make an ass out of myself. Why in the world would someone like Michael ever want to be with me? He’s perfect and could have any girl he wants. There’s nothing special about me. It’s all a game to him; the chase is fun for men. But when he catches me, he’ll be disappointed, I know it. Grace continued to beat herself up until she heard a small tap on the door.

“Honey, are you OK?” Meg gently pushed open the door and found her friend in a heap at her feet. Grace felt Bianca’s arms wrap around and hug her tightly into her arms.

“Grace, it’s all right. Why are you so upset? Did we do something or say  something?” she asked, searching for a re ason for the tears.

“I’m just being stupid. It’s nothing,” she managed to get out between sobs. “I  really am happy for both of you.” Grace smiled, but her eyes still showed her  pain.

“Please talk to us,” Meg pleaded. She took Grace’s face in her hands and  started  wiping away her tears.

“I’m just so … I don’t know. I really like Michael. So much so, that quite frankly  it scares me sometimes. I can’t explain it. But in the back of my mind, I keep  telling myself he’s so out of my league. Let’s be honest. There’s very little about  me he could possibly find attractive other than the fact he can’t have me right  now. I think what he really likes is pursuing me, and I’m afraid that if I kiss him,  things will change. Maybe he’ll come to his senses and it will be over, and it all  will have been a dream.” Tears once again were streaking down her face, but  now there was a chain reaction effect, and Bianca and Meg started crying too. “Grace, please listen to me. He likes you. He is chasing you, but I have a feeling  when he catches you, he’s never going to let you go. Ryan even said he’s never  seen him act this way before. Never! Bianca, help me here.”

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“She’s right, Grace. I wish you could see how you two are together—it’s unreal.  There’s this electricity that charges the air around you. You are two parts of a  whole, in many ways completing each other. He watches you al the time—he  never takes his eyes off of you. And he’s always touching you, or holding your  hand. He feels it too, Grace.” Bianca’s voice was gentle as she tried to explain  the things she saw happening between them.

“I know you’re scared; you’ve been burned before. I think we’re all terrified to  some extent. But Grace, if you want to find love, you have to be willing to put

your heart out there —and trust Michael to take care of you. Your face just  lights up when you’re around him.” Grace thought back to Michael today at the  gym and smiled. “Or if you’re thinking about him,” Meg teased.

Grace wiped the tears off her cheeks as she calmed herself down. “Thank you  both. I know I sound like a lunatic. I’ve only known him a few days, but I can’t  explain it. I’m terrified that something will happen and I won’t ever see him  again and I don’t know what I would do if that ever  ”—

“Hush, Grace, it’s fine. It will be all right. If it’s meant to be, it will all work out.  Just have some faith,” Bianca whispered as she lovingly stroked Grace’s hair. The doorbell rang and Meg hopped up to see who it was.

“Thanks, Bianca. I don’t know what I’d do without you two.” Grace sighed as  she pulled her face way from Bianca’s tear-soaked shirt.

“Grace, come here please,” Meg sang from the kitchen. Bianca held out her

hand to help Grace off the floor. “Come on. Let’s go see what the little nut wants  now. I have to change my shirt anyway.”

They laughed and made their way out of the bedroom. Both women stopped in  their tracks when they reached the kitchen. On the table was the biggest  bouquet of flowers Grace had ever s een, and next to it was Meg, bouncing up  and down like she had springs on her feet.

“That must have been one hell of a kiss there, Meg. What did Ryan do?”

Grace asked in awe of the massive arrangement in front of her. Bianca leaned  across the table and pressed her nose into the petals.

“They aren’t for me, Grace. They’re for you!”

Always …

thinking of you.

M

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Grace held the card in her trembling hand and read it over and over again until the meaning behind the words actu ally sank in. Michael was thinking about

her. Was it possible he was thinking about her as much as she was thinking

about him? Grace felt her face start to smile as she allowed herself to finally

believe his words. Meg and Bianca sat patiently until she lo oked up from the

card and back to their awaiting faces.

“Let me see it!” Meg whipped the card out of Grace’s hand and held it out so she

and Bianca could read it together.

“We told you, Grace, he’s crazy about you too! And look at these flowers,

they’re sp ectacular. Does this make you feel a little bit better?” Grace slowly

nodded her head up and down and threw her arms around Meg’s neck. Grace

laughed when she heard Bianca start grumbling.

“Figures. I give Jack one hell of a kiss and I get nothing. Come on, he had to

drive Michael to the florist for God’s sake! Would it have killed him to throw a

rose or something my way?” She shook her head in mock anger as Meg

laughed. “You better go call lover boy and thank him. He’s probably camped

out by his phone, waiting to hear from you.”

Grace kissed both of them on the cheek, scooped up her enormous flower

arrangement and headed for her room. With the door closed, the aroma of

roses slowly filled her bedroom. She lay down on her bed to call Michael, still

grinning. The phone only rang once and he answered.

“Grace?”

“Hi. I got your flowers. Thank you, they’re so beautiful.”

“Not as beautiful as you, but they’ll do. You’re very welcome by the way.”

His silky voice gave her chills.

“So what made you buy me flowers?”

“I wanted to do something nice for you, and it’s a loophole I found.”

“What’s the loophole?”

“Well, there’s nothing in your rules that prevents me from buying you gifts. If I  do, the customary thing is for the recipient to call the person who sent that gift  and thank them. So I get to talk to you more without raising any suspicion. I’ll  bet Meg was even the one who told you to call me, right?”

“I knew there was a reason I liked you, Michael Andris.”

“You like me?” he asked enthusiastically, like he had no idea.

“Yes, Michael, I like you.” You have no idea …

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“How much?” he teased.

“What are we—twelve? I like you a lot. Isn’t that good enough?”

“Yes, actually it is. Just for the record, I like you too, but way more than a lot!”

Again, Grace found herself blushing.

“Hey, give Jack a bit of advice. For future reference, if he’s standing next to you

at the florist shop, and you’re getting me flowers, he should throw a fern or

something Bianca’s way to keep himself out of trouble.” She heard Michael

chuckling over the phone.

“I’ll try and remind him of that next time.”

“They really are gorgeous.”

“Just like you.”

Grace spent the next hour on the phone with Michael, talking about anything

and everything. She found out that he, Jack, and Ryan wanted to open a bar. It

sounded like they had a bunch of really great ideas and had been taking this

last year to learn all the ins and outs of running a bar at Th e Vault. He also

apologized because he was going to be really busy over the next few days

trying to talk to different investors.

Their conversation then turned to Christmas and their family traditions.

Both of them were only children and were used to being dragged to different

relatives’ homes to celebrate with the whole family. Grace heard about his twin

cousins setting the Christmas tree on fire one year with a can of hairspray and

a lighter. Her family wasn’t nearly as exciting. Her mother liked to invite

friends and neighbors over as her way of filling the house with the Christmas

spirit. She told him how Susan had an unhealthy obsession with mistletoe

during Grace’s teen years which led to some very awkward kisses with

neighborhood boys.

As the hour drew to a close, Meg stuck her head in to ask Grace a question and

shrieked. “You’re still on the phone with him, Grace? How long have you been

talking to him?” She stood in the doorway, her foot tapping furiously.

“I gotta go. Mom says I’ve been on the phone too long and I have homework to

do. I don’t want to get grounded.” Grace stuck her tongue out at Meg, who in

turn gave a small humph and slammed the door as she left.