Chapter 6
Gray watched Riley slip away and couldn’t believe how disappointed she seemed. It was an unexpected reaction, as he assumed she would just give him a frosty screw-yourself glare and walk away with her cute nose in the air. Her soft little exit confused him. Of course he was a jerk to her, but he had to be. The blow-off really wasn’t a big deal. Most chicks didn’t take it that personally, and whether she knew it or not he was doing her a solid by not getting involved in her life.
As he thought about it, though, the guilt wouldn’t go away. They’d had a good time at the pizza place, and suddenly he was asshole supreme. It wasn’t really so weird for her to be so upset. In fact, she had every right to be mad because he’d done a damn good job of being a jerk. She seemed nice enough, and the last thing he wanted to do was make her feel bad.
He set the towel down and stared out at the sea. It was in the upper nineties, and everyone was in the water or lounging near the pool—everyone except for him. Once again he was stuck serving drinks all day to people he couldn’t care less about. “This job sucks balls,” he mumbled as he washed the glasses. “Dad needs to find someone else.”
He didn’t mind the work most days but the heat was getting to him, as were his conflicting feelings for a certain pretty girl he didn’t want to think about. On one hand, he really wanted to see her. On the other, he knew that if he did he would be conceding to his dad’s plans, doing what his dad wanted. No…what he needs, he thought, and that was the real rub of it.
His dad needed Riley’s father to invest in their business. They were practically tapped out. That was why Jon had not hired a new bartender. The resort was pulling in buckets of money, but it took even more buckets to keep the place up and running. They were on that very thin line between the red and black, thanks to that stupid money manager and the project in Destin, which would never get off the ground and would end up costing them everything if it failed. If it did take off at all it could at least be sold, but at the moment the property it was supposed to be built on was the only thing of value, and Gray knew damn well that there were other debts that had piled up thanks to the halted construction. Even if his dad did manage to sell, it would still put them in bankruptcy.
Shit. He decided he had to leave her alone because he didn’t want to drag her into that mess. He knew a well-off, spoiled person would never understand, except she didn’t really seem spoiled. She also was sweet, like she might just be understanding. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings or make her think he was only going after her because of her dad’s loot. He knew she would think that, whether it was true or not, and she would probably be right to some degree. When he first saw her he had marked her as hot but snobby, and he wasn’t all that interested.
Bull. He’d noticed her from the get-go. The way she moved, the hesitant part about her, the way she didn’t jibe with her friends. The bodyguard dudes had been her main giveaway. Those guys didn’t even look like they belonged. White bodies used to being stuck in suits. He’d nearly laughed at the burn on the back of one of them.
But Riley. Damn it. He hadn’t wanted to like her. He’d been fine brushing her off yesterday. Then last night she’d looked like a lost puppy and she smelled… Gray inhaled, almost imaging her scent mixed in with the alcohol and fruit at the bar. Until then and at the pizzeria, he hadn’t even seen her as a human being with real feelings. Now that he knew she had them, he was determined not to hurt them.
There was more. Sure, he played the ladies vacationing at the club. Why not? They were all looking for the same thing. Except it seemed different with Riley. He barely knew her and he knew that. He didn’t want to feel like the dick that laid the golden egg. There was no way he wanted to be the family whore, the fuck-for-cash hero of the day. I’m not just a slab of meat, damn it! The truth was that his dad had never seen him as the heir or even the help. His father, Jon, had no respect at all for his ideas—and he had a lot of them. All he had ever thought of Grayson, and he reminded him constantly, was that he was a slacker and a playboy. So of course his father wanted him to do his best in those roles and go after a hot woman just to save the family business.
As he checked the ice, the brunette from earlier caught his eye. She gave him a lazy smile and licked her lips in a gesture that could not be mistaken for anything else. Gray decided it was way better to fuck her than to get involved with Riley. She would only want more, and he had no more to give to her. He wasn’t her type. She was the kind who fell in love, and Gray knew he was only cut out for lust.
Why should he even care so much? She’d be gone in a week or less. Sure, she was smoking hot, with a great body that any dude would want. Why not just sleep with her and say nothing to Dad about it? I can keep it on the down-low. She had run up on him for a reason, and he knew very well what it was. Her reaction to him at dinner the night before was obvious: She wanted him just as much as he wanted her.
It should be that simple, but it wasn’t.
It was so complicated that it was almost laughable.
The brunette walked up and leaned over the bar, her enormous tits practically falling onto the surface. “You busy after work?” she asked, wearing a suggestive smile. Her hands moved along her own body as she straightened again, settling right on her belly. Her fingers pointed downward, toward her crotch, shamelessly suggestive.
Gray was willing to bet there wasn’t a single hair on her pussy, that she kept it bare and ready for whatever, whenever. Except, today, he didn’t want to be her next whatever.
The realization shocked him. He was usually ready for action; it was sort of his calling card. He liked women, and he especially liked women who liked men a lot. He had no idea why he said it, but before he could even stop the words he sputtered, “Sorry. I’ve gotta work late, and then we have a big meeting and some other stuff.” He was careful to avoid her alluring eyes as he spoke. He hated lying now, even though he’d never minded that before either.
Damn you, Riley Teeter! he thought, and his cock hurt and throbbed at the mere remembrance of her. He knew fucking the very eager brunette would take the painful edge off. Otherwise, he’d just end up jacking off in the shower again, and that had hardly accomplished anything at all except to make him bitterly aware of how much he really wanted Riley.
The one thing he couldn’t have.