“Pathetic?” Gray asks, one eyebrow quirked.
I nod quickly.
“Yes, exactly! It was so annoying because ultimately, I felt like I was dating an angsty teenager. I broke up with him last winter because I just couldn’t start the year with my freshman boyfriend who was still basically a sulky adolescent. I need someone more mature than that.”
Oh god. I didn’t mean how that sounded, and I swallow hard. But Gray merely smiles smoothly again.
“I know what you mean. Like I said, the women in my social set are mostly vapid, shallow walking works of plastic surgical art, and I’m pretty bored, to be honest. The last one I dated, Meredith, seemed hurt that I didn’t care about her spats with her friends.”
“Huh?”
“Over brunch, she told me about how her friend’s orchids didn’t match the china she had set out for tea, and when her friend came to tea at her own house, her ivy decorations matched everything. Inane, right? So stupid in every way. I can see I’ve already lost you in this lame story, but that’s how it goes. That’s how boring Meredith was.”
I giggle hard, “She sounds very particular.”
He grins.
“If you mean particular as in particularly dull, then yes. I don’t know how to fake being interested in crap like that.”
I nod happily.
“I never mastered it either. Mom’s into that kind of social climbing, and it bores me to tears.”
He nods. “Yes, I remember Catherine Marshall. She probably would have been best friends with Meredith, come to think of it.”
I cock my head at Gray.
“I know you, Mom and Dad all met at college, but did you like Catherine? I guess I never asked before.”
Gray thinks for a moment, choosing his words carefully. He’s so handsome that I can barely breathe, and yet I’m all ears, waiting for his answer.
“Let’s just say your dad has always liked pretty things and Catherine was one of those things. She seemed okay before they were married but people change with time. Or maybe it was that her act got tiring after a while, and Brent didn’t want to put up with it anymore.”
I nod.
“Yeah, that sounds like my mom. She was always bugging me to join the Junior League, but not to help people. She only wanted me to be a member so that I could social climb and act catty to other women.”
Gray nods, still thoughtful.
“That would be the Catherine I remember. Do you still see her?”
I shake my head.
‘Not much. I mean, after the divorce, she wasn’t really interested in me and Dad anymore. So I don’t think I’ve heard from her for four or five years now.”
“Shit,” Gray whistles. “That’s cold.”
I swallow hard.
“Yeah, but it doesn’t bother me the way it used to. She gets a hefty alimony payment from my dad each month. As a result, Catherine’s free as a bird, and I’d just be holding her back.”
Gray shakes his head.
“I’m sorry, honey.”
“No, don’t be,” is my bright reply. “But how did you meet my dad? I know it was in college, but he never told me the details.”
He smiles, and I catch my breath at his animal magnetism.
“Funny you’d ask. When I went to college, I wasn’t much of a joiner, but this one frat always had the best parties according to everyone. So I went to one of them to judge for myself, and some drunk asshole spilled his drink on me. I went hunting for a bathroom, and then a different asshole fell into the hallway and almost landed on me. Before I had a chance to yell at anyone, another guy stopped forward and said the asshole in the hallway had tried to attack a drunk sleeping girl in that room. So we took turns beating the shit out of that guy.”
I stare at him.
“And …?”
“My partner in crime was your dad,” Gray says simply. “We pounded that kid to a bloody pulp, and I’ve never regretted it.”
I gasp.
“Holy cow. That’s insane. You guys were really violent back then.”
He smiles and puts his drink down, his motions deliberate.
“We were,” he acknowledges. “But we were young men then, and it was a different time and age. Now, there are cameras everywhere,” he says. “Who knows if we would have done the same today?”
At the mention of cameras, my cheeks flush again because I sense that we’ve come to the meat of this conversation. Slowly, I put my drink down too and look deep into Gray’s blue eyes. I feel as if I’m falling into a vortex and being pulled into something deep, dangerous and exciting.
“What do you want from me?” I whisper. “Is there something I can do to make up for my transgression this morning? I swear, I’ll do anything you like, Uncle Gray.”
His answering smile is ravenous, and my thighs clench with need.
5
Gray
“Anything?” I ask, one black brow raised.
The beautiful girl swallows heavily.
“Anything,” Harlow says in a whisper, looking at me with those innocent caramel eyes. “I’m so sorry about what happened this morning. I promise it won’t happen again.”
I chuckle, but it comes out sounding like a harsh bark.
“Funny you’d say that, sweetheart, because I was hoping it would happen again. With me in the same room, in fact. Would that be something you’d enjoy?”
For a moment, I think that Harlow’s going to run screaming. After all, I’m a
