Best Man for Hire (Entangled Lovestruck) (Front and Center) (12 page)

You don’t own any dress shirts, idiot.

Probably needed to remedy that before Sheri’s wedding.

“Anna?” he called, heart pounding as he rounded the corner to the kitchen. That’s when he realized there was no scent of coffee in the air. His coffee cup was right where he’d left it, untouched.

Wait, it had definitely been touched. He peered at the note. A scrawl of loopy, girlie handwriting filled the space beneath his words. He picked up the note and read.

Grant, Thank you for the kind gesture, but I’m afraid I’m not much of a coffee drinker. I know I can lose my Portland residency for that, but I’m more of a hot tea kind of girl. I’m heading out to find some, then off to an early meeting with your mom and sister. Let’s catch up later to talk about the paintball wedding.

There was a string of
xoxoxoxo
and Grant tried to remember which one was the sign for hugs and which one for kisses.

It doesn’t matter, idiot. You don’t deserve any of them.

He crumpled the note and trudged down the hall to wash the scent of her off his skin.

…

Anna glanced at her watch, relieved to see she was ten minutes early. Janelle plunked down in the seat beside her, her coffee cup clattering in its saucer as she stirred in a giant spoonful of sugar.

“They’re not here yet, so dish,” Janelle whispered. “Did you sleep with him? How was he? Did you come?”

“Shh!” Anna looked around the coffee shop, grateful no one had turned to stare. She looked back at her sister and shook her head. “His mom and his sister will be here any minute. You really think this is the right time to discuss Grant’s prowess in the sack?”

“Good point,” Janelle said, blowing on her coffee. “We should wait till they get here. They’ll probably want details, too.”

Anna flipped open her wedding notebook and glared at her sister. “What makes you so sure I slept with him? Maybe he just played nursemaid to me all night and made sure I didn’t have any reactions to the centipede bite.”

“Please. I saw the way that man looked at you all day. Like you were a gooey Danish and he’d been starving for a week.”

“Thank you for that image.” Still, Anna couldn’t help but smile a little at the thought.

“So tell me all about it,” Janelle said. “He looks like he’d be amazing in the sack.”

Anna tried to look stern, but the corners of her mouth turned up completely against her will. Janelle squealed and elbowed her in the ribs.

“I knew it! He’s totally hot. And definitely not the type to try to railroad you into marriage and babies and all that other shit you don’t want.”

“Right,” Anna said, digging out her clicky pen and two notebooks packed with information about Sheridan Patton’s wedding plans. “He’s definitely not that type.”

She kept her eyes on the notebook, ignoring the funny feeling in her gut as she picked up her Earl Grey and took a sip. Janelle stirred some more creamer into her coffee and sighed.

“Good for you knowing exactly what you want and going after it. Or what you
don’t
want, I guess I should say. Just give me a little dirt, Anna-Banana—was he rough and dirty, or sweet and gentle?”

Anna bit her lip and tried not to smile.

“Both?” Janelle clapped her hands together with glee. “I knew it. He’s perfect in bed, too?”

“Shh!” Anna glanced to the left, then to the right, hoping like hell no one could hear them. “His mom and sister will be here any minute.”

“What? Every mother wants to know she raised her son to be a considerate lover who’s attentive to his partner’s orgasm.”

“Who’s attentive to his partner’s orgasm?”

Anna closed her eyes and willed the ground to swallow her up. Beside her, Janelle whispered, “Oops,” and slunk down in her chair.

Opening her eyes, Anna stood up and turned to greet Grant’s sister, mother, and the maid of honor. It was the latter who stood beaming at Anna, waiting for a response to the question.

“Kelli,” Anna said, giving her old friend a hug and a subtle death glare before turning to greet the bride and her mother. “Can I get you ladies anything? Coffee? Tea?”

“The skinny on who you slept with,” Kelli said, plunking down in a chair beside Anna and grinning. “You’re sitting down to breakfast with a newlywed and a soon-to-be newlywed, which means we’re pretty much sex obsessed. Come on, dish a little so we can hear about someone’s sex life besides our own.”

Sheri rolled her eyes at her best friend’s brazenness as she gave Anna a warm hug. Anna glanced at the mother of the bride, who looked surprisingly unruffled by the discussion. Catching Anna’s look of alarm, Stella waved a hand in the air.

“Please, dear. With Kelli as my daughter-in-law, you don’t honestly think I’m offended by a little frank discussion of human sexuality? Besides, I raised all my sons and daughter to be comfortable with the subject and the way their bodies function.”

“She used G.I. Joe and my Wonder Woman action figure to act out scenes from
How Babies are Made
,” Sheri said helpfully, signaling the waitress for a cup of coffee as she sat down beside Kelli. “Wonder Woman held on to her battle-ax the whole time, and G.I. Joe had an AK-47 strapped to his back.”

“This explains a lot about Patton sexuality,” Kelli said, grabbing a sugar packet from the middle of the table as the waitress began pouring coffee all around. Anna placed a hand over her teacup so she wouldn’t be added to the lineup of coffee refills. “I have finally gotten Mac to remove the ankle holster before coming to bed, so that’s progress,” Kelli continued. “Of course he almost lost a toe the other day when the knife he’d stashed behind our headboard came crashing down as he tossed me on the bed. Note to all women bedding Patton men: frisk them well before you take your clothes off.”

Anna swallowed and struggled to come up with a good way to change the subject. She clicked her pen at a frantic pace, her other palm sweating as she pressed it against the cover of her notebook. Beside her, Janelle made a feeble effort to divert the conversation.

“The weather sure is nice today. Do you think—”

“There is a certain glow about you this morning, Anna,” Stella said, eyeing her up and down over the rim of her coffee cup. “Either you’re coming down with something, or merely coming. Which is it, dear?”

“Mom!” Sheri rolled her eyes and shot Anna a sympathetic look. “You’ve been spending too much time with Kelli. Can we please not badger my wedding planner about her sex life?”

“Very well, dear,” Stella said, glancing at Anna once more. She sipped her coffee again and offered a coy smile. “But don’t think for a moment I didn’t notice the fragrance of my son’s favorite body wash emanating from your person. Now, is everything all squared away with the floral arrangements?”

Anna opened her mouth to reply, her cheeks flaming as she flipped through the notebook to find the right page. Beside her, Kelli was practically bouncing in her seat.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” she called, making a T with one hand perpendicular atop the other. “Time out here. Anna, you’re sleeping with Grant?”

Janelle grinned and bounced right along with Kelli. “If this is all out in the open now, do we at least get to know details?”

“Oh, for the love of God.” Anna dropped her pen on the table and covered her face with her hands. “Please say we’re not really having this conversation in front of my client, her maid of honor, and the mother of the bride who won a military medal for marksmanship.”

“Three medals, dear,” Stella said. “But that’s beside the point. I can’t say I’m terribly surprised. Grant did seem awfully taken with you when I spoke with him on the phone a few days ago.”

“He mentioned me?” Anna pried her hands away from her face and blinked at Stella, her urge to know details overpowering her urge to crawl under the table. “What did he say?”

“Just that he was quite looking forward to doing some photography work with Sheridan’s wedding planner, and that he enjoyed your company over dinner the other night. Obviously, I wasn’t aware of the extent to which he enjoyed it, but it all makes sense now.”

Anna swallowed, studying Stella’s face for any sign of judgment or anger. There was none, which didn’t necessarily mean anything. The Patton family was notoriously difficult to read.

“He’s a truly talented photographer,” Anna said, picking up her pen again. “The images he captured yesterday are breathtaking.”

“Sounds like that’s not the only thing Grant’s got that’s taking your breath away,” Kelli said, grinning. “Seriously, those hands. Stella, did you take some sort of performance-enhancing drugs during pregnancy to ensure your sons all had hands the size of catcher’s mitts?”

Janelle giggled. “You know what they say about men with big hands.”

“And I can assure you it’s true,” Kelli said, lifting her coffee mug in a mock toast while Stella regarded her new daughter-in-law like some sort of colorful exotic bird.

Stella took another sip of coffee, then turned back to Anna. “So when you saw him this morning, did he happen to mention if he reached Schwartz?”

“Schwartz?” Anna shook her head, not sure whether to press for information or to feel guilty for intruding on Grant’s personal life more than she already had. It wasn’t every day she followed up a passionate romp by having breakfast with the man’s entire tribe of female relations. “We, uh, didn’t cross paths this morning. He got up early to run, and I had to leave before he got back so we could make it to this meeting.” Anna swallowed and pushed her notebook across the table. “So if you’ll look here at page thirty-six, these are the flowers we’ll be—”

“Grant’s asking Schwartz to come?” Sheri flashed a hopeful smile at her mother. “Wow, it’s been years. I’m not even sure I’d recognize him.”

“I wouldn’t get my hopes up, dear,” Stella said, patting her daughter’s hand. “Still, if anyone can talk him into it, it’s Grant.”

Anna felt an odd swell of pride that made zero sense. Grant wasn’t hers, and she had no idea what they’d been talking about. Still, she couldn’t resist the urge to pry just a little. “Grant and Schwartz are close?”

“They were inseparable as kids,” Sheri said, looking a little wistful. “Not as much after Schwartz’s accident.”

“Accident?”

“His Humvee hit an IED in Iraq,” Stella said, looking down at her hands. “Schwartz’s entire unit was killed, and he was badly injured. Still walks with a bit of a limp when he’s anyplace humid, but other than that, he ultimately recovered—physically, anyway.”

“Emotionally, he’s the human equivalent of an iceberg,” Sheri added. “He’s basically a hermit. None of us even knows where he’s living right now.”

“Except for Grant,” Anna added, and Stella nodded.

“But even that connection is shaky at best.” Her usual stoic expression had been replaced by something more maternal, more haunted. Anna ached to reach across the table and squeeze her hand, but she held back.

Sheri pulled the notebook in front of her and pressed her palm against a page containing photos of colorful floral arrangements. “It would be great if Schwartz made it to the wedding, but I won’t hold my breath.”

“At least you know he’ll send a gift,” Kelli offered. “I’ve never even met the guy and he sent flowers for my birthday last month, plus he found out where we were honeymooning in Greece and had a gift certificate waiting in our hotel room so we could take a romantic sunset cruise.”

“All my kids are thoughtful,” Stella said proudly. “And excellent shots.”

“Huh,” Anna said, trying to imagine this mysterious, reclusive brother and connect the dots between Grant’s cheerful Boy Scout demeanor. It made no sense. Then again, control-freak Mac didn’t seem to have much in common with either brother.

Still, something told her there was more to this story. And maybe it was connected to Grant’s incessant need to be perfect.

“Well, Stella,” Anna said brightly. “You’ve certainly bred a diverse batch of offspring.”

“You don’t know the half of it, dear.” Stella smiled and signaled the waitress for more coffee. “And they’re proving to have entertaining choices in mates.”

Her gaze held Anna’s for a few beats longer than comfortable. Anna swallowed and looked away, flipping open a blank notebook and scribbling a single word in the margin.

Desiderium
she wrote, reminding herself to google the title Grant had given to that file full of photos.

She took a deep breath and clicked her pen again.

Chapter Eleven

Grant watched Anna as she handed an envelope to the caterer and said farewell. She was covered from head to toe with splotches of red and blue paint, and her hair stuck to the sides of her flushed cheeks.

He’d never seen a more beautiful woman in his whole life.

He fired off a final shot and stuffed his camera back in its bag. Zipping it up, he strode over to her and smiled. “You look like you could use a shower.”

She grinned and looked down at herself. “I wasn’t planning to get involved in the paintball portion of the ceremony, but it looked like too much fun.”

“Can’t say I blame you. I almost wish you hadn’t instituted a don’t-shoot-the -photographer rule.”

“It’s a rule I insist on at all my weddings,” she said. “Along with ‘don’t pet the badgers’ and ‘don’t startle the sword swallower.’”

“Good rules to have,” Grant said, thinking how much he’d like to pull her into the shower and press her up against the wall, cupping her soapy breasts from behind as he drove into her and—

“Have you ever done that before?” she asked.

“What?” Grant swallowed, wondering for a moment if she’d read his thoughts.

“That,” she said, pointing out across the river beyond the wedding site. A pair of standup paddleboarders glided slowly across the water, their paddles making ripples on the surface of the Wailua. “I’ve always wanted to try that,” she said. “It looks like so much fun.”

“It just so happens I have two boards at home.”

“Two?”

He shrugged. “I bought an extra so my brother can join me when he visits.”

“Schwartz?”

The word hit him like a punch in his gut, and it took him a couple beats to catch his breath. “No, Mac. Schwartz doesn’t visit.”

Her cheeks pinkened a little at that, and she glanced away. “Sorry, of course. Your mom and sister were talking the other morning about Schwartz. Is he coming to the wedding?”

Grant swallowed and shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. My mom asked me to invite him, but—” Grant cleared his throat again. “Come on. You can shower at my place while I grab the boards out of storage. I’ll have you paddling like a pro in no time.”

“Really?”

“Sure. You’re done here, right?”

“Pretty much. Janelle volunteered for cleanup duty again, so I just need to pay the DJ and say good-bye to the bride and groom.”

“Go do that and I’ll pull the car around.”

Anna grinned and looked down at herself. “I don’t think you want me on your upholstery with all this paint on my clothes.”

“Good point. You should take them off.”

She rolled her eyes. “Nice try.”

“Okay, fine. I have a tarp in back we can use to cover the seats.”

“You take the Boy Scout motto pretty seriously,” she said, stepping away from him as she waved to the bride. “Be prepared.”

“Not always,” Grant murmured, watching her walk away from him as he considered how very unprepared he was to have Anna in his life. How unworthy of having someone willing to trust him with her darkest secret when he couldn’t do the same for her.

Once she’d bid farewell to the wedding party and climbed into the car, Grant drove back to his place. Back at the house, he fought the urge to join her in the shower and fulfill his soapy fantasies. He wanted nothing more than to slide into the shower beside her, to let his hands slick over her breasts and hips and ass.

But something told him to keep his distance. He’d seen the look in her eye, and he’d felt the stirring of something sharp and terrifying in himself.

Keep your distance. Don’t fall for her, dumbass.

So Grant busied himself getting the paddleboards out of storage while Anna stripped off her paint-stained clothes and climbed naked and beautiful into the shower. Or at least that’s what Grant imagined. He imagined it so thoroughly that he was half-hard by the time she emerged from the bathroom.

He was fully hard the instant he saw her in a bikini.

“Jesus.”

Anna laughed and did a small pirouette. “You like it? I wasn’t sure red was my color, but I got it on sale before the trip. It’s a little skimpier than I’d normally wear, but Janelle insisted.”

“God bless your sister.”

She grinned and closed the distance between them. His hand went around her automatically, pressing into the small of her back where a small tattoo of a goldfish swam across her spine. She stood on tiptoe to kiss him, and Grant kissed her back, hating how traitorously his body craved her, even while his brain was screaming at him to keep his distance.

Thankfully, Anna was first to draw back.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to get all relationshipy on you. I appreciated how we kept things professional at the wedding. I just wanted a kiss.”

“Not a problem,” Grant said, wondering if he should kiss her again or run like hell.

“Come on. I’m excited to learn to standup paddle. Are we going out on the ocean right out here?”

“No, it’s too rough here. Hanalei Bay is perfect, especially this time of day. I’ve already got the boards on the roof rack, and it’s only a twenty-minute drive.”

“Excellent!” she called, and skipped off ahead of him, her flip-flops smacking the ground while his heart did the same against his rib cage.

They talked easily all the way to Hanalei, with Grant pointing out landmarks and favorite restaurants and Anna chattering about his sister’s wedding. “It’s coming together nicely,” she said, brushing her red-gold hair behind her ears. “I think your mom felt a little ripped off when Mac and Kelli decided to go for a spur-of-the-moment, family-only kinda wedding, so she’s making sure Sheri’s wedding is a grander affair. Your sister’s been great to work with, by the way. Super down-to-earth and not the least bit bridezilla.”

“My sister’s pretty easygoing,” Grant said. “She probably had to be, growing up with so many brothers.”

“Who was she closest to?” Anna asked.

Grant felt tension prickle his arms as he scouted for a parking spot. “I was the youngest by eleven months, so she mostly saw me as the baby. Well, at least until high school when I grew a foot taller and started bench-pressing her as a stunt at family barbecues. And Mac—well, he was a lot older than the rest of us. He left home right away and spent a lot of time overseas with military operations. You know Mac—he’s not exactly the warm and cuddly teddy-bear type.”

“Like you?” she asked, grinning at him. “That’s exactly the phrase Kelli used to describe you before we ever met—the big-teddy-bear brother.”

Grant smiled, keeping his eyes on the road. “I’m not sure whether to be flattered or take it as an insult to my masculinity.”

“No insult intended. Teddy bears are sexy.”

“I’ll try not to think about that the next time I buy one for my nephews.”

Anna laughed as Grant angled into a parking spot. “So Schwartz? That’s who Sheri was closest to?”

Grant swallowed and pulled the parking break. “I guess so. When we were younger, anyway. Probably not as close as he and I were, but pretty close. I imagine it was tough for her being the only girl.”

She studied him, and Grant focused on not blinking, not showing any signs of discomfort. When she nodded, he felt a twinge of relief. “Just trying to get a read on the family dynamic here.”

“Good luck with that,” he said, and pushed open his door.

He began unhooking the boards from the top of the car, while Anna busied herself grabbing the paddles he pointed out in the back of the rig. By the time they were out on the water’s edge, Grant was feeling hot and sweaty.

He was pretty sure it was the sun and not the sight of Anna moving around in that red bikini.

They carried the boards out into the water, and Grant showed her how to lay the paddle perpendicular across the front.

“Okay, you want to start out on your knees,” Grant said, demonstrating the position as he used one hand to hold her board steady.

“I find starting out on my knees usually helps speed things along,” she said, giving him a salacious grin. “Sorry, I’ve been spending too much time around Kelli.”

“Or too much time on your knees.” He grinned back. “Never mind, no such thing. Okay, brace the paddle across the front of the board like this. You can use that as a support system to get yourself standing upright, or you can stay down on your knees for a while to get used to the feel of being on the board.”

“No, I want to try standing,” she said, scrunching her face into a look of intense concentration as she followed his directions and got to her feet. She wobbled a little at first, then stood strong, her knees bent a little as she got her balance. “Hey, this isn’t as hard as it looks.”

“It’s harder in a bay like this than it is on a river or a lake,” he said, admiring her form. Well, admiring her body, too, but also her form. “You’ve got great balance.”

“Thanks. Fifteen years of yoga. Remind me sometime to show you how I can put my ankles behind my head.”

She gave him another grin, and Grant tried to decide if she was kidding or not. Probably not, he decided, watching the limber way she maneuvered on the board, starting to paddle before he even had a chance to show her how.

“You’re a natural,” he said, dipping his own paddle into the water to keep up with her. “Change your grip up like this and you’ll have more control.”

“Like this?”

“Perfect. And you want the blade of the paddle facing the other way. An easy way to remember is to always have the logo facing forward. It’ll give you more power on your stroke.”

“Got it,” she said, and mimicked his movements exactly. “Hey, this is fun.”

They paddled in silence for a bit, with Anna testing out different strokes and wobbling only a little when a small wave caught her board. Grant gave her a few more pointers and then dropped back, letting her get the hang of things on her own. She had a real knack for the sport.

He kept himself a few strokes behind her, admiring the curve of her backside and the scattering of tattoos on her body. He’d been too preoccupied to study them when he’d had her naked in his bed the other day. There was the feather on her ankle, a sunflower on her shoulder blade, the goldfish in the small of her back, and some more ink on the left side of her rib cage that must have hurt like hell.

“What’s the significance of the starfish?” he called, gesturing to her ribs as he angled his board past her.

“There’s this story about a guy walking down the beach and seeing a kid standing on the shore surrounded by all these starfish that have washed up on the beach,” she began, driving her paddle into the water to turn. “The guy walks up and says, ‘What are you doing?’ and the kid says, ‘I’m throwing starfish back in the water so they don’t die.’ The guy looks at him like he’s fucking crazy, right? ‘There are thousands of starfish here, and they’re drying out and dying in the sun as we speak. You can’t possibly make a difference.’” Anna drove her paddle into the water again, turning so she faced him. “The kid looks at him, picks up another starfish, and chucks it into the ocean. ‘Made a difference to that one.’”

Grant felt a prickle of emotion snake its way up his arms, and her gaze held his as she smiled. “I always liked that story,” she said. “I got the tattoo as a reminder never to lose sight of the small ways I can make a difference in people’s lives, whether I’m doing my job or going about my day-to-day life.”

“Wow,” Grant said, finding his words at last. “And you call me a Boy Scout. That’s pretty admirable. Great artwork, too.”

“Thanks!” she said, grinning as she switched sides with her paddle, driving the blade into the water to keep herself headed straight. “It’s my favorite of the four. Do you just have the one on your arm?”

“Yeah. Got it during basic training. It’s the Marine Corps emblem, along with some other custom details. I got it after my first tour.”

“Yeah?”

She seemed to be waiting for him to share more, but Grant didn’t want to go there. He’d rather hear about her.

He drove his paddle into the water, catching up to her easily. “I have to admit, I haven’t dated a lot of women with ink.”

She grinned and looked at him. “Are we dating? I thought we were just fucking.”

Grant lost his balance. He started to catch himself, swaying like a drunk guy in a bouncy house, but the wind caught him just right and down he went.

Splash!

The ankle leash on his board kept it from getting away, and the water only came up to his shoulders, but still. He came up sputtering to find Anna laughing so hard she was doubled at the waist.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to laugh.”

“Yes you do,” Grant said, spitting out a mouthful of saltwater as he grinned at her.

“You’re so easily shocked, I can’t help it.”

“I’m not normally,” he said, ducking under his board and resurfacing beside hers. “It’s the bluntness that gets me. You can fire a rocket launcher ten feet away and I swear I won’t flinch.”

“I’ll try to remember to pick up a rocket launcher the next time I’m at Walmart.”

Grant grinned and looked up at her legs. God, she was beautiful. He remembered the feel of those legs wrapped around his back and he wanted her all over again. Badly.

“For the record,” he said. “We’re not just fucking.”

“No?”

“No. I don’t know what we’re doing, exactly, but it’s more than that. We also have an excellent professional relationship.”

“Can’t argue with that,” she said, dipping her paddle in the water to hold the board steady. “Are you going to demonstrate how to get back up on your board?”

“Nope.” He reached up and caught her ankle. “I’m going to teach you how to fall.”

She shrieked with surprise as Grant tugged her leg. She toppled toward him, and Grant caught her easily with one arm, relishing the warmth of her body and the smell of her shampoo as she splashed, laughing against his chest.

“Jerk!” she yelled, her laughter contradicting any genuine annoyance.

“Sorry,” he said, not the least bit sorry. She felt damn good wet and wriggling in his arms. He let go of her with one arm and grabbed her paddle, setting it on top of his board beside his own so it wouldn’t get away. Her board was still tethered to her ankle, just like his was, so they weren’t going anywhere.