Moment of Weakness (Embracing Moments Book 1) (15 page)

“Okay! Maybe there was a little licking.”

“I knew it!” She tossed her towel at me. “You dirty birdie. So how was it?”

“Good.” The memory of our kiss rushed to the center of my mind. “Great, actually.” It was definitely one of the best kisses I’d ever had. The way he stalked toward me and took what he wanted. His confidence alone turned me on that night. “But it doesn’t matter because it
won’t
be happening again.”

“Why not?” She pouted.

“He regretted it, Lace. He’s still regretting it. It’s why he took time off, he’s been avoiding me.” Walking over to the pool bar, I poured myself a lemonade and even added one of those cute little paper umbrellas. “You want one?” I asked Lacey, holding up my cup of sugary lemon goodness.

“Oh, yes, please.” She sat down in front of me, hands resting on the slate top of the bar. “How do you know he regretted it?”

I poured her a glass and sat down beside her. “It was all over his face. You should have seen the way he looked afterward, and then the next morning, he asked for time off. This is the first time I have seen him since.”

“Maybe you should talk to him. You’re both adults. If it was just in fact a kiss and it meant nothing, then you should both be able to move on from it.”

Was it
just
a kiss? Yes. It was. A kiss that didn’t mean anything. At least that is what I was going to keep telling myself.

“It doesn’t matter. It really didn’t mean anything, and it won’t be happening again. I meant it when I said I wasn’t ready to jump into anything.”

“Okay.” Lacey knew better than to argue with me when my mind was set. “If you don’t want to lick him anymore, can I?”

My face fell flat.

Lacey chuckled and batted her hand at me. “I’m kidding, Jules!” And I knew she was. Lacey was no Megan. She would never do that. Her smile straightened. “Do you really think that low of me?”

I shook my head. “No, of course not.”

She put her cup to her lips and took a sip. “Well, at least that proves it.”

“Proves what?” I asked curiously.

“The kiss was more than a kiss. Only something more can pull a reaction like the one you just gave.”

I frowned, letting out a heavy sigh. “I hate you, ya know that.”

Lacey grinned. “I love you too, Jules.”

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool, swimming, tanning, and drinking lemonade. Lacey didn’t bring up Roman again, and I was glad she didn’t. I had a hard time convincing myself how I felt about everything, and Lacey could see right through me. Roman remained in the guesthouse for the rest of the day, not coming out once. It made me wonder what he did in there. I knew it was furnished well. The guesthouse had an exercise room and a separate entertainment room stocked with endless movies and video game consoles. Dad made sure it was setup so whoever stayed there would have everything they needed. Something told me Roman wasn’t the type to spend hours on end in front of a flat screen. I pushed the thought aside and tried focusing on spending time with Lacey.

Once Lacey left for the day, I cleaned up the pool area and headed into the kitchen. Pulling the apple crumb pie from the refrigerator, I sat it down on the counter and cut a small slice for myself. I closed my eyes, relishing the taste of apple and cinnamon. There was nothing like a good apple pie, and Dad always seemed to have some on hand. I placed my fork down so I could close the lid. Turning around to place it back in the fridge, I jumped, dropping the pie to the floor.

“Julia, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Let me help you with that.” It was Grant. What was he doing here when my father wasn’t even home yet?

“It’s okay. I got it,” I said, bending down to clean up the mess. Grant knelt down anyway, his hand brushing against mine as we both reached for the empty pie container. I pulled mine away quickly. “My father’s not home yet. You know he doesn’t get home until five.”

“Yes. I’m fully aware of this. He asked me to come over so we can wrap up some loose ends on the gala.” I glanced over at the clock. It was four-thirty. Okay. Maybe he wasn’t here
that
early. Dropping the container in the trash, I walked over to the drawers with the folded towels and pulled a few out.

“How is it coming along?” I asked, trying to seem interested.

“Good. Everything is coming along just great.”

After running them under some warm water, I walked over and knelt back down, cleaning up the remaining pie on the floor. Grant watched me, and something in my stomach swirled in unease. I didn’t like this guy when my father was around, and I liked him even less without him here.

“That’s good,” I said, not looking at him. “I should really go change.” I stood up, and he stepped toward me. I was still in my white string bikini, and I wanted nothing more than to get away from him and put some clothes on.

His eyes rolled down my figure. “Please, don’t change on my account.” His lips quirked up into a grin. “You look beautiful in anything you wear.”

My stomach twisted and my esophagus burned from the slight bit of acid that made its way up my throat. I stood there unmoving at his words.

“Miss Parker, can I speak to you, please?”

I looked over. Roman stood in the doorway of the kitchen and patio. Darkness swirled in his eyes as he stared at Grant. I nodded, dropping the towels to the counter and then scurrying off into the living room.

“Keep going.” He placed his hand on my lower back, and a tingle ran down the back of my thighs. “Don’t stop until we get to your room.” I obliged, his fingers holding me hostage. As we neared my door, his hand dropped from my back. “Don’t come out until you’re fully dressed.”

“Excuse me?” I said, turning around to look at him. I had every intention of getting dressed, but I didn’t need him telling me what to do. The small glimmer of hope that he wanted to talk about Saturday night had disappeared. I crossed my arms over my chest. “It’s obvious you didn’t follow me up here to talk. Why are you even here?”

His eyes took me in coldly, his voice raising. “Part of my job is watching you when there are visitors in this house.” His nostrils flared. “You should have messaged me as soon as he came in.”

I shook my head in frustration. He was yelling at me like I had known Grant was even there. “Grant isn’t a stranger! He’s my father’s business partner.”

“Does your father know his business partner eyes his daughter like she’s some kind of cheap whore?”

My heart dropped to my stomach, and my eyes darted to his. “What did you just say?”

He tilted his head to the side, the realization of his own words hitting his face. “No, oh no. Don’t you even—” He tried to reach out for me and I flinched back. “Julia, I didn’t mean it like that!”

I gripped my arms tighter, trying to calm my trembling hands. It was too late. It didn’t matter how he meant it. It was how he said it. I stepped back into my room. “You’ll address me by Miss Parker like the rest of the staff. You got that?” My voice was low, demanding. He nodded, not taking his eyes from mine. I swallowed around the rock that formed in my throat and looked away, trying to hide my tear glazed eyes. “You know, he may have been looking at me like I was some cheap whore, but at least he didn’t make me feel like one.”

Roman winced. “Miss Parker, I”—I slammed my door—“I’m sorry.”

His voice was barely a whisper through the heavy oak. Leaning against it, I slid to the floor. Acid swirled in the pit of my stomach as I listened to the sound of Roman’s footsteps descending the stairs. I sat there until the feeling subsided and then walked over to my bed and picked my cell phone up. Scrolling through the contacts, I landed on the one I was looking for and pressed the call button. My father answered on the second ring.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Dad.” I pinched my eyes shut, trying to stop the tears from falling and took a deep breath. “It’s not too late to buy an extra plane ticket is it?”

I STOOD ON
my balcony, staring at the sky. It had officially been thirteen years since my mother’s death. You would think after so many years it wouldn’t hurt so much. There were days that were better than others, but that was just because I dealt with the pain. It was hard accepting the fact that there would never be answers to my questions, because the only person who could answer them wasn’t here.

The day started the same way it had for the past thirteen years. I showered, dressed, and then met my father and Theo in the kitchen for breakfast. Dad always cooked, making enough food to feed an army. Once we finished, we’d all help clean up and then pile in the car and take the long trip to the cemetery. It was a little over an hour drive. Dad wanted to bury her closer, but it was always my mother’s wish to be buried near her parents. So that’s exactly what my father had arranged. It made it harder visiting her grave, but I kind of hated doing that anyway. No matter how appealing the landscape was, there was nothing even remotely nice about a graveyard. They were just sad pieces of land where tons of people were buried. People who would eventually be forgotten. The only time you saw flowers at the older headstones were when they were donated by local flower shops.

Graveyards sucked. Period.

I didn’t need a tombstone to remind me she was gone, and I certainly didn’t need to visit one to talk to her. Stepping out of the car, I sucked in a deep breath and followed behind my father. We weaved through the hundreds of different style stones, some large and elegant, others small and simple, trying to find the one we had made just for her. It was like a maze. A maze my father knew by heart. Theo was beside me, one arm wrapped around my shoulder, my heart clenching as the large granite tombstone came into view. Thirteen years later and it was still one of the prettiest tombstones out here. The large gray headstone was carved with intricate detail. Flowers adorned the sides and in the center was a picture of a beautiful blue butterfly. My mother’s name
Grace Juliana Parker
was scrolled across the top and on the bottom was the quote my father and I had picked out together for her.

“Whisper a wish to a butterfly and it will fly up to heaven and make it come true.”

The quote seemed appropriate at the time, especially since she loved butterflies, but I didn’t believe in wishing. Not anymore. My father walked up to the headstone and laid down the large bouquet of pink roses. A tear rolled down his cheek as his fingers traced over my mother’s name. Theo pulled me closer, and I wrapped my arms around him. Burying my face into the softness of his black wool coat, I allowed it to catch the silent tears that rolled down my cheeks.

A good portion of the morning was spent at the graveyard. Each of us spent some alone time at her grave, and then regrouped to make our way over to the memorial park. It was located right next to the cemetery and was a place where you could plant trees in remembrance of your loved ones. The tree we planted for my mother had grown tall, making it hard to separate it from the others. The only sign it was in fact hers was the little metal plaque that rested on the ground in front of it. Once we were done, we stopped in town to have lunch and went back home. We sat together in the family room, watching home videos, and when it was too much to take, I came to my room.

I hadn’t seen Roman all day, and I didn’t want to. I assumed he’d be going home for a week anyway since I was going out of town with my father. A knock on my door echoed through my room.

“Come in!” I hollered over my shoulder. My father opened the door and joined me on the balcony.

“Do you have everything packed? Our flight leaves in a few hours, and I told Grant we’d meet him at the airport.”

My palms went clammy as I grabbed the railing in front of me. “Grant’s coming with us?”

Dread settled in my stomach. I hadn’t told my father what Grant said yesterday because I didn’t know what I should tell him. His words didn’t necessarily hurt me, but it was the way he looked at me that had me wanting to crawl out of my skin. When I called my father, I didn’t even consider that Grant would attend this business trip. I just wanted to get away, leave the house, and distance myself from Roman. Now I was forced with the decision to stay here with him or spend the week being near Grant.