“Oh, Mom set up the table outside. There were too many people here for the dining room.” At the look on Grayson’s face, Mia clarified, “Only family, I swear.”
“Good,” Grayson replied as we walked toward the back of the house.
I stopped at the doorframe that led to the kitchen. “You have one!”
“What?” Grayson asked.
My fingers skimmed over the inked lines with dates and names. “Your heights. They’re all marked as you grew up.”
“Yeah?” Mia asked.
My cheeks warmed. “It’s just really cool to see you guys grow up in this house. It’s all right here. A family story.” I stood, my eyes prickling, and brushed imaginary lint off my dress. “You probably think I’m stupid.”
Grayson tilted my chin. “Mia?”
“Yes?”
“Leave.” He didn’t wait for her response, instead pressed me against that doorframe and kissed me breathless, tilting his mouth over mine to get the deepest, sweetest angle.
I was dizzy and ready to strip him by the time he finished. “What was that for?” I asked, unable to tear my eyes off his mouth.
“Now it has the next chapter of my story. I’ll never look at it again without thinking of the way you taste.”
Excuse me while my panties evaporate. I swallowed and tried to get my reaction under control.
“Grayson Masters!” his Mom called from the back of the house.
“Coming, ma’am,” he responded, but his eyes sparkled in a way I hadn’t seen since before the disaster of a party. Maybe kissing him was my best weapon, the key to keeping my Grayson in the world that demanded Gray.
“Your accent isn’t as strong as theirs.”
“My dad’s a northerner. I always tried to emulate him, so I guess mine was never as heavy.”
We walked onto the deck, and my hand tightened reflexively around Grayson’s. The family stood around a perfectly set beach-themed table, and Grayson led me to a set of empty chairs so I’d be sandwiched between him and Mia. He held out my chair and then pushed it in as everyone sat. His dad did the same for his mom.
Chivalry wasn’t dead in North Carolina.
“Sam, you remember my dad, Constance and her fiancé, Bryan”—he skipped two empty chairs—“Mom, and Parker, of course.”
“Hi.” I smiled, waving to everyone, especially Parker. She wasn’t getting the best of me tonight. I needed all my strength to deal with her brother later.
“Who are we missing?” Grayson asked.
“Sorry we’re late!” A couple in their mid-forties came up the porch steps behind us. The woman reminded me of a blond Gillian Anderson and the man looked like someone had permanently pinched a nerve…in his ass.
“Ian, Tess. We’re glad you made it,” Grayson’s dad welcomed them and motioned to the empty chairs. “How is Miranda?”
“A healthy girl! Amberly Grace.” Ian grinned. “We couldn’t be more thrilled.”
“You two should be celebrating.” Connie handed down a bottle of wine.
“Well, we wouldn’t miss a chance to see Gray, would we?” Tess smiled at Grayson as she accepted the bottle.
He nodded to them. “It’s good to see you.”
Maybe they were an aunt and uncle? Grayson took hold of my hand under the table. “Sam, these are the Bowdens. They’re very close friends of my parents and own the house next door.”
“As Grace’s parents,” Parker added with a smile, “they’re family. I figured they’d want to meet you, Sam, so I asked Mom if we could invite them.”
“Of course you’re always invited,” his mom agreed.
My stomach fell twenty feet to the patio below us. Of course Parker invited them. How better to slam it home that I wasn’t wanted in his life? Like today’s reminder hadn’t been enough? Grace was ingrained in every single detail of his life here.