Chapter Seventeen

Grey stirred sugar into his coffee. What he’d give to have his father suggest that they pour up something from the corner bar and sit in the living room or on the deck to continue their talk. But of course, his father wouldn’t because this wasn’t just any conversation. It was an interrogation.

His father took a sip from his coffee cup then set it down. “So, you’re finally ready to join us?”

And so it begins… “I am.”

“Any particular reason?”

“I felt it was time.”

As his father drank his coffee, his gaze shifted momentarily to where Cori had been sitting. “All right. Explain to me how your experience as a DJ will contribute to the company and help us meet our goals.”

His father had upended the weekend for them to have the equivalent of an interview? They could have done that over the phone or his father should have let his assistant handle it like everything else.

Grey caught the glimpse of dismissal in his dad’s eyes. Did his father believe he didn’t have what it took to help manage the company? As a DJ, he was a solo entrepreneur. He’d created his business plan, set up and achieved his financial goals, negotiated deals, collaborated on projects, developed his marketing platform, and done everything else in between as the CEO of his own enterprise.

As Grey laid it all out, his father’s look of dismissal turned into one of interest. By the time he’d outlined his goals in terms that lined up with Latham Reeves’s financial reports and minutes from the company’s quarterly and annual meetings that he’d read faithfully since college, he’d gained his father’s full attention. And as he listened to himself recite his resume to his father, well-deserved pride swelled inside of him.

When Grey finished answering his dad’s questions, his father studied him. “It sounds like your past experiences will line up with the company’s objectives. But being a part of the executive team at Latham Reeves is also a collaborative effort. It requires management as well as mentoring skills. It doesn’t sound like you’ve done much of that.”

Liam’s face flashed in Grey’s mind. He’d managed people and mentored others along the way, but he’d spent the most time with Liam. A quick hit of despair silenced Grey.

His father continued, “Putting in some hours at the properties would be the best place for you to start. That’s where your cousins started, but they did it while they were in college. A day-to-day training view would be a good way for you to learn and give you peer credibility. We’ll strategize to determine how to bring you up to par.”

Up to par… From the amount of As on his report cards to the number of touchdowns he’d made as a wide receiver in high school to his choice to go to a college where his family didn’t have connections to his refusal to join Latham Reeves—he’d never met his father’s expectations. And that was just the short list.

Grey pushed away his coffee, and his father stood, signaling their brief dinner had come to an end.

They reached the kitchen. The chef had already tidied up and departed the scene.

Cori wasn’t in the living room or on the deck. Maybe she’d gone upstairs or for a walk on the beach?

Grey turned to his father who was preparing to leave. “I’ll find Cori so you can tell her good-bye.”

“You can tell her for me. I need to get to the airport.”

Grey shook his father’s hand. “Have a good flight.”

His father gave him a nod. “I’ll be in touch. Soon.”

As Grey watched his dad get into to the four-door, black car that was beside his rental and drive off, a light rain sprinkled down in contrast to the still bright evening sky.

Grey shut the door, but barely contained restlessness remained with him in the room. Joining his family’s company was still the right move, wasn’t it? Intensifying restlessness answered. If he was back in Austin, he would have practiced a new set or put in his earbuds, turned up the music, and immersed himself in sound as he went for a long run. Or he could run on the beach now. The sun shower was still pretty light.

Just as he’d started to envision the steady wash of the waves and the solid hit of his feet on wet sand taking over his mind, lightning flashed and thunder boomed, and the rain started falling faster.

Cori. Where was she? Upstairs? Hopefully she wasn’t somewhere on the beach.

Just as he was about to call her name to see if she was in the house, the sliding door opened on the other side of the room, and Cori rushed in, still in her dress and holding her shoes in her hand.

Laughing and out of breath, she slid the door shut. “I just made it. I went for a walk and ended up farther from the house than I’d realized. On the way back, it started raining, so I had to run the rest of the way.” Suddenly, she sobered and glanced around. “Is your father still here?”

“No. He already left.”

“Sorry, I missed him.”

He wasn’t. He was so happy to see this Cori again, the one caught up in the thrill of life. He knew her well from years ago, but since they’d been together over the past couple of weeks, this was the first glimpse he’d really caught of her.

Maybe it was selfish of him, but he wanted to capture some of her happiness as his own without anyone or anything getting in the way, including his own thoughts about the past or the future.

Grey walked over to Cori where she stood near the back of the couch. The sweet fragrance of her perfume mixed with the smells of rain and the ocean. Her body heat seeped into his pores, consuming him and luring him closer.

“Hard meeting with your dad, huh?” She stared up at him with true concern in her eyes as she laid a hand on his chest. “I had the chef save some dessert for you.” She smiled. “It’s so good, you’ll forget about everything after the first taste.”

A vision flared in his mind of her writhing under him as he lapped at the folds of her pussy.

The lust in his veins nearly blinded him to the red dot on a disk almost camouflaged in the corner of the ceiling. He took out his phone, pulled up the security app, and muted the essential hardware.

“Is there something wrong with the security system?” Cori asked.

He tossed the phone on the couch. “Cameras.”

As Grey closed the distance between them and took hold of her hips, a dawn of realization came over her face. When her mouth formed a soft O, it made his cock fill even more, and his balls grew heavier with the memory of the way her lips had fit so snugly around him that morning at her apartment. Cori’s eyes slightly widened, and her pulse flickered in her throat.

Jagged edges of need and frustration were riding him. He could only imagine what she viewed in his eyes. Whatever it was, it didn’t make her back away.

She dropped her shoes, curved her hand to his nape, and pulled him down for a kiss.

Grey plunged his tongue into the lushness of her mouth. Stroking. Tasting. Demanding she give him more. And she didn’t refuse him. As her tongue tangled and curled with his, she wound her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him.

His heart pounded in his ears as blood rushed inside of him, making him so hard he ached.

Breaking from her mouth, he trailed kisses down her throat and unzipped her dress.

As she peeled the fabric from her breasts and pulled it to her waist, he dropped to his knees and dragged it down her legs along with her bikini panties.

Cori freed one foot from the dress puddled on the rug along with the scrap of lace, but he couldn’t wait.

He settled between her thighs. As she grasped the back of the couch for support, he urged one of her legs over his shoulder.

Holding onto her hips, he darted his tongue inside of her and groaned. She was already wet for him. Want heightened, and he grasped her tighter. Gliding his tongue through her folds, he went back in, spearing deeper into her slick channel.

“Oh…Grey.” Hearing his name, feeling her body quiver, he lost himself in Cori giving herself to him.

He sucked her clit, and she gripped his shoulders, trembling harder and crying out his name in ecstasy. As her essence bathed his tongue, he continued to pleasure her until her knees gave out. His long last lick before moving away made her shiver and gasp.

Unrelenting need drove him to his feet, and he stripped off his shoes and clothes. Then he went to reach for her, but Cori stalled him with a hand to his chest. “Protection. There’s a condom in my purse in the bag.”

How could he have forgotten? As he rummaged through her green bag in the side chair, Cori tossed a woven blue throw and some of the pillows from the couch to the rug.

Luckily, the red package was easy to find. He put on the condom and turned back to her. The breathtaking site of Cori, laying on the throw surrounded by pillows, made him pause. How had he gotten lucky enough to have her in his life twice?

Grey joined her on the floor and took his place between her thighs. Her soft caress up his arms to his shoulders and back slowed him down. As he eased into her sex, her pussy enveloped and squeezed around his shaft, inch by inch.

Once again, unadulterated need consumed him, and soon, the roll of his hips became ones he could barely control. Cori’s nails dug into his back, and she tightened her legs around his waist. As he drove in deeper, her sex clasped tighter around him, and a look of pleasure washed over her face. The force of her climax rocked him, taking away the anger and frustration he felt toward his father. He let it go and allowed his own pleasure to wash over him, taking in what he needed, what he craved…and had always only found in Cori.

…

With the blue throw wrapped and tucked above her breasts, Cori carried two glasses of icy lemonade to the back deck.

Grey sat on the wicker couch wearing only his slacks, staring at the beach.

The rain had stopped. Starlight and moonbeams twinkled on the water, and a cool breeze blew in from the ocean.

She handed him a glass then sat beside him. As he wrapped his free arm around her, she tucked her feet up underneath her and snuggled closer to him.

Gas flames leaped in the round firepit. He’d lit it so she wouldn’t get cold, but there was no danger of that. He was toasty warm.

A comfortable silence sat between them that she didn’t want to interrupt, but she had to find out what their sexual encounter in the living room was all about. Yes, lust had a lot to do with it, but she’d also viewed torment in his eyes.

She’d told him that she only wanted something casual between them, but that didn’t mean she didn’t care if he was hurting or that she was good with him walling up his feelings or thoughts from her.

As he was about to sip from his glass, Grey caught her staring at him. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“What’s wrong? And please don’t say nothing.”

He smiled, but his expression was slightly guarded. “Why are you asking?”

She should have also told him he wasn’t allowed to answer a question with a question. “What happened with us in the living room earlier… I think dinner with your father kicked it off.”

“And what about you in that dress?” He nuzzled her neck. “You looked really good.”

She planted her hand on his chest and leaned away. “I’m serious. Talk to me.”

Grey sighed, put his glass on the wicker table beside him, and looked down at the flames.

Just as she was about to give up and leave, he spoke. “My father wants me to learn about the company from the bottom up.” He said it with a hint of a mocking authoritative tone.

“What does that mean exactly?”

“With my father, who knows? With me, he always takes things to the extreme. When I was eight, and he found out I was good in math, he hired tutors to train me, so I could become a mathlete. With football, it wasn’t just about the game. For him, it meant I had to attend some training camp for kids trying to reach the pro level. The fact that I was good at something was never enough for him. I always had to be better. I think one of the reasons I became a DJ was because I knew he wouldn’t get involved. He viewed it as a waste of potential. He still does.”

Listening to what Grey described about his relationship with his dad was like hearing a strange foreign language she couldn’t comprehend. “So, by asking you to join the company, you believe he has the same ulterior motive?”

“Of course, he does. I can’t just join the company the way I want to. He has to have a hand in steering my career. Knowing him, he already has my next steps planned out, all the way to me taking over for him. He mentioned bringing me up to par in mentoring and management.” Grey released a bitter chuckle. “I’m sure if I told him how well I’d mentored Liam, he’d change his mind about me joining the company.”

This time, she couldn’t ignore the lingering questions. “Liam. What happened to him?”

During the long pause, Grey shifted his gaze to the ocean. “Liam had been partying with friends at his apartment. Apparently, he was so drunk, he didn’t know what he was doing. Someone noticed he’d taken a prescription bottle from his bathroom. It was Oxy, legitimately prescribed after he’d hurt his back snowboarding over a year ago. He had some left that he hadn’t taken. They took the bottle from him before they left, but they didn’t check his pockets for pills. It was an accidental overdose.”

The pained expression on Grey’s face made her hurt for him. “I’m so sorry.” She laid her hand on this thigh.

Grey took her hand in his and stared down at them as he intertwined their fingers. “Two days before it happened, he’d really been on my mind. He’d missed a meeting, and that wasn’t like him. But we’d already talked about it, so I didn’t go back to see him before I left or call him. I’d planned to do it when I got back from playing at a club in Atlantic City. His hand reflexively tightened. “If I had just gone to see him, he might be alive today. Liam just wasn’t just someone I’d mentored. He was my friend. And I failed him.”

“No.” Cori put her other hand over their intertwined ones. She searched for the right words to comfort him, but it was so hard to know what to say in situations like this, especially since she’d never been through it. “It was an accident. You couldn’t have known the worst would happen. Otherwise, you would have been there. I know you don’t see it now, but celebrating his talent, the talent you helped bring out in him, and the moments he really lived is more important than blaming yourself for how he died.”

Grey blinked rapidly and cleared his throat. “Can we change the subject?”

He’d opened up to her. Pressuring him for more or coddling him would just shut Grey down again. Cori leaned against him and laid her head on his shoulder. “Sure, but if you ever want to talk, I’m here.”