Chapter Eight

Jack

“Dublin’s really pretty. I always thought it felt like I was taking a step back in time with these cobblestone streets. I remember coming here to visit my grandfather as a little girl and pretending I was in Shakespeare. Though London is more Shakespeare, isn’t it?” Grace asked, stopping and digging her heels into the street.

“Are you that shitefaced?” I asked, turning toward her. I didn’t expect her to look up at that exact moment, those brown eyes shining in the dim light of the street lamp. How had I never noticed the golden brown of them before she walked into my office?

She used to wear so much black eyeliner you couldn’t see her eyes.

Feck, she wasn’t that same girl anymore.

I pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Then I trailed the pad of my thumb down her jawline. I told myself I was going to keep things professional between us, no matter how much she maddened me. But when her smart mouth saved me from another bad date, I saw what a real gas she actually was. The more we drank, the more we talked, and I wondered how the hell I didn’t notice her sooner. Probably because I’ve always been an arsehole.

Maybe if I had, I wouldn’t be worrying so much about this inheritance clause. I mentally shook that out of my head. The woman barely tolerated me, and there was no way in hell I could even think like that about Sean’s friend and a board member’s daughter.

“Just because you got me drunk, doesn’t mean I’m going to sleep with you tonight,” she blurted.

I grinned. While that should have poured some cold water on the situation, it just made me want to push her even further. “First off, I think you and Fallon had a bit before I got there. Second, I would never take advantage of a drunk girl.”

She scoffed. “I only had one drink, thank you very much.”

I shook my head. “Well, must have been pretty strong then.”

She nodded, standing a little straighter. “It was just one. It was you and that whiskey. But I’m glad you’re walking me home after that and at least pretending to be a gentleman.”

I laughed. “One of us has to have manners. Wouldn’t want to get champagne all over our work clothes, now would we? Or maybe get into a fight with some girl at SFX because she called you a poser?”

“Oh stop,” she huffed, swatting my arm gently, but her fingers stayed on my bicep, curling around the hard muscle.

“If I remember correctly, Sean had to pull you off the girl and there was a lot of hair pulling. But you told your parents it was all Sean and he took the blame.”

She laughed, her grip tightening on my arm, which all the more made my whole body come alive. “Something like that.”

We stayed in a comfortable silence on the short walk to her flat.

I didn’t ask for permission but followed her up to the second floor. Opening the door, I turned on the light overhead. She followed, and I closed the door behind us.

I looked around the small living room that hadn’t changed much since Fallon moved out. Well, aside from the small metal crate near the curtained off bedroom area.

“Grace plopped down on the couch and kicked off her heels. “It feels weirdly empty without Janey here. Maybe I should call my mum to bring her back.”

“Drunk texting your mam isn’t a grand idea,” I said, plucking her phone from her hands and setting it on the table next to her.

Grace giggled, the first time I’d ever heard the pleasant sound come out of her. “You’re probably right. She would give me a lecture about drinking and fraternizing and whatever other big words I’d say if I weren’t too knackered to think of them.”

I nodded, trying not to laugh at how cute she was, grinning and half-laying, half-sitting on the couch. “Just head to bed and then see Jane in the morning.”

I should have turned and let her to go and left it at that. That was probably what a reasonable boss and somewhat friend would do. But instead, my curiosity and loss of my own inhibitions, had me looking around the room. My gaze stopped when I saw the silver doorway pull up bar still attached over the bathroom door.

I shook my head, thinking I would have to have a talk with Sean about leaving his stuff in the flat when he only stayed here for a few days.

Walking toward the doorway, I pulled the long pole from its attachment, wiggling the other bars to make sure they were fastened in place and not going to fall down as soon as someone walked through the door.

“You been working out?” I asked, turning to see Grace standing wide-eyed in front of me. How did she move so fast when she was just sinking into the couch?

She shook her head, her loose curls flowing against her shoulders. “I didn’t even know what that was. I figured it was something structural.”

Grinning, I took slow steps until we were toe to toe, the heat of her body wafting off of her and onto me. She sucked in a breath, her chest rising and falling against the top of her dress. “It’s a pull-up bar with a salmon ladder attachment.”

Dammit, why was I playing this game? Maybe it’s because she was easier to talk to when she was shitefaced and not trying to be anyone other than herself.

“A what?” she asked.

I didn’t think we’d end up back at her place. I never planned for any of this. But with her wide eyes and parted red lips, I thought I’d do at least a little explaining. And it would keep my hands busy instead of thinking about running them through her hair and wherever else I was desperate to let them roam.

Taking a few steps back to the doorway, I pulled off my dress shirt, leaving me in just a white undershirt. Her eyes roamed over the dips and curves of the shirt molding against my chest.

Feck. Why did she have to look at me like that?

I stood between the two bars then lifted my arms to position the pole in place. With a quick thrust of my hips, I jumped up, gripping the metal pole tightly as I went to the next rung.

“So you know a chin up?” I asked, dangling my legs in the air and rocking back and forth.

Her stare went from the curved V of my hips up to my eyes, blinking slowly. “Um. I haven’t done one of those since gym class in school, and even then, I don’t think I actually did one.”

I smirked and pulled up on the bar, my muscles constricting as I pushed the bar upward, letting out a grunt. “It’s a chin up with a little extra oomph.”

Her mouth hung open as I effortlessly jumped back to the floor and grinned in her direction.

“Yeah, I don’t think I can do that,” she muttered.

I motioned with one finger, keeping my face neutral so she wouldn’t know how badly I wanted to touch her. I was trying to be a gentleman, and if working out would get her sobered up and not have a massive headache in the morning, then I’d do it.

That’s what I told myself and ignored the panging deep in my chest with each little look she gave me.

“Come here.”

“You’re not going to try and hang me from there and do some weird BDSM thing, are you?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

I laughed, shaking my head and motioning again. “No. Just come here and let me show you how this works.”

She swallowed hard, then took a few steps forward. I put one hand on her hip, letting my fingers linger on the silky material of her dress. Feck, she smelled amazing. The sweet scent of vanilla, coffee, and the lingering whiskey on her breath was intoxicating.

I was going to be a gentleman. Being around her, just talking like we did at the pub, did something for my soul.

I just didn’t want that to end yet.

I turned her around so she was facing the bar. Then I stepped to the other side so I faced her.

“I’m going to lift you so you can hang and pull up,” I whispered, my lips to her ear, letting my mouth vibrate on the soft skin. She shivered slightly, a small gasp escaping her lips when I put both hands on her hips then lifted her with ease. She gripped onto the bar, breathing in shallow huffs.

“Now pull up, using your arms.” I kept my hands on her waist. Her dress slightly rose, giving me a view and feel of the creamy white skin of her thighs. All I could think about was how they’d feel wrapped around me. How I shouldn’t be here when she was in this state. So I kept my eyes on hers, not pushing.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” she whispered.

“A work out will help sober you up. You don’t want to feel like shite in the morning.”

“I’m not that knackered.” She pouted.

“Really? Because you were just about to call your mum to bring your dog, and then you giggled.”

“I said…I’m…not…that…shite…faced.”

She slowly dropped down and I had to grab her legs for support so she didn’t fall on her arse. Her hands went to my shoulders as I gazed into those deep golden brown eyes that had caught my attention from the moment I first saw her at the gala.

“Grace…” I warned.

“I’m not that knackered, not on the whiskey anyway, but possibly something else that has me feeling stupid enough to do this…”

She crushed her lips to mine and I held on to her, trying to fight the urge to take her right there. But I wasn’t going to go where my heated body was begging me to.

Then her tongue traced the bottom of my lip. A low growl emitted from deep in my throat and I opened my mouth to her.

She tasted better than I could have imagined with the whiskey and her sweet lip gloss. Her body pressed against mine, and I tried to think how I shouldn’t be there. How I should have gone home and been a gentleman. My heart and mind tugging me in two different directions.

I walked backward, carrying her across the room until I slowly leaned back onto the couch.

She straddled my lap. Her heated core pressed against my aching dick. If I wasn’t lost in lust before, now I was swimming in it.

But I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t shag a drunk girl, or my brother’s best friend and my employee for that matter. She broke our kiss, leaning back with a broad smile across her lips as she pulled off her dress, tossing it to the ground.

My gaze wandered briefly over her breasts spilling out of the lacy bra and the dips and curves that outlined her beautiful body. But then I clenched my fists at my side.

No. No. This was wrong. This was so very wrong.

“Grace…” I murmured, keeping my eyes on her face instead of where they wanted to roam.

I thought she would come back with a smart comment, but instead she squeezed her eyes shut, her body going rigid.

“Are you okay?” I asked. Maybe she really was sobering up and realizing this was a bad idea.

It was probably time I made my exit anyway, even though every part of my body was now on fire, adrenaline and anticipation coursing through me.

“I think I might throw up,” she said, covering her mouth and quickly running away.

I sprang from the couch and moved aside the pieces of workout equipment before she ran past me into the small room. She crouched down.

My feet took over, and I closed the space between us. Leaning over, I pulled her wavy brown hair from her face as she dry heaved.

When she had finally finished, she moaned and muttered, “This is embarrassing. I feel like I need to puke, but I can’t. Blast. I need to sleep and sober up.”

“It happens to all of us,” I said in my best soothing tone.

I grabbed a washcloth from the rack and wet it in the sink, handing it to her. “Where are your pajamas?”

She stood up slowly, keeping her back to me as if I didn’t just see her dry heaving into the toilet. “Um. What?”

“I don’t want to go through all of your drawers but figure you want to put something on that isn’t work clothes.”

Her shoulders stiffened, and I tried not to admire how beautifully her back curved with a small tattoo right above the silk of her panties. One that I recognized she and Sean had gotten on a trip to China with their class when they were fourteen. Da was royally pissed when he found out they snuck off and did that.

“I’m not trying to get you naked. I just want to help you out, okay? Unlike that artist who told you your ink meant ‘beautiful’ and then you looked it up and found out it meant crazy.”

She groaned, looking over her shoulder. “Top drawer in the dresser near my bed. And I happen to think it’s a nice sentiment. The guy thought Sean and I were both crazy for each other. How wrong he was…”

I nodded, trying not to think of all of these moments she’d had with Sean and everything with me was just one feck up after the other.

I shook my head, trying not to think too hard on these thoughts. Quickly, I went back to the main room and grabbed the first pair of shorts and a top I could find, bringing it back into the bathroom.

Slowly she turned toward me, her bottom lip trembling.

Damn the woman was gorgeous. Seeing the rise and fall of her breasts as she breathed deeply, her wide eyes locked on mine, had my heart thumping rapidly, my words caught in my throat.

“Here. Do you need anything else? I can make you some toast? Or tea?”

She nodded slowly but didn’t look up. “That would be nice. But you don’t have to. I should just get to bed.”

I didn’t respond and instead made my way out of the bathroom. In the kitchen, I heated the tea kettle on the stove and found a loaf of brown bread in the fridge that was one of the only things in there. Toasting the bread with some butter, I kept my hands and my mind busy.

What was I doing?

I needed to focus on the company and finding a wife. Not whatever this was.

Yet, I couldn’t move.

“Do you want to eat this in the kitchen or by the window?” I called.

I’d heard the bathroom door open but was busy filling two cups with boiling water.

Taking a few steps into the main room, I stopped when I saw her curled up in a ball on the bed, her eyes closed and sleeping soundly.

I should have left. Feck, she would probably be angry as hell if she found me there when she woke up.

But I also thought about how she would feel in the morning. And I didn’t want her to get sick all over herself in the middle of the night. Before I could stop myself, I walked to the couch.

After finding a blanket, I kicked off my shoes and laid down.

I closed my eyes, pulling the blanket to my chest.

“Goodnight, Grace,” I whispered.