Page 80 of Blame It on the Bikini
"I do like your confidence." She licked her lips. "I have to ask you something, though. Now that I've said I may not be spending much time here going forward, does that change how you feel about selling the building?"
"No," he said without a trace of doubt in his voice. "Because this is Josie's home. And Frank doesn't want to move again. I think he and Margaret might have something going on."
"I think that, too, but they're very cagey about it."
"Brad and Serena just had a baby. Kaia still needs to find the right guy. Emmalyn and Hunter need to be close to Bree and Olivia; Paige and Henry do as well. And Ava and Liam need to help Brad and Serena with the baby." He shrugged. "There are a lot of connections here."
She smiled. "I can't believe you just went through so many names without even a pause. You're part of this community now."
"What do you say we make Ocean Shores our home base for the next year? We figure out our work and travel schedules from there. Maybe we take some trips together. I can look for real estate to develop. You can look for the perfect photo shoot locations."
"But you're a rich guy. Do you really want to live in your apartment or in mine?"
"I don't care where we live, as long as we're together. I was being too guarded when I said before that I was falling in love with you. The truth is: I'm already there. I know it's fast and completely out of character for me, but it's how I feel. When I drove back to LA, I thought I might feel differently being farther away from you, but it was worse. I missed you every second of every day. And nothing seemed as important as getting back to you." He paused, looking deep into her eyes. "You inspire me, Lexie. You make me want to be a better version of myself. And I want to do the same for you."
She wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling the last of her worries slipping away. "I love you, too, Grayson. And you have inspired me to cancel a bunch of jobs and fly off to Morocco, so I think you've already done a lot."
"I'm really proud of you, Lexie."
"I'm proud of me, too. And I hope I can help you find a deal that will be even better than selling this building, because I want everyone to win."
"You know that rarely happens."
"Well, it's happening right now, so I'll take it. Now, are you going to kiss me or what?"
"I'm going to kiss you, and later, much later, I'm going to tell you about my father and Josie."
"Wait! What?"
"Later," he said as he captured her mouth and gave her a kiss filled with emotion and promise for the future.
And she didn't want to think or talk anymore, either. But later…
Chapter Nineteen
It was Thursday morning before they got to later. After the second-best night of his life, the first also being with her, he brought Lexie coffee in bed. Then he slid under the covers next to her to fulfill the promise he'd made the night before.
"So, tell me about Josie and your dad," Lexie said as she sipped her coffee. "And by the way, this is really good. This is not my coffee, is it?"
"I went back to my apartment and grabbed mine," he said with a smile as he sipped from the mug he'd brought for himself.
"Did you run into anyone?"
"No."
"I can't wait to tell everyone they don't have to move. I feel a little guilty that I didn't do it last night, but you were just too distracting…"
"I think that was you," he said with a laugh, feeling so relaxed and happy he was almost afraid it was too good to be true.
"It was us," she said. "Okay, tell me the story."
He set his mug on the nightstand. "My dad was here on a business trip thirty-five years ago. He met Josie on a beach and thought she was beautiful, fiery, and passionate. She told him she'd just left her husband and her career in Hollywood to find herself, to be who she was supposed to be, no more pretending, no more acting."
"That's what she told me."
"It made a big impression on my father. He was about to get engaged to the woman who would be my mother, and he was building his business, a business that he would merge with her family's company, and he was feeling stressed and not sure if he was on the right path. For a few weeks, they played in the ocean, explored the caves?—"
Her eyes widened. "Oh, my God. He gave her the necklace, didn't he?"
