Page 26 of Give Me More
“And now...how do you feel about us now?”
She didn’t know how to answer that question. How could she explain that she still loved and cared for him, but she hadn’t yet done the most important thing in her life? How did she admit that the fear still gnawed at her?
“I don’t know,” she whispered, wishing like hell that wasn’t the truth.
CHAPTER TWELVE
RJHADNOIDEAhow to deal with what she’d just told him. After a few minutes of silence he finally decided on leading her to the table and telling the chef on board to serve their dinner. A flurry of emotions filled him—anger, hurt, confusion, longing—and he couldn’t focus on just one. He didn’t want to focus on any of them. What he really wanted, and what seemed like the most important thing right now, was to just be with Grace.
“You even told them to fix my favorite, spaghetti and meatballs,” she said when he sat across from her.
“With extra meat sauce of course.” He liked doing things for her. Recalling all the things she liked and what made her smile had come naturally from the moment he saw her on the island.
“I told you, I remember things about you, too,” she said, and removed the silver ring from her napkin. “Like, you prefer a mixed drink with dinner over wine and that you hog the TV remote.”
RJ tossed his head back and chuckled, he couldn’t help it. The TV remote had been an ongoing debate in the penthouse. “You don’t even watch television in bed. You usually have something to read.”
“I like the background noise.”
“Right, so it shouldn’t matter if I change the channel or not.”
“It matters when you change it to that sports channel. It’s noisy and distracting.”
He shook his head slowly. “Isn’t that considered background noise?”
She paused and then frowned. “You’re not funny.”
RJ laughed again, this time feeling the joy deep down in his soul. Why couldn’t it always be like this? The carefree ease that was between them right now. Why couldn’t they have this forever? Probably because she hadn’t trusted him with her truth ten years ago, and now he wasn’t certain he could trust her to not choose something over them again. And yet he couldn’t bring himself to stay away from her.
“This is delicious,” she said after she’d tasted her first bite.
It was, but he enjoyed watching her much more than he did the taste of the food.
They were halfway through the meal when she said, “Riley mentioned you’d be taking over the company in a few months. I know you’re excited about that.”
“I wouldn’t say excited,” he told her before taking a gulp of his rum and Coke. “It’s like I’ve been anticipating this for so long, now that it’s getting closer I’m a little numb.”
“You’re going to be great as CEO. You were born for this job.”
“More than that,” he said. “I really want this job. My grandfather and my father have done a phenomenal job carving out a space for us, but I’m ready to take it to the next level. I’m looking forward to working with our designers on creating new and exciting pieces that tell our full story. We have such a diverse and rich history and I want to see it flourish into everything we touch from clothes to handbags, jewelry and even as far as the philanthropy efforts we take on. Even though that’s creeping into my mom’s domain.”
“That sounds amazing,” she said with a look of admiration on her face, and his chest swelled with pride. “Your family is so rooted in this company. I was shocked when I read about Major and Nina starting their own. Not just because he was stepping away from RGF but also because he was taking a partner. It just seemed so out of character from the Major I knew,” she told him.
The reminder that she’d had a relationship with everyone in his family warmed him.
“I think that decision surprised him, too. But Nina’s a great developer. Her app was amazing before Major ever came along and since he’d already been planning his own business, I guess it made sense for them to be partners. Especially since they’d fallen in love and decided to get married.”
That word brought down a veil of silence and they finished dinner before having their drinks refilled. Grace picked up her glass of wine and stood. He took a gulp from his own glass and left it on the table before following her to the railing once more.
“This is an amazing place to have a wedding,” she said.
“Riley wanted it private and my mom suggested someplace tropical. Dad said he’s just signing the checks.” They both laughed at that.
“Hope wants a fall wedding. Fifty guests, outside venue and candy corn instead of wedding cake for dessert.” She shook her head and sipped her wine while RJ grinned.
“Sounds like Hope.” She was her most eccentric sister. But none of the Hopkins sisters were like Grace. He could see that from the first time he’d been to Westchester to meet her family. It was no wonder she’d always felt like she was different.
“We would’ve had a nice wedding,” she said quietly, and finished the wine.
