Page 21 of Something Borrowed

She shifted onto her knees. “Grady, we can’t keep going over this. I care for you, too much to pursue, something that can only end badly.”

He reached up and pulled a twig from her hair. “It doesn’t have to. We can work through it, if we want it bad enough.”

“Grady.” Her soft, sad words twisted his heart.

He rolled onto his back and put his hands behind his head, cushioning him on the grass. “Well, I could always see if Janine wants to be my date to the wedding.”

He glanced sideways at her to see her reaction. Brigid had gone rigid, her face stony, her eyes flashing fire. When she caught him looking, she tossed her hair and looked at the house, avoiding his amused gaze.

“I don’t care. But I think Caroline would be pissed if you invited someone at the last minute, and you can’t invite her during the week. Caroline was very specific on that.”

“Or you would have invited your friend Mike?” The last word was said with a hint of bitterness.

At his words, she turned and looked at him fully, her eyes reflecting regret. “I’d never hurt you like that, Grady. I only want you to be happy.”

He pushed up on an elbow. “Then why not give us a chance?”

She got to her feet, irritably brushing her clothes. “Is this how our week is going to go? You constantly haunting my every step, begging me to date you?”

He also stood and studied her. “No, only until you can give me a good reason why we won’t work out.”

He tilted the bottle of beer back and took a long swallow, not missing how she was riveted by his chest. He handed the bottle to her and stepped close, invading her personal space. She swayed on her feet, unconsciously leaning in toward him. He swiped his shirt off the wall and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Thanks for the beer, honey.” He turned and whistled as he walked toward the house, her frustrated growl following him.

No, she wanted him. He just had to prove it to her.

* * *

After the kiss with Grady, Brigid couldn’t focus, so she went for a walk on the beach. It was quiet on the private shore, the only people quite a distance away, giving her the peace she needed. She sat on the sand for a while, listening to the birds and the rolling waves, smelling the salty sea air, and her worries drifted away, taken from her by the ocean breezes.

Whitby Island had always been a sanctuary for her going back to her undergraduate program. When she had first met Caroline and the rest of the girls who would become her closest friends, she considered asking the student housing office for another roommate. Two socialites and an actress were so outside of Brigid’s experience that she never thought they would ever have anything in common. In fact, she barely spoke for the first month, but eventually Caroline wore Brigid down with her weakness—pizza. She had been studying for a test and skipped dinner while focused in the library. She had returned to the quad room and went immediately into her room to continue studying when the most heavenly scent of cheese, sauce, pepperoni, and meatballs drifted from their common room. Caroline came to ask her if she was hungry, and she declined, but her stomach had other plans. It took her a while to become comfortable with the girls, but couldn’t imagine college life without them.

So, when Caroline had invited her to the island for the summer, her choice was to go home and be pressured into more courses all summer and working at a job her father found for her at the insurance company where he worked, or have some measure of freedom. Her parents were less than thrilled, so she got a job on the island and kept it for the four years of undergrad, thus winning the argument and freeing herself from her father.

Coming over on the ferry, she always felt the ocean breezes drifted over her and carried her fears, her stresses, and her troubles away with them, to wait for her when she returned to the mainland. The island was the only place she had been free, able to relax and have fun without guilt. Now, with more pressure than she had ever imagined, Whitby was desperately trying to be her lifesaver, but her troubles were more than a test or a father’s drive to succeed. Life was harder. The tests weren’t just for a grade - but for her career. Whitby wouldn’t be enough to soothe her battered soul.

And now Grady was doggedly pursuing this ridiculous path of a relationship, aided by her traitor of a friend, Caroline, a matchmaking maven for the week. Why couldn’t Grady leave it alone?

Why didn’t you push him toward Janine? A small voice prodded from the back of her mind. She was the perfect foil, a solid misdirection for him and a safety for Brigid.

Why was she so damn jealous when she didn’t want him, either?

Or did she?

Shit. She tossed a handful of sand and wiped her hands. She didn’t have time for this. She had work and a wedding to prepare for. She couldn’t deal with this mess. Not now.

ChapterNine

When Brigid got back to the house, there was a flurry of activity. The rest of the party was arriving, and there was luggage and people everywhere. She snuck into the library and forced herself to focus on the edits, completing some of the work before Caroline announced appetizers. Brigid barely heard her until the office door was opened.

Caroline walked across the room and slammed the lid of the laptop shut.

“What the hell, Caroline?”

Caroline smiled sweetly. “Was I interrupting you? So sorry. Time for appetizers and then dinner. I’ve been very patient, but now it’s my time.”

Brigid’s stomach took that chance to gurgle loudly. She pressed a hand to her middle, scowling at her traitorous body. “Dammit. I was almost done.”

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