Page 23 of Beautiful Envy

Grayson sat back, clearly not expecting me to say this. His brow lifted, and he nodded. “Of course. If I remember correctly, you met someone and spent a lot of money on her, then she just vanished. You were really broken up about it for months. Why?”

I fidgeted, picking at the chair arm as I rolled the words over in my head. Sometimes I had to practice saying things several times before I found the courage to utter them. A therapist had told me it was rehearsing, and while it could be helpful to decrease a lot of my anxiety, it wasn’t a way to live. If I was always practicing life, I would never actually live it.

That notion had stuck with me, making me be more present with the people in my circle, knowing it was better to say something instead of only thinking it.

“Darcie,” I started, instantly piquing Grayson’s interest. I’d seen how he watched her this morning, jealous of the kiss she’d given me. It was why I wanted to talk with him, so he’d know.

“Yeah, she’s a sweet thing,” he said, a smile crossing his face. “You have a thing for her?”

I nodded, licking my lips. “I do. She’s the girl.”

His brow furrowed as he focused on me. “I think she’s pretty great, but you just met her, Brooks. I wouldn’t go and make any proclamations to her. You’ll scare her away.”

I smiled, able to appreciate his concern for me. There had been a time in my life when I hadn’t had anyone care about me. Finding Bubba and Pretty Boy had been the thing that saved me.

“No, I mean, she’s the girl from the website. She’s my Rose.”

He stopped, staring at me for a few seconds. I was worried he wasn’t breathing until he finally blinked. His face was blank, making me wonder if I had misread his interest.

“Wow, okay. That’s big. Um, yeah. That’s great.”

Grayson fiddled with something on his desk, putting the documents and order slips into piles. It was his nervous tick coming out, his need to clean and organize.

“Grayson, you might want to hear what I have to say before you jump to conclusions.”

He stopped, his eyes lifting to mine. “What do you mean? I remember how you felt about her. I’m guessing you’ll be riding off into the sunset now?”

I shook my head, a small smile lifting at the corner of my mouth. It warmed my heart that he would let her go for me. He truly was my brother.

“No. I think she’s the one we’ve all been waiting for.”

Grayson’s eyes searched mine, his jaw flexing as he processed what I said. “I don’t understand. If she’s the girl you’ve been hung up on, why would you…” He stopped, waving his arms in front of him. “You know. I don’t get it. Besides, we talked about that late one night when we were all drunk. I didn’t think any of us meant it for real.”

“So if the perfect girl walked into the shop and we all liked her, you wouldn’t want to try to keep us together? You’d brush it off as drunken conversation?”

Grayson’s mouth opened and closed, at a loss for words. Finally, he opened his mouth, an argument on his tongue. “This isn’t that. You had a relationship with her. You have a right to claim her.”

“And if I believed she was the perfect woman to fit all three of our needs, to have that balance of light and dark, and the capacity to love us all, you’d still tell me no?” I challenged.

He was quiet for a while, the gears rolling in his head.

“You really think Darcie is that?” he asked quietly.

“I do. I think I always did. Every time I talked to her, I wished you and Waylon could as well. She made everything better, and I knew we needed someone like her. And this morning, I saw the way you both looked at her. Though Waylon is fighting his attraction.”

Grayson snorted, nodding. “Yeah. He thinks he’s too old for her. But I caught the fire in his eyes. I hadn’t seen it there in a while, either.”

I nodded, feeling more hopeful now that Grayson seemed on board. “And you were jealous she gave me attention. I saw you watching her every move. She intrigues you.”

“There’s something about her. I won’t deny that.” He chuckled, rubbing his brow. “I’m pretty sure she went into my room yesterday and switched around my things. I opened my drawer to put on socks and found shirts. I about had a conniption until I smelled her fragrance lingering in the air. Then all I could do was smile and laugh at her playful behavior.”

“That sounds like Darcie,” I sighed, my smile growing bigger.

“Do you really think it could work? The three of us and her? Will she go for it?”

I shrugged. “She’s best friends with Lennox, so we have that on our side. She’s aware of this type of relationship, so it won’t be a completely new thing for her. And I think she will. I could tell she liked the attention from all of us.”

“Liking attention and wanting to be sexual with three men are two different things, Brooks.”

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