Initiative (Suncoast Society #31)(62)

“Hey, I cut my teeth in battle with a guy who’d practically memorized The Art of War by the time he was fifteen. And you’re damned good yourself. You didn’t miss a beat in there.”

She held up a fist and he bumped with her. “I could tell you were up to something,” he said, “but I wasn’t sure why.” He let out a long breath. “Step one, we need to tell Grant. Step two…” He frowned.

“Yeah?”

“Step two, we need some privacy screening around your damn pool. I don’t want to give up pool sex just because your ex father-in-law is a Peeping Tom.”





Chapter Twenty


Actually, there would be a step three, because Darryl now had to pick Kyle up that evening when Chelsey “suddenly” had several late west coast calls she had to make at work. She called Darryl and demanded that he come get Kyle after work.

Which Susie flat-out figured meant Chelsey was going to go out on a date—with Greg or someone else—and try to f*ck up what she must have thought would be Darryl’s celebratory night with Susie.

Bitch.

Susie couldn’t promise she’d be as good as Darryl and Grant had been about not badmouthing the woman in Kyle’s presence.

Darryl had called Susie at work, where she’d just finished updating Kristin about the latest events, to let Susie know about that new development.

“Wow, she is a real piece of work, isn’t she?” Susie asked.

“I know, but she’s Kyle’s mother.”

“Remind me why we can’t sic Tilly and June on her?”

“Because that would be wrong.”

“But it would be satisfying.”

“It would also lead to incarceration for them both,” Darryl said. “Do not tell them.”

“Fine.” She had a thought. “Could we have them tell Grant about today for us?”

“No, we have to do that ourselves. We’re still meeting at his work, right?”

She sighed. “Right.”

“I don’t want him blindsided by this when he gets home. And I’ll have to leave right from telling Grant to go get Kyle.”

Susie stewed for the rest of the afternoon, despite Kristin’s nearly manic grin and frequent giggle fits over the fact that Marcus had the nerve to force Susie into this position in the first place, and Susie’s tactical nuclear response.

Although Susie would be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy getting one over on the man. And she would really enjoy it when Marcus ponied up money to help pay for the wedding.

She knew him. For starters, he could definitely afford it. And he wouldn’t dare risk it getting back to the reverend that he’d reneged on his “promise” to pay for it and look like a weasel.

Maybe this was worth the aggravation after all.

Susie arrived at Grant’s work first, parking on one side of his car. Darryl arrived a few minutes after her, and they both stood there leaning against Grant’s car when he emerged from the building a few minutes later.

His pace sped up as he spotted them there.

“What’s wrong?”

Darryl held up his hands. “No one’s dead or injured.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

Darryl exchanged a glance with Susie before he launched into the story.

Grant set his laptop case on the hood of his car and leaned against the door, arms crossed over his chest, gaze fixed on the ground, as Darryl went through everything.

“Have to say,” Darryl ended with. “I don’t think Marcus knew quite what hit him when he walked into that office and saw her sitting there. I damn sure know I didn’t.”

“Are you f*cking shitting me?” Grant asked. “He really did that?”

“No shit,” Darryl said. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I wasn’t sitting right there myself and saw it happen.”

Grant glanced around before staring at the ground again. “I wish I could pull you both into my arms and kiss you right now.”

“So how many cane strokes are we getting?” Darryl asked with a smile.

Grant slowly shook his head, still not looking at them. “I can’t. Not for that. It was an emergency, and under the circumstances, you’re right. I couldn’t have handled it better than you two did.” He looked at Susie. “I’m proud of you, sweetie.”

“I’m sorry I had to make an executive decision, Sir. I knew you couldn’t be disturbed today unless someone was actually, you know, dying.”

“No, you did the right thing.” He finally turned to Darryl. “So now the bitch is handing Kyle off to us tonight, huh? How convenient.”

“Yeah, right,” Darryl said. “Amazing timing. She didn’t mention the engagement news, but I could tell from the tone of her voice she was pissed off. Is my face frostbit? I sure felt a damn chill over the phone when she called.”

“Do we want to take bets on whether or not she’s told Kyle already?” Susie asked.

“Oh, I won’t take that bet,” Grant said. “I already know the answer to that. It’s yes, she has.” He smiled. “I’m sure I know another reason she’s so pissed off.”

“What?”

“I’m sure she assumed me and Darryl were gay, something she was holding in reserve in case she needed it for a custody go-round. If Darryl’s marrying a woman, that sort of blows a hole in her theory and means she just lost a perceived advantage over him.”