Hold On (Play On #2.5)(7)

I didn’t have any hang-ups about my physical appearance. In a way that I hoped wasn’t arrogant or conceited, I was content with what I saw in the mirror. But sometimes it made me uncomfortable when people fixated on my looks because it was either what drew them toward me or pushed them away from me. I’d been bullied pretty badly in high school and when Killian eventually found out, I couldn’t do a thing to stop him from tracking the ringleader down. Whatever he said put the fear of God into her because she never bothered me again. But Killian had said after a mere conversation with her, he had known she’d come after me because I was beautiful, and, for whatever reason, that made her insecure and jealous.

Thankfully, I had not made Catie insecure. I remembered how she walked right up to me when I entered the library that day and told me I had “bloody awesome hair.”

I’d loved her immediately.

“Well, Catie, babe, you might be right,” Kyle suddenly muttered and threw me a look. “He’s staring over here and making no qualms about it in front of the girl he’s with.”

I stiffened at this news and couldn’t stop my gaze from flying over Catie’s shoulder to search Gray out.

I found him just four tables away, his companion’s back to us, so he was directly in my line of sight. And he was looking at me. In an intense way that made me shiver.

I looked down at my menu. “That’s a little rude.”

“Oh, girl he’s with just followed his gaze. She’s spotted you and she doesn’t look happy.”

“Would you if you were on a date with someone who was staring at someone else?” I felt a blush hit my cheeks. There was no denying I liked that a man as charismatic as Grayson King liked what he saw when he looked at me, but if he could treat his date with unforgiveable rudeness then he could treat me the same way. “Just ignore him.”

However, as we ordered and then started to make our way through our meal I felt Gray’s attention still burning on me. Like I had no control over my gaze, it unwillingly searched for his, our eyes colliding again and again across the restaurant. I squirmed uncomfortably until halfway through the meal I heard the squeal of a chair sliding across wood. My eyes flew in the direction of the sound and widened as I saw the brunette with Gray march away from the table. When I looked back at him he turned from watching her walk away and gave me a casual shrug.

I glared at him.

He smirked.

“Guess she got sick of not having his attention,” Kyle snorted.

“It’s not funny. He’s rude.”

“Do you know what’s really not funny?” Catie huffed. “Having my back to the fecking entertainment!”

Kyle burst out laughing but I couldn’t. I was upset that Gray could treat someone so callously and even more upset that I could be this upset over someone I’d just met.

Thankfully I felt the heat of his stare disappear and watched as he walked out of the restaurant. I ignored how the sight of his tall, powerful body gave me flutters low in my belly.

“Let’s just enjoy dinner,” I said.

And for the most part we did, even though we all knew I was stupidly distracted.

“Drinks?” Catie asked as we left the table after finishing up.

“You two stay.” My friends should have some alone time. “I’m tired.”

Kyle studied me. “You sure?”

I smiled to reassure them. “Yes. Have a good night. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Much shorter than me at five foot three (five foot seven in heels) Catie went up on her tip toes to kiss my cheek. “Night, babe.”

“Night, sweetie.”

Next Kyle kissed my cheek and I squeezed his shoulder. “Thanks for a lovely night.”

He grinned at me, completely aware that it had been a discombobulating evening for me. “Night, Autumn.”

I left them at the bar, strolling out of the restaurant, thinking I might just go straight to bed and try to sleep away the strange events of the day. Looking at my feet, or my fabulous shoes really, as I walked out into the hallway that would lead me back to my room, I would have missed him if he hadn’t said my name.

I stumbled to a stop and glanced to my right to see Gray leaning against the wall outside of the restaurant. Waiting on me?

He pushed off the wall and strolled toward me. A teasing smirk played around his mouth as he stepped right into my personal space. I wanted to step back but didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing his nearness affected me.

In my sandals I was almost the same height as him but he was so broad-shouldered he still managed to make me feel delicate and feminine. I hated how much I loved that. “What are you doing here?”

“Let me give you a lesson tomorrow,” he replied.

I blinked, having not expected that. “I don’t want to learn to ski.”

“Then let me buy you dinner tomorrow night so I can change your mind.”

I thought of the brunette and scowled. “I’ve seen how you treat your dinner companions, so no, thank you.”

Gray’s eyebrows drew together in a much more effective scowl than mine. “She’s here on a bachelorette trip. She’s the bride.”

My lips parted in surprise at this information.

“Yeah.” His mouth twisted in disdain. “She’s the woman who was on the slopes with me today and she told me straight up she wanted one last fling before she got married. I didn’t say shit to that and obviously she was expecting me to jump on it. So when I didn’t give her what she wanted in private, she asked me to dinner in front of all her girls and I didn’t want to humiliate her. I saw no harm in dinner but had no intention of going beyond that. I didn’t know you’d walk in there tonight, so I had no way of knowing I’d spend the whole fucking thing distracted by a redhead who I’m not afraid to admit has knocked me on my ass. Let me take you to dinner.”