Take a Chance (Chance, #1; Rosemary Beach #7)(51)

The chair beside me pulled out and I swung my gaze up to see Grant sitting down.

Okay . . . wrong. This was apparently a big deal.

He didn’t look happy but the tight smile on his face was trying to say otherwise.

“Hello, Adam,” Grant said before turning his intense blue gaze to me. “You could have asked me to lunch,” he said simply.

Technically, I hadn’t asked Adam. He’d asked me.

“You’re here with friends,” I told him, hating how my voice gave away how nervous I was.

Grant leaned closer to me. “I would drop anyone and anything the moment you called.”

There were those words again. The ones that managed to slide through you and turn you into a bowl of jelly.

“I, uh, Adam asked me to lunch. I was hungry,” I said, unable to look at Adam. I had no idea what he was thinking and I didn’t want to know right now.

“Looks like we have three guests now,” Jimmy said as he set the water in front of me.

“Mr. Carter, would you like me to get you something to drink?” Jimmy asked.

Grant didn’t take his eyes off me. “A sweet tea, please, Jimmy,” he replied.

“Yes, sir,” Jimmy said, and left without taking our orders.

“I guess I need to make sure I ask before Adam next time,” Grant said, then leaned back in his seat and put his arm around the back of mine in a possessive move. “So, Adam, how’s tennis going? Like the new job?” he asked in a polite tone.

Adam looked nervous. He glanced back at Woods’s table then back at Grant. I wondered if they were watching us. “Yes, sir. I’m enjoying it. The town is great.”

Grant touched my bare shoulder and he began to trace circles around it in a gentle caress. Adam noticed. This was becoming more and more awkward.

Grant

Icould feel Woods and Rush staring at me. They had tried to stop me. Not that I listened. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t have done the same thing. Sitting here eating and letting Adam the tennis pro hit on my girl. Hell, no. That was not happening.

Harlow was stiff as a board. I hated that she was so uncomfortable, but she shouldn’t have come to lunch with Adam, the f**king tennis dude. This morning had f**ked up my day. If Harlow thought we were going to bed tonight with this shit unsettled, she was wrong.

I listened as Harlow ordered a sandwich and ignored Jimmy’s amused grin. He knew what was going on. He probably talked to Rush and Woods about it when he was filling their drinks.

“I want to show you something when lunch is over. Do you already have plans?” I wanted to add that she needed to take a break, but I didn’t want to sound like an ass.

Harlow glanced at me. “No, I don’t have anything to do.”

“Good,” I said, leaning in to wrap one of her strands of hair around a finger so I could feel its silkiness. “I’m sorry.” I said the words without thinking about them. But I was sorry. I was sorry about this morning. I was sorry about how uncomfortable she was right now. But I wasn’t sorry that I was making sure Adam knew Harlow was not available.

“Adam,” Woods’s voice caught my attention and I looked up to see that he’d walked over to the table. “Nelton is double booked. It was an accident. He needs help with Mrs. Venice before she causes a scene. If you could please help, I will have your lunch brought to you. It’s on the house today.”

He’d just made that bullshit up. I had to cough to cover my laugh. Guess he did have my back after all.

“Yes, sir,” Adam replied, standing up and looking over at Harlow. “I gotta go. Next time,” he said, then turned to leave.

Woods didn’t say anything else before he went back to his table. Rush was staring down at his drink, grinning. He was in on this, too. I coughed again to cover my laughter.

“That was a setup, wasn’t it?” Harlow said, looking at me with her eyebrows drawn together.

“I assure you, when Adam gets out there he will have someone to teach,” I told her. Woods would’ve made a phone call to be sure of it.

“But Woods made that happen,” she said. Harlow wasn’t stupid.

“Yeah, he did. I didn’t ask him to, though. That was all him, and probably Rush, from the look on his face.”

Harlow glanced over at them and they both quickly looked away from us.

“Guess it’s nice to have friends in high places,” she said, turning back to me.

I had been ready to thank Woods but if she was pissed, I wasn’t gonna be thanking him. “I had nothing to do with that,” I repeated.

She sighed and relaxed. “I think I believe you. And honestly, I don’t know how Adam was going to eat with you rubbing on me and glaring at him anyway.”

“I didn’t glare,” I replied with a relieved grin.

She rolled her eyes and picked up her glass. “Yes, Grant, you did.”

Maybe I had, but I didn’t like the guy. He wanted what I wanted. “I want to talk about this morning and I want to show you my place. You’ve never been there and I want you there.”

She took a sip of her water, then set it back down before looking at me. “I acted like a jealous girlfriend and I hate that. I’ve never acted like that before. I’m sorry. We aren’t exclusive. You have a past that isn’t my business, and when Nan threw the bait out there I took it. I shouldn’t have.”