Her nerves were shaky at the idea of spending an afternoon and night with only Grant. Lily wouldn’t even be there as a barrier between them. What did he expect from her? They hadn’t talked about the wedding night. After all, it was a marriage in name only.
Grant helped her out of the golf cart and the man driving told them that if they needed anything to use the phone in the kitchen. With some trepidation, she watched as he drove away. She was now truly alone with Grant.
“I don’t know about you but I’d like to get into more comfortable clothes.” He was already removing his tux jacket.
She hated to see it go. He’d looked so amazing in it, waiting at the end of the chapel aisle. “What about our clothes? We didn’t stop to get them.”
He pulled at his bow-tie. “Mother had them moved here for us.”
“How nice. I’m not used to this type of service.”
“My mother thinks of everything.” He opened the first three buttons of his shirt, revealing an appealing sliver of chest.
“I must be sure to thank her.”
“Come on. Let’s see what she has in store for us inside.” He took her elbow.
Sara hesitated. “You know, we never discussed this part of the...arrangement.”
Grant looked at her. “Sara, I’m not going to jump you if that’s what you’re afraid of. Let’s just change clothes and relax.”
Suddenly she had the need to knock her self-assured husband off center a little. “Aren’t you afraid that I might jump you?”
He grinned at her. “I wouldn’t have any complaints if you did.”
A ripple of warmth went through her as she walked beside him up the steps.
Inside, the cottage was as lovely as the outside. There was a sitting room, a small kitchen area, and only one large bedroom.
“You can stop the wide-eyed look. I’ll sleep out here on the sofa,” Grant said.
“I could—”
“Please don’t take what gallantry I have left away from me on my wedding day.”
The tension in her eased. Grant had a way of doing that for her. “Thank you, sir knight.”
Grant’s face turned serious. “Sara, don’t make the mistake of thinking of me as being knightly. I’m not. I don’t live by chivalrous rules so beware. I’ll change in the bathroom and you can have the bedroom.”
He may not think he did but he was wrong. More than once since she’d met him he’d been fair and helpful. To her, her father and particularly Lily.
As he walked by he lifted his duffle bag off the floor by the handles.
She’d wait until he was done changing so he wouldn’t have to stay in the bathroom longer than he wished. There were full-length glass French doors leading off the bedroom. She walked over to them. Outside was a deck with a hot tub. She groaned. This place was all about a couple spending time together and she was with a man she was attracted to but shouldn’t have. What was she thinking? She had just married him. How much more involved could she be?
She glanced at the bed. There could be more.
“Hey, what do you see?”
She yelped. Had he seen her looking at the bed?
Grant was now dressed in jeans and a T-shirt that showed his chest to its best advantage. He came to stand behind her. “Wow, a hot tub. I’m going to have to try that. Maybe you would like to join me?”
“I didn’t bring a suit.”
Chuckling, he said, “I don’t think one is expected. After all, this is the honeymoon cottage.”
She turned to face him and was met with nothing but cotton-covered chest. She looked up at his face. “Are you making fun of me?”
“No. I just think that since we have to be here we might as well enjoy ourselves. I won’t touch you unless you ask. How’s that?”
He stepped away and for some reason she felt like all the warmth of the day was going with him. The man was starting to get under her skin and being alone with him wasn’t going to make that easier. Sara worked the buttons on the back of her wedding gown free. Reaching as many as she could, she still couldn’t get out of the dress. Help was required.
The sound of a glass being set on the kitchen counter said that Grant was still in the cottage.
“Grant?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m going to need some help getting out of this gown.”
He stuck his head into the room. “I’m needed for husbandly duty?”
Grant was enjoying the situation far more than she. “Yes, or at least friendly duty.”