“What kind of guy would I be if I let a woman sleep on the couch? I’ll take the couch.”
Caroline shook her head. “Mom redid that room, and the couch is gone..”
Brigid made a sound of frustration. “There has to be another option.”
Grady turned her around and spoke so only she could hear. “We could just grow up and deal with it. I could crash on the floor or at the cottage.”
“Caroline will kill you if you’re not here.” She sighed. “Okay, we’ve slept together before. We can do it again.”
“We’re all set, Caroline.” Grady called down, then looked at Brigid. “Just don’t fall in love with me.”
“As if.”
ChapterSeven
Brigid changed into shorts and a t-shirt and escaped the bedroom. She buried herself in Mr. Masters’ study, but she couldn’t seem to concentrate. Maybe it was lack of sleep or knowing Grady and his hard body were going to be sleeping next to her for an entire week. She and Grady might not have been a good match in real life, but between the sheets, they were combustible.
She had never found sex to be anything great. It was nice, but not enough to change her direction or plans. But that first night with Grady, they had connected unexpectedly, and she finally knew what Anna had meant when she said her eyes rolled back in her head. It had been easy to fall into a pattern with Grady. They were both busy, too busy to date, but sex had become their release from the stress of their everyday lives. They had tried to keep the relationship, or whatever they wanted to call it, a secret, but Caroline and Matthew had suspected. No one pushed them to be overt in their dating and they had fallen into a comfortable foursome, a way for the girls to get together and the brothers to catch up on their lives.
She relied on Grady being there until Friday night, when things had gotten more serious than she had wanted, and she did what she always did when things deviated from the plan. She backed away, or ran away, depending on one’s perspective. Instead of cutting him out of her life, she had to face him, and sleep with him, all week. Not what she had planned. How could he have wanted more from what they had? What guy wasn’t happy with a no-strings, purely sexual relationship? It worked for them.
Well, it worked until it didn’t.
A quick knock at the door interrupted her thoughts. The door opened and Grady stepped into the room. He frowned as he took in her sitting at the desk, her laptop booted up and papers stacked around her.
“Seriously, Brigid? You’re going to dive right into work instead of spending time with your best friend?”
The scorn in his voice made her pause, penetrating the jumble of legalese that was racing around her head. She blinked, clearing the fog from her brain.
“Caroline knows I’m in here. Besides, she knows how this works. Her father and fiancé both have had to do this.”
He closed the door behind him and leaned against it, folded his arms in front of him. He had changed into cargo shorts and a t-shirt that fitted entirely too nicely to his sculpted chest, one she loved to explore in bed. The shorts fell just short of his knees, revealing his muscular legs and the fine dusting of hair that excited her when he rubbed against her during sex. Damn, she really needed a fix.
“They’re not doing it before her wedding.”
His words and scowl pulled her out of her thoughts, reminding her they had ended their arrangement a few days prior. But they were sharing a room and a bed for the week. The potentials were limitless.
“Her father is working all week.”
He pushed off the door and stalked across the room, planting his hands on the desk and towered over her. “He’s not her bridesmaid. When will you realize that there’s more to life than your job? When you’re old and lonely? Because that’s where you’re headed, Brigid. Alone and lonely.” He shoved himself off the desk. “I’ll be outside with my brother and soon to be sister-in-law, celebrating their upcoming wedding and having fun. When you figure out what that is, join us. Until then, I hope your papers make you happy.”
He strode out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
* * *
Grady stormed out of the office and into the kitchen where Caroline was seated at the kitchen table, eyebrow raised. She set her pencil down and the list she was making and gestured to the seat across from her.
“Something wrong, Grady?”
He wanted to smile and make a light comment or even say nothing and not add to the stress of the wedding, but he couldn’t fake it, not this time. He opened the fridge and scanned the contents. His gaze fell on the Buffalo Bayou Ale Brigid had brought for him, an apology of sorts. As if a six-pack could make up for ripping his heart out and stomping all over it, not to mention ruin the wedding that had been years in the making.
With friends like Brigid, one really didn’t need enemies.
He snagged a bottle and twisted it open, tipping it back for a long swallow. It was a really good beer. But still not good enough to accept it as an apology. He leaned against the counter, peeling the label absently.
“Grady? Want to talk about it?”
Her soft words brought him back to the present, and he sighed. He sat at the table and stared at the beer. Finally, he spoke. “Doesn’t it bother you she’s working instead of out here helping you? I’m sure you have a ton of things left to do this week.”