The Perfect Stroke (13 page)

“I have another question, how did you know what size to buy this damn dress?” I ask him through the mirror. It’s a red dress that’s all silk and hugs my body like a glove. It shows way too much of my breasts, though at least the valley it exposes is covered by a small scrap of lace that stretches across the front. The dress ends just above the knee and it’s so tight that walking normal and not like a damn duck isn’t exactly easy. Then comes the heels. I am not a small woman in any sense, but I’m a firm believer that a woman who stands five-foot-ten shouldn’t wear four-inch heels. Okay, well, let me amend that: I
shouldn’t
wear four-inch heels. I’m not graceful like a lot of women. Instead, I feel like freaking Godzilla standing over everyone else and teetering on the edge of a cliff because my balance sucks. The only saving grace is that Gray is so tall that he’s still taller than me, even in these damn shoes. I turn around to look at him and my stomach is so queasy, I feel like there’s a war going on inside of it.

“Sweetheart, a man knows the measurements of a body he worships. It was easy.”

“I don’t think we should talk about how easy it is for you to figure out a woman’s measurements,” I tell him, just slightly annoyed and ignoring his sweet talk.

“Fair enough.”

“Besides that, however, where did you find a place that sold dresses like this around here?”

Gray breaks eye contact and looks down at his tie and then turns away heading to where his shoes are. “It wasn’t that hard,” he says, and his voice sounds… different. I see those red flags—the ones I seem to see a lot when Gray is around.

“Gray?”

“It’s a little shop in Addington,” he says and shrugs. “What does it matter? It worked and you look gorgeous. You’re going to be the most beautiful woman there. That’s what is important.”

“I guess so,” I tell him, still not convinced. I can’t help feeling like Gray’s keeping something from me.

“Are you ready, sweet lips?” Grayson asks once he has his shoes on. He looks amazing, and as much as I don’t want to go to this damn dinner, I do want to be around Gray. Besides, as much as I might want to deny it, Gray and I are dating. Hell, we’re practically living together. There’s a perverse side of me that wants to see what life with a pro-golfer is truly like. I realize I’m looking for reasons to push him away even as I want to keep him close. There’s a need inside of me to prove that we’re just too different to ever make this work. Jackson is right when he tells me I’m a complicated woman. I sigh and take a deep breath for courage.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“That’s my woman,” he says, and he has no way of knowing how his words set off butterflies in my system and how they warm me. I want to be his woman, even though I’m trying to find reasons to keep him away. See?
Complicated.

He wraps his arms around me and hugs me close. He kisses the side of my neck and I can feel his tongue coming out to lick along my pulse point.

“Thank you for doing this for me, Cooper. I know you’d rather be shot. It means a lot,” he whispers, and a little more of resistance fades. That’s why I agreed to this damn dinner. That, right there.

“Let’s just get it over with,” I sigh grudgingly.

He laughs and leads me to the door. “It won’t be that bad, sweet lips. It’ll be over before you know it. We’ll make an appearance and leave as early as we can get away with,” he says, closing the door behind us. The sound of it echoes and sounds like my doom.

“It
will
be that bad. I’ll have to be in the same room with Cammie Riverton
and
her father.”

“Cammie promised she’d be on her best behavior. She knows you’re important to me. It will be okay, you’ll see.”

“You told her I’m important to you?”

“Of course,” he says, acting like those words don’t mean anything… like they didn’t just shake up my whole world.

I sit in the car as he closes my door and I can only think one thing:
I’m important to Gray Lucas.

“Why are all the women wearing white?” CC growls when we reach the large conference room where the dinner is being held. I get a bad feeling in my stomach as I look around. All the men are in black suits just like me, but that’s not the problem. Like CC said, all of the women are wearing white. The only one not is CC who is wearing the polar opposite:
red
. Fuck. She freezes in her tracks, which is okay because I’ve come to a stop too trying to figure out exactly what to do here. “Gray!” CC hisses and I wince. This could get ugly. I need to try and pave things over as best I can.

“Umm, I’m not real sure,” I tell her. Wow, that was really smooth.

“You’re not sure?” she asks, outraged. I’m not sure how a woman can whisper and screech at the same time, but I think CC has the ability down.

“Well, no. I mean, I wasn’t told there was a theme or anything…”

“I’m leaving! I knew it was a mistake to let you talk me into this,” she growls, turning away.

“Listen, we’re already here, so why don’t we just make an appearance and then we can leave? It seems silly to not at least—”

“Silly? Did you see anyone else in there with red on Gray?”

“Umm, well…”

“The servers!”

“Well, technically they’re wearing black and red,” I say and then wince. I know what she’s saying. You’d have to be stupid not to. Why did I have to pick out red for CC to wear?

“Why am I wearing red? Did you do this to me on purpose, Gray?” CC asks, echoing my thoughts—well, some of them. I turn to look at her, shocked that she would even have that thought in her head. 

“Of course not! I like you in red. It reminded me of your hair—which I love, you know. I almost went with the green, but…”

“But why?” CC asks, and I can tell from her face that she’s not going to forgive me anytime soon.

“Well, the saleslady said that the green dress was last year’s, and when I told her it was a special night out… I’m sorry Cooper, I fucked up,” I tell her, truly feeling bad. “Come on. We’ll go and I’ll just call Riverton and explain that something came up.”

She looks up at me, her face heated almost to the red of her dress, but at least she doesn’t look like she wants to kill me now. That’s an improvement. I cup the side of her face, wanting her to believe me.

“Gray, I—”

“Grayson! What are you doing standing over here in the corner like you’re hiding?” Cammie’s high-pitched voice calls out from behind us. I see CC eyes close and a look of disappointment—or something, I’m at too much of a loss to describe right now—comes over her face. I feel like lead settles in my gut because this feels like my fault.

I turn around, intent on hiding CC behind me. I let my body completely block her.

“Cammie, I’m sorry, I’m afraid that something came up and—”

“It’s my fault. My dress snagged on a piece of trim that was loose in the door,” CC says, walking around me and coming to rest beside me. I immediately wrap my arm around her, anchoring her to me. I steal a glance at her. She looks calm, cool, and collected—not like she’s just been sucker punched by her stupid boyfriend.

Boyfriend?
Is that what I am?

“Claude, my how…
colorful
you are tonight.”

“Thank you. I’m afraid Gray and I missed the memo about the dress code…?”

“What? Oh, the color! Yes, it’s our yearly black and white ball.”

“You didn’t tell me that when you invited me,” I tell her, wondering if this had been her plan all along. Women are spiteful creatures. Is this all because I shot down Cammie’s advances?

“I didn’t? I’m sure I did. Perhaps you didn’t hear me? You know how men are Claude, you mention a formal dance and their brains shut down.”

“I know exactly what happened,” CC says, and though she’s smiling, I can see the anger in her eyes. I really need to get her away from Cammie before this whole thing blows up.

“Oh well. It doesn’t really matter. You look lovely and you fit in just fine, Claude. It’s good you got here when you did, Grayson.”

“It is?” I ask, just anxious to put some distance between CC and Cammie.

“Yes! Father was asking where you were. He and Adams would like to see what a big time golf pro thinks of our greens,” she explains, wrapping her hand in mine and all but pushing CC out of the way. I look around her to try and see CC, but Cammie starts talking again. “You don’t care if I borrow your man for a little bit, do you, CC?”

“Actually, Cammie, if you don’t mind, I’d like to—” I start to argue pulling away from her.

“No, not at all,” CC says so sweetly, and it surprises me so much that I stop.
She doesn’t?

“You don’t?” I ask before I can stop myself.

“Of course not. It’s all business. Right, Cammie?”

“Of course. Claude runs her own business, Gray. Of course she knows how this is done. She knows she’d just be in your way.”

“She wouldn’t—” I start again.

“I’ll be here waiting when you get back, Gray,” CC says, and she looks perfectly happy. I can’t tell if I’m falling into a trap or if she’s sincere. I’m still trying to figure it out when Cammie pulls me into the other room.

“Grayson! I was just wondering where you were,” Riverton says as we reach his side.

“I’m running a little late,” I tell him, looking over my shoulder to see if I can get a look at CC. I can’t find her anywhere. Did she just leave me here? Shit. I have to get out of here…

“It’s fine. Adams and I were just wondering how you like our greens. How about we take you for a quick tour?”

“Well, sir,” I start, but he cuts me off.

“Adams here is interested in working with you to create a line of clubs.”

“Clubs?”

“Exactly that, Lucas. And I’d like you to be the face of them.”

“Well, sir, I don’t know if I’d want my ugly mug on anything,” I joke, still trying to look around behind me for CC. I catch a glimpse of her smiling in the corner and talking to someone, which allows me to breathe a little easier. Maybe I’m overreacting after all.

“You’re the last person I ever expected to see here, CC!”

I look up at Jason and can’t help but smile. He doesn’t mean anything by it; he knows me and he knows everything that’s gone down between me, Cammie, and her father. He’s a hundred percent right. This is the last place I would choose to be. I’ve known Jason my whole life. His parents have money, and he does by default, I guess, but he doesn’t lord it over people. He’s as nice and easygoing as they come. In fact, I’m kind of surprised he’s here himself.

“No offense, but I didn’t really think I’d find you here either.”

“Yeah, it’s not my favorite thing, but my parents are out of town and mom is one of the ones that started this horse and pony show.”

“Ah. Family blackmail?”

“Exactly,” he laughs.

“What are you doing here? Not that I’m not glad to see you, but… well, you’re not exactly dressed for the black and white gala.”

I look down at my dress with a wry smile.

“Yeah, I’m a little…”

“Colorful?” Jason supplies helpfully and I have to laugh.

“Pretty much,” I sigh. “My boyfriend picked out the dress. I’m afraid he didn’t know about the whole black and white thing,” I tell him, and I’m pretty sure that’s the case after hearing Cammie talk. I’d lay odds that she’s somehow responsible.

“Oh, wow. I didn’t know you were dating someone. Who’s the lucky guy?”

That’s when it hits me. I referred to Gray as my boyfriend.
My boyfriend.
How did that happen? My heart speeds up and, for a moment, I think I might hyperventilate.
My boyfriend!?
Oh, God. What have I done?

“You okay, CC?” Jason asks because—well, heck, I don’t know. Maybe he can read the panic on my face. If anything is true in this moment, it’s the fact that I am in major panic mode.

“Umm… yeah, I think I just need to catch my breath. My dress may be a little tight. Excuse me a minute, Jason.” I don’t wait for him to answer, heading out of the room because the air in here feels as if it is suffocating me. I head towards the restrooms and see a small side entrance that says “Employees Only”. I head there. I don’t really know why except I know that’s the one place I won’t see Cammie Riverton and I don’t want her to see me when I’m in the middle of a meltdown. I don’t want to give her that satisfaction.