The Seduction Vow (5 page)

“
It’s pretty extreme,”
Graci agreed. “Maybe she’s just caught up in her life. We all get
super busy sometimes. ”

“
Not so busy we can’t send
a text. I keep trying to think of something I might have done or
said to piss her off. At least with you, I knew exactly why we fell
out of touch, and even then we still sent Christmas
cards.”

“
Maybe she’s just moved on
and doesn’t care to keep up with old friends anymore. It happens,”
Graci said what she’d been thinking recently when her attempts to
prompt a response from Adya failed too.

“
Maybe.” Bree sighed, but
then her tone brightened, sounding more like the airy, effervescent
Bree Graci knew. “But enough of that. I want you to tell me about
this hot musician Tara says you have a crush on.”

Grace sat forward in her chair. “What? Why
would she say that? I don’t. We only met the other night and hung
out a little after their set. All of us. In a group. I don’t have a
crush on Neal.”

“
What’s he look like? Were
there sparks? Tell me everything.”

There’d been plenty of sparks, but Graci
wasn’t about to turn her attraction to Neal into an anecdote. “We
met. We talked. He was nice. We exchanged numbers. Maybe we’ll go
out for coffee. That’s it.”

“
I don’t know. Both Tara
and Corinne said there was a definite
vibe
going on. The two of you
sneaking looks at each other. A sort of lust haze floating in the
air,” Bree teased.

Both of them
looking?
That meant she wasn’t imagining
that Neal was interested in her, which was sort of thrilling and
sort of scary too. “Well, they’re nuts. God’s sake, Bree, I was
with Joey for three years. I’m barely ready to dip a pinkie toe
back into the dating pool.”

“
That’s all it takes. One
pinkie toe, and if the right guy nibbles on it, you could have a
real good time.”

“
I have other things
besides guys on my to-do list.” Graci breezed past the topic, since
there was no way she was going to tell about her plan to lose her
virginity. “I’m all about reinventing myself. The other day, I ate
lunch in the restaurant at the top of Carew Tower. Sat in a window
seat and everything, and I hardly had any vertigo. I’m working on
conquering my fear of heights.”

“
I’m so proud of
you.”

“
And I signed up for a
cake-decorating class. I always thought it sounded like fun. I’m
going to do lots of other things too.”

“
That’s fantastic,” Bree
said. “Not many people could pull it together so soon after a
breakup. It’s great that you’re diving into life.”

“
See, even The Rock can
change,” Graci joked.

“
I always loved The Rock,
loved that I could depend on you to be exactly who you are. Trying
new things is great. You should definitely keep doing it. But don’t
change
too
much,
okay?” Bree’s voice hugged her over the phone.

Graci checked the time. “Damn. I have to get
back to work, and we didn’t even touch on your wedding plans. I
want to hear all about them.”

“
Next time,” Bree promised.
“I’m so glad we’re friends again. Can’t wait to see all of you guys
when you come out here.”

“
I’m looking forward to it
too.”
And to showing you that the new
Graci is better than the old. I’m not going to be the voice of
caution in the group anymore. At the bachelorette party,
I’ll
be the one dancing
on table tops for a change.

And what the hell, she’d be the one going for
coffee with Neal after all. She had his number. She’d give him a
call.

****

Meeting Neal outside the café he suggested,
Graci was able to get a good look at him for the first time. Both
other times they’d met in bars with low lighting intended to hide
flaws. Maybe in the bright light of day she’d discover his
shabbiness wasn’t so chic and his scruffiness was just plain
slobby. But nope. He was even more attractive with the sunlight
bringing out red and gold glints in his brown hair and making his
eyes shine.

She’d become so fixated on those eyes and the
spell they cast over her, they’d nearly become an entity all their
own. Now it was time to find out a little more about the man behind
blue eyes, like the song said.

They sat at an outdoor table on the sidewalk
in front of the building. Graci nervously turned the paper sleeve
on her coffee cup around and around. Sitting with this hot musician
suddenly made her feel dorky and uncool.

“
Did you study music?” she
asked.

“
Six years of piano lessons
with Mrs. Fishbaum, beginning when I was six. Once I hit middle
school and joined my first band, I quit lessons. My mom and I
fought about it, but she finally let it go, and trust me, she
didn’t let things go easily.” His smile set her at ease. Picturing
him dutifully sitting through lessons with Mrs. Fishbaum made her
realize that cool was just a surface thing. Underneath, he was
simply a friendly, nice guy.

“
Are you close to your
family?”

“
Yeah. There’s just my dad
and me now. Mom died eight years ago.” A slight frown flickered
over his face.

Graci tried to picture life without her
mother, the dynamic heart of her family just as her dad was the
quiet anchor. “I’m so sorry.”

He nodded, accepting her condolence. “She
caught some weird virus that flared up almost overnight. At first
she thought it was a cold, so she took cold medicine and tried to
sleep it off. But it got worse really fast. She went into the
hospital and died within twenty-four hours.”

“
Oh God. That’s awful. I
can’t even imagine.”

“
It was a pretty crappy
time,” he admitted. “After she died, I broke up with that girl I
told you about and dropped out of college. I was pretty lost for a
while.”

“
Anyone would be.” She
wished she had something more to offer, but there wasn’t really any
good way to respond to such a horrible tragedy. “I am
so
sorry,” she
repeated.

He sipped his coffee. “I’m not trying to
bring you down. It’s just my life. I played with some bands and
worked at a building supply store, then finally went back to
college and got an associate’s degree. Now I’m working in a music
program for at-risk youth. It’s outside the school system, funded
by a nonprofit group so they don’t have to follow state hiring
regulations. That’s why I don’t need a teaching degree.” He took a
breath. “So, that’s pretty much my whole story.”

“
That’s a lot. It’s cool
that you work with at-risk kids. Such an important job. What’s it
like?”

He squinted and wrinkled his nose. “They like
to act a lot tougher and more jaded than they really are. When it
comes to music, none of them have been exposed to much beyond rap
and pop. My first job is to get them to understand that all kinds
of music can be cool.”

Neal leaned forward, arms crossed on top of
the table. “But let me turn the twenty questions on you. What’s
your story?”

Just those few inches closer invaded her
space. His presence both charmed and flustered her. Graci licked
her lips and sipped her coffee while she calmed herself.

“
Oh, wow, a lot less
interesting, I promise you,” she said. “I’ve lived in Cincinnati
all my life. Attended U of C then was hired in at Schulman
Corporation. Do you know it? They make office machinery. I’m an
accountant. It’s not nearly as exciting as what you do, but it’s
what I’m good at. I’m kind of a meticulous person.”

She paused, wishing she could add anything to
make her sound less dull. “Quilting is my hobby. My mom taught me
to sew when I was little, and it’s something I do for fun. I live a
pretty quiet life.”

Good God, could she possibly be more boring?
She swore she could see his eyes glazing over.

“
I’d like to see your work.
I have a friend who creates fabric art. You got any snaps on your
phone?”

She did, but did he really want to see them,
or was he just being polite?

“
Well. There is this one
stained-glass-look quilt I just finished.” She called up the photo
and showed him the screen.

“
That’s beautiful. You’re a
real artist.”

Those clear, honest eyes couldn’t possibly be
lying. He appreciated and admired her work. That was more than the
vaguely polite interest Joey had occasionally mustered.

“
Thank you.” A warm glow
swelled in her as she put her phone away.

Neal checked his watch, and all her happy
feelings deflated.

Of course he was counting the seconds until
he could kindly put an end to this date. She should have known
better. What would an edgy musician possibly find sexy about a
dull-as-dirt accountant? She should have invented an intriguing
persona to go with her new hairstyle. Maybe said she was an
aspiring actress like Tara or a costume designer like Bree.

“
Hey, I got to tell
you”—Neal said, and she started to nod, anticipating an excuse—“I
picked this café for a reason. I have a friend who’s into flash
mobs. They’ve got a thing here today…in about one more minute. I
was going to let it be a surprise, but I thought maybe you’d like a
little advance warning. Take a look.”

He pointed to a couple of people rising from
their seats, others clustering on the sidewalk beyond the tables,
and several people keeping an eye on their watches.

Then suddenly, everybody began moving.
Someone started a portable stereo system, and a heavy bass beat
filled the air. A number of diners surged to their feet, and joined
the random people on the sidewalk leaping into choreographed
motion.

“
Oh my God! I’ve always
wanted to see one of these in real life, not just on a video. This
is so cool.” Excitement and awe filled her at the unison movement
of the small crowd. Watchers on the fringe smiled and pointed and
occasionally joined in, awkwardly following the steps of the
dance.

“
Watching’s fun, but it’s
even better to join in.” Neal rose and held out his
hand.

“
I couldn’t. I don’t know
what to do.”

“
You’ll catch on, and
I
know
you like
to dance. I saw you on the floor the other night with your
friends.” He leaned close and murmured, “Very sexy.”

Her cheeks blazed at the compliment and from
knowing that while she’d been watching him on stage, he’d noticed
her too. His attraction was a long, cool drink she sorely needed
after the desert of rejection Joey had given her.

“
Anyway, look.” Neal
pointed out bystanders who were laughing as they tried to copy the
steps. “Everybody’s here to have fun. You don’t have to be perfect.
Just do it.”

Nike’s motto and hers now, she reminded
herself. Graci took a deep breath, then took his hand.

Neal pulled her onto her feet and into the
dance.

It was more like calisthenics than anything
else, she realized as she bent down to the ground, slowly rose
upright with jazz hands wiggling, clapped her hands together, and
swept them from one side of her body to the other. She put her
hands on her hips and rotated. Who made up these group dances?

Now everyone was jumping a
step forward and then back and thrusting pelvises. Oh, it was
the
Time Warp
or
something close to it. She glanced at Neal, smiling and thrusting
alongside her. The push of his hips brought sex steaming to the top
of her brain. And not just sex, but sex with
him.
What would it be like? Slow and
sensual, and he’d probably know exactly what to do with his hands
and that laughing mouth. The thought of kisses and warm, wet licks
made her shiver all over and lose track of her dancing.

Graci focused on the
hand-clapping portion of the song
. CLAP
clap-clap. CLAP clap-clap.
And then very
fast,
clap-clap clap-clap clap-clap
CLAP
. Everyone was more or less right on
the beat. Cool.

Those who knew the song started singing the
refrain. Graci didn’t, but she laughed aloud as the joyful music
and camaraderie lifted her up. No wonder Neal’s friend was addicted
to this. It was a fun, natural high. Silly and lighthearted and not
particularly meaningful, except that it gave a message of
hopefulness about the basic unity of people.

The last strains of the
song resounded. Everybody’s arms lifted slowly to one final
unison
CLAP!
Then
somebody turned off the music, the crowd broke up, and everyone
began to drift away.

Breathless and still grinning from ear to
ear, Graci said, “That was so much fun. Thanks for inviting
me.”

“
I’m glad you liked it. I
thought you might. You don’t seem like the kind of woman who’s
afraid to try new things.”

What? He clearly didn’t know her at all. Or
maybe he did—the new Graci he’d seen dance and drink too much and
act silly in public. Her talk about quilting and accounting hadn’t
turned him off. He still imagined she was interesting.

Neal led the way back to their table, where
the coffee was lukewarm and the pastry starting to dry out. Graci
sipped her sweetened brew and took a bite of lemon tart.

“
Mm. Try this.” She cut a
bite for Neal and set it on his plate with her fork.