We spent the next several minutes dishing about Grey Blackwood. And if I ended up blushing and nervous giggling, at least Grey wasn’t nearby to see it.
19
Grey
“If the enemy leaves a door open, you must rush in.”
~ Sun Tzu, The Art of War
After the call with Marcel ended, I sat back at the computer to finish a few more critical tasks before making my way back downstairs to look for Ellison. When I walked out onto the patio, I saw Adrian Mahoney first.
“There he is,” Adrian said with a big smile.
While I’d enjoyed my conversation with him earlier, he wasn’t the person I’d been looking for. No, the man I wanted was sitting farther out at a table by the boardwalk, sipping a glass of wine and laughing at something Cate McArthur was saying. After another older couple wandered away from their table, it was just the four of them: Ellison, Cate, and Ellison’s parents. What a happy little family.
“Hi,” I said, trying to avoid being rude to Adrian. “Let’s get together back in the city and talk about the real estate project.”
“That sounds great. Would you like to get a drink and tell me more about it right now? We have some time before the formal dinner party tonight. Unless, of course, you were hoping to join the backgammon tournament happening in the library.”
His eyes twinkled with humor. I smiled back and shook my head. “I’m afraid this morning’s tennis wiped out my daily ration of fierce competition. But I’ll take a rain check on the drink if you don’t mind. Ellison’s expecting me to join them.” I gestured to the table of Yorks. The Yorks were definitely not expecting me, but I also didn’t want to sit and talk to Adrian when the man I really wanted to sit and talk to was within a stone’s throw.
And I didn’t really give a shit what Warren York wanted.
“Absolutely, but now I’ll have to face my wife across the backgammon board. The resulting carnage will be on your head.” He shot me a wink and turned away. I felt bad for dismissing his offer and not inviting him to join me with Ellison, but I also didn’t want to invite a total stranger into the tense family situation between the Yorks and myself.
I ordered two Bahama Mamas from the bartender and walked over to Ellison’s table. “I got you a Persnickity High-Hat,” I murmured, setting one down in front of Ellison. I offered the other one to Cate. “Would you like one too?”
A slight frown wrinkled her forehead as she turned to look at the bartender. “Yes, if you don’t mind. They wouldn’t make one for me earlier. Said they didn’t know what it was.”
“Hm,” I said. I glanced at Mr. and Mrs. York. “Can I get you a drink?”
Ellison’s body was strung tight while he waited for their response. His mother opened her mouth to say something, but Warren stood up abruptly and excused them both to get ready for dinner.
It was four in the afternoon.
Once they were gone, I raised a brow at Ellison.
“Sorry,” he muttered, looking dejected. I leaned down and pressed a lingering kiss to his cheek.
“’S’okay.” I turned and made my way back to the bartender to get myself a gin and tonic.
When I got back, Ellison and Cate were laughing again. I hated the feeling of jealousy that slithered in my gut, but Cate said something that cut it off at the source.
“I was talking to Ellison about one of the guys he went to boarding school with,” she said with a blush. “He and I have been dating for a few weeks, and I really like him.”
Ellison turned to me and grabbed my arm. “You know him, actually. Remember Drake Lou from the club? Short guy with dark hair? He was always laughing. Great sense of humor.”
“The one who couldn’t golf worth a damn but could sink any putt?”
Ellison laughed. “Exactly. What the fuck? I never understood it. He had plenty of muscle too, just couldn’t hit a drive to save his life.”
I shifted until Ellison was holding my hand instead of my forearm. Once our fingers were tangled together, I let out a breath and tried to relax my shoulders. “Yeah. I remember him. Didn’t he go to college in DC?”
Cate nodded. “He went to Georgetown and got into politics. He’s a political consultant in the financial field.”
“I didn’t stay in touch with him after college,” Ellison said. “What’s he been up to besides work?”
That was the only opening she needed to talk our ears off about the perfect specimen of man that was Drake Lou. At one point, Ellison moved his hand down to my thigh under the table and began stroking it higher and higher until I was hard as fuck and couldn’t even pretend to pay attention to the conversation any longer.
I slid my arm around his shoulders and began playing with the little waves of hair resting on his collar. Every once in a while, when my fingers grazed the warm skin of his neck, he would shudder.
We drank and talked for a couple of hours as the sun lowered behind the house. Other guests came and went, and eventually our conversation turned to other topics.
“Wait,” Ellison said, interrupting Cate’s explanation of a project she was involved in at work. “I thought you wanted me to take you to the Ballard’s charity ball. What about Drake?”
“He’s going with his parents to Hong Kong to visit family. He won’t be here, and if I go alone, I’ll have every society mom in the city trying to fix me up.” She suddenly frowned and turned to me. “Unless, of course, that would bother you, Grey. I’m sorry I didn’t even think of that. I’m just used to asking Ellison to fill in when I need a friend to take me.”
How different the situation was than I’d expected. Even though I knew Ellison was more interested in me than Cate, it still took away some of my stress to hear the same lack of interest on her part.
“I don’t mind at all,” I said. “Ellison is his own man. I don’t begrudge him his friendships.”
Ellison rolled his eyes. “What he means is, he’ll enjoy the chance to work late without being lectured. The man is a workaholic.”
I stared at him. “Aren’t you? You’re a corporate attorney. By definition you must be a workaholic.”
“Wrong. As you know, I work in development and fundraising for a private school in Vermont now. With all that clean living and fresh air, I’m bound to be frolicking in nature in the evening before turning in by nine o’clock.” He shot me a cheeky grin.
Cate laughed and shook her head. “Finally. I know how much you hated practicing law.”
“Hated it,” Ellison agreed with a laugh. “Good riddance. I counted down the fucking hours till I was done. I’m not sure how I’m going to do living in the country, but I’m really excited to get into the work and feel like my time is being spent helping people for once.”
I wanted to ask him more about his work at the academy, but Cate got to him first. “Why don’t you stay in the city and work from there? It seems like most of the money is there anyway. You could take potential donors out to lunch and see and be seen. Might help raise more money if you’re still active in the social world. And then you and Grey wouldn’t have to be long-distance.”