Grey just smiled and nodded. “Right, well, the chef starts doing the whole choppy-flippy-thing, and I decide that I could do it, too. I still don’t know why he gave me the knife and shit, but he did, and I started cooking.”
“Oh god.”
“It gets worse,” Grey assured her. “So, I’m butchering the shrimp and whatever the hell else is on the griddle thing, and Cody tells me to flip a shrimp into his mouth. Drunk me thinks that sounds like a great idea, so I load a shrimp onto the spatula and toss it to him. But instead of getting it in his mouth, I ended uphitting some poor old woman who was sitting two tables away from us in the forehead.” She laughed with Lauren at that and shrugged. “And, yeah, I shouted an apology that people on the street probably could have heard, the chef took his stuff back, and I sat back down in my chair.”
“Sounds like a very wise decision.”
“Thank you.” Grey tipped her head in a small bow. “Anyway, once the food started piling up on our plates, we were too busy eating to come up with any other genius ideas and so we managed to finish the meal without getting into trouble. But, once we finished dinner, one of the waitresses comes out with a little ceramic Buddha guy with a candle on his head and a bowl of ice cream, another waitress is behind her with a Polaroid camera, and they and the rest of the waitstaff in the restaurant start singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Cody. He makes a wish, blows out the candle, and then next thing I know, he has the Buddha guy, our friend Mike has the camera, and the rest of us are all following them around the restaurant in a drunken conga line, singing to random people and taking their pictures.”
“And how long did that go on?”
“Maybe five minutes,” Grey said, taking a sip of her drink. “At first, I think everyone was amused by our antics, but once we climbed onto chairs at an empty table and started singingIt’s Gonna Be Me—Cody’s favorite song at the time—at the top of our incredibly inebriated lungs, the manager came out, took the stuff away, and asked us to never return to the restaurant again.”
Lauren laughed and shook her head. “My god. The nerve of that guy.”
Grey finished off what was left of her Painkiller, and grinned as she set the empty glass onto the table. “I know, right?” She glanced at her watch as Lauren polished off the rest of her drink. It was only a little after eight o’clock. The idea of ordering another round was tempting, she was genuinely enjoying herself and wasnot ready for the evening to end, but she knew that they should not return to the boat with anything more than a light buzz. Will and Kim were cool, but she was running a business and that did not include her being totally hammered when there were guests aboard her boat. “You wanna go get some ice cream?”
“Ice cream?” Lauren repeated, nodding as she got to her feet. “You just don’t want the night to end yet, huh?”
“No,” Grey answered seriously, her eyes soft as a shy smile tugged at her lips. Her heart stuttered at the blatant honesty she could hear in her answer, and she cleared her throat quietly as she held Lauren’s gaze. “I just…really want some mint ‘n chip ice cream and all we have on the boat is vanilla.”
Lauren stared at Grey, trying to get a read on what she was thinking. She had only been teasing Grey about not wanting the night to end, but she could tell from the open look in Grey’s eyes that she was serious. That, somehow over the course of the day, the weird unsettled balance between them had found its equilibrium. And, if she were being honest with herself, she did not know how she felt about it. A part of her was pleased that Grey was so much more open and friendly and even a little flirtatious with her, but she also could not forget the look that had haunted Grey’s eyes earlier that morning when she had caught her staring at the picture of her and Emily. She genuinely enjoyed Grey’s company, and seeing her laugh and smile filled Lauren with a surprising warmth of affection, but she could not help but wonder if all of this was simply because she reminded Grey of Emily. “I guess I could go for some ice cream.”
“Yeah?”
“Absolutely.” Lauren could not suppress the pleasant shudder that rolled up her spine at the feeling of Grey’s hand brushing lightly over her lower back when she walked past her, and her stomach flipped at the way Grey’s breath hitched in response. Yes, whatever it was that was going on between them,they were definitely treading on dangerous ground. “How far is it to the ice cream shop?”
Grey pointed at a cluster of shops in front of them as she stepped onto the boardwalk beside Lauren. “It’s just up there.”
They walked down the boardwalk to the ice cream shop in silence, their arms brushing together every so often, Lauren’s heart skipping a beat at every light touch, and she gave Grey a small, shaky smile when she held the door to the shop open for her. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” Grey’s mouth went dry when Lauren’s eyes found hers, and she swallowed thickly as Lauren pushed past her into the shop.Goddamn, she thought, running her hands through her hair as she followed Lauren to the counter.
Lauren held her breath as she felt Grey stop behind her. Every nerve ending in her body seemed to be attuned to Grey’s presence, and she both loved and hated that Grey affected her so acutely. Loved it because it had been so long since anyone had made her feel anything like this, and hated it because there was no way for her to know what any of it meant. She dimly heard Grey order a single scoop of mint ‘n chip on a sugar cone, and she cleared her throat softly when the shopkeeper’s eyes landed on her. “Rocky road.”
It seemed like the most appropriate choice, given her current emotional state.
Lauren paid for their ice cream since Grey had paid their dinner tab while she had been in the bathroom, and then they made their way out the door to a bench that sat right at the water’s edge. The pretense of enjoying their dessert made up for the lack of conversation between them, and Lauren pretended that she did not notice the way Grey kept looking at her.
Grey could not look away from Lauren as the wind blowing in off the water stirred lightly through Lauren’s hair, sending the wild tresses fluttering around her face. Her fingers itched to reachout and tuck the strands behind Lauren’s ears, and it was all she could do to contain the urge. The electricity between them palpable, but electricity alone was not enough for her to take such liberties. Her breath caught when Lauren turned to look at her, and a slow, lopsided smile quirked her lips when she noticed a smear of chocolate ice cream on the side of Lauren’s mouth. “Hold still,” she murmured as she lifted a hand to wipe it off, “you have some ice cream on your face.”
Before Lauren could take care of it herself, Grey’s fingers were gliding over her jaw, and a soft thumb was swiping slowly over the corner of her mouth. Her pulse raced as Grey’s thumb lingered against her lips, and she frowned. “I…”
“Got it.” Grey did not pull her hand away, but instead left it wrapped lightly around Lauren’s jaw. Her eyes darted over Lauren’s face, from her lips to her eyes that sparkled with both surprise and desire, and she let out a shaky sigh as she began to lean in closer.
“This is a really bad idea,” Lauren whispered, her eyes fluttering shut as Grey’s breath landed lightly on her lips. Bad idea or not, she could not find the willpower to pull away. Her stomach fluttered with anticipation as Grey’s mouth hovered just out of reach, warm and soft and full of promise, and her heart leapt into her throat when she felt the air in front of her stir.
“Maybe.” Grey ran the tip of her nose over Lauren’s cheek. “But all the best ones are,” she murmured as she closed the gap between them and finally captured Lauren’s lips with her own.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
KISSING GREY WAS like nothing Lauren had experienced before. Grey’s lips were so soft, almost hesitant in the way they molded to her own, like Grey was waiting for her to pull away. She knew that she should stop this, but her heart had swooped up into her throat the moment Grey’s lips landed on hers, and she found herself powerless to resist.
Grey tasted like mint and cream, and the fingers against her jaw were steel silk. Lauren could feel the air shift around them as Grey leaned into her, and desire—hot, white, and all-consuming—flared in her veins as the last of her resolve to do the smart thing disappeared. She reached for Grey, her fingers twisting blindly in the loose fabric of Grey’s shirt as she pulled her closer.
She could not contain the low moan that rumbled in the back of her throat when Grey’s tongue swept slowly over her lower lip, tentatively seeking more. Her nipples became instantly, impossibly hard as she opened her mouth, and the shaky whimper that fell against her lips as Grey’s fingers threaded through her hair sent a delicious tremor of anticipation rolling down her spine.
Grey groaned as Lauren’s mouth slanted over hers, opening wider and inviting her in deeper. Her pulse pounded in her ears as Lauren’s tongue swirled around her own in a sensual dance of exploration and need, and her stomach swooped and dove at thefeeling of Lauren’s body arching into her. Warmth she had thought she would never feel again swept through her with every languid swipe of Lauren’s tongue around her own and with every flex of the redhead’s fingers in her shirt. She fisted her hands in Lauren’s hair, holding her in place as she took control of the kiss, every ardent clash of lips less restrained than the last. It was madness. Sheer, unexplainable insanity, and she craved more.
