Time Out, Valentine Read online

  But no. Fate had to dump more crap on her, like hanging a bone in front of a dog, showing her what she could have then taking it back allowing her to whine and moan, like a bitch in heat. She wanted him, but she couldn’t have him.

  His perfect little girlfriend, with her perfect little red dress with white daisies and a cute little cardigan, her hair decorated with a headband, looking everything as if she came off the Mad Men set. How could he turn her down? There was no doubt this woman was in Grant’s life. Her smile, the shake of her hips, the way she said his ridiculous pet name, Granty. The woman screamed money and poise. Just like all the other rich girls who stole her boyfriends in the past—until her brother stepped into the picture. It was nice having a famous actor in the family, but she wasn’t one of those made-up rich girls. She’d never be, actor in the family or not.

  Lexi had Grant…once, for a few hours…but had to come to the realization that was all she would get. So, she found herself wandering the streets of Pearl District, buying sweets at Voodoo Donuts, stuffing her face with a Captain Crunch topped doughnut. After eating the enormous Cock-N-balls, she forced herself to walk the block as she window-shopped. She had to keep busy, so she walked for another hour and then passed a Sexy Woman’s shop full of VeeVees galore, a virtual family reunion for the original Vee.

  Grant gave her plenty of satisfaction today. She never thought she’d fall that fast and hard for a man, especially Geeky Grant. She’d have to satisfy herself in her own way. There was every variety of Vee known to man in this place. She’d have to stock up if she was renouncing men.

  She bought little VeeVees, big VeeVees, weird VeeVees and other VeeVees that she never even knew could be a VeeVee. She had two huge bags of vibrators to satisfy herself, but when she walked the two more blocks to her apartment building, she couldn’t stop laughing from the realization that no matter how many VeeVees, she’d always remember her last lay—with sexy Grant, a man she loved. There was no way in hell any VeeVee would replace him.

  And speak of the devil. He sat curled up in her doorway, his arms crossed in front, looking hot in his rumpled Save the Daleks shirt, his hair sticking up on edge, and his jeans sitting low on his waist. God. She sighed deeply.

  He looked away from his phone to stare at her.

  Leaping to his feet, he ran a hand through his hair. “There you are. Shit, Lexi, I’ve been going crazy trying to find you.”

  Wait. Why did he raise his voice at her? “Are you mad? At me?”

  “No, I’m not mad, but I’ve been looking for you for two hours.” His words said one thing, but his tone said another.

  “I had things to do.” She placed both bags in one hand and walked to the door. “If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get inside and relax.”

  Grant put his arm out to stop her. “Aly thought you might’ve left town. I was worried.”

  “Well, I figured you gone off with your girlfriend. Far be it from your morning lay to interfere with that.”

  “Lexi.” His tone tried to comfort, but it rubbed her the wrong way.

  “Let me get inside.”

  He dropped his arm, but placed his hand on her shoulder. “Lexi, we need to talk.”

  She opened the door and held it open for him. She wanted to throw him out to tell him to fuck off, but his eyes begged, reminding her of the morning they were matched for the shitty romantic magazine escapade.

  “I’ve already heard it all.” She placed her bags on the counter and faced him. “It’s not you, it’s me. I’m not ready to settle down. Oh, I only dated you to meet your brother.”

  Grant grimaced. “Someone actually did that?”

  She nodded and put her hands on her hips. “So, chop-chop. I have things to do. Go ahead. Tell me how sorry you are for two timing me, and we’ll be on with it.”

  Grant strode to her and held her face in his hands. “Lexi, listen to me. I have no excuse. I don’t need one.”

  She huffed a sigh, whipping her bangs to the side in the process. “Yeah, right.”

  “I want to be with you. I want to try this out, like I told you in the Rose Garden and the zipline, especially after our little jaunt here afterward.” He rubbed her bottom lip with his thumb. “Don’t you see? I want you.”

  She touched his hands with her own. He still wanted her? Why the hell would he say such sweet things when he saw his little girl-toy at the office? He knew she saw the woman. She wasn’t born yesterday. “Seems odd since your girlfriend showed up at the office.”

  He showed no signs of relenting. He led her to the barstool and sat her down, even with her pouting his gaze on her didn’t falter. Then he faced her, rubbing her hands with his thumbs. “Listen. To. Me, Lexi.”

  She rolled her eyes and looked away. He grabbed her chin to force eye contact—his sweet golden eyes staring straight into her. “Becky is not my girlfriend. That’s been over for a long time. I want you.”

  “I’m not stupid, Grant. She was hanging all over you.”

  He ran his hand through his hair and stepped between her legs. She tried to jerk her body away, but again he tugged at her to look at him. “Becky is an ex-girlfriend. A crazy ex-girlfriend who will not be in my life. I broke it off with her months ago.”

  His eyes clung to hers, analyzing her reaction. Was he telling the truth? She didn’t trust guys. Too many lies. But Grant’s gaze was full of warmth and truth. Could it be? “Why was she here then?”

  “She wants me to come back.” He caressed her cheek with his pointer finger. “I said no. No way. No-how and never. I want you, Lexi.”

  He wanted to be with her. She still couldn’t speak; his finger trailed over her collarbone. “You and I…we’re so different, yet I think that’s what makes us perfect. Shit. I freakin’ went ziplining with you. I’m scared of heights like you wouldn’t believe. But I’d do whatever you wanted.” He rocked into her. “I’d like to explore this relationship a little more.”

  “Explore? Relationship?” Okay, she got out two words. That’s progress.

  He smiled, that sweet smile with a little dimple on the side. “Yeah, a relationship, if you’ll have me.”

  “Will you have me?” Now she sounded like a parrot.

  “I’d love to take you right now.” He pushed her into the counter to nuzzle her neck. “You and your rosy perfume.”

  “You’re smelling me!” Her hands reached around him to feel the muscles of his back through his tight tee-shirt. She’d never tire of those well-developed muscles that didn’t really belong on a geek.

  “Damn sexy, Lexi.” He pushed into her core between her thighs. “You want to try this out?”

  She didn’t even need another second to think about it. “Fuck yeah.” She tugged his face toward her and kissed him with reckless abandonment. Their lips twisted together in ways she didn’t think possible. His hand caressed her ass, then push her on top of the counter, his mouth roaming every nook.

  “Who would’ve thought a work assignment could bring us together?” She laughed as her head fell back.

  “Apparently Jeremy and Jennifer did. Thank God for the Valentine’s special. In fact, he sent me a text message to say that the trip is ours if we’ll take it.”

  She slammed her palm against his chest. “Get out! We won the trip to Puerto Vallarta?” She rubbed his chest and ran her hand down a wrinkle in the side of his shirt, feeling his hard chest under her fingers.

  His smile was as intimate as a kiss. “You didn’t tell me you turned in an article yesterday. Jeremy and Jennifer really liked it, thought the whole part about it not mattering where we visited in Portland, as long as we were together part, spoke volumes about romance. They want us to get together so badly that they’ll send us to Mexico.” He shook his head. “You’re unbelievable, you know that?”

  “This is all too much.” She knotted the hem of his shirt in her fist. “But a trip to Mexico with you sounds just right.” She let her lips roam his neck. “And I like the idea of exploring a relationship with
you.”

  He chuckled a deep, warm, rich sound. “Then let’s explore. Will you be my Valentine, sexy Lexi?” As he pulled himself over her body, he scooted his hand across the counter knocking a bag open, displaying a bright pink VeeVee. “What the hell is that?”

  “Oh, wait.” Lexi tried to snatch it before he did, but he held it in the gap in front of them.

  He tried to hold in a laugh, but he wasn’t very successful. “What the hell? This is what you did while I waited for two hours?”

  “I didn’t think I’d have you again. You’re a hard act to follow.” She nodded to the two bags full.

  “Holy shit.” He opened the bag wider to display three more vibrators, one in a heart-shaped Valentine box. “This could be fun.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. Now come here.” Grant led Lexi to heaven and back, to the world where VeeVees had no power and hot sexy geeks did.

  Epilogue

  “You want a piña colada or a margarita this time?” Grant asked from the lounge chair beside Lexi. Even though they’d been together for months now, Lexi never tired of hearing his sexy voice—especially when he served her margaritas.

  Lexi wore a huge sunhat and the teeny, tiny polka-dot bikini Grant bought her before the trip. “Surprise me.”

  Then Grant spilled off in Spanish to the tanned waiter, “Una piña colada con una sombrilla y una cerveza, por favor.” She loved that every day she learned new facts about smarty Grant. On this trip, she learned he spoke fluent Spanish—of course—in addition to two other languages. Another turn on factor. Sexy and smart.

  “So, Lexi…” His eyes observed her from head to toe, “It’s been three days since we arrived in Puerto Vallarta. We’ve snorkeled, parasailed, suntanned, and surfed. What’s next for my Lexi?”

  “Hmmm.” She smirked at him, sipping the last of her mixed drink. “There’s a gazebo over there. I hear they have great couple massages.”

  “I heard that also.” Grant straightened, took her empty glass, and set it on the table. For a second she was worried something happened. Maybe he didn’t feel well from all the sun or too much alcohol, but he reached over and held her hands, a sincere look in his caramel eyes. “I also heard they have ceremonies there.”

  “Ceremonies?” She giggled. “Like what? Weddings?” Her heart froze for a moment and then beat five gazillion miles a minute. Holy shit. What did he mean weddings? “Wait—”

  Ever since they became a couple, they were inseparable. After three weeks, Grant moved in with her, and they’d been living together for five months. She never would’ve dreamed of living with a man before—she didn’t do that type of commitment, but Grant was so different from any guy she ever dated.

  It scared her that they almost never fought, unless she was in “one of her moods” as he called it. Then he’d talk her out of it with kissing and cuddling, because he liked that. After meeting their families and spending a whole week at his sister’s place on the Portland coast, she knew this would go much deeper than any relationship she ever had. Now, he was speaking the dreams she had in her head aloud.

  Holy frick frack.

  He tightened his grasp and cocked his head, studying her. “Yeah, weddings.”

  Her chest lightened, as if she was floating on the sea, and her heart raced. “What are you saying, Grant?” Her voice shook, her pulse spinning.

  He scooted closer, his long board shorts pulling up on his thighs. His eyes dove deep into hers then he took a deep breath. “I’m saying, let’s do it. I love you. It’ll happen eventually. Why not now? Let’s get married. Right now.”

  “Will they do it now?” Her eyes widened as her heart jumped into her throat.

  His hand rose to her cheek and he nodded. “Yeah, baby. Now. Marry me.”

  She didn’t even need another second to answer. She’d dreamed of this moment and knew Grant was the one since he stepped foot past her yoga ball. The perfect man for her—even if they were complete opposites.

  “Yeah,” she whispered, then cleared her throat. She wanted it to be unambiguous to them both. This was serious and she wanted it just as much as he did, apparently. “Yes. Let’s do it.”

  A huge smile formed on Grant’s face, then he leaned down to crush his mouth to hers. Laughter fell around them as they giggled together. The waiter set down their drinks.

  Grant stopped kissing her enough to ask the waiter the all-important question. “Señor, when do they open the chapel?”

  “In an hour. What is the occasion? You want to get married?”

  “Damn right I do.”

  “Felicidades! I will make arrangements, yes?” When they both nodded, the young waiter ran off with a smile on his face, too.

  Lexi climbed into Grant’s chair on top of him and hugged his neck. “Thank God we won the Time Out Valentine assignment.” She was blissfully happy, fully alive.

  “We’ve won each other, and that’s the best prize of all.”

  She’d never tire of this man…of his lovable nature, his shyness, his surprises.

  “I love you, Grant.” A warm glow flowed through her.

  “And I love you.” He swung her into the folds of his arms and nuzzled her neck.

  “That’s what she said.” She kissed his neck in return and smelled his woodsy smell, even at the goddamn beach.

  A word about the author...

  After hectic days of teaching English to middle school students, Melinda finds time to write and read in the evenings. She lives in Guatemala, Central America, with her husband/college sweetheart who brings “mucho amor” to her life. Melinda enjoys being the queen of her household and dreams of being pampered fully by her three boys once they are grown. Melinda’s guilty pleasures include reality TV, traveling, blogging, and playing Candy Crush.

  Visit with Melinda at:

  www.melindadozier.com

  Thank you for purchasing

  this publication of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.