Southern Player (Charleston Heat 2)

We take the cups she presses into our hands. I bite back a smile when I see Grey take a long, savage sip, eyes narrowed as they scan the barn and the fields surrounding it. As if Julia was out there somewhere hiding from him. Cackling at him from behind a bush or something.

Huh.

“Nothing,” Greyson snaps. “It’s just been a long day.”

Lilly cocks a brow. “Long day? It’s ten A.M. On a Saturday.”

He grunts. “Beer is good.”

Then he heads into the barn.

Lilly and I exchange a glance.

“Is anything going on between him and Julia?” I ask.

“Who and Julia?”

Gracie appears at my elbow.

“Greyson,” I say, nodding in his direction. “Wouldn’t stop talkin’ about how pissed at her he is.”

Gracie blinks, clearly surprised. “I don’t think so. Those two—I mean, they couldn’t be more different if they tried.”

“You know what they say about opposites and the laws of attraction,” Lilly says, wagging her brows.

Elijah calls us over then, asking for help with some portable burners.

The morning goes by too quickly. All of the sudden it’s noon, and guests start arriving. Trickling in at first. But the makeshift lot beside the barn quickly fills up, and soon the barn is filled to the rafters, too.

Gracie’s friends. Mine. Kids and babies. The smells of coffee and fried chicken thick in the air.

It’s loud. Crowded. Bodies making it warm enough for us to keep the big barn doors open.

Gwen is helping George give the keg a pump. She says something, and he throws his head back and laughs.

Who knew he appreciated a dirty joke so much?

Lilly boogies in the corner to Luke Bryan with Mama and Dylan and a little girl in pink cowboy boots.

Everyone—every single person who comes through the doors—stops me to shake my hand. They introduce themselves if we’ve never met. Thank me for the invite if we have.

The buckets we set up by the food overflow with dollar bills.

Hardly half an hour into the thing, and I’m overflowing, too. So much good stuff I’m getting a little choked up here.

I grab a beer and duck outside. Take a minute to catch my breath. Watch through the door as my world and Gracie’s collide in a million ways, big and small.

This.

This is it. The dream, coming true right in front of me.

My dream and hers, all rolled into one.

We’re fucking doing it. A day at a time, we’re creating our own world together.

Aw, shit, now I’m really gonna cry.

Gracie comes over. Hands in the back pockets of her jeans as she looks up at me, one eye screwed shut against the ardent autumn sun.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.” I sniffle. Look down to toe at an invisible pebble.

“Was it the buckets of money for charity?”

“Yeah.”

“The incredible turn out?”

“Yup.”

“The really good grits and better coffee?”

This one I can’t even reply to. So I just nod.

Gracie steps forward, the toes of her Nikes coming into view.

“Just think, Luke,” she says. “This is only the beginning.”

I look up. She’s smiling at me. With her eyes and mouth and heart.

I’m leaning down to kiss her when we hear a muffled bang. Muffled growl, too.

Turning my head in the direction of the sounds, I see the back door of a nearby Yukon—new and shiny—open.

Greyson steps out. Glancing around as he tucks the back of his shirt into his slacks.

I duck so he doesn’t see me. Gracie does the same.

A second later, Julia emerges from the car. Face flushed. Frantically curling her disheveled hair behind her ears.

“Oh my God,” Gracie breathes. “They were totally fucking, right?”

“Oh yeah.” I watch as Greyson says something to Julia. Julia scoffs, rolling her eyes. “Hate fucking, from the look of it.”

“I didn’t see that one coming.”

I turn back to Gracie and hold up my hand for a high five.

“Nice pun.”

She slaps my hand. “Thank you.”

I catch hers.

“Thank you. For giving me a chance. For seeing all this,” I glance up at the barn, “before I could.”

Gracie gives my hand a squeeze. “I love you, Luke.”

I kiss her in reply. She sighs into my mouth. Body melting into mine.

Adore worship conquer.

I’d say I did a pretty damn good job.