The Sullivans: Always On My Mind Part 17

"You sitting on me naked, calling me all those names, is better than p.o.r.n."

She laughed despite herself and had to poke him in the chest to try to show him he hadn't gotten the better of her. "You're the one who never stood a chance."

She expected him to laugh again, to tease her again. Instead, his expression grew serious.

"I never did, Lori, not for one single second."

No matter what happened from here forward, she knew she'd never stop loving Grayson. It wouldn't matter that their lives didn't fit together. It wouldn't matter that he deserved someone who could be a full-time farmer with him. It wouldn't matter when she was three thousand miles away from him on a stage in a big city, dancing for a crowd of strangers.

She would still love him with her entire heart.

"Dance with me, Grayson." Love was forever, but not everything else could be. So she'd take now...and she'd hold on to it for as long as she could. "Please, dance with me."

Their bodies were poised to come together, and any other man would have been beyond frustrated with her for wanting to get up on their feet. Fortunately, Grayson had been frustrated with her from minute one, so at least he was used to it.

She climbed from his body even as he swung his feet to the rug beside his big bed. She loved that he'd built nearly everything in this room, that she could feel his touch in every surface, in the wood posts of the bed, in the welded ironwork of the head and footboards.

And then she was in his arms and they were dancing. There wasn't much s.p.a.ce on his bedroom floor, but they didn't need it. Not when it was enough to just to be in each other's arms and to sway to the music she was sure they both could hear.

Tears came again, falling as fast, as thick as they had before and, for the second time in one morning, he let her cry against his chest.

"It will be okay, sweetpea," he said into her hair, using the same name for her that she'd used for the cat. "I promise it won't hurt like this forever. One day you'll feel better."

But didn't he know? "You've already made everything better."

His mouth captured hers, and then he was lifting her up off the floor altogether so that her legs were wrapped around his hips and he was pressing her back down onto the bed and coming into her with slow, perfect heat.

"So have you," he told her as he thrust into her and she met each thrust with the press of her hips against his. "Everything's better now. So much better than it's ever been. So much better than I ever thought it could be."

His cheek was pressed up against hers and that was how they loved each other, with her smooth skin rubbing into his stubble, her hands holding onto him just as tightly as he was holding onto her.

Lori had always been loved by her family. She had seen the love between her siblings and their husbands and wives. She knew how it was to hold a baby niece and nephew in her arms and stare into pure wonder.

But it wasn't until she was in Grayson's arms, and he was kissing away her tears and caressing her so gently, so sweetly, until they were both shuddering with pleasure, that Lori finally learned what love truly was.

Addicting.

Selfless.

And entirely without bounds.

Chapter Twenty-two.

Two days later, Lori still couldn't believe Grayson had agreed to come to Sunday lunch with her. They'd dropped her rental car off first, and now, as she sat in the front seat of his truck, she couldn't sit still. Taking him to meet her family was a really big next step for her. All the men she'd thought she'd been in love with before-now she knew none of them had ever meant anything to her because she'd never once been tempted to bring them home to meet her family.

When Grayson put his hand on her knee, she told him, "You don't have to worry with my family," even though he hadn't said anything about being worried. "They're amazing."

"From everything you've told me, I'm sure they will be," he said, but the muscle jumping in his cheek betrayed his obvious reservations.

"They're going to love you," she insisted.

"They're going to take one look at me and instantly see that I'm not good enough for you," he countered. "And six older brothers means I'm going to have to let each of them get at least one punch in." He rubbed his jaw as if he could already feel the pain. "But don't worry," he said as he squeezed her knee and gave her a lopsided grin, "I won't let them damage any of the good parts."

She knew it was his way of telling her everything was going to be okay, but for the first time, she didn't feel like teasing him back.

"They're all good parts, Grayson." She covered his hand with hers. "And I would never let anyone hurt you."

Grayson couldn't imagine actually wanting to have lunch with one's family once a month. His father had always been busy with his career, his mother equally so with her charities. As a kid he'd learned not to count on them being there for much more than the requisite recitals and graduations. And the formal meals they did have together had been full of long silences and awkward questions about school and girls.

But evidently Lori and her ridiculously famous and successful siblings willingly met up all the time. Grayson had been a cynical b.a.s.t.a.r.d before she'd barged into his life and now that cynical voice inside him was telling him that there had to be some family dysfunction Lori hadn't mentioned. Like jealousy. Or compet.i.tiveness.

Only, whenever Lori talked about her family, she was always happy. Laughing. And full of nothing but love.

Still, that didn't explain why she hadn't gone home to them when her world had fallen apart, rather than driving out into the middle of nowhere and insisting that a grumpy stranger put her up.

Lori directed him to a ranch house on a suburban street in Palo Alto. He could feel her excitement growing with every mile they got closer to her mother's house.

"I can't wait to see how big the babies are." She'd told him all about one niece from her brother Chase and a niece and nephew from her sister Sophie. "They're so cute, it's crazy. And Summer is the perfect older cousin for them. She even changes diapers," Lori added with a scrunch of her nose at the thought of it. "The three dogs take it up to the perfect level of craziness, just like when we were kids." Her smile faltered slightly as she said, "I wish Sweetpea could have come with us today. She would have loved being in the middle it all."

He reached up to stroke a hand over her hair. "I wish Mo was here too, because then I could have used her as a big furry s.h.i.+eld."

She smacked his hand away in mock irritation, but she was laughing again as they got out of the truck. Walking hand in hand down the sidewalk, he could hear the laughter and conversation coming from her mother's yard. Lori sped up and pulled him toward the front door. She didn't ring the doorbell, just walked in. The living room was empty and the French doors out to the back were open wide.

Of course, the second they walked into the backyard, every eye in the place turned to them-the babies and animals sensing something big was up, too-and Grayson was glad for those stressful years on Wall Street where he'd learned not to let anyone see him sweat, no matter how bad the pressure.

c.r.a.p, he thought as he saw just how big each of her brothers was in person. He was screwed.

"Everyone," Lori said, "this is Grayson." She rattled off the names of her siblings and their other halves and children one after the other.

He hadn't been expecting a warm welcome from her brothers, and he wasn't disappointed when they all scowled at him. In perfect contrast, a beautiful, gray-haired woman came forward with open arms and a ready smile.

"Grayson," she said in a warm voice that sounded so much like Lori's as she reached for his hand with the same elegant fingers, "I'm Mary, Lori's mother. I'm so glad that you could come today."

He stared at her, stunned as he realized he was looking at a picture of Lori in forty or so years...and that she would be even more beautiful than she was today.

In that moment, he wanted to tell Mary that he was in love with her daughter. But as he looked into Mary's eyes and said, "Thank you," something told him she already knew exactly what he felt.

Lori, of course, immediately ran off to lift one baby after another into her arms. Grayson stood with Mary and watched her shower them with love.

"She missed them," he said to Mary in a low voice. "She missed all of you. I tried to get her to go back home, but she wouldn't leave my farm."

"Of all my children, Lori's always been the most stubborn, even when she's wrong about something." He felt Mary's eyes on him, wise and surprisingly calm, considering the chaos all around her. "She isn't always the easiest personality for everyone to like," Mary admitted, "but she's impossible not to love."

A baby reached for Grandma Sullivan and as she moved to pick her up, Grayson remained apart from everyone for a moment to better take in the scene in front of him. Everyone in Mary's backyard was paired off. Some had children, some had pets, some were engaged, some were pregnant, but all of them were clearly happy.

But even crazier was that, instead of making him uneasy, he realized why Lori had been so irresistible from the start. Love-pure, unconditional love-was all she'd ever known.

And that same love was what she'd given him, even when he hadn't deserved it, and hadn't believed he'd ever be capable of giving it back to her.

But he did love her. So much that even though there was nothing more he wanted than to keep her holed up with him on his farm until they were old and gray, he knew he had to set her free.

Grayson didn't have one single doubt that she was right for him...but he couldn't ignore the question of whether he was right for her.

When it was just the two of them, working to mix oil and water was a challenge they both relished, and it meant that they'd certainly never lack for spark. But they couldn't hide out on his farm forever. Lori would need to dance in cities with crowds and strangers, and she deserved to have a partner who could support her, she deserved to be in a relations.h.i.+p with a man who could be there for her. Not a man who, since his wife's death, hadn't been able to go back to New York, and had completely avoided San Francisco as well, since the people from his old world shuttled easily between the two.

The women were now chattering and playing with the babies, while her brothers were silently glaring at him.

f.u.c.k.

If these guys had been anyone else, he would have just waited out the silence. Only for Lori would he have moved toward the group and said, "Lori talks a lot about all of you."

Smith spoke first. "She hasn't told any of us about you." The movie star's expression was glacial. "Why do you think that is? Our sister isn't exactly the silent type."

Grayson shook his head and agreed, "No, she's not."

"Then what the h.e.l.l has gone on the past two weeks?"

He understood her brother's anger, their frustration. If Lori had been his sister, he would have felt exactly the same way. "I can't tell you what your sister is thinking or feeling. I can only tell you what I feel." For years he hadn't spoken of feelings, even when he was married and life had still been rolling forward normally. It wasn't until Lori came and kept poking him with her sharp stick of a tongue that the floodgates had burst open. "I love her." Clearly, her brothers were stunned by what he'd just told them. "I want what's best for her, just like you do."

Just then, Lori's twin came over to save him. Grayson had always pictured himself with women like Sophie-quiet, sweet, soft. Much like his wife had been, in fact. Whereas Lori laughed too loudly, talked too much, moved too fast...and yet, he couldn't imagine himself with anyone but her.

"You look like you could use a beer." Sophie took his arm and gently led him away from her brothers. "Ignore them. They're just upset that Lori didn't confide in them, and they've always thought it was their duty to play mean-and-scary with our boyfriends." She reached into the ice chest and handed him a bottle. "But you should know that if you hurt one hair on my sister's head, they won't get a chance to take you down-because I'll have already done it myself."

Despite how elegantly pretty and soft Sophie looked, Grayson had no doubt at all that she would tear him to shreds if he messed with her sister. "She's lucky to have you."

He was surprised when she sighed. "I don't know if she'll agree with that, especially once she finds out that Jake and I made a couple of calls to Chicago and pulled in some favors to deal with her ex before she could do it herself."

"What are you two whispering about over here?" Lori asked, suddenly appearing beside them without making even the slightest sound.

Her twin jumped. "How many times have I told you," Sophie said, her hand over her heart, "don't do that!"

Just then, Mary called out, "Lunch is ready," and everyone went to take a seat. But the second everyone's plates were filled, Lori's brothers started in again. Only, this time, Lori was their target.

"Where have you been for two weeks, Lori?" Ryan asked her, point blank. On the pitcher's mound, he was as easygoing-and lethal-as they came. Now he was just lethal. "What the h.e.l.l happened to make you pull out of your show in Chicago like that and not tell any of us?"

Grayson's first instinct was to protect her. He put his arm around her waist and pulled both her and her chair as close to him as they could get. Instead of answering her brother's question, she turned to Grayson and pressed a soft kiss to his mouth.

"It's okay," she rea.s.sured him, before finally turning to her brother. "All of you warned me for almost two years about what a sc.u.mbag Victor was. Now's your chance to say I told you so."

"None of us wants to say that, Lor," the brother with the radio turned down low on his belt said. Just a little bigger than the others, he had to be the firefighter. "What we want to do is kill him."

Grayson agreed wholeheartedly with her brother, but Lori shook her head. "Victor wasn't worth my time, and he definitely isn't worth any of yours." Grayson caught the look that pa.s.sed between Sophie and her husband. He owed them big time for avenging Lori. "And, honestly, it wasn't even what he did that was the last straw," she admitted. "It was realizing I didn't want to dance anymore, because all the fun had been squeezed out of it. So I walked out-not just on the show, but on all of it."

"You? Not dance?" Judging by the baby girl happily rattling her soft toy on his lap, Grayson guessed this came from Chase, the photographer. "That's crazy, Naughty."

"Don't worry," she told him, before turning back to Grayson with a smile. "I'm not quitting after all, because Grayson helped me realize that I do love it-while I've spent the last couple of weeks on his farm being a farmhand."

He hated the way she was being put on the spot, but when she looked at him like that, with such trust and love, how could he do anything but forget that they weren't the only two people in the world, and smile back?

"You have been working as a farmhand?"

Grayson didn't like the note of disbelief in her brother Zach's voice, even if it was exactly the same reaction he'd had when she showed up that first day in her rental car. "My CSA customers love her, and so do the chickens and the pigs."

Lori looked adorably smug. "They really do, don't they?"

"Yes, they really do," he said with a quick kiss to the tip of her nose. He knew her family was watching them closely, but he didn't care what anyone else thought. Either they'd like him or they wouldn't. But her family wouldn't be the reason he and Lori didn't work out.

No, the two of them had plenty of other reasons already stacked up against them.

Leaning into his chest, she contentedly laid her head against his shoulder as she told them, "The country community is really cool and it's so incredibly beautiful out there. You should see the stars and the moon at night."

He stroked his hand over her hair and upper arm as she spoke and as the conversation slowly turned from Lori's last two weeks to baby milestones and budding vines and movie sets and concert tours, Grayson was surprised to realize that he was enjoying being part of the large group, even if it was only temporary. The women, for the most part, were far more welcoming as they asked him questions about his farm, while her brothers continued to treat him as though he was on probation.

He couldn't blame them for that. Not when he completely agreed that their sister was precious beyond measure.

And that she deserved nothing but the very best.

Lori was trying not to be frustrated with her brothers. It was just that they were being so unreasonable! Especially her oldest brother, Marcus, who hadn't yet said a word to Grayson. If anyone should have something in common, it was the two of them, since they both earned their livelihoods from working with the land, and she and Nicola both had very public careers as a singer and a dancer.

She'd been glaring at Marcus all throughout lunch, trying to make it clear that she expected him to bend a little and accept the man she was in love with. But when all he did was ignore her in the most irritatingly big-brother-like way, she shoved out her chair and said, "Marcus, we need to talk."

Grayson pushed his chair back as if he planned to come with her, but her mother quickly held out her arm and said, "Grayson, could you take a look at my vegetable bed? I'm having some trouble with my artichokes."

Lori and Marcus had always been especially close, and she loved and respected him for all he'd done to help raise her when their father had died, but she refused to let him act like he knew what was best for her.

"I love Grayson," she said to Marcus as soon as he walked into her childhood bedroom and closed the door. The room that had held the contents of her and Sophie's entire world as little girls now seemed so small. And yet, it was still comforting. "You're not even trying to get to know him."

"You met the guy on the rebound, Lori, and you've only known him two weeks. Less than that. How can you actually believe you're in love with the guy?"

"His name is Grayson," she growled, "not the guy. And are you seriously saying that to me?" She raised an eyebrow. "Isn't what you just described exactly what happened with you and Nicola in way less than two weeks? You didn't tell any of us about her, either, not until you showed up at Sunday lunch and declared your love to her in front of everyone." Lori was a foot smaller than Marcus, but that didn't stop her from facing him down, toe to toe. "We all accepted her. We all made her feel welcome. Why can't you do that with Grayson?"

"Because I love you and I can't stand to see you make another mistake!" His booming voice cut through her frustration like a foghorn.

She could easily read between the lines of what he was saying: He was not only worried about her heart being broken, he was also worried about her giving up her own career and dreams for the man she'd fallen in love with.

"You and Nicola have made it work, being on the road for her music and also having to take care of the vines and your winery. Don't you think Grayson and I can, too?"

"Even if he loves you and you love him, it's obvious that he's damaged, Lori. Badly. We can all see it." He drew her into his arms. "I know how softhearted you are, that you want to take care of everyone and shower them with love. But sometimes love isn't enough to heal a person. I don't want to see you get hurt again."