Give Me More--A Sexy Billionaire Romance A.C. Arthur (the giving tree read aloud .TXT) 📖

agreement and he couldn’t back out. Though he wanted access to her story, he’d planned to check in with her during quick coffee breaks, not spend every second together doing every insane item on Riley’s itinerary.

“I played a little volleyball in high school,” Grace replied. “I’d love to join you tomorrow.”

His head whipped around so fast it was a wonder he didn’t injure himself. What the hell was she doing? This morning she hadn’t made a move to stop him from leaving her room, but now she was suddenly keen on spending a few hours out of her day with him tomorrow. Or had the chance to spend time with his family in order to gain more info for her story prompted the change?

“Maybe I could schedule some time to meet with Desta and Nina a little before the game?” Grace asked by way of follow-up. “That way I’ll be totally focused on playing later.”

RJ hated the spike of hope he experienced with her suggestion to handle business first, as if she’d somehow heard his question about her true motivation for participating in the game.

“Sure,” Nina replied, and Desta also agreed.

“Well, tomorrow sounds like it’ll be fun,” Ron said. “But tonight, I’d like to walk along the beach with my wife.”

RJ watched his father get up from the table and stand by his mother while she did the same. Ron’s hand went to the small of his wife’s back and Marva smiled at him, the love they still shared obvious in their expressions.

“Awww, that’s so romantic,” Nina said to Major after Marva and Ron had bid their good-nights and walked away. “When we’ve been married for thirty-six years, I hope we still look like that.”.

“They’re definitely relationship goals,” Riley told Chaz, who lifted her hand to his lips for a soft kiss.

Tobias stood then, taking Veronica’s hand. “Well, that’s the cue for the other set of old heads at this table to also say good-night.”

Veronica waved at Grace before leaving.

“They’re going on three years in case anyone was wondering,” Chaz said.

Nobody at the table commented, even though they were all probably trying to figure out how much longer Tobias’s latest union was going to last. Chaz had shared his uncle’s philosophy on being married so many times—“never be afraid of falling in love”—with the Gold brothers months ago. RJ begged to differ with Tobias’s words. Love was definitely something to be afraid of, which was why he’d steered clear of it since getting burned the first time.

“Nightcaps by the pool?” Maurice suggested. “Which building are you staying in, Grace? Well, it doesn’t matter, I’m sure RJ will escort you to your room so you can change into your bathing suit and then bring you back to the pool with us.”

RJ couldn’t go to the other side of the table and slap Maurice against the back of his head like he’d often done when they were younger and his brother said something foolish. Like he so desperately wanted to do now.

“You’re still the clever one, Maurice,” Grace said lightheartedly. “But I can walk myself back to my room.”

She was standing and moving away from the table before he had a chance to catch her. Probably because he was too busy sending Maurice a sour look. Moments later he caught up with her just as she was about to walk out of the restaurant.

“So you’re coming to nightcaps by the pool, too?” He didn’t know what else to say but noted that his tone was a mixture of surprise and irritation.

Grace kept going through the doorway, stepping out into the evening with its balmy breeze. He followed and stopped when she did the same.

“Yes, I’m going to change and then join you and your family at the pool because, like Desta said, I’ll get a much better idea of how everyone was affected by Ron and Tobias if I’m spending a lot of time with them. Is that a problem for you?”

Words didn’t immediately come as RJ realized the real problem here was staring him directly in the face. He wanted to spend a lot of time with Grace. Whether or not it made sense, or if it was smart, didn’t really matter. What he discovered after sitting beside her and hearing her talk to his family as if she hadn’t been gone for the last ten years, after holding her hand when he thought she needed support, was that he really wanted to be with her. Despite the story and even if it was temporary.

“No. It’s no problem at all.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll walk you back to your room.”

Her face remained blank, so he couldn’t tell if she was relieved or worried about his response. “I wasn’t joking when I told Maurice I’ll be fine walking by myself.”

He nodded and started moving. “Yeah, well, I know Maurice is the jokester of our family, but he was spot-on when he said I’d want to walk you to your room and back. C’mon, let’s go.”

She fell into step beside him without argument, and marveled at how differently this night was turning out to be.

CHAPTER EIGHT

THIS WAS A shocking change from how Grace thought she’d spend her evening. She’d planned to enjoy the pool at the resort when she had a chance, had even said as much to RJ when they’d talked about it this morning, but she hadn’t imagined visiting the massive pool available to guests in the private villas.

During the walk over, RJ had explained the layout of the resort, as if she’d needed to know this was where the people with the big bucks stayed. It was the exclusive area of the resort—not for those like her who’d put a slight dent in her savings to afford the airfare and two-week room stay. The pool outside her building was a nice size, and the cabanas around the bar area were large, as well. But this pool, with its cabanas the size of her apartment, was phenomenal.

“You sure you’re