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

gonna be okay doing this?” RJ asked as they came to stand at the edge of the gated swimming area.

They’d stopped at his suite after hers, and he’d changed out of the navy-blue slacks and button-front shirt he’d worn at dinner. Now he wore light gray board shorts and a loose-fitting white tank top. On his feet were leather flip-flops, and he carried a black travel kit she’d watched him drop his phone, wallet and room key into.

She’d dumped the contents of the small clutch purse she’d carried at dinner into her tote bag and tossed in a pair of shorts in case the sarong she was wearing got too wet. “I’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry about me, you know. I’ve been around your family before.”

This was something she’d repeated to herself throughout the day in preparation for tonight’s dinner. But as it turned out, being around the Golds again had been easier than she’d thought it would be. While she’d expected anger and demands for her to explain what happened between her and RJ, none of that had occurred. Instead, Marva had been her wonderfully warm self and Maurice, Major and Riley had talked to her as if she hadn’t been away all this time. Desta and Nina had also been welcoming. Chaz and Tobias hadn’t said a lot to her directly, but they’d both seemed comfortable by the middle of dinner. Veronica had been her normal chatty self, annoying Grace only when she’d asked what happened between her and RJ.

Grace suspected they’d all been thinking that, but no one except Veronica had the guts to ask. She would be forever grateful to Ron for circumventing that question and changing the subject.

Things were different between her and RJ now, but that didn’t mean her mind never slipped back to a time when they’d been a couple, too.

As they’d all sat paired up at dinner, it had been so easy to let herself believe it was once again true. Good food, easy conversation—even when RJ reached for her hand in a way he often used to while they were out—she’d accepted and let herself believe, if only for that brief time.

“There they are. We were wondering what was taking you two so long,” Maurice said, winking at RJ when he looked Maurice’s way.

They’d taken the cabana at the farthest end of the pool. The one that was only about twenty feet away from the hot tub she was dying to get into.

“We saved you the two lounge chairs over here.” Desta directed Grace to the seat beside her.

It was strategic placement, she immediately noted. The four guys were sitting on the outside of the square setup while the women were in the center. Easier for them to talk to her without interruption. She might’ve been a little concerned if it didn’t work to her advantage as well. For as many questions as she was certain Riley, Nina and Desta were planning to ask her, she’d decided to ask them plenty more.

Grace put her bag beside the designated lounge chair and RJ dropped his on the one behind hers.

“Let’s get a drink,” he said, and waited while she walked around her chair to join him.

There’d been a larger bar when they first entered the pool area, but it was closed. The one a couple feet from their cabana was smaller, completely stocked and self-serve. No doubt something the Golds had arranged.

“What can I get you?” Chaz asked as she approached. “I’m the designated bartender for the moment, so keep it simple.” His smile came quick, giving her the impression that his ire during dinner hadn’t been directed at her after all.

“She prefers a martini, but keeping it simple, watermelon vodka or a glass of pinot noir,” RJ said before Grace could speak.

This morning he’d remembered she liked doughnuts and coffee for breakfast. Now he was recalling her favorite drinks. How she managed to smile when something like a billion butterflies fluttered in the pit of her stomach, she had no idea. “He’s right,” she told Chaz, and shrugged when Riley’s fiancé raised a brow in question.

“Okay, here you go,” Chaz said after pouring the watermelon-infused vodka into a glass over crushed ice.

“I’ll grab my own,” RJ said, stepping behind the bar with Chaz.

“Cranberry and vodka’s your comfort drink, but I saw you drinking it straight at dinner.” She had memories, too.

Chaz looked at RJ, who’d already grabbed the bottle of cranberry juice, then back to Grace. “You two are really something.”

We were. The wistful thought fluttered through her mind as Chaz walked away, leaving her and RJ alone at the bar.

“We’ve got good memories.” RJ finished fixing his drink.

“Yeah, glad the good ones stuck around.”

“Did we have bad memories?” He came back around to her side of the bar.

“Everybody’s got bad memories.” She lifted her drink for a sip.

“True,” he said. “But tonight, can we just talk about the good ones?”

Her every instinct said to scream no. They couldn’t talk about anything that involved their past. It had to stay off-limits, just like Ron had said earlier. But if that were true, she wouldn’t be here. Wanting to leave her time with RJ in the past but coming here to dig back through the years of Ron and Tobias’s early life was more than hypocritical of her. She had to make a choice.

“You used to enjoy sitting in the hot tub first, before going for a swim.” And in the years since they’d been apart, she’d grown accustomed to doing the same whenever possible.

He nodded in the direction they were walking. “Exactly where I’m headed now,” he said, looking over at her with a grin.

“Oh, we aren’t going back to the cabana with the others?” She’d been so busy trying to ignore the jitters in her stomach, hold on to this drink and keep her composure while being near RJ on a casual basis again, she hadn’t even noticed they’d changed course.

“They’re not going anywhere. Besides, I’d like