Grayson: A Bad Boy Romance by Amy Love Read Free Book Online

who to invite to openings, who should be seen at the best clubs.”
     
    “Oh, right.” Adriana nods her head dully; it all makes sense. The thrill that she’d felt at seeing Grayson has given way to embarrassment and then the flood of hurt that she had been hanging on to for years overpowers everything else. “Will, I think I’m going to go home.”
     
    She expects Willow to fight her on this, like she does every time they go out and Adriana wants to leave before Willow is ready to. But Willow surprises her. “Sure, honey. Let’s get out of here. This place is dead anyway.”
     
    Adriana looks at her friend doubtfully as the beautiful people continue to dance and flirt around them. “You stay, Will. Have fun. I’ll catch up with you in the morning; you can tell me about that guy whose face you were sucking a minute ago.” Adriana nods towards the corner where she’d seen Willow playing tonsil-hockey with a guy who she is sure is famous for something or other.
     
    Willow smiles gratefully at her friend, but her tone is serious. “Brunch tomorrow and I want a full de-brief on Grayson Fletcher.”

 
    GRAYSON
     
    He drives faster than he should, but he’s geared up, agitated. His whole body feels like it’s buzzing. Adriana. The girl from a lifetime ago, the girl who still haunts his dreams. Suddenly, she was there in front of him. He still can’t quite get his brain to believe that it really was her.
     
    She looked amazing, like she always did. But she wasn’t a little girl anymore; she was most definitely a woman and an impossibly beautiful one at that. Her big green eyes framed in long black lashes still made him feel as if she could see right down to his soul, like she saw every part of him. It was thrilling and terrifying at the same time.
     
    He’d almost forgotten how tiny and petite she was, how she made him want to protect her, pick her up, and hold her close to him. He’d had to look away from her, at anything else, to stop himself from reaching out to touch her, to sift the hair that he knew was like silk through his fingers, and to trace the line of her full rosebud lips.
     
    She must have thought that he was an idiot, barely able to string a sentence together when he saw her. She’d introduced herself, as if he may not remember her. How could she know that she’d been with him all these years, reminding him of what he’d missed out on, what he’d run away from?
     
    Seeing her had done something to him. He rubs his chest absently. Talking to her, being close to her again, had made him feel like his heart was beating faster or perhaps that it had stopped altogether. When he’d shook her hand, he hadn’t wanted to let go. That was dangerous, he’d known that instantly. She was dangerous to him and him to her. His past was going to catch up with him sooner or later, and when it did it wasn’t going to be pretty.
     
    Besides, it’s too close to the fight. He can’t afford distractions, he doesn’t need them, and Adriana coming back into his life is one big fat distraction. What they’d shared had been a lifetime ago; he had been a different person then, a kid, they both were. It doesn’t mean anything anymore; they hadn’t even had sex for Christ’s sake, he reasons. However, if that’s all true, then why hasn’t he been able to stop thinking about her for the past ten years and why is he shaking like a nervous kid?
     
    Man up, Fletcher , he tells himself. Stop being a pussy. She’s just a girl, a girl that in all likelihood you’re never going to see again. He ignores the dull ache that settles across his chest when he thinks about that and puts his foot down on the accelerator, driving faster away from her.

 
    ADRIANA
     
    Adriana lies awake, staring up at the ceiling, listening to the rattling of her ancient air conditioning unit. When she’d moved out of Willow’s amazing house and got her own apartment, she’d realized just how far her salary would go in the real