Working It Out (24 page)

Grace could count on one
hand all of the truly perfect moments in her life—the kind where her happiness
peaked, when everything around her seemed to click into its rightful place.
That day at Whistler Blackcomb had been one of those times. But this
moment—this one perfect moment, as Seth’s arms held her and his mouth explored
hers—trumped them all. Only instead of everything around her fitting into
place, Grace felt as though she was the one being snapped into place. And that
place was with Seth—the only person who’d ever made her feel this alive, this
happy.

 “I think I need to stop
kissing you now,” Seth murmured against her lips.

“Why?” Grace complained,
tightening her hold on him. She wanted to bask in this perfect moment for as
long as possible.

“Because that bed behind
me is way too much of a temptation.”

“Oh.” Grace pulled back
just enough to see his face. Her lips drew into a smile even as her heart
warmed. Why had Grace ever worried that she’d be just another conquest for him
to cross off his list? He was a gentleman through and through.

“So . . . yeah,” Seth
finally said, filling the awkward silence.

The funny expression on
his face made Grace giggle. As soon as the sound escaped, she couldn’t stop,
especially when she remembered they were standing in her bathroom. Who would
have thought that such a perfect moment would happen here? The giggles erupted
into full on laughter.

“Thanks,” said Seth, drawing
back. “I actually needed that.”

More laughter followed—so
much that Grace had to hold on to the counter for support.

Seth watched her with an
amused expression. “Is this going to happen every time I kiss you?”

Grace shook her head,
taking a deep calming breath to force the giggles away. Finally, when she felt
like she could speak, she said, “What do you say we go get that dinner now?”

“Good idea.”

S
eth was all
about being different. It had taken so long to finally convince Grace to go out
with him that when she placed the responsibility for planning the date on him,
he immediately vetoed boring in lieu of something a little more memorable. Like
paintballing and dinner at the Bizzarro Italian Café in downtown Seattle.

One glance at the
wide-eyed look on her face when they entered the establishment, and Seth knew
he’d chosen well. No one could enter this place and not gape at the eclectic,
almost garish décor. Antique chandeliers hung next to old bicycles, and the
walls were covered in mismatched frames that held everything from paintings to
chalkboards to mirrors. For this particular restaurant, it worked.

Seth breathed in the
tempting smells and wrapped his arm around Grace’s shoulders. He tugged her
closer, thrilled that he could do that without fear of her running away. He could
hardly believe that she was here, with him. That he’d kissed her and she didn’t
run. Or that she’d admitted to falling for him. His heart still thumped with
warmth and excitement every time he pictured her looking up at him, telling him
that.

“What do you think?” he
asked, glancing down at her.

She looked around, taking
in the restaurant with her beautiful wide eyes. “I have to be honest. When you said
a nice restaurant, I pictured something a little . . . different.” She tilted
her face up and smiled. “I should have known better.”

“I’ve got to be different
than the other guys.”

Grace laughed. “Oh, you’re
definitely different, all right.” She elbowed him lightly in the ribs. “But in
a good way.”

Seth smiled. In his book, a
“nice” restaurant was a relative term. It meant great food and service—which
this place had, as Grace would soon find out. The moment she tried a bite,
she’d be hooked. Guaranteed. Seth’s mouth watered just thinking about it.

In no time at all, they
were seated and waiting for their order. One perk of taking Grace out for an
insanely late dinner was the lack of a long wait. This place was usually
packed.

“What’s good here?” Grace
said as she examined the menu.

“Everything.” Seth had
tried every dish they offered. “But the clam linguini and elk Bolognese are my
favorite.”

“Elk? As in . . . ?” Grace
made a face over the top of her menu.

“As in the most incredible
meat you’ve ever tasted in your life.”

She lowered the menu and
set it on the table, clasping her hands over the top of it. “You do realize
we’re talking about Bambi’s uncle or cousin, right? Are you really okay with
eating that?”

“Bambi was a deer, not an
elk. Big difference.”

“Like I said—cousins.”

Seth grinned. “Cousins or
not, elk tastes nothing like deer.”

“You’re impossible.” Grace
took another glance at the menu and sighed. “I’ll try the linguini.”

“Good choice.”

Seth gave their order to
the waitress then took Grace’s hand in his, playing with her fingers while they
waited. The entire night still felt so surreal. Grace. Here. With him. At
Bizzarro’s. He thought of the awkward phone conversation from a few days
earlier and had to duck his head to hide his smile. Never before had a girl
told him to ask her out.

Grace leaned closer and
lowered her voice. “Mind if I ask you a personal question?”

“Shoot.” Seth was all
about asking and answering personal questions. It meant progress. It meant more
distance from a term he’d come to hate—professional.

Grace bit on her lower lip
the way she always did when weighing her words. Finally, she blurted, “Are you
a trust-fund kid or something?”

The question caught Seth
off guard, and he laughed. Only a few months before, Grace had said she didn’t
want to know the answer to that question, but here she was, acting as though
curiosity had finally gotten the better of her. It was kind of adorable.

He shook his head. “No
trust-funds for me. Far from it, actually. My parents were as middle-class as
you could get.”

Grace watched him,
waiting. But when he said nothing more, she asked, “Did you win the lottery
then? Publisher’s Clearinghouse? A grand prize from some sort of contest?”

“None of the above.”

She chewed on her lower
lip once more before dropping her hand to the table. “Oh, I know. You played the
stock market and won big.”

“Isn’t that about the same
as winning the lottery?”

Grace frowned. “You’re not
going to make this easy on me, are you? Do I really have to beg?”

Seth continued to play
with her fingers. They were long and soft and fit perfectly in his. “Once upon
a time, you told me you didn’t care if you knew or not.”

“I lied.”

Seth laughed again then
pulled her fingers to his lips and kissed them lightly before setting her hand
back down. “You crack me up.”

“Don’t you dare change the
subject.”

“Okay, okay.” Seth shifted
in his seat and leaned forward, resting his elbow on the table. “Way back in
high school, I learned about an interesting invention called the internet. It
blew my mind, and I found myself reading everything there was to know about it.
The more I learned, the more I realized it could go places someday—big places.
So I used my entire savings to buy every big domain name I could think of that
was available—Walmart.com, Stockmarket.com, Pier1Imports.com—you name it, I
bought thousands of them.

“Then I started to learn
HTML and gradually created websites for some of the more generic ones. In time,
I was able to recoup some of my initial investment through advertising, but it
wasn’t until one of the companies approached me about selling them a domain
name that I really started making money. I sold enough to pay for my MBA then
waited for the internet to gain even more momentum before agreeing to sell
more. It was crazy how much the larger companies were willing to pay for a
little domain name.” He shrugged. “So I guess, in a way, I did play the lottery
and won big, but I never really saw it that way. To me, it was a conservative
investment opportunity. I just had no idea how big the returns would one day be.”

Grace watched him with an
unreadable expression. Her eyes weren’t guarded or wary like they often were
with him, but Seth had no idea what she was thinking. Did she chalk his fortune
up to sheer dumb luck or did she understand all the time and effort Seth had
invested into educating himself about the internet, learning HTML, developing
websites, getting his MBA, and eventually negotiating some significant and
intimidating deals as a fresh-out-of-college graduate?

For whatever reason,
Grace’s opinion of him really mattered.

“Now that’s impressive,”
she said. “I didn’t know anything about the internet until one of my teachers
told me I could use it for research purposes. By then, it was pretty
established.”

Grace cocked her head to
the side and studied him. “A lot of people in your situation would spend their
days playing and lounging by the pool—not coaching soccer for underprivileged
kids, buying them shoes, and turning their after-school building into a fun and
safe haven.”

Seth looked away, feeling
undeserving of her praise. Before he met Grace, he’d been more the playing and
lounging type. Yes, he’d donated money here and there to various charities or
his alma mater, but only because they happened to call and he answered his
phone. It wasn’t until Grace came along and forced him to see beyond his own
life that he now knew what it felt like to be a real contributor.

Seth shifted again in his
seat. “Yeah, well, that was really all your doing.”

Grace’s lips tugged up
into a smile. “Really? Because I don’t recall telling you to buy shoes or stock
a room with games or build a wall.” She gave his hand a squeeze. “You’re amazing,
Seth Tuttle, and I feel very lucky to be here with you right now.”

It was a rare thing for
Seth to be at a loss for words, but he was now. He wanted to say “Likewise” or
“Ditto” or “No,
I’m
the lucky one.” But the words all lodged in the lump
in his throat. With a few simple and candid words, Grace had reached into his
heart and touched it. Seth suddenly found himself wanting to be the person she
believed he was capable of being.

How could Seth possibly
convey with words what he felt for Grace? It took massive self-control not to
lean across the table and kiss her then and there.

The waitress interrupted
the moment by setting steaming plates of food on their table.

 Seth stabbed his fork into
his food and lifted a bite-sized portion, wagging it at Grace. “Want to see
what Bambi tastes like?”

Her eyes widened slightly
before she rolled them. “I can’t believe you just said that. You’re terrible.”

 “Don’t I know it.” Seth
put the fork in his mouth and smiled.

Grace took a bite of her
own meal and started gushing about how amazing it was. After that, it didn’t
take much convincing for her to give Seth’s elk a try—which she also loved.

After dinner, Seth left
the car in the parking lot and interlaced his fingers with hers. They wandered
through the city streets, taking in the sights, smells, and lights. They told
stories about their youth, laughed at embarrassing moments, and shared their
dreams for the future. Seth took every opportunity to pull her into the shadows
to steal a kiss and hold her close. The hours passed like minutes, and Seth
never wanted the night to end.

But when he caught her yawning
for the fourth time, Seth finally led her back to his car and he reluctantly
drove her home. Outside her front door, he held her close and kissed her long
and hard, as though he were leaving on a year long voyage instead of merely
going home to catch a few hours of sleep before seeing her again.

Seth always knew Grace
would be worth the wait, but until he paused to reflect on their time together,
he didn’t know how worth it she really was.