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“I hope this is okay,” Grant said diplomatically.“This is Harrison Tate.He was working on the deck on one of my properties when I needed to leave.I asked him if he wanted to come.”
“He owes me money, and he thought he could buy me with a brunch instead,” Harrison said, grinning from ear to ear.He cut a good-naturedly glance at Grant, who laughed.“It’s great to meet you.”
“This is Bea,” Grant said, taking her hand.“And her friend, Lauren.”
Lauren smiled and shook hands and slid into her seat.She hadn’t been fazed by this sudden appearance of a second man at their brunch, and so Bea did the same.She picked up her menu and held it high in front of her face.
Only then did she look at Lauren and ask, “What are you going to get?”
Lauren looked at her, so many unspoken things flying between them.Lauren’s eyes searched Bea’s, interpreting all the questions.She looked down at her own menu and said casually, “There’s so many good things here.I might have a hard time deciding.”
Bea understood Lauren’s code, and she’d just said she really liked Grant and that she didn’t mind Harrison’s presence.She lowered her menu, because she didn’t need to hide behind it anymore.
“Have you been here before?”Harrison asked.
“I’m from Texas,” Lauren said easily.“This is my first time to Hilton Head, period.”
“Oh, well, then you have to have the shrimp hash,” he said.“It’s phenomenal.”
“Or the crab cake eggs Benedict,” Grant said, his eyes never straying from Bea.
“Sold,” she said at the same time Lauren said, “What about this breakfast kitchen sink—with frog legs?”
She looked up, and she only had eyes for Harrison.
“Have you had frog legs before?”he asked, his dark green eyes sparkling with laughter.“They’re not for everyone.”
“She likes being adventurous,” Bea said, causing Lauren to look at her.“What?I’m the non-adventurous one.My favorite brunch food is eggs Benedict, and what am I getting?”She laughed lightly, because she didn’t mind that she was predictable.
Grant reached over and took her hand in his, squeezing to let her know he didn’t mind either.Bea had so much she wanted to say to him, but she kept it all way down deep in her stomach.They’d be alone at some point, and maybe she’d have found her bravery by then.
She wasn’t sure how to tell him she’d started to fall in love with him.She wasn’t sure how to ask if she could have the beach cottage at the end of the month and through all of May and into the summer.She didn’t know how to get the words to line up to ask him if he’d introduce her to his daughter once she arrived on the island.
Her mind had moved so far ahead of her reality, but with Grant as her prince, her knight in shining armor, Bea wanted to run with him.
Not from him.
