Gray’s eyes drifted across the creek as he muttered, “Well, f**k me.”
“Then again, maybe Jeb Sharp doesn’t say anything and Bud Sharp just looks at you and knows. So, he bests you somehow, with women or earning money or whatever, he proves to his father and everyone that he’s better.” Gray looked back at me and I advised, “Maybe you should throw him a bone.”
That got me a treat, the best gift I ever received. And this was, while Gray burst out laughing and I got to watch and listen, his body also shifted so we were front to front, his other arm stole around me and he held me tight.
When he sobered but was still smiling big and beautiful, his eyes tipped down to me and he asked, “And what do you reckon I should throw him, dollface?” Before I could answer this unanswerable question, his face got warm, his arms got tighter and he kept talking. “’Cause, see, just found me something I like a lot, Bud likes her just as much and she’s a bone no f**kin’ way I’m gonna throw.”
I felt my body ease against his just as my legs trembled.
“Gray,” I whispered.
One of Gray’s hands drifted up my back, my neck and held me at the base of my head.
“You’re the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen, Ivey,” he said softly and my body eased more into his even as I felt my eyes sting with tears. I battled for control as he went on, “I got shit to do today and it sucks, but soon, I gotta put you in my truck and take you back. Sayin’ that, after I’m done, I’m gonna drive back into town and pick you up. I want you in my house eatin’ dinner tonight then I want you to stay with me and watch TV. Your brother’s got a place to be, I talk to Manny after I drop you off, you give up that room because I ‘spect you need the money. No strings, no funny stuff, you sleep under my roof but in your own bed. We take that at your pace. But he’s screwin’ around with whatever he’s screwin’ around with and you and me are gettin’ to know each other, you don’t need to blow whatever stash you got on a hotel. You with me?”
I was but I wasn’t.
“Gray, your Gran,” I whispered.
“Love her, she helped raise me but, honey, I’m a man and I make the decisions that pertain to my life and it’s my house even though it’s both our homes. I’m not gonna lie, she’s not gonna like it but I also don’t care. She’s an adult, you are and so am I. She’ll have to deal.”
“I’m not sure that’s cool,” I said quietly.
“Maybe not but it’s the only time I’ve ever done it so I hope she gets my point and, knowin’ that now, I hope you do too.”
Wow.
I got it.
I got his point, definitely.
And I loved his point.
I didn’t respond, just looked into his blue eyes with their dark, russet tipped lashes.
“Ivey, darlin’, you with me?”
“If she feels uncomfortable enough that I feel it, will you take me back to the hotel?” I asked.
“Absolutely,” he answered.
I gave him more of my weight then I whispered, “I’ll try not to walk in on you in the bathroom.”
He grinned. “Didn’t complain last time.”
No, he didn’t.
I grinned back.
His grin died about a half a second before his eyes dropped to my mouth then his head dipped down and he kissed me.
It was nearly better than the first except this time, he didn’t push it, I didn’t whimper and it didn’t careen out-of-control. It was wet, it was deep and it was sweet.
And I loved every second of being in his arms on a snowy plain by a creek in the cold with his mouth on mine.
Every blooming second.
He lifted his head, eyes locked to mine and muttered, “Let’s get you back so you can deal with your brother, I can deal with my shit and then I can bring you back home.”
Home.
That was what he said.
Home.
I loved that too.
“Okay,” I whispered.
Gray grinned.
* * * * *
Three hours later…
I walked the streets of Mustang.
Casey had come back and Casey was super okay with letting the hotel room go because, “My girl, she’s all over me. It’s cool. I’ll crash with her. You and me will hook up for lunch at noon tomorrow at the diner.”
He didn’t ask about my first-ever date.
He didn’t ask if I got home by ten (I didn’t but it wasn’t that far after).
He didn’t care that I was crashing at Gray’s.
He just was rabid to get back to his girl (after, of course, he begged me for another hundred dollars which, of course, being me, I gave to him).
So he took his bag, the car, I dropped mine off with Manny at the front desk who assured me Gray had talked to him and even though we checked out late, he wasn’t going to charge us the extra day. I paid him for the time we stayed and then…I was free.
For a day, I…was…free.
I walked down the sidewalk of the square only just able to stop myself from whistling. Halfway down, I turned right and pushed open the door.
My eyes went to the bar.
Janie’s eyes came to me.
My body went to the bar.
Janie’s eyes followed me.
I put my hands on the bar.
Janie’s eyes didn’t leave me.
My mouth opened and this was what it asked, “That job still open?”
Janie smiled huge and this was how she replied, “Take it the date with Gray went good.”
At that, it was my turn to smile huge.
Chapter Twelve
I’ll Wait
Seven hours later…
“She doesn’t even know how to cook,” Grandma Miriam hissed at Gray in the kitchen while I sat in their comfortable, lived in, countrified living room that had crocheted doilies on the backs of the couch and armchairs (yes, doilies), my eyes glued to a TV that came nowhere near to drowning out her voice.
“Gran, Ivey’s in the next room,” Gray growled.
She ignored him. “Who’s ever heard of a twenty-two year old girl who doesn’t know how to cook?”
“Cecily knew how to cook and still, everything she made tasted like shit,” Gray returned.
“At least she knew,” Grandma Miriam retorted.
“And Nancy was so damned flighty, she knew what she was doin’ but still, she’d forget and every time I went to her house for dinner, the place smelled like it had just been badly renovated after a massive explosion because she either flat out burned the shit outta something or something boiled over, the gas went out-of-control, burned the wallpaper off the wall and I’d begin my date wielding a fire extinguisher,” Gray shot back.