Lib Novel Page 12
“I just… don’t want things to be weird… between us,” I said, trying to articulate something I barely understood at the time.
He narrowed his gaze at me, furrowing his eyebrows. “Why would anything be weird?” he asked.
I closed my eyes, realizing how stupid I must have looked. I’d assumed maybe, just maybe, he remembered an inkling of what had happened, how he’d tried to kiss me, but assuming from his reaction, he didn’t.
Or he did, and he just didn’t care. Either way, I knew I was obsessing, and I just needed to let it go. I needed to let him go.
“Oh, uh, nothing, I just…” I sighed, giving up as I opened the door. “Do you need a ride?”
Grayson held up his car keys. “You drove my car here, remember? As I said, I have overstayed my welcome. You have been most hospitable, but I will not burden you further,” he said with a slight, polite smile.
I nodded in understanding. “Oh, yes, of course. Okay.”
I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bother me. A part of me, a sad, lonely part had actually wanted the excuse to drive him back, if only because for some reason, I liked being around the man.
Not to mention his leaving would mean the momentary excitement would dissipate, and I’d be back to my normal, boring life.
Punch in, punch out.
Go home, alone.
Maybe I really do need to get out more.
I held the door open for him and he stepped through, stopping halfway. The motion put us rather close together, close enough when he turned to me, I could see the flecks of gold in his amber eyes. Feel his hot, bacon-scented breath on my face.
Instinctively, I leaned in closer, almost as if pulled by an invisible force. Like he was too hard to resist, and I knew I should.
“Goodbye, Grayson,” I said, my voice a dark, breathy whisper. My gaze fell from his sunset eyes to his pillowy, pouty lips.
“Goodbye, Henry,” he whispered, his tongue darting out to lick his lips in a motion that made my damn cock throb.
Think unsexy thoughts, Henry.
And with that he just… left.
He left me standing halfway in the hall of my apartment complex, hot, hard, and wanting.
Some people in this life are just lucky, people like Grayson.
But I wasn’t a lucky boy.
I would never have the things I wanted, because what I wanted was well beyond my means, beyond my pay grade, beyond my reach.
And as I cleaned up the mess Grayson had left, I vowed to put him and all thoughts of him to rest, once and for all, for the sake of my own sanity.
CHAPTER 8
Grayson
I sighed as the incessant beeping from my phone echoed in the empty air of my humble abode.
I wasn’t usually home at this hour of the day, but the corporate gods had decided to grace me with a three days off in a row this week.
I was still skeptical if Caroline and Sven would be able to hold down Shimmer, the bridal boutique I’d been working at for the last ten years.
Truthfully, I loved my job, I really did. I enjoyed every aspect of previewing the dresses and the wedding pantsuits too. I enjoyed styling women from all walks of life, and watching them completely come undone when they set their eyes on the one. When they saw themselves for the first time in that perfect gown, when they realized everything they knew was going to change.
Hell, I even loved dealing with the drama behind the desk, and gossiping with my co-workers. I knew how to manage Shimmer. What I didn’t know how to do, apparently, was manage my fucking life.