Authors: Marie Rochelle
“No… a dream like last night,” he moaned with a catch in his voice.
“I’m not a dream…I promise I’m very real and I’m sad you won’t get in the shower for me,” she mumbled hoping to reach him.
Hayward
’s dark head swung around and his blood shot eyes stared down at her. “You’re actually here.” His voice was slurred from lack of asleep and too much liquor.
“Yes, I am,” True whispered touching his cheek. His thick five o’clock shadow brushed her hand the thick hair tickled her fingertips. “Will you get in the shower for me?”
Lifting his arm from around her neck,
Hayward
staggered in the shower and closed the door behind him. “I still believe this is a dream.” He yelled at her above the running water.
True watched
Hayward
reached for the soap and started a thick lather on his body.
I’m
outta
here!
She swiped the sweaty hands on the front of her pants and stole a glance over at Ms. Pinson. “I did my part. I got him in the shower now I can leave.” She wasn’t staying in the bathroom any longer than necessary. Watching a buff half-naked
Hayward
take a shower wasn’t how she wanted to spend the rest of her afternoon. Her body was already on fire for him and she didn’t need anything to fan the flames.
Ms. Pinson sighed beside her. “Finally, I never thought he would go in there. Can you stay here while he showers?”
Ms. Pinson hurried away from her toward the open bedroom door, with her long flowered pattern dress brushing over the top of her black shoes. She paused by the doorway. She waved her right hand towards the foggy shower door. “I don’t want to leave him alone.”
Damn, she wasn’t quick enough. Now there was no way out of staying with him. She looked longingly at
Hayward
’s glistening half-naked body. What would it hurt if she stayed in here with him? He couldn’t do anything to her drunk as he was. “Sure, I can stay here with him.”
True mumbled under her breath.
“Good, I’ll go and fix Mr. Campbell some coffee.” Ms. Pinson said; then dashed from the bathroom.
Sitting on a chair by the sink, True crossed her legs and tried to keep her wandering eyes off
Hayward
’s sculptured body. Leaning closer, she stared at a drop of water that slid slowly from his shoulders, down a flat stomach, over powerful hairy thigh into a pool of water going down the drain. Drops of moisture clung to his damp forehead as his large fingers massaged shampoo in his thick black hair. Sighing, she dropped her head into her palms.
I can’t let him become important to me.
Slowly, against her will, her eyes were drawn back to
Hayward
in the shower.
What am I going to do?
* * * *
Adjusting the showerhead,
Hayward
washed the soap from his body. Closing his eyes, he brushed his wet hair back off his forehead. The water’s steady rhythm was clearing away a lot of the cobwebs in his pounding head. Hell, he wasn’t ever going to drink an entire bottle of brandy again. Yet, it had dulled at lot of the pain he felt since True stormed out of his house. He cared so much for her.
He needed to get her closer to the shower, so they could talk. He couldn’t let her know that he was fully awake now and very aware of his surroundings.
Turning around in the shower,
Hayward
picked up the soap from its tray, but it slipped from his grasp and landed with a loud whack near the door. He bent down and tried to pick it up when a wave of dizziness hit him hard. Holding his head, he stood back up, “Shit, my head is pounding,” he groaned, falling against the tile. The water pounded around his body, making the throbbing inside his head worse. He needed to finish his shower and get a cup of coffee in his system. First, he needed to get the soap; if he wasn’t able to reach it that left him one alternative.
“True, can you hand me the soap.” He yelled above the running water.
* * * *
True jumped up from the chair and gawked at
Hayward
in the shower.
Has he lost his mind?
He still might be hung over, but there was no way in hell, she was going anywhere near that shower. She stood motionless in the middle of the room. She let her eyes travel up his wet body, inch by delicious inch, until her gaze finally connected with his.
His blood shot eyes clung to her, analyzing her reaction to his request.
He looked so helpless, leaning against the shower like that. “What could he actually do to me?” She mumbled moving toward the shower. “If he’s too hung over to pick up a bar of soap, he’s no threat to me.” She pushed the glass door open and reached down for the slippery soap. Halfway down, strong fingers wrapped around her wrist yanking her fully clothed into the shower. “Let go of me,” she jerked on her arm, but
Hayward
only tightened his grip.
* * * *
Hayward
backed True against the far wall in the shower, so she wouldn’t get too wet. Placing his palms on either side of her cute head, he pressed his dripping body against her clothed one. “You feel so good in my arms,” he growled. He placed a kiss on the pulse throbbing at the base of slender throat. Burying his face in her neck, he licked the tip of her ear and breathed in the light vanilla scent that clung there.
He felt True stiffen at the touch of his tongue brushing her ear. He loved the sensation of her tender flesh in his mouth, but she was probably pissed that he tricked her. Seconds later, she pressed her hands on his chest and shoved him hard, but he wasn’t about to move. It had taken him too long to get her back, within his reach.
“Let me out of here now.” True hissed. “I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you.”
“Don’t say that gorgeous.” He whispered.
“Why not?”
She snapped at him.
He wouldn’t let her drag them into another argument. “Do you know how sexy you look this morning, without your glasses?”
Crushing her soft body to his, he pressed his mouth to hers and tried to block everything else out of her mind.
* * * *
New and wild sensations shot thought her body, at the intensity of
Hayward
’s kiss. She quivered from the mastery of his mouth on hers. He wasn’t leaving any room for her to deny him. Moving her hands up
Hayward
’s chest, she shoved hard, separating their bodies. “Stop trying to seduce me.”
She muttered looking up into his eyes, as the hot spray from the shower pounded around them. “I don’t want this.”
Hayward
grasped the back of her head, and tilted it back. “Don’t lie to me,” he hissed, before plunging his tongue into her mouth. He pressed their bodies together until not an inch separated them. She struggled in his arms, trying to find a way out of his hold. Sliding his hand around her neck, he held her still. Tenderly, he licked the inside of her mouth and she stopped fighting him. Sensing the battle easing from her body,
Hayward
relaxed his hold on her a little and poured more attention into their kiss.
Shit
, True thought. Her body betrayed her again like it always did when it came to him. It felt weightless as his tongue stroked the roof of her mouth, with quick teasing licks. She slid her arms over his shoulders and then pressed her breasts into his chest. She needed a way to ease the aching. Feeling
Hayward
’s fingertips at the sides of her heavy breasts, she caught her breath.
If he touches me I’m a goner
. Taking her arms from around his neck, she pushed him hard.
“I think you’re wake enough to shower by yourself now.”
She reached behind her for the door handle when
Hayward
’s voice stopped her.
“Stay with me.” He pleaded, in a lower, huskier tone.
“I can’t,” she whispered. Without looking back at him, she opened the shower door, closed it with a soft click, and then raced from the bathroom.
* * * *
Standing in the kitchen, Ms. Pinson poured the steaming classic roast coffee into
Hayward
’s favorite green coffee mug. Whilst placing the coffeepot back, she heard soft footsteps behind her.
“I’m leaving now.” True whispered.
Turning around, she noticed
True’s
wet clothes but didn’t say a word. “How’s
Hayward
doing?”
“He’s still in the shower.”
The words were barely out of
True’s
mouth before she rushed from the room and out the front door.
Ms. Pinson groaned. “
Hayward
doesn’t know the problems he’ll have if he keeps her.”
She loved working for Mr. Campbell. He was the best boss she had ever worked for, but she didn’t want to see him hurt by his new neighbor. None of his former neighbors ever drew his attention. Now he was drinking himself into a stupor over a woman he barely knew two months. She just didn’t think it right.
Picking up the potato, she started working on the pot roast for Mr. Campbell’s dinner.
Five minutes later, Ms. Pinson heard
Hayward
’s loud footsteps pounding down the steps. “Where’s True?” He asked looking around the kitchen.
“Sit down.”
* * * *
Hayward
pulled out a kitchen chair and sat down at the table. He didn’t have time to listen to another one of Ms. Pinson’s lectures this morning. He wanted to find
True
and spend the day with her after he apologized for the shower incident. “Where’s True?”
He asked again.
Walking over to him, Ms. Pinson placed a cup of hot coffee in front of him and then went back to finish working on dinner. “You scared the poor girl and she went home. I barely got her to answer my questions before she was out the front door.”
Picking up a carrot, Ms. Pinson cut it up and tossed it into roaster pan.
Fear cut at his heart. He wouldn’t let
True
back away from him a second time. “I need to talk to her and explain things,” he said getting up from the table.
For the very first time ever in his life, he knew what it felt like to care about a woman. True couldn’t ruin their chances at a relationship because of an unfounded fear from her past. She wanted to keep them at a friendship level, but he couldn’t agree to that. He hadn’t gotten this far in life by taking a back seat to anyone and a sexy five foot two bombshell wasn’t about to change his attitude.
Ms. Pinson waved her knife at him from across the table. “Sit back down and leave her alone. She needs time to think about her emotions and your relationship.”
“We don’t have a relationship because she keeps fighting me.” He complained falling back down in the chair.
“Give her time to figure out she’s falling for you,” Ms. Pinson said. Cutting an onion, she tossed it in the pan with the others vegetables.
“What makes you think True has feelings for me?” Her actions didn’t seem like a woman who was falling in love with him. Massaging his throbbing temple, he took another sip of the black coffee. God, he hadn’t been this hung over in a long time. He remembered now why he stayed away from brandy. The aftertaste in his mouth, along with the lingering headache, wasn’t something he wanted again.
Rubbing the heels of his hands into his bloodshot eyes, he groaned.
Placing the knife on the cutting board, Ms. Pinson wiped her hands on the front of her apron and sighed, “I saw her expression when she saw you lying on your bed. Only a woman in love would look at you that way. Are you telling me you haven’t developed feelings for her?”
He opened his mouth to deny the truth, but couldn’t. “Damn!” He shouted pinching the bridge of his nose. “You don’t understand; she fights me at every turn. She won’t let me get close to her.” He grounded out the words between his teeth. “Hell, we’ve only been on one date.”
“There has to be a very good reason for her defenses.” Ms. Pinson stated. Picking up a bottle of seasoning salt, he watched her sprinkle it all over the roast and vegetables. Placing the lid over the food, she opened the oven and slid the roaster pan inside.
“The only thing Joe turned up was a nasty ex-boyfriend.”
Hayward
recalled.
He would to call Joe tonight and make sure he didn’t find anything else from
True’s
past.
Ms. Pinson moved closer to him and placed her hand on his arm. “Please don’t tell me you had your private investigator poking into her past?”
“Yes,” he replied looking into Ms. Pinson’s horrified face. “Is there a reason I shouldn’t have?”
“Does she know about it?”
“No.”
“Have you thought about telling her?”
“I’ll tell you the same thing I told
Clinton
.” He sighed. “I’ll tell her when the time is right.”
“Hmmm…I hope you will.” Ms. Pinson muttered under her breath.