Rm W/a Vu (14 page)

“How is it you haven’t been snatched up yet?” Toby asks, leaning in. “You’re adorable.”

I can feel myself blushing, and I’m thankful it’s dark in the kitchen so he can’t see it as I drop my gaze and giggle. “Um, thanks?”

“So, you’re sure you’re going to be okay here alone for a few days? If not—”

“Thanks,” I say, interrupting him. “I’ll be fine. Even if none of my friends can stay here, I can take care of myself.”

This seems to intrigue Toby. “Oh?”

“I’ve taken more self-defense classes than you can imagine, and I’m kind of a crack shot,” I brag.

Toby’s head begins to bob up and down, his smile widening even more. “Badass.”

I’m just about to thank him for his concern when a gravelly voice comes from behind me. “Hey. What’s going on down here?”

I turn around to see a sleepy-eyed Greyston scratching the back of his head as he eyes us, confused.

“Oh,” I say, hopping up off my chair. “I fell asleep and was just bringing my cold coffee down and grabbing a glass of water when I ran into Toby, and we got to talking.”

Greyston’s eyes go wide, almost like he’s worried about something. Then they travel to Toby, and he rolls them. “Jesus, man. Put a shirt on. There’s a lady living here now.”

I laugh. “That’s okay. I’m actually going to head back up to bed. I’ll see you guys in a few more hours.”

“Actually,” Toby speaks up, pushing his stool away from the counter and standing. “I’m going to head home. I didn’t mean to fall asleep here as it was.”

“Oh?” I stop in the doorway, looking between him and Greyston.

“Yeah, Greyston and I were just so into fucking around”—I swallow thickly, trying to keep my expression neutral—“that we lost track of time and just passed out upstairs.”

“Gotcha.” I nod. “Well, I’ll see you soon then?”

“Probably more than you’d like,” Greyston teases.

Toby smirks. “Watch it,” he threatens playfully. “I won’t hesitate to drop you.”

“All right,” I interject, faking a yawn. “I’m going to go back to bed before I’m asked to ref a wrestling match.”

“Have a good sleep, Juliette,” Greyston says softly, offering me a brief glimpse of his crooked smirk.

“Thanks. You, too.”

The minute I leave the kitchen, I hear Greyston quietly inquire about what we were talking about.

Toby laughs quietly before telling him that he was only asking how I felt about staying here alone and that he offered to help me out if I needed it. “Did you know she can shoot?” Toby asks jovially, bringing a smile to my face.

“I…no. But it doesn’t surprise me; her dad’s a cop.”

On that note, I continue up to bed in case they want a minute alone to say goodnight to one another. The minute my head hits the pillow, I’m out like a light.

Chapter 11

A
fter leaving Greyston and Toby in the kitchen, I hadn’t gotten more than another three hours of sleep. Like the day before, the sun wakes me up, shining through the windows on my balcony doors, and I step outside to see Greyston enjoying his morning swim.

Not wanting to be caught watching him cut gracefully through the water, I retreat back into my room and decide to use my morning burst of energy on unpacking. Once everything is put away, I decide it’s time to change out of my pajamas and do a load of laundry. Having just heard on the radio that we’re in store for a record-breaking heat wave, I pull on my shorts from yesterday and a fresh tank top.

Laundry-wise, I don’t have much, but I’ve got enough for a small load of colors and an even smaller load of whites. I grab my basket and head down to the basement. I find the laundry room down the hall from a large and well-equipped home gym and turn on the machine while I separate my clothes, throwing my whites in first.

While my laundry cycles, I head outside to see Greyston still swimming. I walk barefoot to the edge of the pool and dip my toes in as Greyston swims by obliviously. Playfully, I kick out, forcing huge droplets of water to rain down on his partially exposed back. He stops in the middle of the pool, looking around until he sees me.

With a bright, toothy smile, he pushes his hair off his forehead. “Hey. Been up long?”

I shake my head and sit down so I can stick my legs in the water. “Not really. I actually just finished unpacking and throwing a load of laundry in.”

The lower half of Greyston’s face disappears beneath the surface of the water and he swims toward me. Once he’s next to me, he rests his arms on the cement pool deck and looks up at me. He’s so close to me that there’s not much water between his ribs and my calf. In fact, if I moved a fraction of an inch, my toes would probably graze the hem of his trunks…

I clear my throat, trying to refocus my attention on what I originally came out here to do. “I was going to make breakfast. Have you eaten?” I ask.

“Nope. I’ll finish up my lengths, and I’ll meet you inside in fifteen?”

Smiling, I pull my legs from the water, accidentally grazing the side of his thigh with my foot. His lips twitch before forming a smile, and he quickly pushes himself away from the edge of the pool. Away from me. I don’t take it personally; I shouldn’t have done what I did. I blame it on my apparent lack of self-control today.

“Cool. I’ll see you inside.”

Inside, I head to the fridge to search for something to make, eventually deciding on French toast. I grab everything I’ll need and begin my preparation. I’m just putting the last of six slices on when I hear the patio door slide open and Greyston’s bare feet pad across the slick tile. He’s right behind me—I can feel the waves of heat rolling off of his bare chest and across my back and shoulders. I take a shaky breath at the same time he inhales.

“Do you know how long it’s been since I had French toast?” he asks, his breath tickling my exposed neck and ear.

I open my mouth to speak, but I can’t; my voice is completely gone. It would appear that having him so close to me has forced me into a temporary state of muteness. So, instead of speaking, I shake my head, tightening my hold on the spatula to keep the tremble in my hands from being too noticeable.

He takes a few steps back, and I exhale through my lips quietly. “I’m going to go have a quick shower,” he announces. “I’ll be right down.”

“Y-yeah,” I reply, my voice having come back. “I’ll see you in a few.”

The minute he’s out of sight, I drop the spatula onto the counter, bits of cinnamon-infused egg scattering across the dark marble surface. I run my fingers through my hair and look toward the empty doorway, wondering why the hell I can’t seem to get my body to understand that he’s unavailable in the
most extreme
way.

My brain gets it, but every time I’m around him, it’s like I mentally check out, and my body just does whatever the hell it wants.

Okay, so maybe not, because if that happened, this counter would have my naked ass prints all the hell over it, and the smell of my French toast burning would be real and not in my imagination.

Wait a minute…

“Shit!” I shout, reaching out and turning the burner off before sliding the pan to an empty burner. I grab the spatula to remove the slice of bread from the pan, but it doesn’t come easily; I actually have to scrape it off.

The smoke is thick, and the smell of burned toast and egg is heavy in the air. I open the kitchen window and turn on the fan above the stove. It doesn’t seem to help as quickly as I’d like, so I slide the patio door open wide and begin to fan the air with the dishtowel that Greyston keeps on the oven handle.

“What happened in here?” Greyston asks, his eyes instantly finding mine as he rushes toward me. “It smells like you burned something.”

I grimace. “Damn,” I groan. “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice. I wasn’t paying attention, and the heat must have been too high. I burned it. That’s all. No fires, I swear.” He looks from me to the plated pieces of toast, still concerned. “The other five slices are fine. I promise.” I laugh lightly. “I really am a decent cook, so don’t hold this against me, okay?”

Letting his lips twist up into the smile I’ve come to look forward to, he grips my upper arm reassuringly. “I wouldn’t dream of it.” He releases me and grabs two glasses from the cupboard before offering me orange juice.

“Sounds great. Thanks.”

I finish cutting up some fruit for a salad, leaving the beautiful, plump strawberries he has in the fruit drawer out of it, and we take what I’ve decided are our usual seats.

Greyston eyes his fruit bowl and frowns. “No strawberries?”

I shrug. “Allergic. I can grab the basket for you if you’d like,” I offer.

“Oh, I didn’t know. Sorry.”

I giggle. “Why are you sorry? Should I be aware that this is somehow all your fault?” He chuckles, spearing a piece of cantaloupe. “It’s not too bad,” I tell him. “I won’t die if I eat them; I just break out in this really itchy rash that covers almost my entire body. It’s extremely unpleasant.”

Greyston smiles. “Good to know.”

After breakfast, Greyston offers to clean up since I took the liberty last night, and I take the opportunity to go and switch my laundry over. As I am pulling my clothes out of the washer and placing them in the dryer, it occurs to me that not
all
of my clothes are dryer friendly.

My bras and panties, for example.

I tell myself Greyston likely has zero interest in my underwear anyway, so I hang them on the little clothes rack he’s got in the large laundry room. Once my clothes are swapped, I head back upstairs to find Greyston on the phone.

“Yes. Greyston Masters and Toby Singer… Mmm hmm… That’s right.” It’s obvious that he’s securing his and Toby’s hotel room for their trip this week. “Perfect. Thank you… You have a good day, too.”

He hangs up the phone and shrugs. “Hotel.”

“I figured.” I take a seat at the island. “You get everything figured out?”

“Yes. Toby will be more than pleased,” Greyston assures me with a laugh.

“Oh good, because I’d hate to see him upset,” I say playfully.

Greyston shrugs. “He’s not a big grudge holder. He’d be over it within the first twelve hours.” His cell rings, and I glance down to see Toby’s name flash across the screen.

Wanting to give them privacy, I stand up and start to back out of the kitchen. “Okay, well I’m going to go and study for a bit.” I head upstairs to my room where I toss my books on the end of my bed and lay down on my stomach. Pencil and highlighter in-hand, and notebook open to where I left off last night, I set to work.

About an hour in, there’s a knock on my door. “Come in.” I turn my head to see Greyston peer inside.

“The dryer’s buzzing,” he informs me. “I can grab your laundry and bring it up if you’d like? I’m headed down to put my whites in anyway.”

“Oh, I have a load in the wash that needs to be switched over.” I hop up off the bed, and Greyston is right behind me, his own laundry basket in his arms.

I unload my whites from the dryer and then work quickly to unload my colors so he can wash his clothes. I’ve got two bras and their matching panties that need to be hung before I head back upstairs. When I turn around, Greyston is looking down, seemingly stunned. It’s when I follow his eyes that I see he’s staring at my hands…at my underwear.

“Sorry,” I apologize with a casual shrug, moving around him and hanging them before grabbing the few pairs of white ones and tossing them in the basket with my clean clothes. “Being a girl comes with some extra laundry.”

He’s facing the washer now, busily shoving his whites inside before turning the temperature back up and adding detergent. “Right. I suppose it does.”

“Okay, well I’ll be back up in my room. I’ll come check on my last load in a bit,” I tell him, heading back upstairs. He doesn’t follow me right away, and I swear I hear him curse when I reach the stairs.

Just as I turn to see if something’s wrong, he exits the laundry room, looking surprised to still see me. “Oh,” he says roughly. “I thought you’d gone upstairs already.”

“I was, but then I heard you say something… Are you okay?” I look him over, seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

Greyston lets out a single breathy laugh. “Oh, uh, I closed the washer door on my thumb. I’ll be fine.”

My eyes fall to his hands, and he quickly hides one of his thumbs within a fist. “You’re sure?”

 “Yes. I’m going to go out for a quick run,” he announces out of nowhere. “Give you some quiet to get your studying done. I’ll have my phone if you need me.”

Greyston walks around me and dashes up the stairs. I follow, but not nearly as quickly. He goes up to his room, and when he reemerges, he’s wearing a pair of shorts and a sleeveless shirt. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

I step into my room. “Sure. Have fun.” I feel like he’s acting weird, but I don’t know him well enough to call him on it.

After I hear the front door close, I fold my laundry before returning to my studies…or,
try
to. I’m finding it hard to tear my mind from Greyston’s behavior. I’m not sure what it was, but there had definitely been something in his eyes that I just can’t pinpoint.

I check my alarm clock and see that almost an hour has passed. This means my laundry should be ready. Before heading down into the basement, I check out the front door to see if I can spot Greyston anywhere. I can’t. While I know he’s probably fine, I’m still feeling a bit weird about his sudden departure.