Saving Grace (14 page)

"No. You working tonight?"

"Nope." He lingered by the exit doors and seemed to be deciding something. "Hey, Grace?" He walked back over to the couch and kneeled in front of me. "I don't know if you got anything going on with Shane, I'm doubting it because, well everybody knows how Shane is
with girls, I mean look at the stuff he pulled with Marie last night, but
wel
l,
I was kind of hoping that maybe I could take you out for dinner?"

Everybody knows how Shane is with girls
. Oh, that burned;
but it was the truth
.
And, seriously what the hell did he do with Marie last night?
"Wow. Ryan. Sure, I'd love to go to dinner with you."
Take
tha
t,
Shane!

He smiled so wide two adorable dimples popped out on his cheeks, "Are you free tonight?"

"Yeah, I am."

"How about I pick you up around five. What kind of food do you like?"

"Anything but sushi."

****

Lea was sitting by herself in the kitchen with her feet up on the table listening to the
small
CD
player we kept in the kitchen. The newest song from
Pink
filled the room and for some reason she was baking chocolate chip cookies.

I pulled my coat off and threw it over one of the kitchen chairs. "What in the world are you doing? God, it smells like heaven in here." I took a long deep breath and sniffed.

Yanking her feet off the table and dropping them onto the floor, she started jumping up and down. "
O
h,
my God! Really? Heaven effing smells like my chocolate chip cookies?" she squealed.

"Uh...no. Not really you freak," I laughed. "Why are you baking cookies?" I sat down on one of the chairs and pulled my knees up resting my chin on them.

Lea slumped back onto her chair. "Conner said that I wasn't domesticated. So I'm baking cookies." She shook her head slowly.

A crap load of giggles burst from my mouth. "Lea, it's not like
you're
not housebroken."

"Grace, he was serious. What am I supposed to do? He is
THE ONE!
" She plopped her face in her hands and looked up at me with those big brown eyes.

Like I should be giving advice here
. "If he is
The One
, then he wasn't complaining about it. Conner is crazy about you for everything you are and everything you aren't."

"You sound like my mother. By the way, I'm visiting them tomorrow and you should come, they haven't seen you since you were in a coma. I have off Monday so I'm staying the night, you don't have to if you don't want to, but it'll be more fun if you stay." She batted her eyes at me.

"Sure," I laughed. "I'll go and even stay the night. I'll pick up my bike. I was just thinking the weather
is
getting nicer to go riding."

Her eyebrows arched together and she folded her arms across her chest leaning forward. "Hold on a second. Are you drunk again?"

"Um...no why?"

"Because you're smiling." Her eyes widened and she bounced in her seat, "
Ohhh
...how was band practice. Did you talk to Shane?"

"Practice was great. Shane didn't say anything more than he was sorry and Alex wants to start a blog about me giving my virginity to him. And I have a date tonight."

"
O
h,
God, which one is it Shane or Alex? Please tell me you are going to pick Shane."

"Nope. Ryan."

"What?
Ryan, bartender Ryan?
Why can't you go out with Shane?"

"
Becaus
e,
Lea, Shane didn't ask and Ryan did. Shane is too busy with Marie and every other girl who thinks he's a rock star."

"Yeah, but it's Shane..."

"Please don't make it hurt more than it already does. Just help me forget him."

"Yeah, but...what about Shane?"

"I'm immune."

"No, you are not. I'm upset by this new information."

"Well, now. It really blows that I can disappoint you to such a high degree when it comes
to the man
-
whore. Whom, by the way, if you remember correctly tried desperately to humiliate me last night and practically sexed up that Marie girl right on the table in front of me. Why would I want to chase after that?"

"You
have
seen him with his shirt off, right?" she asked cocking her head and lifting a single eyebrow at me.

I rolled my eyes at her so dramatically I thought I might have pulled a muscle. Thinking of Shane was giving me a headache. I threw my hands up into the air in surrender, "Lea. I want to lick him up like a freaking cherry ice pop, let him melt in my mouth, get all sticky and lick my fingers clean. But so
does every other girl he meets. And I'm like the last girl
i
n line, a line that freaking wraps around the corner."

Lea winced and grabbed one of my hands. "Gray, I think you're special to him. Look at how he reacted when he thought you slept with Ethan.
The
way you guys stare at each other, it's just plain pornographic."

I stood up and stretched
,
wanting desperately to end the conversation. "Look, I'm not going to stand here and lie. You know I want to be with him and maybe I will be. But I made a vow to myself to never be fooled again by a man or a halo wearing asshole with wings. Shane is Shane, he's not going to change for me and I don't know if I'd want him too. If something happens between us, it'll happen. But in the meantime, I thought you'd be happy that I was actually going to go on a regular date, and you didn't have to force me this time. Besides, Ryan is really good looking."

Lea sighed, "Yeah, but he's just not Shane."

"Who's not me?" a low raspy voiced interrupted. His stupid voice made my skin tingle. Lea and I both jumped at the sound of it. Lea's hands flew to her chest and she yelped
loudly. "You just scared the crap out of me!"

Conner and Shane stood in the doorway of the kitchen
,
arms crossed over their chests
both donning wrinkled brows.
OhmyGod
,
did he look good. They'd went running, because he stood shirtless with a
gleam of sweat that covered his skin. My eyes roamed the contours of the muscles of his chest and the way his tight skin slid down in that hard V-shape that disappeared under the covering of his running pants.
That's just ridiculous, nobody should look that good.

"Uh," was all I could come up
with.

Shane unfolded his arms and walk
ed
into the kitchen
,
tossing his cell phone on the table. He grabbed a water bottle from the refrigerator and leaned his body against the counter. His muscles flexed and stretched as he moved; it made my mouth fill up with way too much saliva. Twisting the cap off
,
he held the bottle to his lips and gulped the water down. A stream of it
dropped down his chin and onto his chest. It was like watching a man's
Axe
cologne commercial. Pinpricks of heat spread across my chest, and I was struggling for air. Dear God, there is just something about this man that makes you want to stick your panties in his pockets and tell him you
're
half way there...

"Grace has a date tonight," Lea blurted out.

Shane's face twisted in anger and he crunched his empty water bottle with one little clench of his hand. "Letting Alex start his blog?" he asked through clenched teeth.

When I finally found my voice, which seemed to be stuck up my own ass, I wanted to toss myself off a building. "Ah, that would be a no. But, thanks for making me feel like one of your easy skanks.
Again
."

Lea craned her neck in front of my face. "Do you
eff
ing see that chest?"

"Shut up," I whispered.

Lea scrambled Conner out of the kitchen, shoving him into the hallway.

Shane lifted his arm and rubbed the back of his neck.
The freaking muscles twisting under his skin
was
absolutely
ridiculous. He moved toward me, muscles jumping.
Holy crap, I wasn't about to back down from him
.
I jumped up and met him in the middle. I raised my chin to him and jabbed my hands
onto my hips. "Think carefully about what you're about to say to me Shane."

One side of his stupid lips curled up and he took another step forward. I felt the edge of the kitchen table as I backed my ass into it.
Damn, I thought I was moving forward not backing away from him
.

"Don't let him touch you," he whispered as he leaned down and pushed the
palms of his hands on the table on either side of me, trapping me between his arms. I stopped breathing.

"Give me a good reason
not to," I said.

One hand
slid to my waist and moved under my shirt, skimm
ing his fingertips over my skin. He leaned down close,
breathing me in. Those damn butterflies flew straight to my groin.

His cell phone rang on the table next to us. A picture of a topless Marie, in the bathroom of Boozer's came to life on the screen. We both stared at the phone for a minute before he pressed ignore and stepped back raking one hand thr
ough
his hair.

"Wow, Shane. Just wow. How has your dick not have shriveled up and
fallen off by now?"

"I didn't
sleep with
her."

"Ha. Every damn time your lips move, out pops a
lie. The problem
i
s,
Shane,
I don't care if you did. Get out of my way, I have to get ready."

"Don't let him put his hands on you, Grace. Just. Don't."

"Oh sure, good idea, no hands. Yeah, I like the thought of his tongue on me much better." I watched his fists clench and knuckles turn white as I left the room. I slammed the door
to the bathroom and ran the water ice cold, ripped off my clothes and stepped in. I loathed that he had that picture of her on the phone, but I loved the fact that he didn't want anyone else to touch me.
Oh, and the fact that I had much bigger boobs than her
.
And I know I'm completely acting like I'm thirteen years old, but I've never ever had these feelings before, and well
, that fact made it feel a lot better.

I was
blow-drying
my hair when Lea slipped into my bedroom. She plopped herself in
front of my drawers and opened
each one searching for something. I clicked the hair dryer off and opened my closet
door
.

"Shane's going insane inside," she said looking at me smiling. She pursed her lips and turned her attention to my underwear drawer, "Why can I never find any matching sets?"

"Why?"

"Because when I have my undies and bra match I
really feel like I have my crap
together and I can do anybody, I mean anything," she giggled and winked. She smiled and did a little cheer when she found a red matching set.

"Focus, Lea. Why is Shane going insane?"

"Maybe because the girl that he's in love with is going on a date with someone else?" She threw the bra and panties at me and I put them on. "Hey, let's have some fun. I double dare you to walk out there like that," she pointed to me, "And let's see if Shane doesn't profess his undying love for you."

"Shut up," I laughed slipping a simple black dress over my head. "Shane Maxton is not in love with me."

Lea walked over to where I stood looking at myself in the mirror and pulled my chin so I could look in her eyes. "Yeah, Grace. I kind of think he is. So just face it, you just caught yourself a Bad Ass, what are you going to do about it?"

"Lea. I'm going out to dinner with Ryan. I'm thinking maybe Shane should shower that skank off from last night before I decide to do anything with him!"