Chapter Two
1447 Words
Chapter Two
Gray had heard someone trying to get his attention when he was working on Lionel’s truck. Truth be told, he didn’t care who it was enough to answer, although he suspected it was Lionel’s new wife’s daughter. Lionel and the girl’s mother, Pamela, had been talking this Kristie girl up for a solid week. Never-ending tales of how fantastic she was and how much fun the two of them would have if they decided to hang out together. Fat chance. Gray could see right through the two of them. They thought pairing him up with someone who was a drab would make him want to reform. Joke was on them.
Gray wouldn’t have even bothered fixing the truck if he hadn’t owed Lionel for not telling Pamela he had stolen a twenty out of her purse the other day. But he also liked fixing cars. There was something he could get lost in when he worked on them. There was nothing confusing about cars. It was a different language, but one Gray could always understand. So he would fix Lionel’s truck, but he wouldn’t be playing nice with Pamela’s daughter.
Pamela seemed more concerned with him than she needed to be. Gray didn’t need a babysitter. He had nothing against Pamela, per se, but she tired him out with her constant questions about his life. Gray, lost in thought and not paying attention, slammed his finger against something and cursed out loud. He pushed himself out of the bottom of the truck, staring at the top of the garage, holding his finger. Careless. Now he was slamming his own fingers against the bottom of the truck like some sort of amateur.
He decided that he’d had enough for the day and would go shower. Gray had gotten roped into some stupid family dinner because Kristie was here and if he didn’t shower, he would have to hear another well-intentioned lecture from Pamela. Groaning, he marched inside the house. He could hear Kristie talking to Lionel in the living room, introducing herself. He wondered what she would make of the old man and then decided he didn’t care.
He went upstairs to clean up for dinner.
>>
Kristie finished making small talk with her step-father and decided to go upstairs to her room. He seemed nice, if a bit nervous to be talking to her without her mom around. Kristie knew that her mother was smitten with him and that was all that mattered. Her mom deserved to be happy. The second floor of the new house had her step-father’s and mom’s room plus the one where she’d sleep at the other side plus a living area in the middle. Gray apparently lived somewhere else. It was a different style of house than she was used to, but she liked it – it matched her mom’s desire for change after her father had been killed.
Kristie walked into her room. It was decorated neatly, looking more like a hotel room than anything else. Lionel had told her she could add anything she wanted to the room to make it hers, but she kind of liked the hotel vibe it had. Kristie liked when rooms felt like hotel rooms. For some reason, it always made her think of comfort and relaxation. Her dorm room, cluttered with her own things, didn’t make her think of that – she only felt stressed.
Kristie threw her bag on the bed, realizing the door shut next to it was an en suite bathroom. Score. Kristie gleefully began to tug off her clothes. This might look like an older house on the outside, but some serious renovation had been done inside. The cool air made her skin prickle and she sighed, feeling a little relaxed for the first time since she pulled into town. She went over and opened the door to her bathroom – and screamed in surprise.
A man was getting out of the shower, completely nude. His hair was cut close to his head and he was in incredible shape, with a strong-looking chest and arms. He had tattoos all along his arms and down his back and was grinning at her. Kristie stammered and yanked a towel off the rack nearby, covering herself quickly. She was blushing hard as the man let his eyes roam all over her, clearly drinking her in.
“You must be Kristie,” he said in a tone that meant he was Gray.
Kristie took a step back to let him pass her. Gray was still fully n***d, and she couldn’t stop looking at him, her breath caught in her chest. He looked amazing. She felt a stirring from deep within that took her by surprise.
“What are you doing in here?” she demanded in a tone that she hoped hid the feelings she was suddenly having.
Gray looked at her. “Needed to shower. Didn’t know you’d want to join me.”
He was looking at her in that way again – a way that Kristie had never been looked at before. His eyes were virtually tugging the towel off of her so he could admire her. Kristie tried to keep her eyes welded to his face, not wanting to look down and have him catch her staring at whatever he was packing. The tattoos moved with him like poetry in motion. The heat from within her core had spread out across her body, and she was breathing hard.
“I don’t! Please leave!”
“If you insist.”
Gray lingered for a moment, admiring Kristie before snatching up his clothes he had shoved in a ball off to the side. She hadn’t noticed them there. He slipped on his jeans, and she tried not to admire his butt as he walked out, shutting the door behind her. Once he left, Kristie ran over and locked the door. She could hear her mom downstairs. She must have just gotten home.
Kristie let out a sigh and looked around her bedroom. She made herself go over to the bathroom. The shower door was still open and next to it was a tub. Definitely renovated. She shut the door behind her and locked it, just for good measure. The bathroom was a little cramped since her mom had added the tub next to the shower but Kristie didn’t mind. She knew her mom had added the tub for her. Kristie loved baths. They always managed to relax her.
But now as she stared at the tub, she was too busy trying to control her breathing over Gray to relax.
>>
Pamela was home and instantly began to ask Gray questions about Kristie. He should have left before she got home. He would have been able to, if he hadn’t run into Kristie coming into her room. He had thought she would have spent more time talking to Lionel before coming up.
As Pamela was making a salad and talking his ear off, Gray found himself thinking about Kristie. He hadn’t been expecting Pamela’s daughter to look like that. He shifted his feet uncomfortably, nodding with whatever Pamela was saying. As soon as he had seen Kristie, sparks had flown between the two of them.
She had looked good. Gray had checked out every inch of her as she had stuttered and grabbed that towel. She had stirred something inside of him that wasn’t easily stirred. Gray was focused on what he had to do in life and, outside of one-night stands, he didn’t mess around with girls. They were a distraction and that wasn’t what he needed right now.
But Kristie had made him rock hard. He had thought of what it would have been like if he had just made a move on her right then and there. Would she have gone along with it? And what if she had? How far would it have gone?
“Gray?” Lionel’s voice broke him out of his thoughts. “How are things with the truck?”
Gray was grateful for the subject change.
>>
Upstairs, Kristie sank into the tub and let out a small sigh of delight. Her mom had even put bath salts next to the tub. Always thoughtful, her mother. Kristie used some and stretched out, closing her eyes. She had turned off the bathroom light and the cloudy weather brought in a dim light that made her wish she could go to bed instead of going downstairs for dinner. The thought of seeing Gray downstairs made her break out into a sweat. What had she been doing, looking at him like that? It was complete madness – as if something had overtaken her. But she couldn’t help but remember just how good he had looked coming out of the shower like that.
You need to get laid. Kristie knew she was acting like a school girl. She would go downstairs and face dinner like an adult.
- Writer
