Chapter 10
TEN
The next day, my heart hammered hummingbird fast as I strolled up the sidewalk to Graham’s, Nova in tow. My steadying breath did nothing for my jumbled nerves, my finger trembling more as I neared and then pressed the doorbell.
“Why am I so nervous?” I asked Nova, and he glanced up at me, head cocked, as if he didn’t get it, either. “Of course, you’re not nervous. He remembered your name and hung out with you even after you tried to eat a disgusting diaper.”
The door swung open, and with a smug, lopsided grin, Graham extended the screen of his phone, showing me the video-feed of myself and Nova on the front step. Oopsie doopsie, I forgot that some people have their volume turned on when they’re checking who’s there.
“Okay, that’s fair,” Graham said. “But would you honestly want me to hang out with you if you’d tried to eat a diaper? Wouldn’t that send up red flags?”
My tongue tripped over itself as heat crawled up my neck. Ever since my puppy arrived, I’d been speaking a lot of my inside thoughts aloud, so he wouldn’t feel left out. If I were being totally honest, I’d struggled with blurting things out long before my little rascal came into my life.
What could I say? I was a fire sign, impulsive and bold, with very little filter.
“Not remembering your name, though,” Graham said in that posh accent that made everything sound so refined and silky smooth, “that’s on me.”
He pressed his palms together, phone between them, and dipped his chin an inch or so. “Give me a chance to make it up to you?”
“Thank you,” I said, with a swipe of my hand. “But there’s no need.” I twirled a strand of hair around a finger, unable to prevent myself from adding, “If you were going to, what would that look like?”
His smile spread across his face, slow and steady like a sunrise, and then bam ! There in all its shining glory. “I have tea and biscuits to start. Plus, a working telly with a cable package and a load of streaming platforms I don’t really use.”
Telly? Gah, how cute is that?
Also, a package that he didn’t really use? “Well, now I feel obliged to put it to good use.” Why yes, the euphemisms were strong with me today. “Especially since somebody recently chomped through the cords to my TV, so now I only ever get to watch on my laptop screen.”
Graham crouched in front of Nova, who couldn’t stand not being greeted for another second, and I admired the way he filled out his jeans as he plied my dog with affection. “Ruh-roh, was that you?”
One by one, my organs turned squishy on me, and I gripped the doorjamb lest I swooned too hard and needed the additional support.
Dappled sunlight hit the planes of his face, emphasizing his cheekbones and jaw, and the slope of his nose. Then he lifted those green eyes to my face. “Did I get the schedule mixed up, or—” His fingertips hit the Post-it Note I’d affixed to Nova’s ID tag. “Uh-oh. What do we have here? Is it the answer to my question, or…?”
“Or,” I said, even though the quirk of his lips as he read the note made it clear he was reading for himself.
“Nova just wanted to thank you for yesterday, and to bring back your shoelace in case you needed it sooner rather than later.” Yep, Nova was so thoughtful that way.
I thrust the shoelace at him with more gusto than I meant, and Graham straightened to his full height, his body much closer to mine than it’d been before he’d crossed the threshold to pet my dog.
“I appreciate Nova’s concern, as that left shoelace is a personal favorite.” The whiff of Graham’s cologne flooded my senses, and rather than play it cool, I swayed closer and sniffed.
“Is that Tonka Bean?” Spicy and nutty, sweet vanilla with low notes of tobacco. “It’s illegal here, even though someone would have to eat massive amounts to experience any toxic effects of the coumarin. Weird, as the FDA now allows so many chemicals to be put into our food, but its ban on Tonka Bean remains.”
Graham slow-blinked and said, “I had no idea.”
“I make candles and tinctures, so I’m a scent snob, and the more naturally sourced the better.” Uh-oh, I was losing him. “Anyway, I was out and about and thought I’d say hi and let you know your note made me laugh after a super long shift.”
“Happy to hear it.” Graham took a step back, and panic bubbled up within me—until I realized he was pushing the door open in invitation, not walking away. “Sounds like we’d better get you access to the telly.”
“I wouldn’t want to intrude,” I said, even though I really fucking wanted to intrude. Invade. Conquer his mouth with mine.
“Nonsense. It’ll be so nice to have company for tea, I won’t even make you lift your pinky.” His expression didn’t crack, leaving me unsure whether he was teasing.
As I brushed past, his pec muscles provided such firm resistance, dizziness set in. Naturally, the only course of action was to go inside and get a little more insight about the Brit and how he ticked.
Except the place was blank as could be. Walls. Hardwood floors. Small couch opposite a massive TV. “Have you been super busy at work?”
“Always,” he said, and apparently, I was going to have to drag the information out of him.
“So, you don’t have the time to decorate, or you don’t feel the need?”
“Decorate?”
I gestured around. “Your place. It looks so… unlived in.”
“My laptop’s out, and there’s an empty mug on the counter that needs washing.”
“Whoa, jump back. Obviously, I didn’t see that one mug.” In comparison, clothes, crafting supplies, dog toys, and dishes were strewn about my house. “My locker at work’s more decorated than your living room.”
“I like things in a particular order.”
Oh no. My heart sank a little. I’d dated one neat freak, and he got so frustrated with me and the messy state of my house that I started feeling like my drill sergeant was coming over to do a white glove inspection.
If anyone knew that sort of pressure, it’d be me. Nothing put the fear of God in me quite like the sound of my father’s vehicle pulling into the garage. His heavy footsteps, my pulse pounding faster as they came closer. As I surveyed whatever room I was in and wondered what out-of-place item would be the source of ire that day.
“Maybe this is a bad idea.” I tugged Nova away from the side table with the lamp he was sniffing. “My dog doesn’t do ‘particular order.’ His specialty’s chaos and dis order.”
The door called my name, the fear of tarnishing the pristine something I thought I was over. “To be honest, it’s one of the things we have in common.”
Graham crossed his arms, the muscular line there calling my name, insisting I at least get to know it better. “Have you forgotten I practically begged to hang out with your dog? He was here yesterday, and the place survived well enough.”
“Exactly. Why tempt fate and risk it?”
One corner of his mouth kicked up, the flash of his pearly whites swaying me toward not only staying but living out the rest of my days in the slant of his smile and that sexy divot in his whiskered cheek. “Please stay. I need a translator for American telly anyhow. Someone who can explain why they’re so fond of jokes they basically hit you over the head with them.”
“As opposed to British television, where you have to suss out whether or not there was supposed to be a joke in there?”
The other side of his mouth got in on the smile, and my head spun right round, baby.
“Also, why do your television shows get to be so much crasser than ours? Y’all are so uptight about proper, I-R-L manners, but so loose when it comes to fictional censorship. Is that how you get it all out of your system so you can still sit, proper as can be, sipping your tea?”
“Oh, we’re stereotyping now?” Tingles coursed over my scalp as he lifted a strand of my hair and twisted it around his finger. “I guess that makes you a ditzy blonde beach babe.”
My breaths grew shallow, increasing the delightful spinning of my head. “As much as I’d like to dispute that, I do have blond hair, love the beach, and—as you’ve witnessed—have my ditzy moments.”
“And I enjoy my tea and subtle jokes.”
Nova barked and padded from foot to foot, nails clacking, and Graham bent to pet him. “See? He agrees with me.”
“ Pfft. That wasn’t him voicing his agreement, he’s just bursting our intimacy bubble because it didn’t involve him.”
That divot in Graham’s cheek popped again, and he arched an eyebrow as he looked up at me. “Intimacy bubble?”
“From his perspective,” I said, way too quickly, the words all merged together. “You know what I mean.”
Being the lone figure looming over him and my puppy gained me far too much of the focus, so I dropped down to their level, patting Nova’s side as I voiced the next part. “I have an idea. What if we bury the hatchets our countries wielded over hundreds of years ago by showing each other the stuff we enjoy about our respective countries? Sightseeing would be unfair to one of us, and I’m nothing if not fair, so I’m thinking we do a few “best of”s with our favorite foods, shows, and that kind of thing?”
Our fingers bumped in the middle, and so did our gazes. As we peered at each other across the top of my dog, his green eyes sparkled with an intoxicating combo of mischief and interest. While I hoped the emotions were for me, it could also very well be the idea, which was pretty awesome, if I did say so myself. It upped our time spent together and brought in other aspects besides our shared love for Nova.
Although my puppy would also get double the attention, so it was a good deal for him, too.
Instead of shying away from Graham’s hand, this time I slid it closer to his, fingers spread enough so the tips fitted into the dips in his knuckles.
One second ticked by, then two and three, the quiet rankling my nerves.
Then he swiped his thumb across the edge of my palm to settle on the pulse point on the underside of my wrist.
Could he feel my eager reaction? The way the pumping blood beneath the skin leapt and begged for more contact?
I watched his features closely, desperate to gain more insight.
But the only thing I could honestly tell was how freaking hot he was from this close. His scruff was only a couple of days old, and the sun caught the lighter strands of it, leading a path right to his pouty lips that I longed to follow.
“That way, we can at least be more educated before slamming each other’s tastes.” There. Lighter. A pinch flirty.
Neptune’s beard, my thighs were burning.
Nova watched us like a tennis match, likely waiting for his chance to steal the ball.
“Before, huh?” He straightened, and I mirrored him, my muscles complaining about being scrunched for so long. “You’re saying it’s inevitable, then.”
“I’m afraid so,” I said with a grin, “but we should probably test the theory. For, like, mankind and shit.”
Graham placed his hand on the small of my back and nudged me toward the sleek black loveseat that’d attract dog hair like a magnet. Then again, maybe the Brit was a better enforcer than I, as when it came to my furniture, what was mine was Nova’s and vice-versa.
“About the decorations,” he said once I selected an overstuffed cushion to settle onto. “I’m only here for the summer, so it didn’t seem worth my time.”
“Oh.” My stomach dropped with disappointment. “Well, I guess that’s fine if you want to live in sadness for a couple of months. Then again, that’s how I feel about cleaning in general. What’s the point if it’s going to get messy again? I usually get distracted partway through chores, too. Like the other night when I was dancing around, and…”
Way to go, Zo. Remind him of how you were dancing in your underwear.
In a world where my sexy neighbor was attracted to me, it might be a good move, but my skin flared too hot for me to think about anything besides the embarrassment.
“You appeared to be having more fun than I do when I clean. Must be the fact that I leave my clothes on.”
Was that the tiniest hint of a smirk? Did he keep his humor subtle and a little dry, the way he enjoyed in his TV shows? Or was I trying to turn it into something it wasn’t?
“Nah, clothing’s optional. I bet you leave out the dancing part—although, yes of course, it’s easier to bust a move without pesky clothes in the way.”
“Ah.” The cushion next to mine dipped with his weight, and he tapped a finger to his temple. “I’ll make a note.”
“While you’re jotting stuff down, maybe put that it’d only be fair to leave your blinds open, so that your neighbor gets to see her cleaning tips in action.”
Crinkles formed at the corners of his malachite eyes, and there was the secretive smile again. Surely, that was a positive sign.
But he’s only here for the summer. That certainly changed my objective, as I was done with partners where I only felt cared about at their convenience. It’d happened here and there with most of my exes, but the dissolution of my last serious relationship had done the most damage. Thanks for that, Bri.
In this instance, however, Graham Edwards was a limited time deal. I’d already spent a lot of time and energy getting to this point, where we had full conversations and he remembered my name, and his knee was resting against mine.
The whirlwind of attraction and desire voted in favor of seizing the day and the Brit. Unless, like with decorating, dating didn’t seem worth his time?
All questions I clamped between my lips. They’d come out sounding clingy, or perhaps too forward, and he was undeniably a more reserved sort of guy. Which was good. I’d sworn off the Tarzan-type who beat their chests and declared me theirs like some sort of neanderthal. In my early twenties I used to think jealousy was kinda hot, until those admirers showed up at the bar and glared at my customers, conveying they not only thought I belonged to them but that they also didn’t trust me.
It hit me then that Graham hadn’t given a firm answer regarding my idea of swapping cultural experiences and being his guide through Middle Earth or Southern California or whatever.
I wasn’t normally this unsure, but I was doing things differently now. No more making decisions about my compatibility with somebody based on when they were born and under what planet and moon. On paper wasn’t where I needed the connection, which was why I hadn’t asked for his birthday and sign right away.
Graham slapped his palms to his thighs. “Let’s start our little game of show and tell with tea and biscuits, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I said, absolutely beaming at him. I took that to mean he’d agreed, pumping my inner fist that it meant more time with him.
“You and Nova can go ahead and make yourselves at home. I’ll go put the kettle on.”