Chapter 27
27
BAILEY
I tapped my fingernails nervously on the coffee table, my legs tucked under it and my back leaning against the couch. Ophelia always asked me why I sat on the floor like this versus sitting on the couch. Personally, I thought it was more comfortable. When we would watch TV together, she would curl up on the couch like a normal person and I would sit on the floor. More often than not, I ended up stretching between commercials and Ophie would laugh at me while I did. It felt nice to stretch after lifting at the gym in the morning and the practice had become a habit.
Now I sat on the floor staring at yet another rejection email from a job I applied to earlier in the week. This is the fifth one I’ve gotten this month, each one stinging more than the last. I had my degree in hospitality and tourism management, yet I couldn’t find a job in it to save my life. I was lucky that Ophelia was letting me live with her and that I only needed to cover the cost of my food and utilities or else I would be on the streets. I had some freelance events coming up, but I needed something more stable.
“I wish you would let me help you launch your own company.” Her words rang out in my ears as I read the rejection letter again. I wish she was here right now, she would give me the pump up I needed to get out of this funk. She was on a work trip until Wednesday though, which meant I had the next five days to myself. Only Ophelia would offer to help me launch my own company after letting me live with her for the last two years. I don’t know what I did in a past life to deserve her as a friend, but whatever it was, I’m glad I did it.
I looked around our condo, the mid-morning sun shining through the two big windows that overlooked the street. Our condo sat squarely in Harleston Village and I loved it. The location of it, how it was laid out, the design Ophie had given it. When Hank picked me up on Wednesday, I discovered that I lived virtually around the block from his best friend Kolbi. I smiled as I thought of his friends and how they played together for several hours. I loved getting to hear them jab at one another as they played and found myself getting lost in the story they were spinning. Every so often he would stand from his chair and look in on me and I would pretend not to notice him or the way my heart sped up when I knew he was looking at me. A few times I was already looking at him when he stood to check on me and I couldn’t help but swoon. The way he looked at me with a mix of admiration and protection made my heart swell.
The slight ding of a new email hitting my inbox brought me back to reality and I quickly swiped my fingers across the trackpad of my computer to wake it up. My head fell into my hands after I read yet another, ‘ Sorry, we’re not hiring right now, ’ email from another event planning company I’d contacted to check and see if they were looking for help. The feeling of anxiety and stress started to bubble in my stomach. I needed a steady, consistent job because I knew my current living situation couldn’t last forever. I started to rub my fingernails with my thumb, something I do when I get anxious, when my phone buzzed on the table next to my computer. I smiled as I picked it up and read the notification.
1 New Message: Soldier
Happy Saturday, blondie. What are you doing today?
Would it be too dramatic to say ‘wallowing in my own self-pity’?
Just hanging out. Ophie is out of town for the next few days.
You’re home alone for the next few days? In that big building?
I have a doorman, soldier. No one is going to get me.
You lock the door at night right? Every time?
Yes, every time. It’s even locked right now. Don’t worry about me, I can take care of myself.
The more I texted him, the more my racing heart started to slow. His calming energy having a significant impact on me even through text.
I just want to make sure my girl is safe.
I mean you, you are safe.
He sent the second text immediately after the first, as if he was trying to backtrack on what he’d sent. I hugged my phone to my chest and squealed like a teenager at the fact that he called me ‘his girl’.
Am I ‘your girl’?
I mean…I’d like you to be.
If you want to be…
I squealed again.
I think I’d like that very much :)
I sent it back and watched the screen like a hawk, waiting for the three dots to pop up again. I didn’t think this is how he would ask me to be his girlfriend, but I was okay with it.
It’s settled then. You’re my girl.
And you’re my soldier.
I smiled at my phone and suddenly had an idea.
Hey, do you wanna come over tonight? Ophie is gone so it would just be us.
I’ll never turn down an opportunity to see you or that beautiful smile of yours. How’s six?
Six is perfect!! I’ll see you tonight.
I’ll see you tonight.
I stood from the couch after I heard the knock on the door and went to open it. Before letting him in, I took a deep breath and painted a smile on my face. I didn’t want him to know I was upset, I just wanted to try and enjoy the evening with him.
When I swung the door open my jaw dropped at what I was looking at. Standing in the hallway was Hank, but he was also holding a giant pizza box and an oversized bouquet of flowers. I brought my hands to my mouth and laughed slightly, overwhelmed by his gesture.
“What are you doing?” I asked, extending my hands out to take the flowers from him. He pulled them back before I could reach them and I gave him a look.
“Wait, I need to say something.” He took a quick breath and straightened his shoulders. He seemed nervous and if he wasn’t holding the flowers, it would have put me on edge. “Bailey Brown, will you be my girlfriend?”
My jaw dropped again and I gaped at him, stunned by his question but touched all the same.
“Didn’t we clear this up already? Isn’t that what you meant when you asked me to be your girl?” My bottom lip pouted as I looked at him. It was hard to know for sure because of his caramel colored skin, but I’m almost certain he was blushing.
“I mean, yeah, but,” he laughed nervously, looking down at his feet before bringing his warm brown eyes back to mine, “doing it over text didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel…official.” His eyes met mine and the way he was looking at me almost made me pass out. I extended my hand towards him again, this time grabbing his wrist and pulled him into a hug.
“Yes, Hank Martínez, I would love to be your girlfriend. Your girl. Your blondie. Whatever you wanna call me, I’ll be it.”
“You forgot hermosa ? 1 ,” he purred into my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. This man and his Spanish . We kissed in the hallway before I pulled him inside and closed the door behind us.
A few hours and a whole pizza later, I was lying on the couch with my head on Hank’s lap as he twirled my hair between his fingers. He asked if we could watch 13 Going on 30 again and I happily agreed. I tried to not let the multiple rejection emails from the day get me down, but as the credits rolled, the slow creeping feeling of anxiety was back in my belly.
“Bailey?” He said my name and I turned to look up at him.
“Hmm?”
“Is something wrong?” He furrowed his brows at me and gave me a concerned look.
“Uhh no, why do you ask?” I lied. I felt embarrassed that no one wanted to give me a chance but I wasn’t going to tell him that.
“Because the last time we watched this movie you talked through the entire thing, quoting almost every line. You didn’t say anything this time.”
“Oh.” I hadn’t even noticed. “I just didn’t want to be annoying, I guess.”
“ Hermosa ? 2 ,” he said, looking down at me, his lips pressed together in a line. “I can tell when something is wrong. Why won’t you tell me?”
I chewed my bottom lip and sat up to face him. I didn’t like being dishonest with him because I would want him to be honest with me. I sucked in a breath before exhaling deeply. “I just had a hard day is all. I’ve been trying to get a full time job doing some sort of event planning or something in hospitality, but no one is hiring. I got three rejection emails today alone. It just makes me feel like a failure.” I stared at my hands, unable to bring my eyes to meet his.
“You’re not a failure,” he stressed. “Hey, look at me.” His fingers came to my chin and pulled it up so I was forced to look at him. “You are not a failure, not even a little. You will find something and anyone who hires you will be so lucky, hermosa? 3 .”
I blew out a breath and pondered his words before speaking. I knew I was good at what I did, lots of people had told me as such several times at my last job. Shit, the reason I had any money nowadays was because old clients from the event hall tracked me down and asked me to organize private events for them. I loved throwing a good party, I just wished somewhere local would hire me to do it full time. The longing in my heart to start my own event planning business was strong, but I would need to save up the money before launching it on my own.
“I’m just having a down day I guess,” I confessed. Without speaking, he squeezed my hand and stood from the couch. He then walked into my bedroom and was gone for a few moments before I heard the sound of running water coming from the bathroom. When he came back out, his lips had curled into a caring smile and his eyes flickered with anticipation.
“What’s that look for? What are you doing?”
“Come here,” he urged, pulling me up from the couch and dragging me into my bathroom. I followed closely behind him, his strong hand wrapped around mine until we reached what he wanted to show me. When I saw it, I felt my eyes crinkle in the corners, touched by what he had done.
“You said when you were having a bad day, you liked to take a bath and read. You’re having a bad day, so I drew you a bath. If you want, I’ll read to you while you soak.” He motioned towards the bath that was now half full of piping hot water and then looked down at me, his lips pulled into a warm grin.
“You’ll read to me?” My voice trembled and was so small I didn’t even think he could hear me over the running water. Not only had he remembered what I liked to do on a hard day, but he also offered to read to me. I thought the flowers he brought me were sweet, but this was better.
He pulled me into his chest and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. An instant wave of safety and security flooded my body as I breathed him in. I nestled my nose into his chest as he flexed his arms, squeezing me a little tighter. “I’ll do whatever I need to do to make my girl happy, and if that includes reading to her, then that’s what I’ll do.” When he kissed me on the top of my head, I squeezed my thighs together and was happy he couldn’t see the big stupid smile that had spread across my face.
“The book I’m reading is out on my nightstand, can you grab it for me?” I asked, pointing to where the book was lying. He released me to go and grab it as I started to undress and climb into the tub. I caught him watching me as I slipped out of my bra and panties and slowly lowered myself into the hot water, wrapping my arms around my legs once I was safely inside. He set the book down on the bathroom counter and left the bathroom quickly before returning with a chair from the dining room table. He carefully set the chair next to the bathtub, grabbed my book off of the counter, and took a seat.
“What page are you on?” he asked, carelessly flipping through the pages.
“Careful, careful,” I said hastily, “there’s an old receipt in there that I’m using as a bookmark. That’s where I’m at.”
“An old receipt? Why don’t you get a proper bookmark?”
“I have one, I just don’t know where it is right now. I think it’s in another book and I had the receipt, so I’m just using that.”
“How many books are you reading right now?” He gave me an inquisitive look and I smirked.
“Right now? Just three. I usually have four or five going though,” I confessed, shrugging my shoulders into my ears.
“Damn, blondie, you never cease to amaze me,” he marveled, shaking his head at me. Then, he opened the book and started to read.
I loved listening to him pronounce each word with care and laughed when he tried to do voices for the characters. As I soaked in the hot water, allowing myself to relax and destress, I watched as he turned the pages of my book and read to me. The story sounded so much better coming from his lips, especially when we got to a spicy part of the book. Since I had read hundreds of romance books, I knew when the story was about to get risqué and I waited with excitement to see how he would handle it.
“He bent down and,” he paused and brought the book closer to his nose and his eyes went wide as he read the next part in his head. He lifted his eyes to me where I sat in the tub, watching him with anticipation. “Is this what women want? For us to do….this?”
“I don’t know what he’s doing, my narrator has stopped narrating,” I teased, giving him a sly grin. He took a sharp inhale and blew it out between pursed lips. He almost looked uncomfortable and I half expected him to tell me the reading was over, but instead, he leaned over, placed his elbows on his knees, and started reading again. Reading these scenes on your own was never a bad time, but holy shit listening to a hot Latino man read them to you was unlike anything else. As I sat in the tub, listening to him read one spicy sentence after the next, I could feel the heat inside of me starting to rise.
“Damn,” he said after finishing the chapter and clearing his throat, “now I know why girls read those things.” I couldn’t help but laugh because he wasn’t wrong.
“They’re not a bad time, are they?” I joked, looking up at him as he continued to sit, leaning over on his knees.
“No, they are not. You ready to get out or do you wanna soak some more?”
“Let me wash my hair really quick and then I’ll get out.”
“Okay, I’m going to go get some water while you do that, I’ll be back.” He gave me a wink and stood from his chair, quickly turning away from me when he did. As he passed the mirror I noticed why he had been sitting hunched over himself as he read. The large bulge in his pants was undeniable. I brought my hand to my mouth to stifle my laughs until he was gone and quickly washed my hair under the faucet. A few minutes later, he returned more relaxed than he had left. “Where do you keep your towels?”
“Under the sink,” I explained, pointing to the cabinet he could find them in. He pulled one out, unfolded it, and held it up for me. I stood from the bath and let him wrap the towel around me before carefully stepping out. As I tied the towel around me, he leaned over the tub to pull the plug to let the water drain out. I grabbed another towel and wrapped it around my head. He stood behind me like a bodyguard and watched me in the mirror as I washed my face and put on moisturizer. I then let my hair down and grabbed my brush.
“Can I do that?” he asked, staring at the brush that was in my hand.
“You,” I paused for a beat, looking down at my brush and then back to him, “you wanna brush my hair?”
“If that’s okay. I love your hair, it’s one of the first things I noticed about you when I saw you at the gym that morning.” My heart started to melt as I gazed at him in the mirror before turning to hand him my brush.
“Sure, you can brush my hair, but please be gentle. I have a very sensitive head.”
“I promise to be gentle.”
And he was.
He stood behind me and ran the brush from the crown of my head all the way down the end of my blonde locks. I watched him as he carefully ran the brush through my hair, his eyes locked on my head with focus and attention. As I stared at him in the mirror, watching him take care of me and knowing he was doing it because I’d had a bad day, I could feel something growing in my belly. A feeling I hadn’t ever felt before for another man but one I had read about time and time again. The feeling they write songs about and make movies about. The feeling you knew instinctively, because it’s a feeling we all long for until we have it. The feeling I never felt worthy of having after being attacked two years ago because I felt so ruined and broken.
My breath caught in my throat when our eyes locked in the mirror and he gave me the big goofy smile I had come to long for, and I knew.
I was falling in love with Hank Martínez.
1 ? beautiful
2 ? Beautiful
3 ? beautiful