Twenty-one
TWENTY-ONE
Cierra
The last two weeks had been a whirlwind of activity and emotion.
I had been doing everything I could just to get through it all in one piece. Several times throughout, I’d been convinced I was going to lose my mind.
There was simply a lot going on each day. It felt like far more than had ever been thrust upon me at any point before in my life. The end of the school year was approaching. I still had my self-defense lessons. Greyson and I had our budding relationship. And there was the situation with Richard.
Most of everything I’d been dealing with had simply required me to put one foot in front of the other and keep going. Work was one of those areas. I had to show up each day and do my job. Since I loved it so much, that really hadn’t been a problem for me.
But other parts of my day-to-day life were proving to be a bit challenging. Obviously, the most difficult was the situation with Richard Lynch. We still had no proof that he’d been the one to slash my tires or destroy my garden, and Greyson wasn’t comfortable pretending it hadn’t happened or that things couldn’t be kicked up a notch.
So, when I wasn’t at work, I was with Greyson.
Truth be told, I didn’t mind that part. I loved being around him. We always had such a great time, and I’d never been treated the way he treated me. I’d have been a fool to ask for time away from him, because being with him always made me feel good.
But I worried sometimes about how it was truly impacting him. We’d only known each other for just over a month, and it was almost as though we didn’t have any opportunity to ease ourselves into the romantic part of our relationship as we might have if things hadn’t been so trying.
While I wasn’t complaining about us having taken the step to explore the chemistry and spark between us, I wasn’t quite sure we’d have decided to spend every single night with one another if it hadn’t been for my safety.
When I’d attempted to bring it up more than a week ago, noting how the disaster in my life was impacting his negatively, Greyson had immediately shut it down. He didn’t see anything negative about being forced to spend nearly all his free time with me.
And that’s precisely how it had been.
Since the school where I worked was so close to my home, Greyson and I had decided to spend the weeknights together at my place to make my morning commute shorter and give us those few extra minutes together in the mornings. Our weekends were spent at his place.
When it came to Richard Lynch, nothing new had happened. On the surface, I guessed it was a blessing—I wasn’t looking forward to being terrorized. But with no action on his part, it left me in an awkward place. More and more, I was convinced that his plan for revenge was never going to be about a physical assault. He merely intended to make my life hell by having me constantly wonder about what his next move would be and when it would happen.
To say I was frustrated would have been an understatement.
Because there were things I wanted to do that I couldn’t.
I wanted to replant my garden, but I was worried it’d be a waste. What if it got destroyed again a week later?
I wanted to walk to and from school in the gorgeous spring weather, but it wasn’t worth the risk.
I wanted to go to the public library and take out some books, but going alone wasn’t wise, and I didn’t want to burden Greyson with another task when he was already doing so much.
And there was no question he was doing a lot. Every time he noticed how heavily the situation was weighing on me, he saw me through it. He’d been wonderful. I was beyond fortunate to have him in my life.
The other area of my life where things had been particularly challenging was in my self-defense lessons. At my request after the garden incident, Greyson took the training up a notch. I asked him not to hold back, to teach me the very best moves I’d need to be able to protect myself if I ever had to face the reality at some point.
Greyson did as I asked.
We worked hard. I worked hard. If he didn’t have a class that needed to be taught after my lessons, he’d stay longer in the training room and give me more time to practice.
Just like we’d done tonight.
It had been another grueling session. And though I didn’t believe that Greyson was truly fatigued in the same way that I was, there was no question he’d worked up a sweat. As I sat and sipped from my water, I watched as he put the props we’d used back where they belonged.
He’d lost his shirt during our lesson today, and his muscle-bound chest was on display. I licked my lips, watching how the muscles in his arms, shoulders, and back flexed with his movements.
And those abs. Despite having trailed my tongue and fingertips over the dips and valleys there, my mouth still watered at the sight of him. I could be content to sit and marvel over his physique for hours and never tire of it. The challenge would be in keeping myself restrained for so long.
He really was the perfect man. With a body like his, the heart of gold, and his ability to communicate, there wasn’t a thing to change about him.
“Am I not doing a decent job?”
At the sound of Greyson’s voice, I halted my appreciative thoughts in their tracks and lifted my gaze to his. “Pardon?”
Half of his mouth quirked as he stalked across the room toward me. It wasn’t until he was crouched right in front of me that he spoke again. “You’re looking at me like you’ve been starved of affection for years, pretty lady. It’s only been since this morning. Have I not been doing a good enough job of giving you what you need?”
I squeezed my eyes shut in disbelief. When I opened them again, I found Greyson smirking. “You give me plenty.”
He cocked a brow, sending me a questioning look. “Want to tell me why you’re looking at me like you might not be able to wait until we get home?”
“It’s not nice to point things out like that,” I sassed, cocking an eyebrow right back. “But for your information, I was just sitting here wondering if there’s anything you can’t or won’t do.”
“What?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. For just over a month now, I’ve learned a lot about you, about the things you’re capable of, and I’m beginning to think there’s nothing wrong with you.”
He squinted. “Did you want there to be something wrong with me?”
Shaking my head, I insisted, “No. I don’t mean it like that.”
Greyson shifted from his crouched position and sat down on his ass, his knees bent with his arms hooked around them. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, that nothing seems to be particularly challenging for you.” He shot me a proud smile. “Everything appears to be effortless for you. I’m convinced there isn’t anything you’d struggle to do. It’s like… I don’t know. Like if someone was willing to pay you a million-dollar salary, is there a job you wouldn’t or couldn’t do?”
“There’re plenty of things.”
I was intrigued. “Like what?”
“I’d never be a hitman.”
My shoulders fell. “Okay. Let me clarify this. I’m not referring to jobs that have serious moral concerns. I’m talking about regular jobs. I don’t think there’s a single one that you wouldn’t be able to do.”
Laughter spilled out of him, his eyes dancing with amusement. “I love the confidence you have in me, Cierra. I’m tempted to tell you that you’re right, simply because I like the idea of you thinking I’m so capable. But the truth is that, regardless of how much money someone paid me, there are a handful of other jobs that I would never do.”
“Well, don’t tell me it’s being a librarian,” I warned him. “Because I feel like even if you didn’t enjoy a job like that, you could still do it.”
He nodded. “I agree. But I certainly wouldn’t ever consider becoming a pilot, roofer, skydiving instructor, or a window cleaner. In fact, the window cleaner is probably the worst one for me, especially if we’re talking about the guys who do it on those high-rise buildings in the big cities.”
I tipped my head to the side, my eyes roaming over his face as I processed his words. “You’re afraid of heights.”
“Deathly.”
My mind was blown.
Because even if I had taken the time to consider possible jobs that Greyson would never consider taking, I was positive that if I’d come up with one, it wouldn’t have had anything to do with him being afraid of anything. He was so strong, so confident.
“Are you trying not to laugh?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Not at all. I admire you for being honest with me. Never in a million years would I have guessed you’d have a fear like that.”
He waved his hand in the air dismissively, like it didn’t bother him to be vulnerable with me like that. “I have other fears, but they don’t pertain to jobs.”
I waited patiently, wondering if he’d share what those others were, but he didn’t elaborate. He merely looked at me with such an adoring gaze.
“What about you?”
My brows shot up. “Me?”
“Is there a job that you wouldn’t, even if you were paid a million dollars a year, ever do?”
I smiled sheepishly. “I’d like to think that for that kind of money, I’d be willing to push through and do your job. I can’t promise I’d be good at it, but I’d certainly try it. Like you, I wouldn’t do anything that feels morally wrong, and when it comes to regular jobs, the one thing I wouldn’t do is related to a fear that I have.”
As intrigued as I’d been to hear what Greyson’s answer was going to be, he was clearly just as interested in my response. “What’s your fear? What job wouldn’t you do?”
“Deep-sea diving.”
“Fear of the ocean?”
“Sort of. I like going to the beach, and I’ll step out into the ocean, but I don’t like the water going much higher than my knees. The open ocean is a no-go for me. I couldn’t do it. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t even want to be a surfer, either. Or a pirate. God, could you imagine stormy waters for hundreds of miles and not a piece of land in sight. No thanks.”
Greyson threw his head back as he burst into a fit of laughter. We’d experienced many moments of laughter over the last month, but this was the first I wasn’t quite sure if he was laughing at me.
I stared at him, slightly dumbfounded, even though I thought he looked breathtaking every time he laughed like he was now.
When he realized I wasn’t laughing, he snapped his lips together, but he couldn’t hide the delight in his sparkling eyes.
“Are you laughing at me?”
Greyson looked as though he’d gotten himself into a mess, a hopeless mess he wasn’t sure how to get out of. “Pretty lady, I’m not a genius, but I think all of the reading is messing with your mind.”
I jerked back, surprised at his response. “What?”
“Maybe you know something I don’t, but I’m relatively certain there aren’t any companies in the United States, especially not in Pennsylvania, that are hiring pirates. I don’t think you have to worry about that ever becoming your fate.”
Right.
So Greyson hadn’t been laughing at me for my fear of the open ocean. I’d actually said I could never become a pirate. No wonder he’d laughed.
My lips twitched.
Greyson scooted toward me and wrapped his arms around my body. “I love the way your mind works, Cierra. When we take a trip together this summer and go to the beach, I promise I won’t allow a pirate to come ashore and take you away from me.”
With his warm, naked torso pressed against me while he said all that he just had, it took a valiant effort to not urge him to his back on the floor and climb on top of him. He was already talking about taking a trip to the beach with me this summer. I tipped my chin up to look at his face. “We’re going on vacation together this summer?”
“I’d like to.”
Warmth moved through me. “I think I’d like to do that, too, especially now that I know I won’t have to worry about becoming shark bait.”
He chuckled, giving me a squeeze. “You would make an adorable pirate, though.”
I rolled my eyes. “I think you’d say I’d be adorable doing anything.”
“Can you blame me? You’re exquisite. If you ever decided to try deep-sea diving or surfing, I can’t say I wouldn’t enjoy the sight of you in a wetsuit.”
Shaking my head, I muttered, “I hate to disappoint you, but that’s never going to happen.”
Greyson lifted his hand to the side of my head and stroked his thumb along the apple of my cheek. His eyes were still sparkling as his voice dipped low. “I guess I’ll just have to settle for the birthday suit. Nothing would top that anyway.”
“You’re already halfway there,” I noted, glancing down at his naked torso.
“I knew you were drooling before.” I felt the flush creep over my skin. “How about we head out of here, go home, and grab a shower? After, I’ll make you some dinner, and then you can have all the fun you want with me.”
“Why can’t I have fun with you in the shower?”
His eyes darkened. “I never said we weren’t going to have fun in the shower. But that’s where I’m going to take charge of the fun. You can do it after dinner.”
I took a moment to consider his offer. “That works for me.”
He touched his lips to mine. “Let’s get out of here and start this weekend. Because it’s obvious neither of us is getting a new job anytime soon, and we’ll have to be back at work on Monday.”
“Lucky for me, I’ve only got a week and a half left before school’s done.”
Greyson stood and held out his hand to me. I placed my hand in his, and once I was standing in front of him, he said, “I just might take off from work the day afterward to celebrate with you.”
“I won’t complain if you do.”
He kissed me again. “Let me grab my shirt, and we’ll go.”
A moment later, Greyson and I were on our way out of the training room. And as we made our way down the hall to leave, I realized something profound was happening.
I was falling hard for Greyson West, and I desperately wanted to find the right time to tell him.