Eighteen
EIGHTEEN
Graham
“Alright, Miguel, Rosalie will be able to get you all squared away here. If you have any issues at all, please don’t hesitate to give us a call. I’ll be happy to answer any questions for you.”
“Thank you, Graham. I’m very happy with how this one turned out.”
I inclined my head with appreciation and smiled at my return client. Miguel had just gotten his seventh tattoo, the fifth with me. While it was safe to say I was thrilled about each and every client I had, there was something that was particularly special about having someone like Miguel in the mix. As a tattoo artist, I always appreciated the opportunity to utilize my creative skills, but when someone liked the work that I did so much that they came back repeatedly, it always felt good.
“You’re welcome. I’ll see you soon for the next one.”
Miguel waved a hand at me and grinned. “You know it.”
I turned to walk off, back toward the room where I’d just done Miguel’s tattoo. It was lunchtime, but I wanted to get everything cleaned up and prepped for my first client that would be in after lunch.
Just as I stepped into the room, my phone chimed, indicating I’d received a text message. Simply hearing that sound, I had a sneaking suspicion I knew who it was. It was Tuesday now, but if yesterday had been any indication, I had to believe I’d find that Kat was reaching out to me.
Sure enough, I picked up the phone and confirmed I hadn’t been wrong.
Kat
Everyone keeps telling me they’ve never seen me so chipper.
My mouth curved into a smile as the warmth spread through me.
Graham
Am I to blame for that?
I set the phone down and began cleaning up my space in preparation for my next client. I’d barely gotten one task completed when another text came through.
Kat
You’re the only thing that’s different in my life, so I guess you’re the fall guy.
I chuckled and stared at the screen. It had been a matter of days since Kat and I had decided to give this a real shot between us. It had easily been the best decision I’d made in a very long time.
Suffice it to say that I’d been able to think of little else besides her ever since our day together on Sunday. If I wasn’t recalling her answers to my questions, I was remembering the way she looked up at me or how great it felt to hold her hand or have her curl her body into mine. And the laughter, the amusement, I’d experienced being with her was second to none.
I couldn’t recall the last time I’d felt this good; it had been far too long. Truth be told, I hadn’t believed it was possible to feel this good again. After all I’d been through, I hadn’t even been prepared to try to find anything like this.
And then she showed up.
Kat sat down on that stool beside me a few months ago, and she blew every idea I had about how things were going to be to smithereens.
Even if I tried to act like I wasn’t interested in anything more than a physical relationship, the reality was that my life hadn’t been the same since Kat came into it. She changed everything, and I found myself feeling grateful to have met her.
Just as I was about to type a response, a sound at the entrance to the room I was in pulled my attention away from the phone.
Shiloh, Lydia, and Winston had come to a stop there, and all three of them were grinning like idiots. Or, well, Shiloh and Lydia were. Winston looked like he’d been forced to join them.
“Hey, guys. What’s going on?”
Lydia practically sang her response. “Oh, nothing.”
Between her tone and the look on her face, I was convinced there was absolutely something they weren’t telling me.
I shifted my attention solely to Winston and asked, “What am I missing?”
He looked like he wanted to give me the answer, but he took one look at the women beside him and held his hands up in surrender. “Sorry, Graham. I’m really not a part of this. I’m here against my will, mostly because I happened to be heading to the break room for lunch.”
I laughed. That sounded about right for Winston, especially when Shiloh and Lydia were around.
My eyes slid to the side and landed on Shiloh, no doubt the ringleader of the group. I cocked a questioning brow but said nothing. Fortunately, she had already been prepared to clarify what was going on.
“You fixed it, didn’t you?” I couldn’t miss the hopeful ring to her tone or the way she lifted slightly on her toes.
“The tattoo machine from last week?” I countered. “No. I decided to just pull out a new one, because I wasn’t up for dealing with it when I came in yesterday.”
Shiloh sent a dubious look my way. Lydia seemed utterly disappointed by my response, and Winston clearly just wanted to go eat his lunch.
“I know you aren’t pretending to not know what I’m referring to,” Shiloh fired back. “I’m talking about the woman from our night out. You fixed things with her, didn’t you?”
I stared at her, refusing to offer a response.
When I remained silent for so long, she held her hand up and declared, “You know what? I don’t need your confirmation, because I can see it. You’re a changed man. In fact, you seem to be doing your best yet. So, I’ll go with my gut instinct. Things are better for you, and that’s all that matters.”
I rolled my eyes. “Thanks, Shiloh.”
“So, it’s true?” Lydia pressed. “There’s a new lady in your life?”
I sighed, realizing I’d be better off just admitting it to them so we could all move on. “Yes, Lydia, there’s a new lady in my life.”
Shiloh clapped her hands and bounced on her toes. “Oh, I’m so excited for you. I can’t wait to meet her.”
As soon as she said those words, it hit me how much I wanted to make that happen. Not immediately, of course. I still wanted just a bit more time to keep Kat to myself and learn everything there was to learn about her. But soon enough, I wanted her to meet the people who’d been responsible for seeing me through the worst time in my life, who were like my family now and would be there through the best that was still ahead for me.
“One day,” I promised.
“Soon,” Lydia demanded.
“Soon enough.”
Shiloh and Lydia both seemed satisfied with that response. “We’re so happy for you, Graham. You deserve this.”
“Yeah. And the transformation that’s taken place in you over just the last two days is tremendous. You’re so happy. I even saw you laughing on two separate occasions yesterday and once again this morning. She must be extraordinary to be able to make you smile like you have been.”
Hearing about the profound change in me was strange, but I wholeheartedly believed it was true. Because I knew how I felt on the inside, so I didn’t doubt the people I spent most of my days with had noticed.
Instead of denying their claims, I nodded. “She is beyond extraordinary.”
For the first time since Shiloh and Lydia had taken over, Winston jumped into the conversation. “Congratulations, Graham. After all you’ve been through over the last year, it’s good to see you get here.”
“Thanks, Winston. I can confidently say I wouldn’t have been doing nearly as well if it hadn’t been for all of you.”
Before he had the chance to respond, Lydia chimed in. “It’s nothing. You would have done the same for any one of us.”
“Fair enough.”
“Okay, we’re going to go grab lunch now,” Shiloh declared. “We’ll see you back there?”
I gave her a nod. “Yes. I’m just getting things cleaned up and prepped for my next client. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
With that, they took off, and I focused my attention on my phone again, tapping out a response to Kat’s text.
Graham
It turns out you aren’t the only one who appears happy at work. I was just approached by three members of my team about my attitude.
Kat
Your attitude? That sounds bad.
Laughter spilled out of me. I hadn’t really considered the way my text would come across. I guess that’s what happened when I was so caught up in how good I felt—I couldn’t be bothered to imagine the potential for any negativity.
Graham
Sorry. That was poorly worded. I had a terrible attitude prior to this weekend, but things are looking up now.
Kat
Oh?
Graham
That surprises you?
Kat
I hadn’t realized you were in such a bad mood before this weekend that your coworkers would have noticed.
Graham
I thought I was doing a good job of hiding it. But I guess you had a bigger effect on me than I realized.
Kat
You’re making me blush.
Kat
But I guess that’s probably a good thing, considering how horrible I must look right now.
My brows drew together, a wave of genuine disbelief washing over me. If there was one thing I knew to be true from the moment I met her, it was that Kat was stunning. The idea that she looked horrible was simply ludicrous.
Graham
I’m sorry? Did you just say you looked horrible?
Kat
I was up later than usual. But I don’t recall sleep deprivation ever feeling so good.
Suddenly, it was all falling into place.
The last time that Kat and I had seen one another was Sunday. We’d touched base with one another via text around lunchtime yesterday, but since I’d missed hearing her voice, I called her last night.
We talked for several hours, which seemed crazy, considering we’d done a ton of talking on Sunday.
But where our in-person conversation had been much deeper, our phone conversation was made up of a lot of rapid-fire surface-level questions. I now knew Kat’s favorite color, food, dessert, vacation spot, season, movie genre, music genre, holiday, and more. She knew all the same about me in return.
I’d had a blast getting to know the little details about her. What I loved even more than that was listening to her get sleepier and sleepier the longer we talked. I couldn’t wait to experience that in person.
Because, no, I still hadn’t done that yet.
Even if Kat and I had already had sex with one another weeks ago, I wanted to take my time with her now. I wanted to do this the way I would have done it if I hadn’t been so caught up in my head about my former relationship and what it could mean for my future.
So, I was taking my time.
Some of it, at least.
But I wasn’t quite sure I’d want to wait months or even weeks to have her again, because Kat didn’t make it easy. Between the kissing we’d done on Sunday and all that I’d learned about her since, the deeper connection with her was developing.
Plus, Kat was just as tempting as ever. Maybe even more so now. Perhaps that was the one reason I was glad we’d decided to wait to see one another until this coming weekend. She was going to play tennis on Saturday morning, but we planned to spend the rest of the weekend with each other. And not spending time together during the week would give us the opportunity to just talk to each other.
I couldn’t wait until Saturday.
Looking at her last text once more, thinking about how adorable she must have looked feeling so sleepy, I thought a bit of teasing would be fun.
Graham
Just wait until I spend the night with you. Then you’ll really be struggling to keep your eyes open.
Kat
That’s a cruel thing to say to a girl mere moments before she needs to walk in and see a patient. How am I going to focus now?
I laughed again.
Then I realized she wouldn’t be the only one who’d need to get through the rest of the day thinking about the kind of fun we could have when we spent the night together.
Graham
Find comfort in knowing you won’t be the only one feeling that way.
Kat
But you have such restraint. I feel like I’m about to lose my mind for how badly I want you.
My lips twitched. I loved that she wasn’t afraid to tell me she wanted me like that. I wanted her just as badly, and the urge to have her grew stronger and stronger with each day that passed.
Graham
I promise I’ll make the wait worth your while.
Kat
I have no doubt you will. I can’t wait.
Kat
But on that note, I do need to get ready to head back to work now.
Graham
Okay. I’ll talk to you later, little lady.
Kat
Looking forward to it, big guy.
Our conversation ended there, and I got back to prepping for the client I had coming in after lunch, doing it with a smile on my face and happiness in my heart I didn’t think was possible to feel again.
Kat
“So, I have a small problem.”
With my phone plastered to my ear, and Graham on the other end of the line, I rolled to my side in my bed.
“A problem? What’s going on? Is there something I can do to help?”
I smiled, unable to ignore the way my heart squeezed. Graham, for as grouchy as he’d been in the beginning, was proving to be the best guy of all. He had not a clue what my issue was, and he was more than prepared to lend a helping hand.
“Well, my problem involves you. In fact, you’re the one who created it. Or, well, I guess I did, too.”
“What? What are you talking about? Is this about me wanting to take my time getting to know you? Are you still struggling with focusing on your patients while you’re at work?”
There was a hint of amusement in Graham’s tone.
He wasn’t entirely wrong with his guess, so it was now apparent I had two problems.
Because I was struggling to get through my day without recalling the times that Graham and I had been intimate with one another. It wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t focus on my patients; although, I did enjoy letting him think that. I was hoping it’d work to my advantage.
“Make that two problems,” I teased. “I wasn’t referring to what you thought. My issue is that I talked to my sisters earlier today when I got home from work. They know that you and I have decided to try this thing out between us.”
“And?”
I bit my lip, unsure of how he was going to react. “They want to meet you the next time they come for a visit.”
I expected Graham to stay silent, ponder it, and possibly tell me he’d need some time before he’d be ready to do that.
But in a surprising twist, he didn’t hesitate to respond at all. “Sure. When are they coming to visit?”
I blinked rapidly. “Are you… are you serious?”
“What?”
“Just like that, you’d be okay with meeting them?”
Graham still didn’t need to take time to consider his response. “Why wouldn’t I? If you want me to meet them, I’m happy to do it. For what it’s worth, my team at the tattoo shop was asking earlier this week about when they’d be able to meet you.”
That news shocked me as much as it pleased me. While Graham had made it clear his coworkers knew about me, he hadn’t exactly shared any thoughts they might have had about me. And considering he’d only shared that he’d been moody before we worked things out, I wondered what, if any, preconceived ideas they had about me.
“Really?”
Soft laughter came through the line. “Yes. But I didn’t give them any specific time frame for that happening. I kind of wanted to keep you to myself for just a bit longer.”
I was beginning to think I hadn’t realized just how lucky I’d been when I walked up and sat down beside Graham. It was like I’d hit the lottery, because the more I got to know him, the better he was turning out to be.
“My sisters haven’t figured out a time to come visit yet. They just wanted to be sure they could meet you when they do. And I guess I should warn you that they’ll probably be a bit judgmental at the start, because they were here and saw me break down the night that I saw you out with your team.”
For the first time since I’d brought up the topic, Graham hesitated. The silence stretched between us for longer than was reassuring, and I worried he was preparing to change his mind about meeting them.
“I still feel so awful to have upset you like that,” he mumbled. “I’m more than prepared to prove to your sisters, or anyone else, for that matter, that I’m serious about you and terribly sorry for how things went down between us from the start.”
I could have cried.
I really was so lucky to have met him. Graham was the best guy.
Letting out a huge sigh of relief, I said, “You know, I think this is becoming my favorite part of the day.”
“Talking on the phone at night?”
I closed my eyes and smiled. “Talking on the phone to you at night.”
It was Thursday evening now, and Graham and I had done this every night this week. I loved it.
“Well, I’ll take that for now. I’m hoping that soon enough you’ll have a new favorite part of your day, one that might include me being there with you in your bed while we talk.”
A shiver ran down my spine. “I’m waiting on you, big guy.”
His voice dipped low. “Soon, Kit Kat. Soon.”
My belly trembled, and my heart rate picked up at the thought. In an effort to not get myself all worked up, I said, “Tell me about your day today.”
Graham let out a laugh, seemingly aware of what his words had done to me. Then he honored my request and told me about his day. We continued to talk, even as I grew sleepier.
By the time we said goodnight and disconnected the call, my heart was full to bursting, and I fell asleep with a smile on my face.