18. Chapter 18
Chapter 18
Maybe I should have just brought her to the ranch instead of bringing her to my house. I don’t want to make her feel uncomfortable.
“Or not,” I say aloud to myself as the power flickers. Thankfully, I double checked the generator before picking her up. Might as well go through with my original plan; hopefully it doesn’t make her run away screaming. I want, no need, to make a good impression on her, but she gets my stomach in such knots that I find myself overthinking everything when it comes to her.
Making my way back down to the living room, I pull out the sectional, make it into a bed, and turn on the gas fireplace. Grabbing the spare blankets I keep in the hall closet, I throw everything on the bed and go grab my portable projector and speaker from my bedroom, setting it up on the ceiling. Once everything is in place, I don’t hear the shower running anymore, so I head back to the kitchen to grab our meals to bring them to the couch. Bringing the plates to the living room, I go back to the kitchen to grab utensils, wine, and some glasses.
Hearing her coming back down, I look up to the stairs and, like a teenager, I drop the forks I had in my hand. “You’re only wearing my shirt.” Damn does she look good wearing just my shirt. Just my shirt; she’s not wearing the sweat pants I left out for her, giving me a view of her mile long legs.
“Yeah, I hope that’s okay. The pants were too big,” Hannah says, bringing my eyes back to her blushing face. Shit. I said that aloud. What is it about this girl that makes me forget everything?
“I said that aloud, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, you did,” she says with a soft laugh. “Need any help with that?” Pointing to the forks that are still on the floor with a raised eyebrow.
“Ahhh . . . yeah, sure,” I say, handing her two new forks and grabbing some wineglasses. “I figured we could eat in the living room. The lights flickered a little and the fireplace in there is a gas fireplace,” I say, nodding towards the living room.
Once there, I make myself comfortable on the couch and notice that Hannah is still just standing there, looking at the mountain of pillows on the couch. A couch that is now a bed, and she’s not wearing pants. Shit. Why did I turn this into a bed? I should have just left it as a couch. I’m definitely coming on too strong here.
“I’m so sorry. I see how this looks,” I start rambling as I scramble off the couch, nearly knocking over our supper. “I just figured there was no such thing as too many blankets in a storm, and I have this portable projector for the ceiling. But it was a stupid idea, you probably think I’m trying to get in your pants. I’m not. Promise. Not that I don’t see you that way. Jesus Christ. I’m just gonna shut up now and go eat in my room. Feel free to watch the TV or grab a book from the shelf, I’m sure my mom has left some of her books here.”
I really need to control my mouth around this woman.
“Wait,” she says softly with a hand on my arm as I go to walk by her and leave her alone. “Stay. I don’t think you’re a creep. Promise. It’s just . . .” She pauses, looking away from me and back to the couch. “It’s just, no one has ever done something like this. You planned an entire night for me so I wouldn’t be alone during a storm. I was just taken back a bit, that’s all.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable,” I say, looking at her as she’s captivated by the mountain of blankets and pillows on the couch with a soft smile.
“Of course,” she says as she carefully gets onto the couch, trying to keep the T-shirt from riding up. Not that I would mind getting flashed a little more skin. Stop. I really need to stop this line of thought before I get hard after telling her my plan isn’t to seduce her. Goddamn, too late. Definitely should have worn something other than my overwarn, light grey sweatpants.
“Are you just gonna stand there? Or are you gonna join me and pass me one of those take-out containers?” she sassily asks.
“Hold your horses, woman, I’m just waiting for you to get settled before passing you a plate. Don’t want you spilling any of this goodness,” I sass right back at her, making her laugh as I reach for the take-out containers, passing her one of them.
“Oh my God! This is so good!” Hannah says as a moan spills from her half-full mouth.
Laughing, I say, “Yeah, it’s from my favorite place in the north end of town. Levi and I go all the time.”
Nothing is said for a few minutes as we both inhale our food. I knew she liked food, but it’s nice to see her not be shy about eating around me.
Is it bad that I find it hot as fuck? I mean there shouldn’t be anything sexy about her shovelling butter chicken in her mouth like it’s her last meal, but damn does it keep me just a little hard. Hell, everything she does keeps me with a semi. This is shaping up to be one hell of an awkward night if I can’t keep it down. Giving myself a mental shake, I turn back to my meal.
Hearing her huff, I see she’s leaning back against the couch with her eyes closed and a hand on her stomach with the empty take-out container on her lap.
“All done?” I ask, once I’ve finished my last bite as well.
“Yes, and I am now ready for bed,” she answers, still with her eyes closed and her hands on her stomach.
“Can’t go to bed yet, we haven’t even started the movie marathon!” I say, grabbing our trash.
“Let me do that,” she says, grabbing the trash out of my hands and making her way to the kitchen. “What are we watching?”
“Harry Potter. Duh. What else does one watch during a storm!”
“Harry Potter?” she asks as she crawls back into her spot on the couch. “I haven’t watched that in ages.”
“We can watch something else if you want,” I offer.
“No, Harry Potter is awesome,” she answers, just as Hagrid makes her appearance by jumping onto the couch.
“And this must be Hagrid” she says, extending her hand out for Hagrid to sniff
“Yeah, this is Hagrid,” I introduce, watching as Hagrid bumps her head into the extended hand, looking for some love. “I got her from a local cat rescue the moment I got the keys to this house. Knew I couldn’t live here alone.”
“She’s even more gorgeous in person,” she says as the cat lays down on her lap, purring ridiculously louder than usual. Lucky cat; can’t blame her, I’d be purring too. “I’ve always wanted a black cat.”
“Not many people do. They don’t photograph well apparently. And we all know, you only get a pet for your instagram account these days,” I say with a shake of my head as I reach over to give Hagrid an extra scratch between the ears.
“Now that you’ve been properly introduced, movie time,” I exclaim happily as I set the projector on the back of the couch, hit a few buttons on the remote to turn off the lights, and press play on the streaming service.
Leaning back and getting comfortable under the blankets, she says, “This is awesome, it’s like being a kid again at a drive-in, but better.”
About fifteen minutes into the movie, I feel her shuffling around. “The only thing we didn’t think through is the wine,” she says with a cute little sigh.
“Actually, give me thirty seconds,” I say, pressing pause and going into the kitchen. A few seconds later I return, holding out a straw cup filled with wine, “Here you go. My sister had the same dilemma with her virgin daiquiris the last time she was here and ordered these with my Amazon account before she left.”
“I need to meet this girl. It sounds like I need to be more like her,” Hannah says with a laugh. “She definitely knows what she wants,” she continues as she settles back in to watch the movie.
As the movie continues, the storm gets worse. The wind is now howling, and you can hear the trees whine between the cracks of thunder and lighting. Hearing the deep rumble of thunder, I feel the couch dip and Hannah get closer.
“You doing okay there? Want a refill?” I ask.
“I’m fine, but a little extra liquid courage wouldn’t hurt,” she says, handing me her cup, eyes fixed on the window.
“How come you’re afraid of storms?” I ask refilling her cup.
“My parents are really busy people, workaholics really. They were always gone on some kind of business trip or dinner,” she starts, grabbing her now full cup. “When I was nine, they had a last-minute dinner with a client and couldn’t find me a babysitter in time, and the Jones were out of town for a hockey tournament. I was really mature for my age, so they decided to leave me at home, alone. It was only supposed to be for a few hours . . .” She pauses, taking a gulp of wine, lost in the memory. “Just for dinner, and they would be back home. But that night, a storm came in; it was a bad one. The house lost power because the tree in the front yard fell. And they never answered their phones. They ended up coming back home the next morning. The roads had closed due to the storm. I’ve just been terrified of storms since then.”
“That’s horrible,” I mutter, not knowing what else to say. The only thing I want to comment on is her parents’ parenting techniques. Moving in closer to her, so my leg is pressed against hers, I grab her hand. Immediately, I feel her relax into the space beside me. I grabbed her hand to settle her, but it also settled me. A sense of peace washes over me as I feel her fingers tightly wrap around mine.
“It’s life. There’s a reason I came here and not to them when my life went sideways,” she says, closing the last of the gap between us and settling the length of her body against me, moving her attention to the second film that’s starting.
Three-quarters of the way into the second movie, we lose power. Turning towards Hannah, who is still holding my hand, I notice she’s fast asleep. Carefully letting go of her hand, I reach for the cup she’s still holding in her other hand to put it on the side table before reaching behind us to close the projector.
Settling back in, she rolls into me, throws her leg over mine and her arm across my chest and says, sleepily, “It’s okay, by the way, if you think of me that way. I think of you that way too,” she finishes with a yawn and snuggles deeper into me, answering my thoughts from earlier. I guess I had said that aloud too.