Chapter 18 Lexi
LEXI
She might not remember everything about last night, but she knew for sure that she hadn’t ordered Mexican, -she couldn’t afford it- she hadn’t put the leftovers away, washed the dishes, or picked out her own pajamas.
Grayson’s shirt had been a surprise to wake up to, and she still had it on.
She didn’t know how to acknowledge everything he did - was doing for her.
Everything she’d almost texted to him seemed ridiculous.
Thank you for dinner- too simple? Your shirt still smells like you- cheesy as fuck.
She wasn’t even awake enough to be making decisions yet; she settled for simple.
Thank you.
Little dots appeared instantly, letting her know he was typing.
M. Intensity
Good morning.
You are welcome,
Miss Alessandra.
She smiled at his formal tone. And decided she needed to change his nickname in her contacts ; they had definitely moved beyond ‘Mr. Intensity’. Hm. Maybe he had a preference.
What would you
like to be listed
as in my phone?
While she waited for his response, Lexi prepped her little coffeemaker.
It was almost nine a.m, so she’d slept for easily twelve hours.
From experience, she knew it would take a couple of hours for her brain to understand that it had actually gotten sleep, and that it was okay to be awake again now.
M. Intensity
Sir. Master. Liege.
Lexi didn’t bother to control the snort.
Ha. Yeah right.
Do you have
a nickname?
M. Intensity
…
Those ARE
my nicknames,
Alessandra.
Huh. She pursed her lips at her phone. Maybe he was kidding. It didn’t seem like he was kidding. But no way was she putting him in her phone as freaking ‘Master’.
M. Intensity
Okay, not Liege.
Only if you want. :P
Fine, I’ll
think of
something.
Eddie had assured her - yet again - that everything at the gym was fine.
The morning passed quickly. She crumbled up a taco from last night’s dinner and scrambled it in a pan with eggs; it was officially one of the best things she’d ever eaten.
Then she called Marshall to ask him to bump their meetup to the next morning at Mama Troisi’s, and promised him the best breakfast in the neighborhood to make up for canceling.
After cleaning up her bedroom, where she had a vague memory of Grayson standing over her, Lexi started a load of laundry in the small stackable washer.
It only held a handful of clothes at a time, but it was better than hauling everything down to the laundromat.
Cleaning her room gave her the drive to clean every room in her house, which was well past due, and now it was noon.
This morning she’d been texting Grayson, but she didn’t want to bother him if he was at work, or it was his day off. The man had already done plenty for her. More than anyone else had, ever, in fact, and she wasn’t about to overstay her welcome on anybody’s time. She debated calling her father.
They’d tried to call each other a few times, each missing the other’s calls. Which told Lexi they probably weren’t trying very hard; this had never happened in over ten years of playing cellphone tag. Then again, she reasoned, they’d never had a fight before either.
GrayDom
I’d like to take
you to lunch.
One hour. Be ready.
Lexi blinked at her phone. Well that was heavy-handed.
She shrugged. But she didn’t have plans, and she could eat.
A brief yoga session led into a free-fall of indecision as she stared into her closet.
For once she didn’t want to wear workout clothes.
Lunch with Grayson probably meant not a hotdog stand.
Frustrated, Lexi left her closet to dig out her phone.
What the hell
do I wear on
a lunch date?
Tasia
…
Tay, I have workout
clothes and
club clothes.
Tasia
We need to go
shopping!
Fine, except I
don’t have TIME
to go shopping
rn, Gray is gonna
be here soon.
Tasia
I think I left a
dress at your
place when we
went downtown?
Where??
I’ve looked.
Tasia
Bottom of your
dresser. Yellow.
In two quick steps Lexi was at the dresser, digging through her bottom drawer.
There, mixed in with her oldest pair of sweats, an old karate uniform and a handful of medals, was Tasia’s yellow sundress.
She had a vague memory of Tasia tucking it there after doing the laundry months before, thinking she’d be back for it.
Got it! TY babe
Tasia
Sooo shopping trip?
I get out of work at 2!
Deal. 3? Mall?
Tasia
See you then!
Praying the dress fit, Lexi stripped out of her yoga clothes and tried it on.
Wide short sleeves with a lace trim accented the trim at the knee.
While she wasn’t as busty as Tasia, her shoulders made up the difference, and she decided she looked like a fancy tennis player.
Since her outfit choices were between the tennis player, club clothes, or a gym rat, Lexi kept it on.
Shoes were a little less tricky, since she did have a cute pair of black pumps.
With a spritz of air freshener/wrinkle release for the dress, and a spritz of perfume for herself, she picked up her lightweight black leather coat and considered herself ready.
She reconsidered for a second when she opened the door to Grayson’s knock.
One eyebrow winged up over his sunglasses, and he looked her up and down repeatedly.
“Does this not work?” she asked.
“It works, it’s just… unusual,” he said, and smiled. “I’ve never seen you in a color before.”
Lexi frowned as she locked her door behind them. “Of course you have. I have those purple leggings I wore at the gym.”
Grayson took her hand as they walked her down to his car. He wore grey slacks and a white button down under his black pea coat. After getting around behind the wheel, Grayson asked, “You mean the purple leggings so dark they look black?”
Lexi didn’t bother to answer.
She had forgotten what it felt like to date.
To go to lunch, and talk about little things, or be out in the world during the day that wasn’t her gym or Mama Troisi’s.
Grayson’s foot rested gently on the bottom of her chair; his eyes were constantly watching everything around them; he was always touching her.
He hailed the waitress, ordered for the both of them after she’d told him what she wanted, and asked if she liked everything about the meal.
Grayson taking charge left her with more attention to pay to him, and she couldn’t call it a hardship.
Full after the three-course meal, Lexi nudged her plate away, and watched Grayson study what was left on her plate.
What she’d eaten was apparently satisfactory, because he didn’t say anything about it. She wondered…
“So what would happen if you decided I didn’t eat enough?”
He answered without looking up from buttering his bread.
“You would take it home.”
Alright. She could accept that. If he would have tried to force her to eat more, they would have had a problem. Lexi had heard horror stories of how controlling Doms could be. But so far, Grayson was… overwhelming at times, yes, but she couldn’t help but be relaxed around him.
It felt like for the first time in years, she didn’t have to be in charge of every given situation. The long night of sleep and massive amounts of food left her feeling lazy and content. She let her mind wander and glanced out the window of the restaurant.
A black Bentley was cruising by, its tinted windows throwing reflections. Every pleasant feeling of satisfaction dulled, and adrenaline arrowed its way back in.
“What is it?” Gray asked. He flagged the waiter for the check.
“I keep seeing this black car.”
“What kind of car?”
“A Bentley. The same kind that Byron has.”
Grayson nodded as he hunched over the check, signing it with a little flourish. Lexi was unprepared for the change in conversation.
“The city of Philadelphia has over one million people, plenty of which I’m sure have Bentleys.” He picked up her hand and kissed the back of it. “Don’t worry until there’s something to worry about. Let me do the worrying for a little while.”
Don’t worry until there’s something to worry about, she reminded herself as she looked around the street again as they left the restaurant.
It sounded nice, she guessed, in theory.
But she had never seen as many Bentleys in her life as she had the last couple of weeks. Especially in their neighborhood.
Grayson’s car zoomed through an underpass, and Lexi felt every thundering echo.
Her brain felt similar; everything bouncing around from the source, unsure where it was going to land.
Was she hypervigilant? Yeah, duh. Were there lots of people and Bentleys in Philadelphia?
Also yes. Did that mean it wasn’t real? She tried to recall every time she’d seen it - or thought she’d seen it? She couldn’t be sure.
Her thoughts spun in dizzying circles as Grayson pulled up to the mall.
“Hey,” he said, turning down the music. “You okay? You’ve been quiet.”
“Just thinking.”
“Alright, well-” he pulled out his wallet and handed her a black credit card. “Think about what you’d like me to get you, and then go get it.”
Lexi didn’t take the card. “What?” she asked.
“You’re going shopping, right? With Tasia?”
Lexi nodded hesitantly.
“I would like to buy you something nice, but I’m not sure what you need, or want, or have. I’d like you to buy yourself something from me please.”
Grayson held out the card further, and huffed out a breath when she still didn’t take it. He tucked it into the side pocket of her leather jacket.
“Or if you find something you like, but don’t want to spend the money on it, use my card instead, okay?”
Lexi felt like she was living a surreal version of her own life.
One where she wore the color yellow, heels at midday, went shopping with friends, and had credit cards handed to her to go shopping like it was nothing.
Her phone vibrated, but she didn’t reach for it. Grayson ran a hand through his hair.
“How can I make this okay for you, Alessandra?”
“Can we-” she wet her lips, “can you consider it like a business expense?”
Grayson stared at her as if she’d grown a fine set of antlers while sitting in the front seat of his car.
“Sure,” he said in a strangled voice. “It’ll be a business expense.”
The tension in her chest faded, and she grinned happily at him. She leaned over to kiss him on the cheek and opened her door.
“Okay! Thanks!” She was two strides away before she heard his car door slam behind her, and her back was pressed against the side of the car.
“You,” Grayson said against her mouth, “are driving me crazy.”
His hands rested on top of hers, and he spread her arms to rest her palms on top of the car.
The metal was hot from sitting in the sun, but Lexi didn’t mind.
Her mouth was burning more just from being on his.
He maneuvered one leg in between hers and slid it up, so that he took most of her weight.
He swallowed the sound of her gasp and muttered a quick ‘stay’ before driving both hands into her hair.
The kiss went on until Lexi wasn’t sure where her mouth ended and his started. It was glorious. She was pretty sure they were honked at a few times, but Grayson hadn’t lifted his head. When the last concern - the last worry - the last clear thought was gone from Lexi’s mind, Grayson pulled away.
Lexi struggled to breathe evenly and found that her hands were still on top of the car where he’d put them. Huh. Maybe she should think about that later. When her hormones hadn’t melted every single firing neuron.
“Now go have fun,” he said, with an extra little kiss.
“I was having fun,” Lexi said.
Grayson smiled, and took her hands from the roof to press a kiss to them.
“Go have different fun. I’ll pick you up in a couple hours? Let me know if you need more time.”
A little dazed, Lexi nodded and walked away. Tiny steps. Tiny steps because she might trip over her own feet. Tiny-
“Guuuurl!” came from above her, and Lexi lifted her face to the balcony of the mall’s second story. There was Tasia, still in her scrub pants and a tank top, waving madly. “You got some explaining to do, lady!” Tasia said with a huge smile, and Lexi smiled back.
How the hell did she explain Grayson? She looked back over her shoulder where he sat at the curb, watching her. And beyond him, several rows away, was a Bentley. She turned back to the mall. For fucks sake.