Defining Us (Rocky Waters)

Chapter 14

14

GRAYSON

I had zero intentions of telling this beauty by my side my true feelings for her, yet I find myself having bared my heart out to her tonight. At least she doesn’t think I’m crazy, and heck, she feels the same way. Not that I thought she didn’t; I just wasn’t sure if she was ready to admit it to herself or to me. I got a little nervous at her initial reaction until I realized she was just feeling how big this thing is between us and that’s how she reacted.

We find a small café for our date. She’s so cute when she pulls my chair out for me before I sit. She hands me my menu and asks, “What will it be today, Mr. Abbott?” She can’t contain her amusement and starts to laugh playfully right away. I love watching her eyes when she laughs. The green actually lightens up to match the lightness on her face. I sit back and stare at her. She knows I’m staring; as she looks over the menu, her smile gets bigger and bigger without even looking up.

“Stop,” she hisses at one point, catching me staring. She looks back to her menu, her brows furrowing.

Sitting up taller in my chair, I grab my menu. “What?” I ask her.

“I can’t decide what I want. Everything looks so good. ”

“Let’s get a few and split them,” I suggest. “We’ll work them off later.” I wink, which makes her grin again. It’s smaller this time, but the sentiment is the same.

“I bet we will,” she responds. “Oh, we need to get condoms.”

“Or not.”

She stares up at me, a look of determination on her face. She doesn’t get that I’m serious, but I am. I’m aware of the consequences, but I want to get inside her with nothing between us. She’s more adamant than I am. “No, Grayson.” It’s not what she says, but how she says it. Her tone is hard, not exactly harsh but tougher than usual. And I get it, especially with what we talked about last night. I’m not ready to go down that route again, but she’s on the pill. I know she takes it every day; the situation is way different. But I’m not about to start an argument, especially on our date, so I drop it.

“Okay, so what are you in the mood for?”

Well, I don't completely drop the subject. “You?” I ask.

“Grayson!” she whisper-yells. “Focus. On the food.” Then she licks her lips. Because she knows she can.

“Do you trust me?” I ask, grabbing the menu from her hands.

“Yes,” she says slowly.

When the waitress comes over to the table, she asks if we are ready to order. I motion her over to me and lean in and whisper our order. I watch as her cheeks blush, but what I’m saying is purely to get a rise out of Ainsley. She gives me the evil eye and after the waitress walks away, she stares me down.

“What did you just tell her?” she asks, somewhat hesitantly.

“I ordered us some food. You said you trusted me.” I flash her my smile, the one that she can’t resist.

“You are impossible sometimes. You know that, right?” She smiles as she shakes her head.

“Just when you tell me.”

We chat, mostly about the things we are still learning about each other. I love how our conversations aren’t forced and the conversation flows easily between us .

The waitress brings over our food, a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich, cheese fries, and an order of wings. Ainsley actually gasps when she sees the food. I’ve noticed that she tends to eat on the healthier side when we’ve cooked at home, but she eats almost anything. I’m totally taking her out of her normal comfort zone, but knowing Ainsley, she will roll with the punches.

As she takes half of the grilled cheese sandwich, she declares, “One night of sex is NOT going to work off all these calories, but I’m digging in anyway.” She takes a hearty bite and the cheese drips down her chin. She swipes at it with her napkin and digs back in. Once she’s eaten her half, she looks at me. “I’ll just have to join you at the gym on Monday. Will you be my personal trainer?”

“You want to come to the gym with me?” I ask, surprised.

She nods. “Yeah, is that okay? It’s been a while since I’ve actually been to a gym, but I think I could handle whatever you throw at me.”

“You think, huh?” I ask skeptically.

“Maybe?” Her tone lacks the confidence from a moment ago. “You can take it easy on me.”

“Yeah, sure. You can join me sometime.” I finish up half of the grilled cheese sandwich and enjoy some wings which Ainsley hasn’t touched. “You don’t like wings?” I ask, licking the sauce off my fingers.

“They aren’t my favorite,” she replies polishing off the fries on her plate.

“Filed away for future reference.” She smiles at me, then reaches into her bag for her phone. I can tell it’s ringing but can’t tell who’s calling her. One glance down at the phone has her smile quickly fading from her face and a total frown replacing it.

“Shit,” she mumbles under her breath. “No thanks. Not now.” She dismisses it, puts it back in her bag, and looks back at me, anger still evident on her face.

“Who’s that?”

“My brother. ”

She doesn’t elaborate, and I don’t want to push her. I get the whole “less is more” mentality.

“Okay.” I finish off the wings and eat a few more fries. When the waitress comes over to ask if we are done, I nod because I can tell Ainsley is ready to go. I hate that she shuts down when she’s upset or frustrated.

“Were you and Bella always close?” she asks in a voice just above a whisper.

“For the most part, yes. Since my parents died, we’ve definitely gotten closer, but it helped that we had a good foundation to build on.” I want to ask her about her brother, whom she’s only mentioned in passing. Her brother and her mother are the only pieces of her life she doesn’t share. She’s regaled me with stories of her father, but they always are about her and him only.

“That must be nice.” She sighs. “Drew and I used to be close but not so much anymore. As I get older, it bothers me more and more because he’s the only sibling I have.” She tugs on the end of her braid, eyes downcast toward the table. The phone vibrates again in her bag, so she pulls it out. “Ugh, now he’s texting me.” With the frown still plastered on her face, she reads the text, getting more frustrated by the second. “Fuck! He’s coming for a visit next month.” She doesn’t text him back but instead puts her phone away. “Can we go?” she asks quietly.

“Um, did you pay for our food yet? Remember, this was your date to me.” I smile.

Her demeanor doesn’t change. “Oh, crap.” She digs in her bag for her wallet, but I toss some money on the table, enough to cover the meal and the tip. “No,” she says, trying to hand the money back to me.

“It’s on me, darling. Let’s get out of here.” Before she can protest anymore, I grab her arm and drag her out of the restaurant. “Can we walk?” I ask, treading lightly because I’m not exactly sure what’s going on in her head.

She looks up at me, her face now reflecting sadness. “Yeah, okay. I would like that.” She rearranges her fingers with mine. “He says he has big news to share, that’s why he’s coming. He’s probably getting married. Oh, my mom is so going to love this.”

“Where does he live?”

“He’s in Illinois, right outside of Chicago. He comes to visit like four times a year, and my mom goes to see him a few times, too. Sometimes my dad goes and sometimes he stays here.”

“What does your brother do?”

She laughs. “Ha. That’s a funny one,” she starts. “Basically, he does nothing. He pretends to be in a band and he pretends to work in a coffee shop. And by pretends, I mean he hangs out in the coffee shop all day long but doesn’t get paid.”

“How does he live then?” I ask, curious.

“I really wish I had an answer for that one. I’m highly certain my mom sends him money every month, but she would never share that information with me. And if I ever tried to live like that? HA!” She guffaws. “My mother would be up my ass so fast…”

“You’d let your mother up your ass?” I interrupt her, feigning shock.

She playfully jabs me in the arm. “You know what I mean.” When she laughs, I know my joke worked, if only for a little bit. Looking around, she squeals and squeezes my hand. “Gray, a candy store. Come on. Let’s go inside!”

Okay, seriously? Between the squeal and my nickname, it’s all I can do to actually follow her into the candy store and not pick her up and race back to the boat. But then I change my mind. Because she is like a kid in a candy store. Literally. The girl is giddy. She grabs a bag, tosses one to me, and says, “Fill it up. Choose your favorite ones, and we can share later.” She wastes no time walking up and down the aisles, adding a few pieces—or a lot of pieces in some cases—to her bag. By the time she’s done, candy is practically jumping out of the bag. I take more time, methodical in my selections. The store carries a lot of lesser-known candies, ones I haven’t had in years, so I want to make sure I get all the ones I want. She waits, not so patiently, for me to make my selections. Once I’m satisfied, we bring them up to the register and weigh them.

“Twenty-five bucks for candy?” I ask in horror.

“It will last us a while,” she assures me, taking out her wallet to pay. She eagerly hands over the money to the sales clerk, a girl of about seventeen. Once she’s paid and is about to walk off with her loot, she casually tosses out, “Where can we get condoms?” She motions her head over at me. “It seems he forgot to pack them.”

The girl’s face goes bright red but she squeaks out, “There’s a CVS on Main Street. It’s about a five-minute walk.”

“Thanks!” She grabs my hand and drags me out of the store, as I mouth a “sorry” to the sales clerk.

“Can you get the directions to CVS please?” she asks me as we walk back along the street. I pull out my phone, find the address, and plug it in.

“Why are you so adamant about getting the condoms?”

“Why are you so adamant that we don’t need them?” she counters with a glare in my direction.

“Because I want to know what it feels like to fuck you bare,” I state honestly.

She shakes her head. “No.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

She stops walking. When she glances in my direction, I can feel her eyes bore into mine. “I refuse to become a Molly,” she affirms emphatically.

“That could never happen,” I promise her, wrapping her up in a hug.

“Yeah, well, let’s make sure we don’t let it.” She pulls herself out of my embrace and keeps walking, hands by her sides.

“Are you mad?” I ask tentatively.

“No, just standing my ground,” she replies more softly.

I grab her hand and when she doesn’t push me away, I entwine my fingers with hers as we continue to walk.

A fter we hit up CVS, we walk around the harbor a little more. When we finally head back to the boat, I can tell she’s tired. I lock up everything and join her in the bedroom. She still has the braid in her hair, but she’s changed into her PJ bottoms and a tank top. She’s lying on the bed, her eyes half-closed.

“Hey, you okay?” I call to her as I shed my clothes, leaving just my boxers.

“I’ll be better when you’re next to me,” she replies, but her emotions remain fixed.

“Be right there.” I make a stop in the bathroom then fling myself on the bed, crawling up to where she’s laying. “Hey,” I say trying to cure her bad mood, kissing her breasts through the tank.

“Hey.” She runs her fingers through my hair, tugging at the ends. “I’m sorry,” she whispers.

“No apology necessary,” I tell her, then I pull down her tank with my teeth, exposing her right breast. A slight moan escapes her lips. “You ready for this round?” Slowly, she nods her head yes. She’s got it thrown back on the pillows and her eyes are closed.

I carefully lift the tank up her arms and over her head and when I go to shimmy her pants down her legs, I find her bare underneath.

“Oh, Ainsley, you little devil, you.” She lifts her head; her smirk couldn’t be bigger if she tried.