by Lexy Timms
“Like I said, people around here don’t forget much.”
Not wanting to talk about it any longer, I started up the car and pulled out of the parking space. My rental had a dent in it from where the beer can had hit, but that was better than the intended trajectory. I wasn’t about to tell Michelle that asshole had been chucking a full beer can at her. Because if he would have hit her, that would’ve been the end of that man’s ability to smell, among other things.
I headed back to Cecily’s place as my body filled with tension again. The idea of dropping her off right on Andy’s damn porch step made my anger bubble again. I parked the car but kept the engine going and turned to face Michelle. She looked at me with those bright eyes and those plump lips, and before I knew it I was leaning in to kiss her.
But instead, she moved to kiss my cheek.
“Thank you for your help today. I really appreciate it.”
“Anytime,” I said, as I pulled away from her lips. “It’s not a problem.”
She pushed out of my car and was gone into Cecily’s within seconds. I sat there for a little while, watching to see if Andy would make any sort of a move. I pulled out of the driveway and parked on the other side of the curb, watching and waiting. Making sure Michelle was safe from him for now. More and more, I believed her story. I believed her when she told me nothing had happened between her and Andy. But my terrible experiences with women kept throwing up accusations in my mind.
Accusations I wanted to lay to rest.
When I was finally satisfied that Andy wasn’t going to be making a move, I pulled away and headed back to Anton’s. I felt more rooted after claiming Michelle the way I had. It meant she would fall asleep to the memory of my body against hers instead of Andy’s. You know, if something had happened between them. But my head was still spinning and my heart still felt adrift.
Like it felt when I was a teenager.
Michelle stirred something within me I’d never felt before. A possessiveness and a constant need to be around her. And it was times like this morning, and during our house-viewing that showed me exactly how young she was. Exactly how inexperienced with the world she was. I’d forgotten how it felt to be untethered in life. Floating aimlessly and trying to find my place in the world. Michelle was in that moment in her life. Untethered and buoying about without guidance or a goal. Or maybe she did have a goal but had no one to show her how to achieve it.
I found myself wanting to be the person that showed her how.
The next day, I woke up and shot her a text message. I never could bring myself to delete her number from my phone when I went home the first time. I reminded her to call the landlord, then sent the number just in case she had lost the paperwork somewhere in her things the night before.
I quickly got a text message back that made me smile.
Technically, you’re not my boss right now. But I already called. His wife got the application and they’re processing the credit and background check today. He said I should hear from him no later than this evening.
Good. That meant the extra one hundred I slipped inside her application lit a fire underneath the man’s ass.
Technically, I’m your boss whether you’re on the clock or not. But I’m glad you got in contact with him.
She quipped back with a text message that made my cock instantly hard.
So it seems you enjoy being the boss.
You have no idea the things I could command you to do, Michelle.
What makes you think I would follow your orders, Bossman?
Shit. Maria would never be able to call me that again.
The look in your eyes when my hand hits the small of your back.
I had to relieve myself in the shower just to get my mind settled back into place. Then I distracted myself by heading out to the Chevy to get some more done on it. I wheeled myself underneath and tried not to think about Michelle’s body. I tried not to think about her luscious curves bending to my every whim and want. But every time she messaged me back, I was either fighting off an erection or chuckling so hard I had to roll myself out from underneath the damn car.
Talking to her made me count down the minutes until I could see her again.
I know you have today off, but when is your next slot of time you have away from work? You did agree to help me stage the house.
When are they coming to take a look at the place?
The realtor set up a showing for Friday night.
Well, my next free day isn’t until Thursday. I’m working the night shifts all the way up until then, so I’ll be sleeping during the day.
The idea of her sleeping any other nights next to Andy’s place forced that possessive attitude back to the top.
Even if you come over just for an hour and work, there are plenty of beds to sleep in here. I could drive you to work once you wake up.
Nice try, but I see through your ruse. I promise, Bossman, I’ll be fine until this rental application gets approved. After all, I am supposed to hear from him in the next couple of hours.
Couple of hours?
I closed out the message and looked at the time as my eyes bulged. Holy shit. I’d been working underneath the car all damn day.
I rolled myself out from underneath it and went to get another shower. Texting back and forth with Michelle made me feel strangely closer to her. I jumped whenever my phone rang out. I even set her own personal ringtone so I knew it would be her. I spent the next couple of days playing tag team with the landlord of that house, trying to figure out why the hell he hadn’t contacted Michelle about the property yet.
But I couldn’t get him on the phone and it burned my blood.
Have you heard from the landlord yet?
It took Michelle almost an hour to respond.
Sorry. Just taking my break at work. I did. I heard from him late last night. His wife’s in the hospital. Said he would get back to me by the end of the week.
And then I felt like shit. I called the landlord and left a voice message on his answering machine, letting him know that if there was anything I could do to let me know. Anything to get Michelle out of Cecily’s place faster.
Getting Anton’s house showroom ready wasn’t going to take as much work as I thought. Between Michelle and I, we would easily knock it out on Thursday. I made a list of everything that needed to be done in between texting back and forth with her. Dusting. Vacuuming. Arranging books on some shelves. I had arranged for someone to come in Thursday afternoon and professionally clean down the furniture to really make it look nice in the space. We needed to go into the attic and shove some things around so they could see the storage space in the house. The lawn needed to be mowed and weeds needed to be pulled. Even the trees out back could use a decent trimming.
So how much work are we looking at for tomorrow?
I smiled down at Michelle’s text as I drew in a deep breath.
Nothing you aren’t already familiar with. Some trimming. Weeding. Mowing of the lawn. Dusting. Rearranging. I’m having the furniture professionally cleaned tomorrow afternoon as well.
Then we should dust and all of that beforehand. It doesn’t make sense to clean the furniture if we’re going to kick up dust after.
I’ve got a few places where we could kick up dust without getting the furniture dirty.
I grinned as I sent off the message and waited for her response. And it was one that suddenly had me counting down the minutes until I could see her again.
That a command, Bossman? Or simply a statement?
It seemed as if my innocent little Michelle enjoyed playing with fire. And luckily for her, I was a blazing flame.
Chapter 16
Michelle
I didn’t want to admit it out loud, but I missed Grayson. Even though we’d only seen one another two days ago and had been texting non-stop, it wasn’t the same as being there with him. Feeling his warmth. Watching him smile and hearing his voice in my ear. And some of our conversations had me riled up and achi
ng to straddle his lap. I was very excited to see him on my day off, even though we would be cleaning and organizing Anton’s house.
Any time spent with him was worth it.
I sat on the Cecily’s couch, waiting anxiously for him to arrive. I heard her slamming things around in the kitchen, mumbling and cursing to herself. I really hoped my potential landlord contacted me today. It pained me that his wife was in the hospital, but waiting until the end of the week was killing me. Things with Cecily had gotten more and more tense. We weren’t talking. She was intentionally taking opposite shifts from me so we would never run into one another.
Moving out of her place was a priority, and I really hoped he would contact me soon.
My friendship with Cecily had deteriorated quickly. Ever since that incident with Andy and Gray standing there at the door, things hadn’t been the same. I honestly wasn’t sure she even considered me a friend any longer, despite the fact that I was on her couch. I had no idea what I’d done to piss her off so badly, but she spent most of her time attempting to avoid me.
And at that point, I no longer cared.
All I cared about was getting out and never looking back.
The sound of a car pulling up forced me off the couch. I jumped to my feet and grabbed my purse, ready to rush out the door. I didn’t want to listen to Cecily destroy her kitchen a second longer. All I wanted was to be in the presence of Grayson. I slammed out of the house without even trying to say goodbye to her, and I rushed to his car. I hopped in and buckled my seat belt, then quickly leaned over and kissed the cheek he offered up to me.
He smiled a warm smile that churned my gut, filling me with a happiness I couldn’t explain.
“So, what do we have to do first?” I asked.
“Dust,” Gray said. “Then we’ll vacuum. Then we can start rearranging the rooms before the furniture cleaners get there.”
“You know, I was thinking last night on how to arrange the rooms. Half of his things have already been given away, which makes some of that furniture a little pointless. You know, like dead space.”
“I was actually thinking the same thing,” he said.
“What if we dug some of that stuff out of the attic to fill the empty space? Mindless decorations. That would clear the attic space so the realtor could showcase the storage space of the house, and we wouldn’t have to spend hours moving furniture into a storage shed or something.”
“I knew I hired the right woman for the job,” he said with a grin.
I smiled proudly as I sat back, feeling the warm summer air whipping through my hair. We pulled up to Anton’s place and made our way inside, then we got to work. We walked room to room, dusting over empty countertops and tables and knocking stuff off the fans and the blinds. I climbed up a ladder and went to dust the top of a fan before I sneezed. The ladder teetered and I cried out, just knowing I was going to fall.
Until Gray came out of nowhere and caught me in his arms.
I sneezed again, throwing my face into his chest. He chuckled, blanketing me with the comforting sound before I sniffled deeply. He set me down onto my feet and smoothed his hands over my arms, waiting until my eyes stopped watering.
“Maybe I should dust the fans, hmm?” he asked.
“Anything you say, Bossman,” I said.
I handed him the rag and he playfully swatted my ass with it. I squealed and bounded from the room, but I was going to get him back. I picked up the duster and ran it along the blinds, knocking all of the dust to the floor and onto the furniture that would eventually be cleaned.
I walked by him in one of the bedrooms, taking stock of his shirtless form.
Sweat dripped down his back as he reached up to dust off the fan. His muscles flexed, pebbling and twitching with his dusting movements. I followed a trail of sweat down past the hem of his pants, glistening his skin as it disappeared. I walked into the room and held out the feather duster, then reached up and tickled his underarm with it.
He snapped his arm down and threw me a look before a grin crawled across my cheek.
“Oops. Must’ve slipped,” I said.
“Be careful,” he said. “You might open something you can’t close.”
“I’m stronger than I look,” I said with a wink.
We went from room to room, dusting and wiping things down. I reached up to nail some cobwebs in the corners of the rooms while Gray opened up the attic for us to go explore. I shook the feather duster outside, then made a mental note to sweep the deck off with a broom.
Holy hell, Anton’s yard really did need to be mowed.
I set the duster in the sink and started for the storage shed. I pulled out the mower and struck it up, then started at the back end of the property. I mowed along the fence, making the lines I always made that I knew Anton liked. He showed me how to do it a few times before I got the hang of it, and all of that information came barreling back to my mind. I pushed the mower up and down the lawn, following the pattern of the fences on his property.
And when I looked up, I saw Gray standing on the back porch with a grin on his face.
“You know if you go up and down instead of side to side, you’ll get it done quicker!” he exclaimed.
“But that’s not how Anton wanted it done!” I called back.
“That’s how I did it sometimes!”
“And he hated it!” I said as laughter poured from my mouth.
I passed by Grayson as I went up the side of the house, wiggling my butt as I passed by. I saw his gaze run up and down my body as my shirt began to soak with sweat. I disappeared to the front lawn and began to mow the massive front yard, and when I looked up I saw Gray had stepped out onto the front porch.
He was holding a glass of water and sat right down to watch me.
“Enjoying the view!?” I called out.
“I would more if you were shirtless!” he exclaimed.
“I’m sure I can make that happen!”
His eyes locked with mine before I wiggled my ass at him and continued mowing.
The entire day was like that. We danced around one another and cracked jokes. I felt his eyes on me and I’d swipe my eyes over him. There were moments where he would even rub up against me, playing like he didn’t mean to even though there was plenty of space for us to move throughout the house. Especially with the bulk of Anton’s possessions already gone.
“The furniture cleaners will be here soon,” Gray said. “Is there anything else we need to do? Because once they clean it down, we won’t be able to sit on it or anything until at least tonight.”
“Are they going to clean that thing?” I asked.
I nodded over to the leather sofa that sat in the middle of Anton’s living room.
“It looks like it was made before the Civil War. If they try to clean it, the damn thing might disintegrate,” I said.
“I’m not sure if that’s true. Hold on,” Gray said.
I watched him run past me and launch himself onto the couch. He bounced around on the cushions, flopping around like an absolute idiot. I covered my mouth as laughter fell from my lips, then I threw my head back when I could no longer contain myself.
“Nope,” he said. “Seems like it’s still got some action left.”
I leveled my eyes back with him again, and he moved like lightning. His eyes darkened as he reached for my hips, pulling me down into his lap. My knees planted beside his body and I smelled his musky, sweaty scent. His hand reached up and fisted my messy bun, then pulled me in for a kiss that took my breath away.
“Let’s see if we can put a little more bounce in it,” Gray said into my lips.
My hands ran along his bare chest, gathering the beads of sweat still dripping down his body. The flirting had been too much for me, and his glistening muscles called to me in ways I could no longer deny. I ground into his hips as his hand grew tighter in my hair, pulling my head off to the side. He commanded my body, taking what he wanted while pulling sensations from me I’d never felt my wil
dest dreams. He raked his teeth along my pulse point and dipped his tongue into my collarbone. It all sent shivers running throughout my body.
I wasn’t going to let him have all the fun though.
My hands slid to his nipples and I raked my fingernails lightly against them. I felt his breath hitch against my skin as a grin spread across my cheeks. His hand released the smallest amount against my hair, and it was enough for me to slip from his grasp.
Which allowed me to slip easily between his legs and press him back into the couch.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Gray said. “I’m the boss. Remember?”
He hooked his arms underneath mine and pulled me back up, tossing my back onto the couch. His lips crashed to mine and his hands found their way to my knees, pressing my legs open. The sweating scent of my pussy filled the room as his hand crept up my thigh. I quaked at his touch. Moaned at the taste of his tongue.
Then I fisted his hair and pulled his head off to the side.
My lips fell to his neck, sucking and kissing and licking ever so lightly. I felt him panting against me as his hand stilled, mere millimeters away from my panties. I rolled us off the couch and we tumbled to the floor, kicking up dust around us that settled against our bodies.
But I didn’t care, and neither did he.
The only thing I cared about was feeling him inside of me again.
I planted my hands onto his chest and rocked my hips against his. Gray settled his hands onto my hips, gripping them and commanding my movements. My nails slid along his nipples again, catching them as he bit down onto his bottom lip.
The groan he stifled pressed a grin against my cheeks.
“Someone likes that, don’t they?” I asked.
He shot up and tried to capture my lips, but I pulled away.
“Come here, Michelle. Stop running from me.”
“Not until I do this.”
In a flash, I dipped my lips down and captured his nipple between my teeth. And for the first time, I heard Gray whimper. The softest sound that locked up his body and sent his back falling to the carpet. I swirled my tongue around it as his hands fisted my hips, digging his fingertips into my excess.
