“That would’ve been a trip,” I say in agreement.
“Right. And I didn’t want you to be upset. I’m not trying to like, stalk you or anything. Eli is the one who suggested I look for a job on the lake,” she says.
Thanks, Eli. I appreciate the suggestion, bro.
“I don’t think you’re a stalker, G,” I say with a chuckle. She flat-out avoids me most of the time, so yeah. Definitely not stalking me.
Shit, I’d want her to, honestly.
“We’re going to be spending a lot of time together,” she says. “Living together. Working at the same place.”
I nod, but don’t say anything.
“And I know I was kind of a jerk for cutting you off a while ago, but I had to do it. To save my sanity,” she continues.
I frown. “I was driving you insane?”
She nods. Licks her upper lip. Sexy. Fuck. This girl…
I let myself check her out fully. Extra short shorts. The tank top with the low neckline that displays plenty of skin. Her hair is piled on top of her head in a messy bun and she has no makeup on her face. Just pretty, bare Gracie. No one sees this version much, but here she sits. In my room.
I can’t read into it too much, though. I’m sure this interaction means nothing to her.
“Am I really that bad?” I ask when she still hasn’t said anything.
“You love to antagonize me,” she says.
“It’s all in good fun.”
One brow shoots up again. She’s pretty good at that. “Making me angry is fun for you?”
“It’s so easy. I only poke at you because you always react.” A dirty joke sits on the tip of my tongue but I swallow it down. “I’m a jerk. I know I am. I’m sorry I’ve driven you insane all this time.”
She seems taken aback by my apology. “Uh…thank you. I appreciate that. You know, I was hoping to talk to you so we could come to a truce.”
“A truce?”
“Let’s try and keep things peaceful between us this summer. What do you think? I’ll stay out of your business and you stay out of mine,” Gracie suggests.
“You think I’m too in your business?”
“Not really,” she says with a shrug. “But you know what I mean.”
I sort of don’t, but I nod like I get it.
“And I’ll stay out of your way. You can do whatever you want, to whoever you want. I won’t judge.”
Is she talking about my sex life? “Were you judging me before?”
She’s quiet for a moment before she nods. “I have no room to talk though.”
Gracie has been with a few guys, just like I’ve been with my fair share of women. I definitely don’t judge her for it. I’m just like her in male form. “We’re good, G. No worries, okay? You come work at the dock, it’s cool. I’ll help you out with whatever you need. Hey, if we have the same shift, we should ride together and save on gas.”
A faint smile curls her lips. “That would be great. I need to work as much as possible this summer before I start student teaching. I need the money.”
“Me too.” I frown. “And that’s right. I forgot you were student teaching. You won’t be on campus anymore, huh?”
She shakes her head. “No.”
“Good thing we live together or else I’d miss your smiling face. Or scowling face, since that’s what you usually do when you see me,” I say as a joke.
Of course, she immediately scowls. “Saying that kind of thing is what’s annoying to me, Caleb.”
“I’m just speaking the truth and you know it.” I scratch my chest again, on purpose this time to see if her gaze trails my moving hand. Guess what?
It does.
See, here’s the thing. I know what’s up between us. I’m going to play it cool. We’re going to work together, and that’s nice. You need help, G? I’m here for you. Let’s ride together, so we’re stuck in a car alone for almost an hour one way, forced to make conversation. What a hardship.
I’m a good guy when it comes to Gracie. She just doesn’t realize it yet. I push, but never too hard. I know the moment we end up doing something, anything, I’ll bail on her. Or she’ll bail on me. We fall into a pattern every time we’re together, and everyone is aware of it. My friends warned me to stay away from her from the very beginning, and I know for a damn fact that hers tell her to stay away from me, too.
But we’re drawn to each other. Sexually attracted. Whatever you want to call it. It’s been happening since the first time we met. And while we might be in total denial and act like it’s not there, it is.
It’s undeniable.
She’s been checking me out since the moment she entered my bedroom. Not a lot of women see this bedroom either. It’s my sanctuary, and as Eli announced a few months ago, I don’t bring many bitches into it—direct quote.
If his girl heard him say that, she’d beat his ass, but that’s beside the point.
The point I’m trying to make is Gracie is attracted to me. That hasn’t changed. And I am attracted to her.
So what the hell is stopping us from doing something about it?
Our past behaviors. That cliché that old habits die hard fits when it comes to us.
“Whatever,” she says, exhaling loudly, reminding me that she’s still in my sanctuary and she’s still checking me out.
I’m tempted to flip the covers back and let her see me in my boxers, but she’d probably flip the fuck out and run out of the room screaming. I’m not going to chance it.
“Let’s not start anything that’s unnecessary,” I tell her, keeping my voice purposely calm. “I’m all for a truce. I know you are too. We can be civil toward each other. I don’t need to make every comment I say to you filled with sexual innuendo.”
“You sure about that? I didn’t think you were capable of not being a pervert,” she says, snarky as ever.
“Hey, where’d the truce go?” I lift my brows.
She blows out another breath, this time sounding frustrated—with herself. “Fine. You’re right. I’ll stop giving you shit if you stop giving me shit. Deal?”
“Deal.” I hold out my hand for her to shake.
She stares at it for a moment before she lifts her gaze to mine. “You want to shake on it?”
“What, you afraid to touch me?” I’m goading her. I can’t help it.
“No,” she spits out, rising to her feet. She stalks toward me, thrusting her hand out toward mine and I grab hold of it, giving her a firm shake. Keeping my grip on her hand for a few seconds too long.
Sparks ignite and start flying around us. Just from our clasping hands. She feels it too. I see it in the way her eyes widen the slightest bit and gooseflesh dots her chest. I slowly let go of her hand, keeping my fingers straight out so they slide across hers when she starts to pull away and she jerks her hand back as if I just pinched her.
“Uhh…” She clamps her lips shut and looks away.
Huh. Would you look at that. The unstoppable Gracie is at a loss for words.
“Deal,” I tell her, my voice extra soft, disguising the lethal edge.
Yeah. That was a deal all right. I think I just found a new project for the summer.
How long will it take to get Gracie in my bed?
Four
Gracie
Time is literally flying. I’ve been at Mitchell’s Landing for three weeks already, working five days a week, full-time hours out in the sun and let me tell you… I’m busting my ass out there every single day.
Dealing with customers. Happy ones, grumpy ones, flat-out angry ones. I’ve played that boating safety video so many times, I can already recite it word for word—and I’ve still got months to go. After being on the boat dock for eight hours straight, the world feels like it’s in constant motion. As if I’m always walking on a boat that’s rocking back and forth. That feeling does eventually go away once I’m off the clock though.
Thank God.
I’d hoped the girls in the fountain would be friendly toward me
, and some of them are, don’t get me wrong, but a lot of them don’t like me because I work with the guys. Makes me wonder if they’re jealous. They want to be the ones working with the boys on the dock—funny how they all call them boys, when more than a few of them are full-blown adults in their early twenties.
I’ve been asked multiple times how I got the job without any of them finding out the position was open in the first place. More than one person has asked me this question, and I don’t have the answer. Michelle certainly never told me, and TJ, the dock manager, never mentioned it either.
I also had no idea my starting on the dock would cause so much drama, but oh well. I get why so many of the girls want to work on the dock. It’s easy money. As in, they’re up in the restaurant busting their ass all day, rushing around serving people, taking their orders, and cleaning up after everyone. While I’m chilling down at the dock, in my very own office—the other “dock girl” who works the shifts opposite of mine shares it with me—and I get to spend every work shift with the guys.
The very attractive, handsome guys who love to pull pranks and push each other in the water and jump off the roof of the dock office while twisting their bodies into somersaults, making me scream at the top of my lungs like a mother scolding her naughty children.
I screamed at Caleb like that, but I couldn’t help it. Watching him jump off the roof scared the crap out of me. The lake isn’t as deep this summer, thanks to the drought we’re currently suffering through in California, and I worried if he landed wrong and oh, I don’t know, broke his neck.
My yelling didn’t matter though. His head popped out of the water within seconds, a giant grin on his stupidly handsome face, all the other guys cheering him on and encouraging him.
Hanging with Caleb and the boys is a true test of my patience, I swear.
These past three weeks though, we’ve been getting along for the most part. He’s not giving me endless shit like he usually does, which is nice. We’ve even commuted together a couple of times, which okay yeah, I had to deal with him saying the normal wild and crazy things Caleb usually says, but for the most part, I can handle him. He’s not as bad as he used to be, that’s for sure. Maybe he’s maturing?
So yes, he’s being tame, save for the occasional sexy look he sends my way. And by sexy look, I mean the way his gaze scans over me as if he’s imagining me naked. Maybe I send him the same look back, because I am constantly trying to figure out what he looks like naked. I’ve seen a lot of him already. He’s always shirtless, like he has something against wearing shirts. And his legs are a work of muscular art, covered in just enough hair to look manly without reminding me of Bigfoot.
Okay, that last thought is a tad cruel, but I’m trying to put forth a mental picture here.
Maybe that’s just the way Caleb looks at all women all the time, but I swear to God, sometimes I catch him watching me, and I can read his expression. He’s thinking about—things. Naked things. Between the two of us, and that can’t be good.
Yeah, can’t be good at all.
Currently, we’re close to the end of our shift—it’s one of those days when Caleb and I drove here together—and one of the girls who works in the restaurant is hanging out on the dock, trying to get Caleb’s attention. She’s a newbie like me, having started a couple of weeks before I did, and she’s completely boy crazy, like a rabid fangirl over pretty much any guy she sees, specifically all the guys who work at Mitchell’s. Considering she’s almost twenty, I find her behavior a little over-the-top.
Since I’m twenty-two, I suppose there’s a bigger age and maturity level difference between us than I originally thought. Two years can feel like a lot of time. Caleb is two years younger than me as well, but I swear he’s acted more mature than usual lately, and it’s refreshing.
Currently, I’m standing in front of the open window of my office that I use to first greet customers on the dock, watching in silent amusement as Caleb is trying his best to get away from this girl. Her name is Noelle. She’s cute, I’ll give her that. Petite and overly tan with light blue eyes that stand out against her sun-browned skin. Those eyes of hers are full of mischief. As if she’d be down for anything.
Pretty sure she’d be down for anything involving Caleb.
“Are you almost off, Caleb?” she asks as she follows him along the dock. That’s one of her annoying habits. She constantly says his name, as if she enjoys the way the two syllables fall from her lips. It’s Caleb this and Caleb that, and I myself find it particularly irritating. So do the rest of the guys who work on the dock.
But they’re also extremely grateful she’s not chasing after them, so they tolerate it.
Caleb is struggling to find something to do, I can tell. He glances around at the mostly empty dock—we had a busy morning, pretty much every single boat and jet ski has been rented—and that little crease is forming between his eyebrows that I can’t help but find cute.
I shouldn’t find anything he does cute, but come on. There’s a reason women flock to him. Caleb is gorgeous.
Noelle goes right up on him, practically standing on top of his feet, she’s so close. He takes a step back as if he needs the distance, coming perilously close to stepping right off the dock and into the water.
I will burst out laughing if that happens.
“We should take out a boat someday, Caleb,” she tells him, her voice ever so hopeful.
The expression on his face clearly states hell no, but he smiles. It’s pitifully fake. “Probably not.”
“Oh, I know! We could take a jet ski! That would be fun, don’t you think, Caleb?” She’s bouncing up and down, all excited at the idea of sharing a jet ski with him, her arms wrapped around his middle as she clings to him while he speeds across the water. I’m sure she’s envisioning it right now.
I am too, until I tell myself to snap out of it.
“Don’t you have to get back to work?” he asks, sounding pained. I love how he doesn’t answer her questions. I love watching him visibly squirm. She makes him so uncomfortable.
“I just clocked out,” she says. “What time are you off?”
“Ah, I close tonight,” he says, like that’s going to scare her away. Plus, it’s a lie. We’re about to clock out ourselves.
“We should get together after you’re off. What do you think? Go for a swim in the lake under the moonlight?” Her brows shoot up, her smile encouraging.
So hopeful.
“Ah, yeah I can’t make it,” he says, stalling.
“Why not, Caleb?”
I love that she won’t back down. Only because it’s bringing me joy, witnessing this.
“Because. I already have a girlfriend.” Caleb’s gaze finds mine and his eyes light up. It’s the craziest thing. Those baby blues of his just magically sparkle and shine, right as he says, “And there she is.”
He points straight at me.
I glance over my shoulder, like there will be another woman standing in the office behind me, but of course there’s not. He actually means me.
What the hell?
Noelle turns to look at me, a frown forming on her face. “Who are you again?”
“Gracie,” I answer, unsure of what else I should say. I certainly can’t call Caleb out for lying, and the fucker knows it.
The smirk on his face right now is annoying—and undeniably adorable.
Noelle continues to watch me, tilting her head to the side. “I didn’t know Caleb had a girlfriend.”
“We don’t like to brag about it,” Caleb says as he moseys his way toward me, putting all the swagger he can muster into his walk.
I watch him with narrowed eyes, ready for what he might do next. He strides right into my office and comes to stand next to me, slinging his arm around my shoulders and pulling me into his side. “Don’t we make a great couple, Noelle?”
She frowns, and I can tell she doesn’t think we make a great couple at all. “This sucks,” she tells Caleb, completely ignoring me. “I
thought for sure you were single.”
“Why did you think that?” Caleb asks, his arm tightening around my shoulders. Damn, he’s strong. I can feel the muscles flexing in his arm, and he’s so hot. All that heat is currently seeping into me, and I wish I could shrug him off.
But I don’t want to blow his cover either. Why, I’m not sure.
“I asked around about you, Caleb. I heard you were the biggest player at this place,” Noelle says, sounding disappointed that he might not be after all.
A smile curls my lips and I rest my hand lightly on the center of Caleb’s chest as I say, “I tamed the beast.”
He laughs, and I can feel the sound vibrating against my palm. I can also feel his heart rate ratchet up.
Interesting.
One of the other guys walks by and Noelle chases after him, not even bothering to say goodbye. Once she’s out of earshot, I duck under Caleb’s arm, relieved when I can’t feel him surrounding me anymore.
“What the hell, Caleb?”
“I had to tell her something to get away from her,” he says, a pleading look on his face. “I’m sorry to put you through all that, but it got her off my back.”
“Right, and now she’s going to go tell everyone we’re together, when we’re not,” I point out, irritated at having to deal with a bunch of gossipy people talking about us behind our backs.
Because I know that’s what’s going to happen. People will talk. They’ll gossip. It’ll spread like wildfire that Caleb and I are dating, and some of them will resent me. They already do, so why not add one more thing to the mix, am I right?
Caleb shrugs. “Who cares? I doubt anyone listens to her anyway.”
“I don’t know about that,” I say, hating how unsure I sound, but I can’t help it.
And I’m sure more people listen to her than he thinks.
We spend what’s left of our shift avoiding each other, which isn’t difficult. A few of the other guys who work on the dock cluster together, whispering amongst themselves, and I get the sense that they’re talking about us. Maybe it’s the way they turn and stare at me every few minutes that gives them away.
The Junior (College Years Book 3) Page 4
