For the Love of Gracie (The Southern Devotion Series)

by McClung, Amy

  “You’d like my brother, he’s a good kid.”

  I snorted. “You trying to hook me up?”

  He was midway through another drink when he choked a bit on it and I patted his back. Apparently I was trying to kill him by asphyxiation.

  He shook his head. “No, not at all.” Ashton sounded so offended at the thought, that it hurt my feelings a little.

  “I was just teasing.”

  He smiled. “I know. What were we talking about again?”

  I shrugged. “I think it’s time to go to bed.”

  He frowned. "Did I say something wrong?" "No, not at all. I'm tired, that's all." As I stood, he followed and we both swayed a bit. We grasped on to each other for support, laughing at our drunkenness.

  His palm pressed against his head. "I think I had more to drink than I realized. Can I crash on your couch?"

  I nodded. "Absolutely. There's no way I'd let you drive like this. Come on, I'll get you set up nicely." I led him to the living room where we found Cameron passed out on the couch and Gavin in the only comfy chair in the room.

  Ashton sighed. "I guess the floor will do."

  I grabbed his hand. "No way, come with me."

  He followed me upstairs to my room. My bed was queen sized, so there was plenty of room for two people. Ashton glanced at me, unsure of what was happening.

  Pulling back the blue down comforter, I got in the bed. "Sleep with me," I said.

  He stuttered, "What? Um, Gracie."

  I giggled at his insecurity. "We're adults Ashton. Lie down and share the bed with me."

  Awkwardly, he kicked his shoes off. He glanced down at himself and back at me. "Um, is it okay if I sleep in my boxers? This shirt is still pretty wet from the beer."

  I nodded. "You won't offend me." He still seemed awkward; it was so adorable on him. I rolled over to set the alarm, so I wouldn't miss class the next day. When I turned back, he had his shirt off and his jeans unbuttoned. I bit my bottom lip while I stared at his muscular chest which had a very light smattering of dark hair across his pectorals. I sucked in a breath as he turned to lay his jeans over the desk chair. He was wearing navy blue boxer briefs. They were riding low on his hips, so that when he faced me, I could see the cut that lead to his…

  Wow. Gracie, you need to get your mind out of the gutter. This man likes men and you have a man of your own.

  Ashton slid under the covers with me and I turned on my side, facing the opposite direction. In a husky voice, he whispered, "Goodnight, Gracie-bug."

  I smiled at the cute nickname he gave me and whispered back, "Goodnight."

  The next morning, the alarm went off and I hit the snooze button. I rolled over to a muscular body and thought I was at Hudson's, as I had been every morning lately. My hands roamed until I found his morning happiness, I ran my hand over the outside of his shorts. He groaned with pleasure as I palmed him for moment. My hand moved to the waistband and slid inside, as I opened my eyes, ready to please him.

  My surprise equaled the surprise in Ashton's eyes when we realized what had happened. We both jumped up on opposite sides of the bed. My hand covered my mouth as I said, "I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to molest you! That should not have happened!"

  Unconsciously, my gaze dropped to his morning wood, I bit my lip again. He glanced down and covered himself. I gasped again. "Oh, sorry! I'm going to give you some privacy." I bounced around the room nervously. I slipped out, ran downstairs, and smacked into Cameron's chest.

  "Good Morning, Gracie. Can we not do the body slam thing so early? My head is pounding. I need coffee."

  I kissed him. "Sorry, Cam. Come with me." I dragged him to the kitchen, poured him a cup of coffee and pulled him outside.

  "What the hell, Gracie?" I pushed him down on the swing and sat next to him with my legs crossed.

  "I pretty much molested Ashton just now." He had taken a sip of coffee and he spit it in my face in shock.

  I closed my eyes, thankful that it was lukewarm instead of scalding.

  He gasped, "Sorry, Gracie. Don't shock me when I'm drinking!" He smacked me, playfully, as I lifted my shirt to wipe my face.

  "I deserved that, did the same thing with beer to Ashton last night."

  "Ok, I need details. Are you dumping Hudson?" he asked, excited.

  "Ugh, thanks Cameron. No, I'm not dumping Hudson. I'm not exactly Ashton's type."

  His face scrunched in confusion as he said, "Um, ok. I still think you should dump Hudson."

  We were interrupted by Ashton stepping out on the porch. My face reddened when I saw him, fully dressed this time. "I'm sorry, Ash," I started.

  He interrupted, "No harm, Gracie-bug. Wasn’t the worst thing in the world to wake up with a beautiful woman's hand in my shorts."

  Cameron gaped at me and gasped. "You're such a tramp!" I hit him, and he laughed. Cameron kissed my cheek, "I'm heading inside, Gracie-bug. I like that name."

  Ash smiled and took Cam's place beside me. For the first time, I felt awkward with him. Sex does change everything. We didn’t even have sex, but it was still awkward.

  "What's up?" he asked.

  "Hmm?" I asked, coming out of my thought bubble.

  "You're acting strange."

  Out of my mouth came the strangest cackling laugh. "Sorry, I don’t know what that noise was," I said. "It's a bit weird sitting next to someone you touched inappropriately."

  He snorted. "It wasn’t really that inappropriate."

  My right brow rose questioning his statement.

  "Ok, so maybe a bit. Your bed's comfy, by the way." He nudged me with his elbow and grinned at me. "Come on Gracie, don’t be weird now. I like where we were going with our friendship."

  I shrugged. "No, I'm fine. Come on, I'll cook breakfast for everyone. We'll find you a different shirt, too, so you don't smell like beer."

  He jumped up excited. "Good, I'm starving. Being molested takes a lot out of a guy." I raised my fist to punch his arm, but he jumped out of the way laughing.

  Chapter Five

  My classes ran from nine to two today, and I was scheduled to be at work at three. Fortunately, I worked only a mile from school. Classes were three days a week, so I worked at the bookstore café part-time in the afternoons.

  I stepped out of the car and straightened my blouse. My stylish uniform consisted of a white blouse and khaki pants. Once inside, I grabbed my hunter green apron and slid it over my head, then tied it in the back.

  One of the great things about this job was that I got to talk about books with people. They came and asked my advice, while they waited on their drinks. This was when I got most of my reading time in as well. My supervisor encouraged us to read when times were slow, and preferred we use books from the store so we could recommend them to customers.

  A customer hit the bell, drawing me out of the fantasy world of the paranormal novel I was reading. I straightened my apron, turned around, and smiled brightly when my eyes landed on Ashton. “Are you stalking me?”

  He raised his hands in the air. “I promise I had no clue you worked here. I’m here with Gavin, browsing. I came to get a cappuccino for us. Whatcha reading?”

  I held up the book to show the title. “It’s paranormal, you know, demons, vampires, all kinds of fun creatures. They’re making a movie of it, so I thought I’d read the book first.”

  He nodded. “You know the movie is never as good as the book.”

  I shrugged. “Yeah, majority of them aren’t. Every now and then you get one that is still good, even if the book is better. So, two cappuccinos? You want whipped cream?”

  He winked at me. “Duh.” He glanced at the ‘tip’ jar. “You get to keep all the tips?”

  I nodded. “During my shift. We empty it at the end of each shift so that it starts over. Don't feel too bad that it's empty. We don't get many tippers, I'm pretty used to it.” I turned to make his cappuccinos.

  While the machine was running, I stepped back over to ring him up. “You planning on
hanging out with us this weekend?”

  “I’m free, so I’d love to.”

  I smiled. “Great. Word of advice; don’t let Cameron trick you into challenging him to a game of pool. He’s a shark.”

  He nodded. “Good to know, although I am too, actually.”

  I gasped. “Oh hell, you have to challenge him now! I would love to see someone beat him! And don't worry, no money involved. He enjoys beating people for the pure pleasure of gloating.”

  He laughed. “It’s a deal. Where do you guys play?”

  I handed him his change and said, “Pool hall down on Second Ave in downtown Nashville. It’s kind of pricey, but Cameron loves it there.”

  "What time do you get off tonight?" he asked.

  I sighed. "I'm here until closing, at eleven. I normally don't work that late, but I'm covering for a friend."

  He bobbed his head in understanding and said, "Be careful, leaving so late by yourself."

  I spun around to grab his drinks. I swirled whipped cream on top, slid them over to him, and said, "Don't worry, I always am."

  He held the cups up and said “Thanks, see you this weekend?” I nodded excitedly.

  He dropped something in the tip jar and walked away. When I glanced over at it, I noticed it was a twenty dollar bill. I smiled at his generosity and decided I would have to make sure I bought him a drink at the bar this weekend.

  From behind me, I heard a “psst” sound; I turned and saw Gavin waving at me as he stood beside Ashton across the room in the science fiction section. I gave him a big smile with a wave, before resuming my reading.

  Around ten thirty, my phone beeped. Cameron wanted me to meet him downtown where he was hanging out with Angel and Gavin. I texted him back stating, Leaving work in 30, would take too long to go home and change. Rain check?

  He texted back with, Fine, but you owe me a drink tomorrow night, bitch.

  I laugh and responded, Deal princess.

  It took me longer than usual to clean up that night. By the time I was leaving, everyone else was gone except for the manager.

  "Gracie, you want me to walk you out?" he asked.

  "Nah, Jimmy I'm fine. You can watch from the door if you want, that would make me feel safer."

  He glanced outside, then opened the door. "Can I help you, sir?"

  I tensed up, wondering who was outside the door at this hour.

  Jimmy stepped back inside. "He says he's waiting for you. His name is Ashton?" Ashton moved in front of the window and waved awkwardly.

  I smiled. "He's cool, Jimmy. He's a friend of mine. Thanks for looking out for me."

  I slipped out the door so he could lock it, and smiled when my eyes met with Ashton's. "You are stalking me!" I chuckled.

  He grinned. "I was still in the neighborhood and didn’t like the idea of you walking to your car alone. Is that too creepy?"

  I held up my forefinger and thumb about an inch apart.

  His shoulders sagged. "Sorry, trying to be gallant for my friend."

  I slid my arm through his. "It's very sweet. I was going to pick up dinner on the way home. Wanna grab a bite to eat with me?"

  He led me to my car, his motorcycle was parked right next to it. "Where can we eat this late?"

  I licked my lips. "Let’s go to Steak N Shake."

  He straddled his bike. "Wanna ride with me?"

  I looked from my car to his bike. I really wanted to ride with him again, pressed up against his body, but that wasn’t a good idea. "I'll take my car so we don’t have to come back here."

  Ashton led the way. He was easy to keep up with because he drove like an old man, or he did that for my sake not knowing I had a lead foot.

  We grabbed a two person booth in the back and ordered burgers and fries with milkshakes. "You're too sweet for coming to check on me tonight."

  He took a sip of his shake and smiled at me. "I'm a bit of a worrier, ask Gavin."

  I pulled the straw out of my peanut butter banana shake, sucked all the liquid out of it and grabbed his cup shoving my straw inside to taste his chocolate covered strawberry shake. Instead of arguing, he followed my lead, stealing a taste of my shake. He picked up a napkin and wiped my chin from where I had dribbled from the straw.

  I blushed. "Mmm, I should've gotten yours."

  He slid it to me. "Wanna switch?"

  We switched, and I moaned over the taste of the milkshake.

  He shook his head. "Gracie, I think you're enjoying that a little too much."

  I grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. I love ice cream."

  The waiter brought our food.

  "Holy sh..seriously?" I exclaimed as I saw what Ashton had ordered. The burger had seven patties on it. I had no clue how he was going to get his mouth around it. He had also ordered a large skillet of chili cheese fries to go with it. "You hungry, Ash?"

  He shrugged. "I got the munchies, figured this will be a nice snack." We both started laughing. I grabbed my fork and liberated a few fries from his skillet.

  "I have to see you put your mouth around that thing," I said.

  He smirked. "That's what he said."

  I snorted with laughter and held my hand up for a high five. He smacked my hand as he laughed with me.

  His mouth stretched to its limit as he tried to shove the enormous burger in his mouth. My mouth fell open in shock when he took the first bite. I said, "You're gonna need a bigger mouth, dude."

  He started to choke as he laughed.

  I gasped. "Are you ok?"

  He nodded and held his finger up asking for a moment. "Don't make me laugh when I've got that much in my mouth," he said.

  I winked. "That's what she said."

  He held up his fist and I bumped it with mine. "You're a lot of fun, Gracie." There was something about the way he said my name that made me want to swoon.

  "You're pretty cool yourself."

  The check came and he grabbed it first.

  "Let me get it," I said, continuing with, "I had a big tipper tonight."

  He smiled at me. "You keep that. I needed a fun night tonight, let me treat you."

  When we stepped outside I shivered. My light hooded sweatshirt was no match for the bitter cold wind tonight. He removed his coat. I raised my hand up. "No, I'm fine you keep that."

  He tilted his head, giving me a stern look. "You know what my momma would do if she saw me walking with a jacket on, letting the woman next to me freeze? My momma raised me better than that, hun." He slid the jacket around my shoulders and rubbed my arms using friction to warm me.

  We stood next to my car for a moment. He stood in front of me as I leaned my back against the door. Ashton leaned forward, his face only inches from mine. I felt his hand brush against my hip. This was the moment I'd been waiting for since I met him. I closed my eyes waiting to taste his sweet lips. He opened the car door and said, "You need to get in here and warm up, Gracie-bug."

  Well, that was disappointing. His face was so close to mine, if I just moved a few inches I could pretend to 'accidentally' kiss him. His lips were so full and delectable looking. His tongue darted out to wet his lips and it made my breath quicken.

  I pushed myself up and kissed his cheek instead. "Sit with me for a bit?" I asked.

  He moved to let me slide in behind the wheel. He ran around the car and climbed in next to me. I turned the heat on to warm us up. "You said you needed a fun night, is something bothering you?"

  Ashton's face turned away to stare out the window. "I'm sorry, you probably don't want me in your business."

  He placed his hand on mine. "No, it's not that. It's something I don’t have an easy time talking about. Occasionally I have rough days, today was one. Gavin spent the day with me because he knew it was an anniversary for me. Actually it's an anniversary for both of us, and we were trying desperately to stay cheerful. The thing that finally made me smile was this really sweet barista at the bookstore I went to."

  My heart warmed, as did my face, when he spoke the sweet compli
ment. He patted my hand. "You really are a lot of fun to hang out with, and we should do it more often." The inner teenage girl in me grew nervous hearing, 'we should do it' because I was thinking the same thing…only different.

  We were interrupted by his phone beeping, I looked at the clock and it was after one in the morning. "Booty call?" I asked, teasingly, secretly hoping that it wasn't.

  He smirked. "Not exactly. Gavin and Cameron are both drunk, and they need a ride home. Not sure how he thinks the three of us will fit on my bike."

  I laughed. "I'll go get them."

  He shook his head. "No, I'll have them get a cab and I'll pay for it when they get to the house. You shouldn’t go downtown by yourself this late." This was a perfect excuse to spend more time with Ashton.

  "How about you drop your bike at my house and ride with me?"

  It took us about an hour to get downtown to Cameron and Gavin. Angel had left with some guy she met and the two guys were both wasted. When we pulled up, they were sitting on the bench outside making out.

  "Well, looks like they're getting along," Ashton said.

  I yelled out the window, "Get it girl!"

  Cameron's hand popped up long enough to flip me off.

  "That's not very nice, considering I'm your ride."

  Ashton and I had to load them into the car. We all went back to my house so that it would be easier. I placed Cameron on the couch and Ashton put Gavin in the chair. "You can sleep in my room again, if you'd like." I said, then added, "I'll keep my hands to myself, promise!"

  He laughed. "I'm not drunk, so I can make it home."

  I walked him out, reluctantly. I knew he hadn’t been drinking. Selfishly, I wanted him to stay with me tonight so we could talk more.

  "Thanks again for protecting me tonight."

  He straddled his bike and started it up. "Thank you for cheering me up." He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. Guys didn’t understand how incredibly romantic a kiss to the forehead was for a girl.