by Lexy Timms
An adventure all right, but by now, the stars in my eyes were gone so I could see clearly, and all that was left was the dirt all over my things. And me heading out on foot in my nightshirt and dollar store flip flops, packing a duffel bag over my shoulder.
Andy was yelling loudly from the porch as I made my way to the sidewalk. He’d wake up the whole damn town yelling the way he was. My nightshirt hung down to my knees and my hair was thrown haphazardly into a bun. The underwear I wore hadn’t been washed properly in I didn’t know how long. I’d scrubbed my clothes in a sink for two weeks because our washing machine broke and I didn’t have the money to fix it.
Andy was okay with stained clothes, but I wasn’t.
I briefly thought about a cab, but figured it was better to save all I could. I was only a mile from Anton’s house and I knew his door would be open and I could crash there. After all the times he’d taken me in, I was sure he wouldn’t mind doing it this time.
After all, I didn’t have anyone in this town anymore.
I took me almost an hour to lug my shit to Anton’s house. The duffel bag was heavy and it was almost two in the morning. I got lost twice trying to get there in the dark. All the roads looked the same in the dim moonlight of Illinois. I dragged my bag behind me the last two blocks, sweating bullets and sucking air so deeply I was choking on the dirt I kicked up.
When I finally walked into Anton’s house, I fleetingly felt a guilty conscience flare up. The man, my former employer, was dead. I had no business letting myself into his home. I debated on turning around, locking his house like he never did, and finding my way to the nearest hotel. Or, sleeping in one of the abandoned buildings downtown until morning came. But Anton was nothing if not practical. He always held practicality and guarantees above all else. And if I had a guaranteed bed in his home, then what the hell was the point of locking his door and sleeping in an alleyway for the night?
Anton would have welcomed me with open arms and a gentle word, so all I could hope was that his ghost would do the same.
Closing the door behind me, I dropped my bag in the foyer. I was exhausted and upset. I just wanted to sleep, and I didn’t have the energy to take that bag anywhere else. I’d deal with it in the morning. Safely inside, I locked the door behind me and went to the back door, locking it as well.
Then I walked into the room Anton had offered me the last time Andy and I had fought.
I didn’t bother with the lights. All I wanted to do was sleep. I kicked off the flip flops that had worn blisters onto the tops of my feet, and peeled the sweaty shirt off my back. I dropped my panties, tossing them into the trash can. Those were panties Andy had gotten me once. They were gross. Unwashable. Irretrievable. I let the cool air of the house cascade over my naked body before I suddenly felt awkward.
Standing naked in Anton’s house.
Padding back out to my duffel bag, I dragged it into a corner. I rifled through for a clean pair of underwear, then slipped them on. I wondered if Anton’s bills were still coming in. I could use his washer and dryer to wash my clothes, then foot the bill for a month. At least until the last ones came in. I didn’t know exactly how I was going to pay his bills when they were in his name, but I’d find a way. Now content, I sighed and slipped back into the bedroom, Pulling the covers up, the mattress was calling my name. I could feel the comfort and warmth of the bed even before I laid down.
“Holy shit!”
The second I laid down in the bed, I felt another body next to mine. And for a split second while I shrieked my head off, I thought it could’ve been Anton’s. Even though I knew that was irrational and that it couldn’t be him, the thought crossed my mind.
Until the warm body moved.
“Oh my gosh! Stop! No!”
An arm wrapped around my waist and quickly pinned me to the bed. My legs flailed, but another pair much stronger than mine got them to stop. My wrists were encompassed by one very large hand, and I was suddenly staring into the eyes of a complete stranger.
Bright, striking blue eyes.
“Help! Somebody hel—!”
Screaming for help proved useless as his other hand quickly clamped over my mouth. I was wearing nothing but underwear, so I knew how this was going to go down. Who the hell was this person and why was he in Anton’s house? I wiggled and squirmed, trying to free myself. But the hold on my body only got stronger. My eyes widened as he shushed me, then slowly inched his hand away from my face.
I opened my mouth to scream again, but he quickly covered it back up.
“Stop it,” he said.
His voice was rugged and my heart was pounding. I whimpered against his hand and he removed it again before releasing my wrists. I rose up to try and get out of the bed, but he grabbed me again, pinning me back down to the bed as I tried to kick my legs. His eyes grew stern and angry, and every time I tried to move, his grip only tightened.
“What the hell do you want?” I asked.
“Who are you?” the man asked.
“I could ask you the same question.”
“What are you doing breaking into my house?”
“Your house? This is Anton Volk’s house,” I said. “And by the way you’re holding me, I’d say he would probably disapprove of you being here. Now get the fuck off me.”
“Not until you tell me what you’re doing crawling into my bed.”
“Your bed?” I asked.
“Yes, my bed. My room. My house. So, I’ll ask you again before I call the police. What are you doing in this house?”
Chapter 5
Grayson
Who the fuck was this nearly-naked woman in my damn bed? I jerked awake to find a warm body lying next to me and a second later she’s screaming her head off, as if she’s the one who’s got the issue and not me! I wrapped my legs around her to keep from kicking at me, because there wasn’t much separating her knee from my dick. My hands had her wrists pinned down so she didn’t break my fucking nose. She had no right to be upset—I did. She was breaking into my godfather’s house, and I wanted to know why.
Once she finally calmed down a bit, I reached over and turned on the bedside light.
“Are you done screaming?” I asked.
She nodded her head and I released her wrists.
“Who are you?” I asked.
Her eyes widened, but when her lips parted to speak she didn’t say anything. The delay gave me time to study her. Holy fuck, she was attractive. Deep red hair and big green eyes that kept getting wider as she looked at me. I’m sure I looked an absolutely mess. Jeans riding down my ass and my chest bare from fighting with my shirt before I’d piled into bed after the bar. Her skin was incredibly soft and her thighs were pliable against my strong legs.
“What are you doing in Anton’s house?” she asked.
“I could be asking you the same question,” I said. “I’m Anton’s godson. I’m here to settle his estate. What’s your excuse?”
“I used to work for Anton,” she said. “My name’s Michelle. I worked for him and he let me stay here from time to time. In this bedroom.”
“This bedroom,” I said. “This exact one.”
“Well, yeah. I’m sorry. I didn’t know someone else was here. I only planned on staying a day or two anyway, just until I could find somewhere else to sleep.”
Sliding my body off of hers, I sat back. Anton let someone else sleep in my room. In my bed? I watched her eyes rake over my broad chest and her cheeks flushed. Such a beautiful color on a woman. The pink flooding her pale skin made my cock throb, and that was when I took in her nakedness.
The slope of her curves.
The soft mounds of her breasts.
Holy fuck, I would destroy that body in a heartbeat if she let me.
I felt my cock hardening and I slid off the bed immediately. The last thing I needed was to have a hard-on with some random practically-naked woman in my childhood bed. Well, my senior year of high school, at least. I didn’t want her to notice. We’d bot
h scared each other enough for one fucking night. A boner wouldn’t help anything. She climbed out of the bed and quickly rummaged around on the floor. I watched her as she pulled a nightshirt over her head.
Those perfect breasts, gone from my view.
I wanted them to come back.
“I’m sorry. I’ll get out of here,” she said, as her cheeks flushed deeper.
“No, its fine,” I said.
She whipped around and looked at me. But she wasn’t the only one shocked at my words.
“There’s no need to leave. There’s plenty of room in this house for both of us,” I said. “If you need a place to stay, then stay. I’ll be footing the bills while I’m here, so it won’t be an issue to take care of yours.”
Her jaw gaped open as my mind screamed at me. What the fuck was I doing? Where the hell were these words coming from? What the fuck was even happening? I watched Michelle’s eyes narrow at me and a wave of distrust washed over her vision. Her eyes dropped down my body before slowly making their way back up. I loved it when a woman devoured what I looked like. I’d missed that kind of carnivorous connection with the opposite sex.
Especially one as soft and pleasurable to look at as Michelle.
“I didn’t mean in the same room,” I said, with a chuckle. “There are three more bedrooms down the hallway. You can have your pick.”
“That’s not necessary,” she said, as she slipped into her shoes. “I shouldn’t have come here in the first place.”
There was a hurt in her voice that startled me. And I wasn’t easily startled. She slipped out of the room faster than she’d jumped into bed, and I followed her all the way to the front door. If she didn’t want to stay, that was her prerogative. But it was three in the damn morning and it wasn’t safe for her to go anywhere else. No one was open to take her into a hotel, and if she went around knocking on people’s fucking doors she’d have someone shoot her before she could get off the porch.
I strode beside her and reached for her massive duffel bag, dragging it behind me before she could reach for it.
“Give me my stuff,” Michelle said.
“It’s three in the morning. Come on, stay the night. You can leave if you want to when you wake up.”
“I’m not staying in a house with a man that just pinned me to a bed.”
“In my defense, you slipped into bed with me and I thought you were an intruder. Which, technically, you still are.”
“An intruder you’re now inviting to stay with you?” she asked.
“Stay, Michelle. It’s not safe to be out there this late.”
“I’m not staying with someone I don’t know. I’d rather sleep on the street.”
She sighed and straightened her back as I held the strap of her duffel bag out to her.
“Look, I’m here settling Anton’s estate. Because he hand-picked me to do so. Does Anton seem like the kind of man that would pick some sort of womanizing pervert to handle his finances?”
The look on her face was still distrusting, though her body did turn towards me just a bit. A sign that she was opening up to the idea.
“Would Anton pick someone capable of harming a woman as the executor of his will?” I asked.
I watched her shoulders relax before her eyes fluttered closed.
“No,” she said. “He wouldn’t.”
“Look, I pinned you down because I was startled and thought you might have been armed. Then I kept you from screaming because the neighbors would have called the police and people would’ve come crashing through the doors. This is a nosy place, and the last thing I needed was the police arriving at three in the morning because of a screaming woman in my bed. That doesn’t look good in a small town.”
“That doesn’t look good, period.”
“I’m sorry for scaring you. Though next time you get into a bed, you might want to check it first.”
“Trust me, that is a lesson I won’t be forgetting,” she said.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but all this excitement has me wide awake. Are you thirsty? I sure am.”
I watched a small grin permeate her cheeks and it made her green eyes dance.
“What are you having?” Michelle asked.
“I was going to make myself some tea.”
“Is there any hot cocoa?”
Her voice was so small. So delicate. A stark contrast to her voice before when she was frightened. I swept my eyes over her one last time, taking in the sweet innocence of her face. Her round green eyes and her soft red hair. But that beautiful grown up body, was thick with womanly curves and aching for a man’s touch. I’d never be able to erase the sight of her perfect tits from my mind. Especially the way they bouncing on her body as she wiggled underneath me. A mesmerizing sight.
I felt my cock twitching back to life.
“If I know Anton there is,” I said. “Now, go find yourself a room. Just not mine. I actually did a good share of my growing up in that room.”
She smiled at me before she threw the strap of her bag over her shoulder, tugging it along with her. She had a lot of shit in that thing. Was that everything she owned? I watched her hips sway with each step she took as she turned the corner, then shoved my hand in my pants to rearrange myself.
Michelle was exciting. An enticing woman. But I still don’t know why the fuck I’d offered to let her to stay. But I wasn’t sure if I could handle any more excitement.
Something told me, however, that I might not have a choice
Chapter 6
Michelle
I dragged my stuff into the room next to—well, shit. I didn’t even know his name. I sighed as I dug through my bag, looking at the expanse of the king-size bed before my eyes. I’d never been in a bed that big. I thought the full-size mattress Andy and I used to sleep on was massive. But this bed could’ve swallowed that nasty thing whole.
Slipping out of my flip flops and pulling on a pair of shorts under my nightshirt, I sighed with relief. As bold as I may have sounded, I really hadn’t wanted to sleep on the street.
Making my way to the kitchen, I could smell of chocolate in the air. I sat down at the kitchen table, watching as Anton’s godson made the perfect hot cocoa. He stirred the warm milk in a small simmering pot before he added the cocoa powder and the shavings, then topped it off with a little sweetened condensed milk. I watched him pour it into the mug before grabbing a handful of small marshmallows, tossing them into the mug.
“Anton used to make it that way,” I said.
“That’s how I learned,” he said. “By watching him as he always made it for me. Here.”
He set the mug in front of me and the smells brought back so many memories. Anton’s voice. His thick Russian accent had always been so comforting. His kindness so overwhelming. So many times he had taken me in. He had given me what I needed when Andy failed to do it. His hands were large and callused, yet his hugs and his touches were soft and gentle.
Tears rose to my eyes as a hand came down on my shoulder, patting it just like Anton used to do.
This man really was related to Anton somehow.
“Anton would be pleased to know he’s missed by such a pretty girl.”
I giggled as a tear streamed down my cheek.
“That was his nickname for me, you know,” I said. “Pretty girl. He always called me that. I didn’t catch your name, by the way.”
“Grayson,” he said. “Anton always called me Gray.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Gray. Thank you for the hot cocoa,” I said.
The chair next to me moved, and I felt him sit down beside me. I wiped at the tears streaming down my cheeks and cleared my throat. It hurt to think about Anton. To be reminded of his presence in this way, somehow allowed me to mourn his passing. He was the only man in my life to ever show me the type of kindness he had. Time and time again, he opened my eyes to the way people should be treated.
To the way a man should treat a woman.
He never interjected his opin
ions into my love life with Andy. Never judged it. Never made me talk about it. Though somehow he always gently dispensed these nuggets of knowledge geared towards finding what made me happy, and finding someone to spend my time with that saw and valued my worth.
It was his way of informing and guiding, without being intrusive or judgmental.
I’d miss that most of all.
“So, what are you doing in Stillsville?” Gray asked.
I shrugged as I kept my gaze in my mug. I had no idea how to answer that question and didn’t even know where to begin.
“You aren’t from here. See, I used to live here, and I know the kind of people that stay. I recognize the people still here. That’s not you,” he said.
“I could be different,” I replied.
“It’s your voice that gives you away. I can hear it in your voice. Still full of hope.”
“Hope?”
“People from this town don’t have that in their voices anymore. You do,” he said.
My eyes flickered over to his momentarily and took in the intensity of his sky blue gaze. It was too much. The way he was looking at me, with his chiseled chest and the rings of his abs. His tanned skin and his muscular arms. His forearms practically bulged with veins. I wished he would put a shirt on. His body heat was too much. Too intense. I wanted to reach out and touch the divot of his chest with my finger. To run my hands down the washboard of his torso.
But as much as I wanted to touch him, I didn’t want to know him. And I didn’t want him to know me. I didn’t want to tell him how I’d followed Andy around like some lost little puppy. How I’d trusted such a bullshit excuse for a man and got burned for it. I didn’t want him viewing me as weak. Because I wasn’t. I was strong. I had paved a way for myself in North Dakota where I met Andy. I’d gotten out from underneath the grasp of my parents and paid for my own two-year education. I’d had a transcriptionist job I worked right out of my damn apartment and was footing my own bills.