Chapter Ten
She seemed just as surprised at his agreement to go as he had been when she had suggested it. He knew that she honestly wanted to just hang out but it was growing increasingly difficult to focus on anything as innocent as that. He wasn't used to this at all. It wasn't just a physical attraction. It was also the fact that he knew everything about her and knew that she was basically fucking great in every aspect. He thought she was the greatest fucking person he'd ever met, the easiest person in the world to talk to, never judging him for anything. He'd told her things about himself he had never told another living soul and it had been easy and felt good. She didn't judge him. She didn't look down on him and she looked forward to talking to him every day.
But she didn't fucking know it was him!
As soon as they stepped out onto the sidewalk thunder rumbled above them and a flash of lightning threaded through the sky. "Shit," he muttered.
She looked up at him and grinned. "Scared of storms?"
He snorted. "No but last thing I want is to get caught in the rain."
"My car or yours?" She asked.
He looked out over the parking lot towards his truck. "How about I meet you over there? I don't wanna just leave my truck."
"Sounds good," she smiled and then walked off towards her car.
His eyes followed the swing of her ass. She'd paired the clingy shirt with another long flowey skirt but it didn't matter at all how covered she was from the waist down because suddenly he remembered a flash of red lace and he turned his head, stalking off towards his truck. He should just come clean to her. If he was honest about everything then she really couldn't fault him for it. He hadn't meant for it to go on as long as it had but now he felt like if he opened his stupid mouth then she'd end up thinking he was some sort of freak. And in reality, that was exactly what he was.
He followed her and before they were halfway there more lightning split the sky and the rain came down so hard that he could hardly make out her tail lights. He pulled up next to her once they finally made it to her place. He waited for half a minute but the rain didn't look like it was willing to slow down so he finally just jumped out, waiting on her to do the same. The wind whipped around him, driving rain into his face and causing him to have to squint.
She got out of her car and then grinned at him through the deluge and then took off for the stairs at the side of the building. He followed her up, his clothes completely saturated now, and waited while she fiddled with her keys. She dropped them once, cursed loudly but finally the door was opened and she was tugging him into her apartment.
"What the hell?" She muttered, once the door was closed against the howling wind.
He stood there, still and silent, in the dark.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" She hissed and then he could hear the telltale flick of a light switch turning on and off. "The damn power is out!"
He ran a hand through his wet hair and sighed. "Guess I should get goin' then. It likely seems weird for you to hang around in the dark with somebody you don't even really know."
Suddenly she grabbed his hand. "No!" She said loudly. "I mean..."
He remembered then. She had told him online that she hated storms. "Scared?" He asked.
She laughed, her voice sounding breathless. "Usually when I know that there's a storm coming I go to my friends but I wasn't really paying attention to any weather announcements today. I know, it sounds stupid but-"
"Not too stupid. Who the hell wants to sit around in the dark by themselves anyway?" He asked, trying to reassure her that he understood. He wasn't afraid of storms but he wouldn't ever mock her for something like that.
"Right," she said, sounding relieved. She hadn't dropped his hand yet and suddenly she was leading him further into her apartment. "I have candles." She stopped and dropped his hand. "I'll be right back. Don't leave."
He stood there, his eyes going towards the squares of lighter blackness that were the windows. He couldn't really see anything at all. He was surprised she would want him to stick around, even if she was afraid of storms, shouldn't she be more afraid of having a strange man in her house? In the dark?
She reappeared with a fat candle between her hands and he was able to make out the living room he was standing in. She smiled at him and then sat the candle on the coffee table. Her smile dropped when she looked him over. "My God, you're soaked."
He looked down and nodded, peeling the wet shirt away from his skin. "Looks that way." He noticed that she'd changed into a pair of cotton shorts and a t-shirt.
"I don't think I have anything you could wear. Even my regular old t-shirts would be too small."
He shrugged.
"Well, sit down at least. I can't force you to stay here and then make you stand up all night."
He eyed the couch. "I'm soaked."
She sat down and grinned. "We've established that. It's leather so I can wipe it right off."
He sat down, his eyes studying the flame instead of meeting hers. Now that they were here with the storm raging outside and the silence of the house seeming to close around him he realized what a bad idea this was. He already had some sort of sick infatuation with the woman and now he was sitting on her couch with her not even a foot away and the only thing he could think to do were things that she probably wouldn't appreciate him thinking about.
"Damn it," she muttered.
He finally looked at her.
"I forgot to stop for beer. I think I might have some cards around here somewhere though. I can look if you want."
"It'd be somethin' to do to kill time anyway," he said, unable to keep the nervousness out of his voice.
She paused in the process of getting up. "Why on earth are you so shy?"
He blinked. "Huh?"
She gestured at him with her hand. "You're shy. It's painfully obvious that you're shy and I can't for the life of me figure out why you would be." She settled back down on the couch.
He chewed his thumb nail and shrugged lightly. "I ain't shy."
She grinned. "Yes you are. Any other man would have at least thought to take his shirt off by now. You're sopping wet. But not you. You'd sit there uncomfortable and it's because you're shy."
He snorted and shook his head. "You wouldn't mind if some strange man started takin' off his clothes as soon as he walks into your house? Maybe I just have manners." Did she want him to take his fucking shirt off? Because he wasn't apposed to the idea at all.
She laughed, shaking her head. "Well now you're making it sound like that's what I wanted you to do."
He raised an eyebrow at her and he could tell from the dim light of the candle that her face was red.
She sighed. "All I'm saying is that if you'd be more comfortable, you can take off your shirt and when the power comes back on I can dry it for you. There isn't anything I can do for your pants but..."
He sat up, whipped the shirt over his head and held it out to her. He wasn't the type to strip down and show off his goods for people but if she wanted him out of his shirt then fuck it. He'd get out of it.
~H~
He held the shirt out to her but she was too busy staring at him to take it. His shoulders were broad, his arms defined. He had a hard body but not too much bulk. It was obvious that he worked hard for a living. When she was finally able to pull her eyes away from him she grabbed the shirt, embarrassed because he was watching her stare at him like he was a piece of meat.
"I'll just go throw this in the dryer," she said in a rush and then damn near bolted out of the room. She felt flushed all over and it took her a second to realize why. She wanted that man! She hadn't really put much thought into anything like that in a long time. She was too busy for it. It hadn't been easy for her, dealing with the death of her husband and then starting a business from scratch. But she remembered that telltale heat down low and damn if she didn't feel that now. She had been attracted to him from the start but this was more than that. This was lust, pure and simple, and that wasn't a feeling she was used to.
"Stupid. You don't even know him," she muttered out loud. But that hadn't kept her from meeting him at a bar tonight and sure as hell hadn't kept her from inviting him up to her house alone and it hadn't stopped her from telling him to take off his shirt.
She made her way back to the living room, willing her pulse to slow down and hoping that she was able to play it cool while sitting next to him with his shirt off. She'd never felt this distracted, this turned on, in all her life.
"So," she said as she breezed into the room. "What do you usually find yourself doing on a Saturday night? I mean, when you aren't stuck entertaining women that don't like sitting alone in the dark?"
He was still gnawing on his thumb but he eyed her. "Nothin', really."
"Do you hang out with Rick very often?" she asked, needing to know more about him.
He shook his head. "Just at the bar. We go fishin' every now and then."
She made a face. "The strangest thing happened last night. We met at the bar and he was wanting to go out to dinner. When we got in his car, it... stunk. I mean, I've never smelled anything like this. He seemed embarrassed but that smell was too strong to haven't been there for a while."
She watched as he averted her eyes but then he grinned. He didn't smile very often and she found herself speechless.
"Sounds like Rick has a personal hygiene problem. I've never noticed that before."
She wrinkled her nose. "He didn't smell bad, but the car. I actually had to get out. I gagged."
Now he laughed. "Sounds more and more like bein' stuck with me ain't the worst thing that could have happened to you in the last few days."
She laughed with him, shaking her head. "I actually felt bad for him, really. He seemed so embarrassed."
"Can't say I blame him. I've never made a woman actually gag before." He paused and then his eyes went a little wider, like he just replayed the words in his head.
She couldn't help it. She tried hard but that stricken look on his face undone her. She laughed. He was so embarrassed and it actually served him right. She didn't know why it should strike her as so hilarious but it did. It was mostly the fact that most men wouldn't have been so embarrassed about the slip up but he seemed like he was ready to bolt now. She wiped her eyes as he sat there scowling at her. "Oh come on, you walked right into that one."
"That ain't what I meant and you know it," he grumbled.
She giggled. "So you have made women gag then, huh?"
His face was so red. "Never on purpose anyway and never cause I stunk," he shot back.
This sent her into another fit of laughter, since he looked so offended. This night was already much better than last night, despite the storm and the power outage, or maybe because of it.