Page 17 of Blood Ties
“Other than the blood, anything else bother you? Silver? The sun?”
Pressing out his bottom lip, like he was thinking, he shook his head. “No, everything else was good.” I heard his heart speed up a little, but I ignored it.
“Well that’s good.” I leaned up to kiss him and was careful to not push it further. “I love you, Grayson.”
“I love you more, Gaby.”
CHAPTER SIX
The next morning, I woke up early, like usual, before realizing I no longer had a job to get to.
“Sleep in. Just enjoy the day,” Grayson voiced while readjusting his tie in the mirror.Why did he have to look so damn delicious?
“I’d enjoy my day more if you’d climb back in this bed with me.” I flipped back the blankets on his side beckoning him in.
Grayson chuckled strutting towards me with a wicked twinkle in his eye. For a moment I thought I’d won. “I’d love to.” He leaned over my body pressing me into the mattress, his words whispered across my lips. I tilted my chin in hopes to claim them. “But I got to get to work.” With a quick kiss, Grayson blurred across the room before I could grab him.
“I don’t appreciate you using you’re newfound vampire powers on me,” I scolded.
“Hey, before it was only unfair because I didn’t have them too. Now it’s all fair game.” He blurred again just as a pillow went flying at him.
Once Grayson left, I dressed for the day. That, on its own, took longer than normal. What did I wear? Not one of my business outfits. But they tell you to always dress for success. I settled on simple black dress with a higher neckline cutting off just below my collarbone. The skirt hung to my knees, but flowed when I walked. It was both business and casual. It was the perfect outfit for the semi unemployed worker.
Just as the microwave dinged, signaling my blood was heated, there was a knock at the door.What’s the point of living in a building with security and codes if people can get in with exceedingly little effort, I thought to myself. I unlocked and cracked the heavy door exposing Shawn cradling a pastry box with Laduree printed on it. He knew just how to win me over and was pulling out the big guns to do it.
“Gabs, I’m sorry about yesterday. I was way out of line with the Grayson moneybags comments. I know that with your family ties, you’re after his money. I don’t know why I acted like a douche.” He stood there with his eyes averted as the words spilled out of him.
When he finally looked at me, I stood there with my arms crossed my chest glaring at him. He appeared nervous for a minute thinking neither his words nor is offering had persuaded me to forgive him. Then I cracked a smile glad to have made him sweat a bit. “You were just looking out for me. I get it. And I’m sorry I shut you down.” I grabbed the box from him and headed back to the kitchen.
“So can we do lunch and have a redo for yesterday.”
“I’d love to,” I spoke around the pastry I just bit into. “You wait long for these?”
Shawn fidgeted shaking his head. I raised my brow assuming he was lying. I knew how long I normally waited for anything from there. “Not as long as you’d think,” he finally admitted. I nodded, figuring as much.
Noticing it was still before ten, Shawn and I decided to do some walking around Central Park after stopping by Starbucks first. The city was alive with people going about their day and even though the park didn’t allow much of an escape it was still a nice reprieve from the chaos that was the Big Apple.
“So how are things with the new guy?” I pried.
“His name is Clive and good, I guess.”
“What do you mean youguess?”I inquired taking a sip of my coffee.
Shawn shrugged and seemed to be intently studying his feet. “It’s just hard, you know, being in a relationship,” he confessed.
“I do know.” Neither of us had much experience in the relationship department. Grayson was my first boyfriend; practically my first everything. I had never shown interest in anyone until he came along, much to my previous nest master’s discontent. There was something about Grayson that appealed to me. He stood out before I even knew who he was. His essence drew me in and for the first time in my life made me want something more.
Shawn’s issue had been different than mine. He had always been so preoccupied with instant gratification that he never put forth any real effort to lay down the foundation needed to build a relationship on. I was glad to hear Clive was different.
“Do you know he won’t even let me spend the night with him? Seriously? Like that’s to intimate,” Shawn explained while waving his hands around in dramatic gestures then shook his head clearing his aggravation. “I just don’t get.” I couldn’t help but giggle. “What?” he asked.
“It’s just funny,” I shrugged. “As women, we always think that it would be easier to get inside a man’s head. You know? Understand how they tick, yet here you are, a man, sharing the same thought process as all the other men and you’re still confused. If you can’t figure out men, what hope is there for all the women in the world?”
Shawn took a moment pondering my words before he started laughing with me. We were interrupted by the sound of Bubbly, coming from my clutch. I recognized it as Grayson ringtone.
My brow furrowed. “It’s Grayson.” It was a little unexpected to be hearing from him. I wondered if he was just checking to see how my first day as alady of leisurewas going for me. Shawn nodded letting me know he was okay with me answering. “Hey baby.”
“Gaby?” Grayson hissed. I could hear in that one word that something was wrong. Everything came rushing back from the night Anton had kidnapped him. The panic, the helplessness, worry, the regret, and the pain I felt when I thought I was too late.
