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Nine
Best Decision orHugeMistake?
Byron
To his surprise but even more unexpected, hisdisappointment,Byron hadn’t heard back from Vannah since Saturday morning. After their short back and forth about her and her friend’s appreciation for what he’d done, she hadn’t texted him again. Since she had mentioned she’d be doing laundry that morning, he’d sort of expected to have heard back from her about his clothes by now. She had seemed eager to get them cleaned up and back to him. But here it was almost noon on Monday and still nothing.
Frowning as he tried to focus on his work, Byron chided himself inwardly. If anything, he should be grateful she obviously wasn’t looking for excuses to chat even via text. His ass needed to stop thinking about it already before he gave into the idiotic temptation of textingher. It’d already been determined that getting involved with her would not be a good idea. Even if just in afriendlyway like she admitted was theonlyway she got involved with anyone. He was only grateful now that unlike Vannah and her friend, he sucked at cyber stalking. He’d stupidly given into the temptation, now that he knew her name and a little more about her to do what they had and try to find out more about her. But he’d come up with nothing and thankfully he came to his senses and cut that shit out real quick.
Byron had finally managed to get lost in his work when he got the text. Nine and Orlando were at a car auction and Byron was expecting an update about what they might’ve scored. So, he’d fully anticipated the text to be from one of them. Instead, he nearly swallowed his gum when he saw the name on the text preview. Clicking on it a little too quick he took a deep breath before reading it.
Heya, will you be at work today? Your clothes are ready.
Aware that he was already smiling too big, but was incapable of doing anything about it, Byron responded to let her know he was already there. He wondered if she knew he lived right above the shop. That even when he was home, technically he was still at work. His phone buzzed again and once again he quickly clicked the text and read it.
Perfect. You’ll be there for at least another hour, yes? I can stop by then and drop them off.
Trying to keep his cool and make less of this than his pounding heart was already doing, Byron responded with a simple,see you then. As he rushed off to the bathroom to rinse off his dusty face and wash his greasy hands, he chuckled when he looked in the mirror. Keep his cool? What a joke. She said an hour. What the hell was wrong with him? He ran a wet hand through his hair and then dried his hands shaking his head.
Determined he was going to be cool when she got there, take his clothes back and just be done with it, he walked back out into the lobby of the auto shop. Not wanting to get all mucked up again before she got there, he worked on the schedule instead. After what felt like the longest hour of his life, he saw her pull into the parking lot. He half expected her to be with Xochitl, but to his relief she was alone. As busy as the shop stayed, he was grateful he’d been enjoying one of those rare moments where the lobby was empty, and all the guys were working on something outside.
Running his hand through his hair again, he watched as she stepped out of her car holding a paper bag in one hand and her purse in the other. She closed the driver side door but then opened the back door and pulled something else out. Byron had been too caught up with her long legs and the very high wedge sandals she wore, he didn’t immediately notice what she’d pulled out of the backseat.
Gulping at the sight of her making her way to the shop door in her short denim shorts and those hot ass shoes, Byron once again attempted to be cool. He focused on that other thing she was holding. Best he could make of it from where he was standing, was that it appeared to be an aluminum tray of some kind covered with foil. She stuck his clothes in an aluminum pan?
“Hey,” she said smiling beautifully as she walked into the lobby.
“Hey.” Byron’s eyes zoomed in on the slightest peek of her midriff just above her shorts button.
While the soft lavender crop top didn’t quite reach the top of her shorts, allowing for just a tease of her soft skin underneath, it was nowhere near as short as the one she’d worn at the gym the day he’d seen her with the meathead.
“Here you are.” She handed him the paper bag she was holding.
Shaking off the reminder of her and the meathead at the gym before he could start unreasonably grinding his teeth, Byron took the bag with his clothes.
“Thanks.”
Focusing instead on the tray she held in her other hand, he glanced at it curiously then at her. Already her face tinged with color and she cleared her throat. “Xochitl and I thought we should get you a little something as a gesture of our gratitude for what you did Friday night.” Immediately feeling panicked, Byron started to protest that they didn’t have to, but she went on quickly. “Oh, it’s nothing big. We had no idea what you might be into, but we figured everyone is into food. It’s just a small tray ofenchiladas suizas.” She shrugged smiling sweetly. “Kind of my specialty. So, really it was no trouble at all.” She handed him the tray that wasn’t a small tray at all. “The tray is still kind of hot. I prepared them last night but didn’t put them in the oven until I text you to make sure you’d be here.”
Byron took the tray and peeked inside under the foil. They looked and smelled heavenly. “You made these yourself?”
Not sure how much longer he could watch her blush before he took her face in his hands and kissed it, Byron smiled at her timid expression, glad now that his hands were full.
“I did.” She smiled with a nod. “Xochitl would’ve helped, but she can barely toast her bread without setting off the smoke detectors.” She giggled making Byron smile even bigger. “I made them, but she was on cleanup duty. So, itwasa team effort.”
Taking in the enchiladas again, Byron noted just how many she’d made. “This isn’t a small tray, Vannah. That’s a lot of enchiladas. You sure you don’t want to take some back with you?”
“Oh, no.” She shook her head indulging him with that sweet yet nervous laughter again. “Xochitl made sure I made enough for us too. I figured since I’d be dropping them off at your job, you might want to share with your co-workers.” She glanced out to where the guys were working. “Trust me, I’ve cooked for enough guys to know all about how much they can grub. I made sure to make enough.”
Glancing back at him, their eyes met and her previously bright eyes widened in question—oralarm.It wasn’t even until that moment, that Byron realized how hard his expression had gone. Fortunately, before his dumb ass could start up again with any stupid and unwarranted remarks, she added more to that last comment that shouldn’t have been so unreasonably annoying.
“I have two brothers and lots of cousins,” she explained quickly making Byron feel like an asshole for evidently making her feel like she needed to. “My brothers have been known to eat an entire tray like that on their own.” She laughed softly again but it sounded forced now, nervous. “Not in one sitting of course. But entire trays that size have gone missing from the fridge in less than a day when they’re home all day.”
Feeling the tension ease up, not just from the initial comment but from his ridiculous reaction to it, Byron forced a smile. “Yeah, I’ll have to think about whether or not I want to share with these guys. Knowing them, they’ll tear through the tray in minutes.”
She smiled a bit more naturally this time. “Well, I don’t want to take up too much of your time—”
“You’re not.” He walked around the counter with the tray. “I’m taking a break right now. As a matter of fact.” He opened the drawer where they kept boxes of plastic cutlery and pulled out a fork. “I think I’ll try these right now. Have you had lunch?”
