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“Oh yeah, Jess invited me for dinner tonight,” he says casually. Meanwhile, I keep thinking about the last time he was at my house and the list he found. The embarrassment rivalling how I feel right now.Jesus, I’m roasting.
“That’s great. Dinner. Yay!” My hands fly out to my sides and do a little jazz hand wiggle. I haven’t done a move like that since my mum forced me into taking dance classes. I hated it. I was more elephant than ballerina. Those jazz hands are once again going to cause me trouble though because the tube jolts forwards, catapulting me directly into Grayson’s chest for the second time tonight.I’ll ask again, why does the universe hate me?
“Woah there, tiny dancer,” he laughs, catching me by my waist and tugging me towards him. I’m immediately met with his scent mixed with fresh rain and coffee. I inhale, relishing the tight grip he has on my waist. I like it. A little too much. Our eyes briefly connect, and I swear, energy zaps around us.
No, Nora, this is bad, bad, bad. Do not let your lady-bits tingle for him. Why is my body suddenly so hot for him? Is it the proximity, the fact I’ve seen him more than I have in the last few months, or is it am I just incredibly weak around him? I need to chill out.
I push away from him, desperate to take back control of my wayward feelings and I wince as the wetness of my feet rub against the rigidness of my heels.
“Your feet bothering you?” he asks.
“Yeah. I usually wear trainers for commuting, but I was in a rush this morning.”
“I could always hike you over my shoulder and carry you out of here. Your stop is next.” He nods towards the board where it says, ‘Victoria Park’.
I flush, my poker face well and truly exposed to him at the thought of him throwing me over his shoulder. An awkward laugh erupts from my mouth. “Oh no, please don’t do that. I think I’ve done enough to embarrass myself tonight.”
“My personal favourite was the jazz hands,” he says with that low raspy voice that seems to be a form of foreplay for me tonight.
I slap his chest playfully, whipping those rock hard pecs again, giving myself just the right amount of touch that I crave from him. “Years of training went into those bad boys.”
“I could tell.” He grips my arm protectively as the tube judders to a stop. I look down at where he’s touching me as a hot inferno ignites at my nipples and shoots down to my desperately needy sex. He chuckles. “Purely preventative, so you don’t fling yourself at me again. Unless you want to do that, in which case I can let go.”
“Probably best you hold on tight,” I smile, wondering at what point I’m going to stop picturing him naked tonight.
Chapter 5
Nora
Myalarmbeepsincessantlyon my bedside table. My hand flies out, desperate to stop the stupid guitar music that I thought would wake me up peacefully every morning. It does not. The thudding in my head tells me that I definitely do not want to be awake right now.
Once Grayson went home after dinner, I couldn’t sleep. I was far too turned on from our train journey and then dinner with Jess and Liam, so I spent most of the night obsessing over every tiny detail of Jess’ hen do to make sure it was extra special because I’m a perfectionist. But right now, I hate that about myself because, ouch my head. I need more sleep.
I groan into my pillows before I force myself to sit up against my headboard and rub my face, hoping to bring some life back into me. If I can’t have sleep, then I need coffee. Slipping on my silk robe, tying my hair into a messy bun, my feet trudge downstairs to make the nectar of the God’s.
The buzz of London waking up slowly filters in through the ajar window in the kitchen as I flick the kettle on and pull out my favourite giant mug.
I hear a faint knock on my front door. Stretching my body before walking out through the kitchen to the hallway to answer it, I suddenly realise that I’m wearing a barely-there silk robe over my barely-there pyjamas. I wonder for a second if I should be answering the door wearing this, but I’m too tired to care right now.
As I pull the heavy door open, I’m met with familiar swirling grey eyes and an all too familiar smell of bergamot. Grayson. He looks far too sexy for this 7am wake up call, dressed in his signature all-black suit and white trainers.
Questions buzz in my head about why he’s here, but they die on my lips when I notice him openly staring at my bare legs. I try and cover myself up with my arms but realise that it’s completely pointless, and he’s seen me naked anyway, so I wrap my body as best I can and try to form words to talk to him. Although, remembering the fact he has seen me naked only serves to increase my body temperature to scorching, because right at this very moment my brain has decided to project in full 4K clarity the face he makes when he came down my throat.
He lifts his eyes to meet mine and thrusts a coffee cup at me, totally unaware of my raging hormones. “Relax, shorty, I just brought you a coffee. You were texting me to-do lists until 3am for a stag party you’re only half organising. So, I figured you might need a decent coffee to help you this morning.” He smirks, sipping his own coffee and gesturing to my outfit, or lack of. “You, uh, you always answer the door in your underwear?”
“This isn’t my underwear. These are pyjamas,” I reply croakily as he scans me over once more. My head shakes whilst I try to piece together this thoughtful side of Grayson I’ve not seen before. “Wait, you came all the way here to bring me coffee… just because?” I take the cup tentatively and sniff it just to make sure he hasn’t slipped something into it.
He scoffs, “I’m not a bad guy, Nora. I have a meeting not far from here this morning, so I just...” He pauses and looks at my face, which I’m sure has a suspicious look on it, “you know what, forget it.” He turns to walk away which is exactly when I realise, I don’t want him to leave.
“Wait.” I grab his arm, and of course this is the moment my robe flies open. “Shit,” I shout as I drop his arm and cling to the edges of my robe, knowing full well that he saw pretty much everything. Heat spreads up my neck like the ivy growing outside my house, while Grayson stares at me with eyes full of heat. He swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobs up and down, and he gently bites his lip.God, why is it so hot when he does that? Why is everything he does so hot – he’s buying me coffee and I’m inner monologue swooning.
“I’m more annoyed that you just gave meandyour neighbours a show at the same time. Next time you strip, make it just for me, yeah?” He winks and smiles another one of his charming smiles that always make me weak, but my expression is quickly schooled. I can’t fall into his quick wit and charm like I did in the past. That was just a minor blip in the road. One night of blips.
“Rude. I was going to invite you in for breakfast, but now I don’t think I will.” My stubbornness (and maybe weakness for him) side taking over, as I go to push the door closed but his foot springs out, stopping me.
“Well, now I want to know what’s for breakfast.” He nudges past me, his arm brushing against mine, sending an involuntary shiver down my spine. “Anyway, you need me. You need help with your list thing and I’m not taking no for an answer. I thought about it all night.”
I follow him into the kitchen, hoping he’d forgotten my bucket list. When he didn’t mention it at dinner last night, I was hopeful. I decide to play dumb and pray I can deter him. “You’re helping me do what, exactly?”
