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* * *
Gray worried the remainder of the day that Sam would change her mind. Funny, he never worried about a woman changing her mind before. If he wanted, he would just find another one. Since he’d been divorced, he didn’t look for a relationship—just random sex when he needed it, and that was that.
He received a text and took a deep breath before looking at it. He breathed a sigh of relief when it was his brother, Jamie. There wassomethingabout Sam he couldn’t put his finger on. She seemed different. His response to her was unlike anything else. He knew today his life was forever changed in that one moment, and he was clueless as to why or how it was. He was breathless and unable to look away from her, for fear if he did, she would disappear. That was one thing, but when she dropped to her knees in front of Mrs. Koeppel, Gray thought he would lose it right then and there. She looked submissive and eager to please. He had to concentrate to keep his breathing steady. When Jax leaned over and asked him if he was okay, Gray realized he wasn’t doing a very good job of it. He couldn’t help it. His body instantly responded to her.
He spent the rest of the day trying to concentrate, but he found it difficult to do so. He barely remembered his meeting with Bill and Jax. The remainder of the afternoon, Jax had unrelentingly teased him. Gray just shook his head. He didn’t know what this was, but it was powerful, and it was new and exciting, and he couldn’t wait to explore it.
* * *
Sam arrived home at five-thirty; her stomach rolled as she jumped into the shower. She took her time to make sure she was shaved and polished—not that anything would happen. She never did the casual sex thing—it seemed seedy and whorish. She needed an emotional connection with someone to have sex with them, but a girl feels better about herself when she’s ready and clean, so she went through all the motions.
She sparingly applied her makeup. Since getting older, makeup seemed to accentuate rather than hide the small lines around her mouth and eyes. Contemplating calling her best friend, Pam, to tell her about her date, she ultimately decided she’d wait to see how it turned out.
Glancing at the clock, her stomach rolled again. Placing her hand over it to settle the rumble, she strolled to her closet to pick out something to wear. She’d forgotten to ask Gray where they were going so she could dress appropriately, then remembered the little black dress rule, so little black dress it was. If Gray got here and was dressed in jeans, she could change.
She finished her outfit off with her usual—a gold bracelet and diamond stud earrings. Since she was as ready as she was going to be, she thought a glass of wine might help to alleviate some of her nervousness. She padded to the kitchen to pour herself a drink, but the doorbell rang before she got there. She took a couple deep breaths to calm herself, then another because the others didn’t seem to be working. Before she hyperventilated, she thought she’d better just stop and answer the door. Here goes …
Opening the door to the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen, she sighed. Gray stood in the doorway, wearing black dress pants and a nice white shirt—the top two buttons opened. He had his hands in his pockets and a beautiful smile on his face. Yikes! She was going to have to work hard to not make a complete fool of herself tonight. After several moments frozen in place staring at one another, Gray’s smile widened, and he said, “I didn’t want to be late and have you running around trying to find me.”
The deep sexy tone of his voice floated over her and caused goose bumps to rise on her arms.
She sucked in a breath. It took a minute to realize he was teasing her about her comment earlier today. She giggled. He cleared his throat and lifted a brow.
“Come in. I’m glad I don’t have to spend my evening hunting you down because, to be honest with you, I wouldn’t have a clue where to look.”
He walked in and glanced around the house.
She led him into the living room quickly darting her eyes around the room to make sure everything was in place. He said, “You have a beautiful home, Sam. I wondered all day what kind of home you had.”
She turned to look at him, her brows knit together.
“Is that the architect in you talking?”
He looked amused. “Partly. I was wondering about you as well, of course. After all, if I’d have gotten here only to find that you lived in some dark, damp dungeon with no windows, I may have had to cancel—afraid to come in and all.”
She laughed when she thought of him nervously walking up to a dark, damp dungeon with no windows. “Good point. I guess I never thought of that and how men probably wonder about that stuff when meeting someone at their home for the first time. I was just wondering if I had time for a glass of wine before you got here. Would you like a glass or should we get going?”
The smile on his face brought out slight dimples in his cheeks, and she had to steel herself from whimpering at the sight. “Do you always have a glass of wine before a date?”
“Well, I wouldn’t know since I haven’t been on a date in over thirty years. But, I had hoped it would calm my nerves a bit.”
His smile never wavered. “You’re nervous to go out with me?”
Sam put her head down and looked at the floor. She twisted her fingers together and let out a long breath, wishing she were better at knowing what to say and when to say it. Some people were just gifted like that. He placed his hand under her chin, gently pulling her head up to face him. Her skin was hot where he touched her. It felt like an electrical current running down her body all the way down to her toes.
When their eyes met, the sensations that skittered down her spine made her shiver. “I’m nervous, too. Every time I got a text message today, I was afraid to look at it because I was worried you would cancel on me.”
Sam opened her mouth to say something, but, once again, words didn’t come easy. “I thought about doing that. I thought you might feel relieved not to have to take me out. Mrs. Koeppel did kind of make you feel obligated. You were kind enough not to say it, but she did push.”
The light from the windows sparkled in the deep brown depths of his eyes, the dark lashes framing them a perfect complement.She could only imagine what it might be like to wake up and see them first thing in the morning. Whoa!
Sam held her breath as Gray ran the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip. Oh, my God, that made her pulse race and a tightness pull in her lower core. Still gazing at each other, she worried that if she didn’t start breathing normally soon, she would pass out from oxygen deprivation. That would impress the hell out of him, wouldn’t it? Although she was pretty sure he was used to having women swoon over him,shedidn’t want to be one of them.
* * *
Gray’s eyes swished over her lips. The need to kiss her was overwhelming. Jesus, but he was in way over his head here. He bent slowly and very gently placed a light kiss on her soft lips.
He stood up, backed up about a half a step, then offered, “I asked you out because I wanted to, not because I felt obligated, Sam. The second I walked in the door and saw you, I was stopped in my tracks. When you looked at me, your green eyes ran straight through me, and I lost my breath. Good thing Jax was behind me to run into me and make me breathe again.”
