Chapter Eight

 

Alaina woke Tuesday morning with warm hard fingers gently massaging her breast. She moaned when the hand moved to the other at the same time Gray began to lay a trail of kisses from her shoulder to her neck. She angled her head to give him better access as he kissed and licked his way to her ear.

“How about we just stay here and enjoy each other for another month?” Gray’s sleep-deepened voice sent shivers of renewed lust through her.

How could she still need him? They had not been more than a few yards apart since Friday and she had come so many times she had lost count. They should both be exhausted or sated or dead, but she felt her cunt dampening at his touch. She also felt Gray’s shaft stirring to press into the cleft of her ass.

“Mmmm, that would be wonderful, but I have to go to work today,” she opened her eyes to check the digital clock on the nightstand, “in an hour.” In the next moment her brain fizzled out as Gray’s wandering hand eased down her body and slid between her sex-slicked thighs.

She rolled to her back, spread her legs, and urged him over her all in one motion. He thrust deep within her and she felt fireworks igniting as she lifted her legs to wrap around his back.

 

“Oh God,” she moaned as he slowly pulled from her core. “Faster. Harder. Please!” she begged, lifting her hips in counterpoint to his thrusting.

It only took a dozen strokes for her to peak. He gentled the pace, but continued on, reaching between them to stroke her clit until she climbed the mountain again. This time he followed her over, their cries harmonizing in the early morning silence.

Still connected, he rolled them so they now lay facing one another as they came down from the clouds. “You are so beautiful. I am so glad I found you,” he whispered as he gently tucked a strand of hair behind her cheek. “I’ve been looking for you for so long.”

Eyes closed, Alaina heard him and her heart clenched, but she didn’t respond. No one ever called her beautiful and, for just a moment, she doubted his sincerity. His words triggered an earthquake in her psyche, causing her to question everything she knew about herself and about him. Knowing she would cry if she stayed here, she gently eased away until their bodies separated. Then she rolled from the bed. “I have to get ready for work.”

As she crossed the room, the first tears fell and burned her face. She picked up her pace to the large bathroom.

“Alaina? Baby, what’s wrong?” Gray rose and followed her into the bathroom.

 

“Nothing,” she said as she climbed into the tub and turned on the water. She didn’t wait for it to heat up before flipping on the shower, squeaking in surprise when ice cold water drenched her.

 

Gray surprised her by climbing into the tub with her. When she tried to keep her back to him, he took her shoulders and forced her around to face him. He frowned when he saw her stricken expression. “Alaina, what’s happened? What did I say? Talk to me, baby.”

 

“I’m not beautiful. I’m not special. I’m not anything. I’m just a woman forced to wear frumpy clothes in public because I don’t have enough backbone to quit the job I hate because I’m afraid of her father. I’m just a giant spineless chicken.” With her façade shattered, Alaina began to sob.

 

* * * * *

 

Gray pulled her close, forcing her to lean against him as she cried out a lifetime of hurt. As she released all the acid-filled emotion she had lived with for so long, he silently swore that he would spend the rest of his life doing whatever it took to make her happy. She was his other half, his soul mate, his destiny. He had fallen in love with her while spying through his telescope, and knew that this was the woman he would spend the rest of his life with.

 

“Oh baby, don’t cry. It’s going to be all right, I promise. You ARE beautiful. You ARE special. I’m just sorry no one else sees that. Actually, I’m not sorry. I like the fact that I see what others are too blind to. I’m not going anywhere. I’m not letting you go,” he murmured as he rubbed her back in the hopes of consoling her.

 

It took several minutes before Alaina stopped crying. Eventually, she calmed and stood quietly with her arms wrapped around his waist. Shudders raced through her as she recovered, with her forehead resting against the center of his chest.

 

“Gray?”

 

“Yes, baby?”

 

She sighed and nestled even closer into his chest. “Nothing. Just Gray.”

 

“Okay, sweets.”

 

* * * * *

 

She felt him kiss the top of her head before he eased back to reach for the soap and washcloth. He washed her gently, but effectively, then swiped the cloth over himself. The gentle time of caring confused her, but she didn’t question it. She was too wrung out both emotionally and physically.

 

She let him dry her and even allowed him to choose her clothes for work. A pink bustier under a pink chemise with a lacy pink G-string under her new gray suit. The jacket showed off her curves and the skirt ended mid thigh, showing off her well formed legs. When he saw her pull out black ballet slippers he made a face. “Tonight we’ll go shopping for shoes. That sexy outfit needs some sexy black heels.”

 

With a smile, Alaina reached into the back of the closet and pulled out a shoe box. “Like these?” Opening the top, she slipped on black pumps. The heel was tall enough to look sexy, but not so high that she would be cursing them by the end of the day.

 

“Oh, yeah, darlin’. Exactly like that.” He stepped closer and kissed her lightly, but stepped away before lust carried them away.

 

Twenty minutes later, after coffee and toast for breakfast, Alaina paused at the front door. “I’m scared, Gray. How can I go out there looking like this?”

 

Gray laid his hands on her shoulders and looked deep into her green eyes. “You are beautiful, sexy, strong and smart. I love you now and forever. Take a deep breath and show the world what you’ve been hiding behind these closed doors all this time.”