“I appreciate it.”
“Are we doing this?” Gray asked holding the door while Doug inspected the kitchen.
“Yeah.” Neither of them sounded very convincing.
* * * *
Gray didn’t see Alyssa at the coffee shop on Friday morning, and wondered if she was avoiding him. He caught himself looking around, expecting to see her hiding behind a street sign or something.
By Friday afternoon, he found his wanting to see Alyssa again had turned into something a bit stronger. He headed out of the office a little early and sat on one of the benches outside their building. Waiting. He pulled a magazine out of his bag so he wouldn’t look so obvious, but he couldn’t fool himself. He knew exactly what it looked like. Stalking.
He would have missed her if she hadn’t spotted him and stood in front of him.
“I’m pretty sure you’re stalking me now,” she said with her brows raised.
“Who said I was waiting here for you?”
She gave one nod and walked away. Shit.
“Okay. Hold up. I was waiting for you.” She turned to look at him. “I wouldn’t have to resort to this if you’d just given me your damn phone number.” He smiled to let her know he was joking.
“What do you want?”
“It’s Friday. I’m not really looking forward to going to a club tonight. I thought maybe you’d like to give us another go. I live nearby.”
She rolled her eyes and walked away while mumbling something that sounded like, “One night means one night.”
Gray laughed and chased after her as her heels clicked down the sidewalk.
“How about a drink? I never got to buy you a drink.”
“No thanks. I have stuff I need to do tonight.”
“We were pretty efficient together. You would still have plenty of time.”
“Look. I’m sorry, but you have the wrong girl. I don’t do any form of relationship. Whether it be marriage or going for a drink, I don’t want any of that. I just wanted to have a good time and keep going.”
“Okay. Got it. Sorry I bothered you. I feel the same way, except I didn’t have a good time.” This made her stop walking. She turned on him, scowling. “I had a fantastic time. The best time ever.” He grinned and saw the corner of her mouth twitch slightly.
“I’ll allow that. It was somewhat fantastic. I’m still not interested in a repeat. I have too much other shit going on right now.”
“Sure. Fine. I get it. Take care, Liss.”
“You, too.” And with a small smile, she ducked down into the subway.
Why did he feel so strange watching her walk away?
He shook it off and went home to get ready for the bar. He wasn’t going out with Doug this time. He had plans to meet Trent and Tiffany. Nothing was more pathetic than being the third wheel. Hopefully, it wouldn’t stay that way for long.
He sighed, remembering how easy it had been to talk to Alyssa. How direct she was. Her honesty was even more of a turn-on than her long legs and size Cs.
“So you said you went out Wednesday?” Trent asked with his head cocked to the side. “It’s been a while since you’ve done that.”
“Yeah. It turned out great though. I met this woman who was funny and hot.”
“Wow. A funny, hot woman at a club,” Trent said with a wink at Tiff who had once been just a funny, hot woman at a club, but was now the love of Trent’s life.
“Her name was Alyssa, Liss. She actually works in my building.”
“That must be awkward,” Tiffany said as she pushed her fries toward Trent to share. Gray wished he had someone to share fries with.
“It’s not awkward. Well, except that I’d like to see her again and she keeps blowing me off.” Trent and Tiffany giggled at his comment, causing him to roll his eyes at their immaturity before laughing himself.
Two hours later, Gray bought another pitcher and sat down at the table.
“What’s going on?” Trent asked.
“What do you mean?” He looked at the pitcher as Tiffany filled her glass. “Were you ready to go?”
“No. We just figured you would be.”
As much as he hated feeling like a third wheel on their date, he wasn’t ready to go home. He shrugged and poured himself another beer.
Eventually, he had no choice but to go back to his apartment alone. He wasn’t even drunk enough not to mind it. He sprawled out on the sofa to watch television and fell asleep there, pretending it was an accident rather than the truth: he didn’t want to sleep in his empty bed.
While Jade hadn’t stayed at his place often—maybe that should have been a sign—he hadn’t been alone. Spending the evening with Trent and Tiff forced him to see the truth.
He was a relationship guy. As many times as it hadn’t worked out, he wasn’t willing to give up. His parents made it look so easy.
Maybe Gray was making this more difficult than it was. His mother and father had met when they were both dating other people. Trent met Tiff in a club and wasn’t expecting to fall in love. The right person might start out as a one-night stand. Again, his thoughts turned to Alyssa, but he quickly shook them off. She’d made it very clear she didn’t want the same things he did.
The next night, he was determined to do better. It was Saturday. He put some effort into his clothes, and even put some crap in his hair so it would look like he didn’t care about his hair.
He wasn’t going to go out on the search for a girlfriend, he was simply going to meet someone and let it turn into whatever it was supposed to be. He sat down at the bar beside an attractive redhead. When she looked his way he smiled.
“I’m Kelly.”
“Grayson.”
“What do you do?” she asked next. He and Alyssa hadn’t bothered to ask what the other person did for a living. Though looking back, that discussion might have prepared them for what happened the day after they’d been together.
Alyssa had said it didn’t matter where they worked. The only thing that had mattered was if he could get her from point A to point B. He’d accepted the challenge.
“Accountant.”
“You don’t look like an accountant,” she said with a laugh.
“What do you do?” He went along with normal protocol.
“I’m a life coach. Or I’m going to be.”
“That sounds interesting. What kind of training do you go through to become a life coach?”
“I don’t need any training. I’m a natural.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I can meet someone and know what they should be doing.”
Gray thought she might have life coach mixed up with palm reader, but he smiled and went along with it.
“And what should I be doing?”
“Definitely not accounting. In fact, you should walk into your office on Monday and quit that job. I can tell it doesn’t make you happy.” Grayson blinked. Accounting made him more than happy. It also made him a lot of money, which he enjoyed. Something else he enjoyed was having a roof over his head, which seemed in direct contrast to her plans.
“Actually, I like my job a lot.”