Janie went home, Gray went to do stuff Gray had to do and I unpacked a bit, made the bed, but I was supposed to be at work at eleven and I was.
And that was, essentially, it for my week.
But that was everything.
My life hit a pattern unlike any it had had before.
I went to the general store for cleaning stuff and the department store for a shower curtain.
I spent my mornings cleaning, doing my minimal unpacking, popping to the store and putzing around.
At work I was mostly a waitress but also made some drinks. My hours were eleven to eight. It was not taxing and considering I could make change quickly on the fly and found I had a head for memorizing orders, even complicated ones, I took to it by the second day. Janie was thrilled.
So was I. My shift meant I worked the lunch and dinner crowd and I was right, the bar was way more populated during those times. Tips were nothing to sneeze at and I cannot explain how unbelievable it felt every day to have cash in my purse and know the next day I’d earn more.
Earn it.
I loved it.
My first day, Gray came in for dinner on my shift and then went upstairs with me after it so he could deliver an old TV he got for me from somewhere. Then we made out on my couch and before it got too heated, he went home.
The second day, Gray came in half an hour to the end of my shift, I stayed another half an hour to sit next to him, drink a beer and shoot the breeze with Janie. Then we went to my room, made out on my couch and before it got too heated, he went home.
The third day, Gray came in half an hour to the end of the shift, he took me to his place after it and we watched TV with Grandma Miriam who had not thawed even a little bit toward me. Then Gray helped her get to bed, he came out, we made out on his couch and then he took me home before it got too heated.
This went on until yesterday, my first day off, Gray met me at the diner for breakfast then he took me to his place to start teaching me how to ride a horse.
But after he got a docile mare saddled up and we were about ready to walk her out so Gray could show me how to climb on, he gave me a new pair of gloves he bought for me.
They were beautiful; a sandy suede with attractive stitching and they were lined with soft rabbit fur.
I looked at the gloves then him then the gloves then I decided, instead of bursting into tears seeing as he was the first person to give me a gift since Casey and I made our getaway, I would throw myself at him.
So I did.
Gray caught me and since there was no Grandma Miriam in the stables, no work the next morning, no nothing, we ended up (seriously!) in a haystack and Gray gave me the best present in the variety of presents he’d been giving me.
Lips on my lips, tongue in my mouth, body pressed to the side of mine, hand in my jeans, his long, strong fingers working magic, he gave me my first-ever orgasm.
It was amazing. Mind-boggling. The fact was, after having it, it was so spectacular I couldn’t focus on his face for at least a full minute.
And when I did that handsome face was grinning at me in a way that was so sexy I nearly had another one.
And it also hit me that he gave me that and he didn’t get his own.
“What about you?” I whispered.
“I’m inside you for the first time, dollface, it’s not gonna be on a bunch of hay.”
The hay was warm and I liked the smell of it but it was also scratchy and although the air in the stables was not as cold as outside, it wasn’t toasty warm either.
Therefore, I saw his point.
So we got out of the hay and he gave me my first horseback riding lesson.
I was pretty good, Gray even said so.
But what he gave me in the hay started something. Something I wasn’t experienced enough to understand fully but intuitively I felt that he liked giving it to me, he liked what he saw when he did and because of that, the floodgates opened.
A week of making out, heavy petting, getting used to him, his taste, his smell, his hands, his body, discovering all of that was fantastic. I loved every second. But I would understand after he gave me what he gave me in the hay that, before, he had it under stringent control.
Because, after, that control was gone.
And, it must be said, it probably helped that him giving me that, knowing what that felt like, how beautiful it was and wanting more of that from Gray, my control was gone too.
All day yesterday after our time in the hay, when his eyes dropped to my lips, he didn’t drop his head to touch his to mine. He dropped his head, his mouth hit mine, his tongue drove into my mouth and then we went at each other like there was no tomorrow. He’d press me against the wall, the counter, take my hand and drag me out of a room his Gran was in and there he’d press me against a wall and lay a hot and heavy one on me. Lots of tongue, lots of hands and it felt like, for the both of us, it took a mammoth effort to pull away.
I loved it. I loved that he liked touching me, tasting me, holding me and letting me know he did. And I loved doing those things to him.
In fact, I loved everything.
I loved Mustang.
I loved my little room even though there wasn’t much to it, not even personality (yet). It still was mine and for a girl who carried everything she owned in a bag, that room was a huge step up.
I loved Janie. I loved my job. I loved our customers. I loved having cash in my purse. No, I loved having cash I earned in my purse and the way I earned it being normal, real not to mention legal.
I loved making coffee in the morning from my coffeemaker, pouring it in my cup (well, ones I’d borrowed from Gray but still, I’d have my own soon) and standing by the window at the front, watching the town of Mustang wake up. I loved pouring my own cereal using my own milk. I loved going to the corner market on the square to get bits and pieces. I loved going to sleep in a bed I knew I’d go to sleep in the next night, and the next, and the next.
And then there was Gray who I loved most of all.
Truly, completely…I fell hard and I didn’t mind the fall, it didn’t hurt a bit so I stayed down.
Since I was going to church with them and I spent all day at Gray’s yesterday, instead of taking me back into town only to go back in and pick me up in the morning, I crashed in his guest bedroom.
And I spent half the night trying to find sleep instead of throwing back the covers, wandering down the hall, finding Gray and convincing him to disrespect his grandmother in their home.
Luckily, I succeeded in this endeavor.
But I had the feeling that it wouldn’t be long before I had Gray, all of him, and I…could not…wait.
I looked at myself in the mirror and even to me, taking in my swollen lips, dreamy eyes; I saw that I looked happy.