Worth Every Cent (Worth It 2)

“Stay here until the lights are gone,” I said.

“Michelle.”

He gripped my arm again, but I pulled away from his grasp. He wasn’t the settling down type. There was no reason for me to spend time around him to try and convince myself of anything different.

No matter how much I wanted him to be.

“Have a good night, Gray.”

“Can I at least give you a ride somewhere? To wherever you’re staying?” he asked.

“What part of ‘stay here until the lights die down’ don’t you understand?” I asked.

“I’ll be fine. We’ll take the long way back to my car. Wherever you’re headed, I can’t let you walk there in the middle of the night.”

I wanted to say no, but the idea of prolonging my encounter with him sounded wonderful. I was ashamed to admit it, but I couldn’t lie to myself. So instead of pushing him away again and heading back up the sidewalk, I nodded my head and watched him grin.

Then he offered me his arm and I willingly took it.

Chapter 7

Grayson

I felt myself filling with an excitement that was hard to contain. Michelle was talking with me, had accepted my apology, and was now walking arm-in-arm with me back to my car. She even let me give her the small gift of taking her wherever she needed to be taken, which meant I’d get a look at where she was so I could find her later. We walked around the block, our steps timed together as small talk passed between us.

She must be working in town now and had apparently covered herself in sodas somehow.

“Here we are,” I said.

“You had an SUV last time,” Michelle said.

“And I have a convertible this time. Get in and give me directions so I can get you back home.”

Opening her door, I help her as she slipped in. I couldn’t help but take in how perfect she looked in the leather seat of my rental car. A convertible with its top down suited her, even if her hair was covered in soda and her clothes were stained a light brown. I slipped into the driver’s seat and pulled out of the parking space with everyone oblivious as to who we were. That was what happened when drunken brawls busted out in bars around here. Even the police on-call had thrown back a few too many to care about their surroundings.

“Take a left right here,” she said.

“I’m glad you solved your housing issue,” I said.

She nodded her head but didn’t respond, and I figured I’d said the wrong thing again. I did that a lot with her. I was smooth with every other woman on the fucking planet except her. I gripped the steering wheel as she pointed her finger to the left, not even bothering to grace me with her voice any longer.

I wondered if I could convince her to come stay with me at Anton’s again.

Even if I wanted to, it wasn’t a good idea. I was supposed to be working on the place and cleaning it up so it could be sold. Not settling into it and playing house with a cute local. But still, the invite was on the tip of my tongue as she pointed me towards a rundown ranch-style home with what appeared to be two main doors.

I tried not to crinkle my nose in disgust as I pulled up to the front of it.

The house wasn’t even fit for a homeless man to live in. The roof was sunken in and the bricks of the foundation were crumbling away. It looked as if the house sat on a little tilt and the right-side door didn’t quite shut all the way. One of the windows was broken and the only thing settled over it to keep the elements out was a stained yellow sheet.

Or maybe it had been white at one time.

Who the hell even knew at that point?

“Thanks for the ride,” Michelle said.

I didn’t want to see her go, especially if I was relinquishing her to that rotted old house.

“Any time,” I said.