Falling for Grace (Four Winds) (7 page)

"You know I can't do that.  Mom doeshn't give me that much money every month, Grace."

"Then Rafe stays.  Get over it, Brad."

He looked over at Rafe, whose jaw was tight, his eyes back on the road.

"She
mine,
mushcle man."

"I got it, Brad.  She's yours."  Rafe practically growled the words at Brad.

Grace was done.  "Pull over, Rafe."

"Why?"

"Because I'm through sitting here listening to this shit.  I don't belong to you Brad, and I'm tired of you acting like I'm your prized dog that somebody else is petting.  I can walk from here."

"Don't Grace."  Rafe's voice slipped through her angry haze, and she looked at him in the mirror again.  "We're almost to Brad's place, I'll walk you home."

"Perfect."  Brad mumbled.

"What did you expect, Brad?  You left me with Rafe while you went off to flirt with that girl, and then got so shit-faced you can't drive me home?  Would you rather I walk alone, so that he doesn't spend any more time with me than necessary?"

"No."  He sounded sullen.

“Then shut up and let us get you home.” 

"Okay."  They were silent the rest of the way, and when they got to Brad's apartment, Rafe handed him his keys, and turned to Grace.

"Do you think he needs help getting to his place from here?"

“Yeah, I got him.  Will you wait here?”

Rafe nodded, “You need help?”

She shook her head, concentrating on getting Brad up the stairs. 

At his apartment door, she leaned him on the wall and stood across from him.

“This was embarrassing, Brad.”

His glazed eyes looked at her.  “What?”

“You know.  This whole night.  You’ve been attacking Rafe all night long, and it’s not fair to him.  There was no need for you to feel so threatened, and I am not some bone for you to fight over.”

“I’m shorry Grashe…”

“I am too.  This is over, Brad.”

He looked up at her, his eyes pleading, and Grace felt nothing.  Yup.  It was time.

“What do you mean?”

“We’re done.  No more.  You screwed up, tonight.”  She turned to walk back down the stairs.

“Wait!”

“If I need to explain everything tomorrow, when you’re sober, you can call me, but I won’t change my mind.  You don’t treat people like that and expect to get away with it.  Not with me, anyways.”  She walked down the stairs to see Rafe waiting patiently at the bottom, a question in his eyes.

“Did you get him all tucked in?”

"I don't care if he sleeps in the hallway.  I'm sick of looking at him."

A small smile tugged at the corners of Rafe's mouth, as he walked next to Grace on the way home.  They didn't live far from Brad's place, it was directly across the island.  It was a walk, but not too bad, and she needed the fresh air after the testosterone riddled car ride. 

She could feel his furtive glances, could sense the satisfied smirk, and could only imagine what he was thinking.  His hand kept grazing against hers as they walked home, side by side, sending warm tingles up to her elbow with each brief point of contact.

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore.  Grace stopped walking and turned to him. 

"Don't start thinking that just because I broke up with Brad, you have a chance."

He threw up his hands in an innocent gesture, eyes wide.  "I'm not thinking anything like that Grace."  For once, his smile was gone.  "Well, maybe I am a little…but I would never try anything
now
, for heaven's sake.  I don't like you all angry and stuff."  The smile came back, teasing Grace, and she couldn't do anything but huff at him, annoyed with his easy-going attitude.  She tried not to think about his words. 

They walked along in silence, until Rafe broke it.  “You broke up with him?  Really?”

She nodded, but didn’t say anything out loud.  She didn’t really want to tell Rafe that the main reason she’d gotten so mad at Brad tonight was because he’d been so nasty about Rafe.  And Grace didn’t want to encourage him.

Grace was pretty sure she didn't have many defenses against this guy, if he tried something she would be putty in his enormous, tanned, gorgeous hands.

They walked along in silence, Grace lost in her thoughts of Brad and his inadequacies.  She had initially agreed to date him because he was okay looking and nice most of the time.  She really didn't like beautiful men.  Her mom's boyfriend was beautiful, and look where her mom was.  Still working two jobs to make sure he had enough beer for his buddies. 

Tonight though, Brad had really surprised her.  He'd never done anything like that before, and she wasn't sure what to make of it.  He was so transparent.  He was jealous of Rafe, but there wasn't really anything to be jealous of, was there? 

She turned her head and looked up at his profile in the moonlight.  His hair was pulled back into his ponytail, but there were a few wisps that she wished she could finger.  Strong jaw, prominent Adam's apple that for some reason was fascinating to her, biceps bigger around than her calves, tapered waist, and those eyes.  She noticed those last, as he turned and caught her staring.

The green of his eyes reminded her of safety and peace.  She couldn't put her finger on what it was, exactly.  But every time she sank into the depth of his eyes, she felt a serenity that she didn't want to abandon.

Maybe Brad should be jealous, she thought to herself as Rafe's eyes took on a predatory gleam.  He crooked his arm out to her, and reluctantly, she gripped the inside of his elbow, allowing herself the pleasant tingle associated with touching him.   He rested his other hand on top of hers, and Grace couldn't stop the rush of heat flowing through her body, stealing the air in her lungs.  Suddenly it was difficult to breathe.

She looked down at his hand resting on hers and noticed the veins running just under the skin.  His fingers were long and thick, making her wonder about other parts of his anatomy.  Yeah, she knew that doing anything with Rafe would be anything but casual.  It would be wild, full of frenetic energy that she wasn't sure she could handle.  Grace shook her head to clear the suddenly erotic images.

"Nice night out, isn't it?"  There was a chuckle in his voice, as if he had seen her thoughts, and she blushed furiously.

"Uh…yeah.  It is."  She forced her gaze upwards to look at the rare vision of stars in the sky.  "We don't usually see this many stars.  That's kind of odd."

The air around them crackled as they walked home, and Grace could only attribute it to this man next to her.  She felt pulled to him in a way she didn't understand.  She only knew that it meant he would change her.

Irrevocably.

She quickened her steps in an effort to get home faster and go to her room and snuggle under the covers behind her closed door.  Away from Rafe.  She wished she hadn't invited him to come tonight.  If he hadn't have come, Brad wouldn't have been such an asshole.  If Brad hadn't been such an asshole, they wouldn't be here together.  Alone.  Alone together.

Shit.

She was panting and out of breath by the time they'd gotten home, but she dislodged herself from Rafe's arm and rushed up the steps to the front door anyway.  Rafe was at her heels.

"Grace.  Wait a minute."

She turned to him and saw his eyes blaze a trail across her face.  "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For coming tonight.  If I hadn't come along, Brad wouldn't have gotten jealous.  I should have bowed out when the girls did.  Tonight being so horrible was all my fault."

He looked seriously chagrined, and she felt bad for thinking those same thoughts before.

"It's okay, Rafe.  It's not your fault.  We weren’t going anywhere, anyway."

"I know that, but I still feel bad about it."

Her finger reached for him, but stopped short of touching his chest.  Grace wanted to.  She wanted to feel it again.  Memories of bumping into him earlier in the night wafted through her mind, the feel of his chest against her…

"Don't."  She simply said, and turned to go inside the quiet house to bed.  She heard him sigh heavily and follow to his room.

In bed that night, she heard him bump around next door to her room and imagined him getting ready for bed.  She imagined him stripping off his shirt to reveal the rock hard muscles she had felt.  Her hand caressed her breast as she pictured him taking off his shorts, divulging…what kind of underwear would he have on?  Boxer briefs, thin jersey material clinging and draping in interesting shapes.  In her mind, he tossed his body on the bed, next to the wall against hers, and propped his head on his arm, thinking of her.  Her hand continued caressing her breast, rubbing the nipple between two fingers, until it was erect, pointing towards heaven.  She closed her eyes as her other hand stroked down her belly, slipping inside her panties.  Inside her mind, Rafe was doing something similar.  She lost herself to her sweet fantasies.

Chapter Nine

With reports of a storm in the Gulf,
Galveston was stocking up for hurricane season.  This was the first one of the summer, even though hurricane season had been in effect for a couple of months already, but since this was the only one with the possibility of hitting the island, people were getting prepared.  There were lines at the gas pumps and grocery stores. 

Grocery stores were running low on basic supplies, while gas stations were raising prices to make more money off the panic of residents.  The weather was still hot and sunny, but the underlying storm current had people on edge and tempers were short.  Rafe alleviated confrontation in his own way, when he could, but for the most part, he just watched in wonder.

Back at the house, things were awkward with Grace.  Rafe couldn't tell if it was things left unsaid the night before, what he'd actually said, or what they'd done in the privacy of their own rooms after they'd parted ways.

He had to admit to himself, something snapped inside him when he'd realized Grace was pleasuring herself while thinking of him.  As soon as he'd lain down in his bed, his head against the same wall as hers, he'd reached out to find her thinking of him.  The warm pleasure he'd felt had turned to pure need when he'd seen where her thoughts were.  He hadn't been able to control the sudden urge to do the same.

And it had been lovely.

Now, though, she wouldn't look him in the eyes. 

This morning, he'd purposefully timed his exit from his room to coincide with hers, and she'd mumbled an apology, before squirming around him to escape.  He'd chuckled to himself, granting her the mortification she seemed to feel entitled to.

Later, in the kitchen, Grace had been sitting on the counter top, eating her cereal, when Rafe walked in.  He reached behind her for a bowl and managed to subtly linger, inhaling her scent, clean sunshine.  When he'd retreated, he saw her flush, and grinned at her. 

"What?"

She stared at him, "What do you mean, what?"

"Why are you blushing?"

She blushed further, a deeper crimson, and her eyes darted to the floor.  "Um…No reason."  She hopped of the counter and fled to her bedroom with her cereal.  He decided to let her off the hook and didn't try anything else when she emerged from her room later to go to work.

He managed to see her that afternoon, though.  He just couldn't seem to stop himself.  On his afternoon walk about the island, he went past the lifeguard station and looked in the windows to see her running the switchboard.  She raised her eyes and met his gaze briefly, before flushing again and looking down with a wave.

Rafe had her.  He knew this.  How would he get her to figure it out?

He couldn't stifle his jubilation at her words last night.  She’d broken up with Brad.  That had to be what this feeling was.  His chest felt swelled, and his stomach fluttered, and he couldn't stop the smile that crashed across his face.  That made him incredibly happy, and he remembered what she'd said at the party.  She's said she didn’t cheat, if she found somebody she liked better than the one she was with, she'd break up with who she was with and be with the one she wanted.  Did that mean she wanted Rafe?

The next afternoon, Rafe came back to the house, after his daily wanderings around the island to see Nicole and Bree glued to the weather channel on TV. 

"Hey guys, what's going on?"

Nicole looked up at him.  "Hurricane Ethel is heading for us, and it looks like it's being upgraded to a Category Four."

"I thought it was heading towards Brownsboro?"

Bree shook her head. "It made a dipsy-doodle, so it's coming here.  My parents are freaking out, and now I have to go home."  She sighed in exasperation and rose to go to her room.

Nicole nodded in agreement.  "Mine are probably going to shit bricks too.  They were completely pissed that I stayed during the last one.  And it was just a Category Two."  She chewed on a piece of her hair.  "Are your parents like that?"

"Naw, my dad's pretty cool.  He has sort of a hands-off approach."  Rafe was nonchalant.  He didn't really know what to say about his Father, if they asked.  "Is Grace staying?"

Nicole snorted.  "Of course.  She never leaves, and her mom doesn't really care, if she even knows there's a storm headed this way.  She's got her nose stuck so far up her boyfriend's ass that she barely even acknowledges Grace."  She stood to walk to her room.  "And Grace loves to sit on the stands during the storms."  Stopping at her door, she turned to Rafe.  "You're staying, right?  You'll make sure she's not by herself out there?"

Rafe nodded, suddenly unable to speak.  After Nicole had gone into her room, leaving Rafe alone, he raised his eyes heavenward and silently mouthed, "Really?"  Heaving a sigh, he walked toward his room.  As always, he sent out a feeler toward Grace's room as he passed her door.  Usually, his probes were fruitless, as she was usually at work this time of day, but this time, he stopped short.

The pain inside her head was overwhelming, and he was powerless to resist temptation as he silently crept into her room.

He may have been silent, but the crack of light that escaped into the pitch-black room when he opened the door made Grace stir.

"Go away, please."  Her groan was pitiful and tugged at Rafe's gut.

He continued tiptoeing towards her bed.  He noticed the hospital bowl next to her on the bed and the wet washcloth over her eyes.

"Migraine?"  He asked her softly.

He was answered with a whimper.  As gently as he could, he sat on the bed next to her and laid one hand on her head and one on her shoulder.  Feeling the power build inside himself, he silently released it into Grace's body.  A slight green glow emanated from his finger tips, as the healing energy poured from them into Grace.  Her fitfulness stopped, and he felt her relax under his touch.  Unable to stop himself, he bent over her and kissed her forehead, lingering to smell the sunshine and sea that radiated off her.

"Rest," he said softly against her hair, as she expelled a long sigh of contentment.

Still silent, he rose and left her room.

The next morning, Rafe watched two of his new roommates pack up to leave and spend time with their parents.  Grace had stated calmly that she wasn't going anywhere, as long as the evacuation wasn't mandatory.  Rafe would follow her wherever she went, even though he hadn't yet told her as much.  He watched her put on a sweat suit, and raised his eyebrows at her.

"You on duty today?"

She turned to him, evidently not realizing he'd been sitting on the futon.

"No.  The lifeguard stands are closed with the beaches.  But storms are when the surfers and the fishermen come out.  It's the only time
Galveston waves get any fun."  She rolled her eyes.

"Are you scared about staying by yourself?"

She looked at him, eyes squinted with determination, which he admired.  "Not really."

Rafe leaned back on the futon, trying not to sound too eager.  "I will stay here.  I really don't have anyplace else to go."  He turned his head to look at her, attempting nonchalance.  "We could have our own hurricane party."

She stiffened next to him.  "Yeah.  Well…"  He sensed her hesitancy, but he couldn't grasp what her hesitation with him was. 

"I'll cook us up some finger foods to eat in the dark. We can play games.  It'll be fun."  He smiled at her, “Besides, Nicole told me to keep an eye on you.”  Throwing his hands up at the look she flashed him, he continued, “Not that you need looking after, I’m sure.” He could see her relax as she snorted softly, which made him relax.

Standing, she pulled her hood over her head.   She walked towards the door, saying, "I'm going to run down to the beach real quick, just to check it out.  I'll be back in an hour to help the girls finish packing their car."

"Be careful, Grace."  He felt a little silly saying that.  After all, he'd only been living here a week, but he'd known her so much longer.  And he cared for her.  She gave him a funny look, and he regretted saying anything, wondering if she could read his thoughts. 

"That's why I'm walking.  The traffic's too bad to drive right now.  I'll be safe."

After she left, Rafe stood from the futon and walked to Nicole's bedroom door, knocking softly.  "Nicole?"

She opened the door to him, and raised an eyebrow.

"Um.  I'm going to the store for stuff for the storm.  Do you guys need anything?"

"Don't think so.  But don't forget stringed tape for the windows.  We have some plywood under the house from the last one, but you guys need to tape the inside of the windows.  Insurance doesn't cover them, and the landlord will make us buy them, if they break."

"I can do that.  No problem."

"Thanks, Rafe.  You take care of Grace, okay?  Don't let her spend the hurricane on the lifeguard stand."

"Deal."

When Grace returned from the beach, more than three hours later, she was surprised to find boards already on the windows, and Rafe pacing on the porch.

"What's wrong?"

He stopped his pacing when he saw her.  His eyes had a hard look around them, and Grace was struck by how old they seemed.  His hair blew wildly around his face and tension radiated from his body.  She could see it in his stance, as if he were ready to vault over the porch railing and take off running.  His posture softened when he saw her though, and he exhaled a long sigh.

"I was worried about you.  You said you'd be an hour.  When I came home from the store and you weren't home, I didn't know if I should go look for you or not."  He raked his fingers through his long hair, which wasn't held back in a ponytail today.  It flowed just past his shoulders in unruly tangled waves.

"Well, I'm fine.  I just got caught up in watching the water."  She walked up the steps as she talked.  "It really is spectacular when we have a storm come in."  Grace looked up at the sky, noting the cloud cover.  "It'll start tonight and get bad in the morning.  Tomorrow's going to be rough."

"I think we'll be ready for it."  He opened the door for her, and Grace clapped her hands with delight when she saw what Rafe had bought.

Candles littered every conceivable surface, along with four flashlights, a couple of camping lanterns, and a battery operated stereo.  She saw a huge first aid kit on the kitchen table, as well as at least fifteen gallons of water.  When she opened the cabinets, she saw they were completely stocked with enough food to last the four of them for months.  There were board games stacked on the coffee table, as well as cards and dominos.  On the floor was nylon rope and a tool kit.  She also saw a game of Twister, which raised an eyebrow at the possibilities.

"Where did you find all this stuff?  I thought the stores were running low…"  Her voice was an awed whisper.  She honestly couldn't imagine how he'd managed to fight lines and bring home everything in a three hours.

"I have my ways."  He was being mysterious, and she had to admit to herself, the mischievous glint in his eyes was sexy.

Grace sniffed appreciatively.  "What do I smell?"

Rafe grinned.  "Nachos for tonight, muffins for tomorrow, as well as a pie, in case you have a sweet tooth.  I also have cold cuts and bread for sandwiches."  He rushed into the kitchen, like a little kid at Christmas time.  "I also got a couple of these."  Showing her a single-burner cook stove and some sterno cans.  "So I can cook for you tomorrow, if you want, too."