CHAPTER ELEVEN
KATE
The first thing I felt when I woke up was my throat being so dry I might as well have been the Sahara.
Then the pounding headache came, so strong and intense, knocking on my skull over and over. I groaned, rolling around on the mattress and trying to find a comfortable position so I could sleep again and just forget the world existed for a few more hours.
The world didn’t want that, though.
The knocking continued. It took me a few seconds to realize that the knocking wasn’t just in my skull—it was also on my bedroom door, quick and firm movements that set a rhythm in my head. It took me a few more seconds to sit up, and even that had me dizzy.
“Stop knocking!” I croaked out. “The door isn’t locked!”
The knocking blessedly stopped and the door opened. I squinted my eyes as Gray stood in the doorway, eyeing me so curiously that I couldn’t help but rub my head. He looked so…chipper and bright that I couldn’t help but glare. Why was he looking so good when he had more drinks than me?
As if to rub it in, he smiled. “Good morning.”
“What’s so good about this morning?” I muttered. Then, disliking that I was being a grouch so early, I groaned again. “I’m never drinking margaritas again.”
I closed my eyes. Footsteps approached, and I heard sounds at the bedside table. The darkness made everything slightly better, so I kept my eyes closed as Gray’s voice filled the air.
“That’s aspirin and a special mix shake. Take it all in and get a few more minutes sleep. You’ll be better in no time.”
The footsteps receded and I heard the door close. I opened one bleary eye and slowly took in the aspirin and green-colored shake in a glass beside me. Then, deciding he had better experience at this than I did, I reached out for them and swallowed the pills. Then I took the shake in a few huge gulps, feeling the coldness of it hit my teeth and give me brain freeze.
It tasted like vile sludge and didn’t go down any smoother. I swallowed the revulsion and lay back in bed, closing my eyes again and trying to think of last night. Everything was a blur, but I could clearly remember one part of it all—me hitting Gray with my bag like some madwoman. That had me groaning again before I realized that any sound I made only increased the headache. I clamped my mouth shut, trying to calm myself down.
Then I followed Gray’s advice and went back to sleep.
*****
I didn’t wake up minutes later, but an hour later. To my surprise, my head was no longer pounding, and it was now only my body that was slightly tired. Feeling great about it, I quickly got out of bed and into the shower, then back out with a relatively peaceful mind. It was still early in the morning, which brought to awareness that Gray must have woken up pretty early to mix that drink up for me.
I opened the door. Immediately, a ball of fur went at me and I giggled as Chuck placed his furry head against my ankles and rubbed affectionately. He licked once, then began to bounce around like the little bundle of joy he was. I picked him up and cuddled him, asking if he’d been a good boy while we were out and getting nuzzled on the shoulder with his nose.
The scent of something delicious drifted in the air, and it was coming from the kitchen. I wandered over curiously, my mouth watering. Aha! It was bacon! I saw Gray manning the frying pan looking as fresh as ever and glancing at me and Chuck.
“Are you feeling better?”
I nodded. “Thank you. Your horrific sludge worked wonders.”
Gray burst out laughing and I grinned. He indicated to me to sit down on the kitchen island, which I did after I put Chuck down. Gray said that he’d already fed and walked Chuck, which had me raising both brows and staring at him so incredulously.
“I researched YouTube videos,” he said grudgingly—an admission that had me laughing.
“You’re cute, Denton.”
He shot me a look, then winked. “You mean I’m hot.”
I rolled my eyes. Then a troubling thought entered my mind, leaving me suddenly horrified. “Oh, my God.”
“What?”
“Did I hit on you last night?”
Gray grinned, eyeing me with such a heavy, deliberate stare that I could only stare back. Then he burst out laughing again and nodded. “If you consider hitting me with your purse, then yes.”
I groaned. “I’m so sorry about that.”
“Don’t be. I could have been a serial killer like you said. You were right to hit me.”
He turned off the stove and began to transfer food onto two plates. Then Gray turned and sat on the island’s other end, sliding the first plate towards me. My mouth watered again when I saw the bacon I’d been smelling, along with what looked like eggs Benedict and a healthy helping of hash browns. I watched as Chuck went over to Gray’s side and waggled his tail, quietly asking for attention. Gray glanced at him, then slid him a piece of bacon when he thought I wasn’t looking.
I stifled a smile and pretended not to see. Then I dug in, feeling the bacon burst on my tongue and murmuring in appreciation at how good the eggs and herbed hash browns tasted.
“You’ve got some talent,” I complimented.
Gray shrugged in amusement. “I lived alone for most my adult life. You’ve got to learn how to cook if you don’t want to load yourself with fast food.”
“Too true,” I agreed. While I was pretty good at cooking myself, Paul often relied on take-out, arguing that he worked out often enough to get rid of the calories, anyway. I didn’t agree with his method, though I still had a long way to go in convincing him to eat healthy every once in a while.
We ate in companionable silence, with Chuck moving back and forth between us to ask for food. When he was full, he strutted towards the balcony and sat to watch the ocean view, making me smile.
“I have practice in an hour,” Gray said. “Are you going to be okay?”
“Of course,” I said, waving whatever worry he had away. Despite my state last night, I could still remember that part of him telling me he needed to protect me. “I’ll be fine. Chuck and I will go to the beach later. I bet he would love that.”
Gray raised a brow. “Especially if you buy him ice cream.”
I nodded and agreed. There was something else I planned to do while Gray was away, and that was look for a decent job nearby. Just because I had savings didn’t mean I would waste my time not earning anything.
For now, I had to do my best to make a life here.
*****
A trip to the beach and some scouting later, I discovered that most workplaces in the vicinity were full and the only one that wasn’t full was a barista position that required a license—something I didn’t have. Glumly, I decided to distract myself by settling Chuck down and cooking dinner. It had always been a comforting process for me, and by the time Gray returned, the chicken was frying, and the potatoes were roasting nicely in the oven.
“What on earth smells like heaven?” Gray asked the moment he walked in the kitchen. Belatedly, he glanced as if to look around for the dog, then seemed to look more relaxed when he saw Chuck on his dog sheets, napping.
You’re a softie deep inside, aren’t you?
“My cooking,” I replied. Once the chicken pieces were fried golden, I transferred them to a plate and indicated with my hand. Then I took out the potatoes and arranged them on a separate plate and placed everything on the island. I didn’t know why we never ate in the dining room, but I didn’t question it because it was much more convenient here anyway. “Come on. Grab a plate and let’s chow down.”
“Great,” he said.
We dug in with gusto, and my ears burned at all the deep, appreciative sounds Gray made as he ate every single thing.
“How was practice?” I asked.
“It was good,” he replied.
“Oh. So you…drove?”
“Pretty much.” He speared a chicken and looked at me. “You don’t know much about racing, do you?”
I decided there was no point in impressing him, and he was so sharp that he’d catch on to any false praise, anyway. I shrugged. “I never really saw the appeal. I watched your video on my first day here. It made me fall asleep.”
“You were probably just tired,” he bemused dryly.
“Maybe. Or maybe I just found it boring,” I blurted out.
Gray snickered, obviously not offended.
“I should take you to the race tracks. You might end up liking it.”
I put a hand over my heart and mock-gasped. “And have your fangirls glare at me when they see you bring a woman? Oh, the horror.”
We eyed each other in amusement at how true that could end up. Then our conversation was interrupted when Gray’s phone beeped. His eyes read it quickly, and I watched as his smile turned into a frown. Then he cursed softly.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He sighed. “My Spanish interpreter canceled on me. Some family emergency she needs to attend.”
“Why do you need one?”
“I’m off to Spain next week for a conference and a race. It’s for charity. Damn it. She was the only reliable one.”
“How come?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“She was screened firsthand. My old interpreter said things differently and got me in trouble with the press. It’s just hard to trust anyone these days when a lot of people just want to add fuel to the media fire.”
As someone who used to work in a magazine and had firsthand experience with our sister newspaper company, I could relate. Gray’s brows furrowed as he remained deep in thought, and an idea popped into my head. I leaned over and carefully worded my question.
“So you are in the market to pay a temporary Spanish interpreter?”
“Of course.” He nodded. “Do you know anyone?”
I nodded back. Then I raised my hand, which transformed his expression from troubled to surprised. “You know Spanish?”
In response, I took out my own phone and opened an online application, one that could translate Spanish words to English and vice versa. I fired some Spanish into it, then waited for it to process and for the voiceover to say it out loud in English. Gray listened in amazement as the English phone speaker said that I would be the best Spanish translator he had if he hired me.
“Wow. Where’d you learn?”
“Magazine. Sometimes you have to self-learn to fill out some segments.”
We tried it a few more times, shooting English and Spanish back and forth. Gray glanced at Chuck.
“I could always hire a dog-sitter to see to Chuck in the meantime,” he murmured.
I clamped my mouth shut and tried not to snicker. He really was warming up to the dog, which I found precious.
Finally, Gray held out a hand, amused. “I’ll pay for your fee, ticket, and accommodations. Just translate everything properly for me.”
“Sweet. Deal?”
“We’ve got ourselves a deal,” he said. “Another one, it seems.”
I grinned, then shook his hand. This was going to be an adventure—and for the first time in a long time, I found myself getting excited. I also felt a slight tingle in my chest. Attraction. Better shake that one off.
“What do you know? We’ve gotten close enough to make lots of deals.”
In response, Gray could only laugh. His laugh warming my body in places it shouldn’t.