Ginny
Mama yelled at me so loud on the phone that by the time I was done, or she was if I want to be brutally honest, I didn’t even have to ask her to that damn party, she demanded and invitation.
I struggled so hard not to laugh I snorted the coke Blay gave me out of my nose and had to run it under water to stop the burning. Ing was boasting like crazy, Mari who seems to be avoiding Gray like the plague tried to shove her key light up my nose because she read somewhere that strange things in there can cause some type of brain eating fungus-don’t ask-and Rox was playing soccer and kicking some serious butt.
All in all I had a really good day, overshadowed only by that kiss Blay planted on me earlier, which I could not stop thinking about. Now sure, I may not be a sexpot or anything but I have kissed guys before. A lot of guys really since it’s the only thing I’ll let myself do and I reckon I may as well be an expert at it.
Nothing before compares to that kiss though. It was soft, sweet, completely PG and had my girl parts melting in a way that makes my skin feel hot.
I haven’t and can’t stop thinking about it. Not with the way he’s been watching me all day, giving me little touches here and there and completely bowled me over with his charm and sense of humour.
I may be a little shy but the man just doesn’t seem to care one wit. He talked to me all afternoon while the girls challenged the guys to soccer. He made me talk too and before I knew it I was telling him all about myself, from my childhood down the sad truth that I never went to college because I still have no clue what to do with my life.
I walk dogs. Sit dogs. I wait tables. I once worked in a bar until I got fired for breaking too many glasses. I’ve cleaned houses, had a day long stint as a nanny before that mom fired me for telling her child that Santa isn’t real and I’ve scaled fish until papa canned my butt for lecturing his boss about over fishing and the state of our oceans.
He listened to it all, chuckled a lot, dug for more and then informed me that it’s really okay not to care too much about those kinds of things when life is short.
I told him it’s easy for him to say what with a rich family who doesn’t hassle him about his choices and swiftly apologized when I discovered that Blay and his friends all rejected their family money and started their business by working construction and then built things up through sound investments and a lot of hard work.
Sheesh, I never knew I was such a prejudiced idiot but it turns out mama’s rubbed off on me more than I’m comfortable with.
Through it all though, most definitely when he laid out on the grass and put his head in my lap, I thought about that kiss and started plotting ways to get more.
And not just kisses. Like groping and fondling and other stuff that would make my Catholic mother have a stroke.
“So, the party,” I eventually say, just to distract myself before I offer to show him my business end and beg him to touch it. “I don’t even know what to wear to some fancy party.”
Blay opens his blue eyes and looks up at me, purring when I subconsciously stroke his hair.
“Don’t stop.” he murmurs when I jerk away and I acquiesce because frankly, I want to touch him.
His hair is so silky and soft and I love the sounds he makes when I scratch my nails over his scalp, his eyes drooping as he groans.
“Wear your pink dress and the sneakers.” He says simply.
“I can’t wear that.”
I don’t usually give a fig about what people think of me or my clothing choices but I find myself reluctant to embarrass him and that makes me nervous. Real nervous because it tells me that I care about a man I haven’t know a full twenty four hours yet. I shouldn’t like him this much, this soon and yet I do.
I like him so much that it makes my tummy knot. And I have to meet his family. I bet they’ll hate me on sight and for a fact, they will be horrified by my family. I love them and I’m horrified most of the time.
You ever watch that show Shameless? That’s my kin. They have no filter, of any kind and I can just imagine the spectacle they’ll present. Not that I’m backing out because wrong as it is, my fear and love for them will in no way hinder me from seeing mama’s face when she gets a load of Cece George and her high faulting ways.
I haven’t even met the woman and I just know I won’t like her either. I hate that she’s so selfish she got her own son’s birthdate wrong. Blay laughed when he told me that story but it just ticked me off.
“Tink, wear the damn dress and your sneakers. Please. I loved it when I saw you for the first time and my Aunt Char will love it even more. And be yourself okay. I don’t want you or any of your family walking around on eggshells. If people don’t like it they can’t fuck off.”
Heart cramp.
“Really? Because I have a habit of just blurting things out and mama says it’s a failing.” I say softly, digging my fingers deeper into his hair.
“Really.”
“You invited my family to piss your mom off didn’t you?” I giggle, feeling lighter and now able to appreciate how diabolical Blay and Gray are.
And I like that. I may not be all that assertive with people, I hate making them feel bad and I’m too nice for my own good but I can appreciate the qualities I don’t have in others and I can’t wait to see mama and Mrs. George square off. My money’s on mama.
“Yeah,” he says sheepishly, biting his lip. “But I also did it because I figure if you and I are going to be an item they should meet sooner rather than later.”
“What?” I ask, my hand freezing in his hair.
Blay sighs again, only this time he seems resigned and takes my hand, keeping us in that position before I can scramble away.
“I want to be with you Tink.”
“Stop. And stop calling me that. Why do you call me that?” I ask nervously, settling down only when I realize struggling won’t get me anywhere.
Blay’s too strong and maybe, just maybe I don’t want to get free. The thought is ridiculous but I can’t deny the semblance of truth in it when his hand stroking mine calms me and sets my nerves tingling.
I want Blay. I’ve already admitted that. The man is handsome, very, very handsome and he’s been so sweet and funny and nice to be around. For me that is something unheard of because men, on the few dates I’ve been on usually end up criticising me for something.
I’m too short.
I dress weird.
I say the wrong things.
And my personal favorite, ‘you’re too nice Ginny’. One guy told me that after he declined my advances for a second date. Apparently he just didn’t find me sexy after I nursed him through a vomiting spell at the restaurant he took me to and then to make it worse, I drove him to the freakin hospital too.
In Ing’s car that she’d lent me. I had to pay for valet cleaning after he spewed everywhere and she still won’t forgive me because when it rains or gets too hot, that car smells like the back end of an alley cat.
So yeah. It’s nice having Blay to talk to and show interest in me because he’s nice and I like him. A lot. I will say it again and a hundred times more. I really like him. But this…
“But you are my Tink, baby. The first time I saw you, you looked like a fairy flitting about among the mortals. You looked so cute I didn’t believe my eyes at first. Then you started yelling at Jack and I swear I almost melted. I like you. I like you so much I chased a freaking cab to get to you and wanted to cry when you got away before I could meet you.”
“You, you saw me?” I ask, thinking back to that conversation Jack and I had.
God! I was lecturing him while he sassed me, I think, groaning as a blush hits my cheeks. Again. All I do around Blay is blush and it’s driving me crazy.
Blay laughs and squeezes my hand.
“Yup. And then you came back. I just about broke my neck getting down there when my guys started yelling at me that you were back, and when I saw your face…you’re beautiful Tink. And unique. And funny, and you have a family that is just plain weird but I like it. Please just give me a chance. We can date and have fun together.” He pleads, making me swallow.
“Fun? Like sex?” I croak, looking away when his eyes become too intense to hold his stare much longer.
Ing is slamming into Rus and fighting him for the ball while Rox hoots and Mari keeps dodging Gray. They’re all oblivious to my dilemma at the moment and for that I am glad because I need to think about this without Mari rolling her eyes, Ing growling at me to stop being a baby and Rox, her sad disappointment always kills me.
Blay goes still beneath me and his eyes go hot, staring straight into me with so much…need I feel my breasts go heavy as something unfurls in my tummy.
“Yes, Tink. Sex. Making love. Spending Sunday morning’s in bed while I read the paper and you eat whatever you feel like eating. I want time with you for all of it from just talking and goofing around to hot sex that will make our toes curl. Give me a chance.” He pleads, settling my hand over his heart.
Oh hell. I can feel it racing beneath my palm, his breathing choppy. It makes my chest ache to see all that hope so openly vulnerable to me but what really seals my fate is the silky feel of his skin under mine.
The man literally has no body hair.