Tessa
I was killing two birds with one Thorne. That was Laura’s theory. Because a few nights ago, during girls’ movie night with Laura, Paul called again. And I was so distracted with Patrick Swayze teaching Baby how to dance (his hands on her hips got me every time) that I forgot to check caller ID.
A big mistake because Paul asked me out to dinner (my favorite Asian fusion restaurant, darn it). I politely declined, but Laura was afraid if he kept hanging around, that I might cave. I didn’t think I would, but then she pointed out it had been a long time since I’d slept with a man. She had a point because it had been over three years.
“Now that you mention it, I miss having a healthy sex life.” I shrugged. “Although maybe sex isn’t as good as I remember it. Is it?”
“That depends. How was Paul in bed?” Laura had asked. “I don’t need any details. I just need to know on a scale of 1 to 10, where was he?”
“Well again, I don’t have much to compare him to, but the sex was…nice.”
“Nice? No wonder you’re having trouble remembering it. Only ‘nice’ leaves us a little bit of room I think, but you might as well start with an expert. The way I figure it, Paul is a case of the flu you do not want to have again. And Gray Thorne can be your flu shot.”
“My flu shot?”
“Right. Until flu season is over. I mean, until Paul stops coming back around.”
So we’d come up with the idea of having Gray redo the interior of my van. Which I’d been putting off. The theory was both of us would get done: me and my van.
* * * *
When I opened the door to let Gray in, his blue eyes snagged mine and an electric jolt arced through me. Like lightning in a summer storm that blows out a generator and knocks out power for hours. I wasn’t anywhere close to ready when it came to dealing with Gray Thorne. Which meant I was sure to get another visit from Awkward Tessa.
“Hello again, Ms. Madigan.” Gray’s friendly smile let me know he came here without any leftover animosity from our last thorny meeting. Or he was an ace at hiding it.
“Please, call me Tessa. I hope you don’t mind about working on a van interior.” I had my fingers deep in Sully’s fur while I focused my gaze on Gray’s eyebrows in my attempt to avoid the power of his blue eyes. “I thought it might be a creative way to see if we can work together. That’s all.”
His eyes flicked down to where I was clinging on to Sully. “I don’t mind at all. It’s not every day I get to tackle a unique project like a van. It’s every man’s dream to pimp out a vehicle.”
“Great. I appreciate it.” I waved my hand in the general direction of the driveway. “Should we go take a look?”
“Absolutely,” Gray said, standing back to let me lead the way.
My newly painted van sat in the driveway behind my new-to-me used Volvo. My father had helped me pick the car out and even drove it home for me where it had been sitting, untouched since that day, in my carport. Looking at the car made my stomach clench, so I quickly pulled my gaze off it and over to the van. Focus on the next step forward. Right now I only had to worry about the van.
For the van, I’d chosen a soft sky blue background with an adorable three-foot image of my cute little Sully. In an arch over his head like a dark turquoise rainbow, it read, Bow Wow Meow, Tessa’s Mobile Pet Treats.
“A food truck for pets? Interesting. Seems like an untapped market,” Gray said. “How’s business?”
“Well, it’s a brand new business I’m just getting off the ground.” I grabbed hold of the handle on the van’s side sliding door and dragged it open.
“You bought an old wheelchair accessible van to refurbish?” Gray leaned his upper body inside for a good look. “Why don’t you tell me what you need in the van, and I’ll snap a few pictures, and then we’ll take it from there.”
I nodded, setting Sully down on the driveway. Sully barked once before jumping up into the van, quickly settling into the space next to the driver’s seat. He swiveled his head around to me and barked again. It was his “let’s go, mom” bark.
“Looks like your dog thinks he’s going somewhere.”
“He likes to visit...his friends. Quiet, Sully.” He probably thought we were heading to the rehab facility where we’d always gone in the van. Only Gigi had driven; not me. Since Gigi had stopped driving a few months ago, I’d begun taking an Uber everywhere. “As far as what I’d like for the van, here’s what I’m thinking… I’d like to have an opening for a customer service window, similar to an ice cream truck.”
“I guess a used ice cream truck would have been pricier, even if you have to reconfigure this van. This will get you better gas mileage anyway.”
“This van was already in our family, so it made sense to work with it.” I took a deep breath. Because honestly, repurposing the wheelchair accessible van for my mobile dog and cat treat business was important to me. Like a phoenix from the ashes. A rebirth.
“It makes sense,” Gray said with nod. “So what are you thinking? What do you need in this van?”
“I was picturing a stack of trays for my baked goods. Sliding trays that I can access easily. Maybe four or five of them.” I closed my eyes and called up the plans that had been forming in my head for the past year. The plans that had given me something to strive for. The plans that inspired me to keep going even on the bad days. “Maybe right behind the driver’s seat.”
Gray pulled a tape measure from the back pocket of his jeans, measuring the inside width of the van. “Easily two feet to work with. That leaves you plenty of space for the center aisle.”
“Next, I need a refrigerator and freezer compartment for the ice cream. Also to keep the icing on the biscuits and birthday cakes from melting.”
Leaning back to check the paint job again, Gray said, “This is for dogs, right?”
I nodded. “Yep. People like to pamper their pooches. And their kitties.”
“I had no idea.” He frowned slightly. Not like he didn’t believe me, but like he couldn’t imagine a birthday cake or ice cream for a dog.
“In the back”—I stepped into the van, moving to the rear to show him—“ideally, I need storage space for bags of food, plus space for two full-sized dog crates.”
His frown deepened and he scratched his jaw.
“Oh, and if possible, I’d love to have a ramp I can extend from the back and a portable bathing station on wheels. One that can be rolled down the ramp to use outside.”
“Sounds like a lot more than a simple mobile pet treat business.”
Well, he was right. It was. But I was trying to cover all the needs a home-bound patient with a pet might have. I’d been lucky. I’d had family to help me. Some people had to face their rehabilitation alone. That’s when being able to take care of a pet is vital. Food, bathing, nail clipping, and getting a pet to the vet.
“I plan to start wide by covering a few bases, and see what part of the business feeds the most needs for my customers.”
“Huh.” Gray’s gaze stopped roaming the van and focused on me. The morning sun had topped the neighbor’s trees and now lit up Gray’s eyes, making them look like blue and silver kaleidoscope prisms. “Don’t you mean what returns the most profit?”
“Right. I guess I figure if I provide what people need that will lead to the best profits.”
“Not necessarily,” he said. Then shrugged. “But since you don’t have to worry about overhead, you probably have a bit of wiggle room to experiment. Anything else on your wish list?”
“Oh, sure. That was just to get started.” I moved back over to the door to exit the van, but made the mistake of looking into his eyes, and they tripped me up. I would have tumbled face-first onto the driveway if Gray hadn’t had fast reflexes.
He caught me in his arms, drawing me up against his body. Our faces were inches apart. Eyes, lips, breaths. I froze, my palms feeling his heat where they pressed against the hard muscles of his chest. And the voice in my head whispered, “Finally home.”
The scary thing was—it felt like it. His gaze caught mine, and I had trouble looking away. His effect on me was magnetic. I wanted to rub up against him and say yes to anything and everything he suggested. What the heck? Sure he was the best looking man I’d ever seen, but it was more. Much more. Something at the cell-level that was pulling me closer.
“Tessa?” His hands tightened on my upper arms.
“Yes?” The blue of his eyes and the subtle scent of him (which I think was one part cologne, one part sexy man, one part Taser to my lady parts) tag-teamed me. I was ready to surrender. Everything.
“If you put your feet down, you can stand.”
“My feet?” I did a quick head to toe mental body check to discover when I’d fallen, I’d wrapped my legs and feet around Gray. Which put my pelvis against his. Welcome to the party, Awkward Tessa.
“Your feet, yes.” He was grinning at me, his eyes showing his humor in the situation.
That grin had me unwrapping myself faster than a banana cupcake disappears (aka: very fast! Especially if it has cream cheese frosting!). I quickly had my feet on the ground and had stepped back out of his airspace. I was flustered and backed up into the van, hitting the back of my head against the door. “Ow.”
Which had both Gray and Sully jumping forward in concern.
“Hey, you okay?” Gray reached out, pulling me back against him, his big hand gently rubbing the back of my head. Sully stood in the side door of the van alternating concerned barks with deep throated growls. “Chill, little dude. I’ve got her.”
Sully got quiet. And I relaxed against Gray’s chest as his hand slid slowly through my hair and down to massage the nape of my neck. There was my flu shot right there. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the way Gray’s fingers sifted through my hair and caressed my neck was “nicer” than anything I remembered with Paul. Wow. And if a neck rub was this good… Oh. My.
I would have been happy to rub up against Gray’s chest all day, but Gray slid his hands from my shoulders to my waist and then to my hips (which sent butterflies loose in my belly worse than Patrick Swayze) making sure I was steady, before releasing me quickly like his hands got burned.
He frowned down at me, looking suddenly serious and maybe a little suspicious.
That look reminded me he thought I’d sent him the laced drink and set up the appointment purely to attract him. So of course now he was figuring I’d tripped and fallen into his arms as part of the act.
“Hey, I see how you’re looking at me, Gray Thorne. I did not fall into your arms on purpose. I happen to be a bit clumsy and uncoordinated.” The idea of him thinking I’d done it on purpose—again—made my blood boil. “Just because you look like delicious cheese on toast, doesn’t mean every woman wants to take a bite.”
“What?” His gaze narrowed on me.
I was all set to tell him what, until I remembered I did have plans that included, hopefully, kissing him. And it was true that biting that full lower lip of his during the kiss had crossed my mind. Dang, he was totally entitled to that suspicious look.
“What, what?” I asked, deflecting.
“Never mind. Why don’t I get some measurements on the van, take the photos, and then I can meet you back inside and we can discuss materials and—” He stopped talking mid-sentence when a car honked at the end of the driveway.
We both turned to look.
“Yikes, is it that late already?” I waved to Joe, my regular Uber driver, before turning back to Gray. “I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go. I lost track of the time.”
I grabbed Sully’s accessories from the back pocket of my jeans. He stood wagging his tail in excitement in the open door of the van because he knew what time it was. I slipped on his forest green bowtie and matching baseball cap before scooping him up.
“Are you okay finishing up without us?” I backed down the driveway, still looking at Gray. The farther I got down the driveway, the lower his eyebrows drew over his narrowed eyes.
“Sure. Don’t mind me. It’s not like I rearranged my schedule to fit you in or anything.”
Sarcasm. I heard sarcasm and a touch of frustration in his tone. I did feel bad about leaving, but our visits to the rehab facility were something we tried to never miss. Some days something seemingly insignificant—like a sweet dog wearing a bow tie and a ball cap—could be the thing that got you through another day or week of excruciating pain. Worse were the days when the therapy didn’t go well. Those days the disappointment would curdle inside of you and you simply had to lie there in the bed and choke on it. Those were the times when depression and fear crept in. No, Sully and I didn’t like to miss our visits.
“I said I was sorry! I’ll call Beck to set up the next meeting so we can finish.”
“No.” He took amazingly long strides until he was standing in front of me at the end of the driveway, and bent down, getting right in my face. “No more going behind my back and bringing Beck into this. My brother has enough on his plate right now.”
His blue eyes blazed, his nostrils flared, and the muscles in his body looked tense (and very strong) under his long-sleeved black Henley shirt. The man looked disgustingly sexy in every color and every mood.
“You will call me to set up the next meeting.” He pulled a card from his wallet, took one of my hands from Sully’s furry body, and slapped the card onto my palm. “Or call another contractor.”
Joe came around the car to help me in, but Gray had the poor guy backing up with a single swift glance.
Gray was angry enough that I was tempted to steal my kiss right then so I could be done and not have to see him again. Only by this time my inner voice, the one that wouldn’t shut up every time I ran into Gray, had convinced me that I needed him to stick around.
He opened the car door and stood quietly as I slid in, Sully tucked up against my chest.
When I sat there simply staring at him, he bent in and handed me the shoulder seatbelt. God, Tessa, pull it together.
He closed the door with a firm click. Joe drove off and Sully leaned his head over my shoulder, whining out the back window at Gray.
“You little stinker.” I held Sully up until we were eye to eye, his little butt resting on my palm. “But I get it. He has the same effect on me.”
I sighed, and then I fished into my back pocket and with a little bit of seatbelt tugging and butt wiggling and Sully juggling I retrieved my phone and called Laura.
“Speak to me,” Laura answered.
“New goal.”
“I thought your goal was to get your business up and running. And start driving again.”
“It is. I’m totally working on that. But I figured something else I want. And I think I need to go after it before I lose my nerve and talk myself out of it.”
“If anyone deserves to get what they want, it’s you. You tell me what you want and I’ll move heaven and earth to help you get it.”
I bit my lip, hesitating, because this was outside of my comfort zone.
“Come on, Tess. This is me here. Name it, and we’ll make it happen.”
“Okay. I want… Gray Thorne.”
“I assume you’re talking about more than a one night stand, because you don’t need a plan for that. Pretty sure a pulse will get you that. Fifty Shags is rumored to be an equal opportunity lover.”
My stomach twisted at the path I was about to step onto. Everything about the man spoke to something in me. Maybe it was his sheer animal magnetism, but deep down I didn’t think so. It was the crazy feeling I got when his voice slid through me. I recalled the man. The sight, smell, and touch of him had made my heart pound. The passion he kept locked up tight and hidden away.
“I’m talking about more than a one night stand. More than just a comparison kiss for Paul repellant. I’m talking about a relationship.”
“Oh, wow.”
“Is that a good ‘wow’ or an idiotic idea ‘wow’?”
“That’s a ‘you totally deserve what you want but you set the bar high wow’.”
“Too high? It’s just there’s something about him. I felt it the first time I met him. Our eyes met in the mirror, and I swear everything slowed down.” And there was the voice… Pay attention. This one. Finally home.
“Never too high. But I’m pretty sure Thorne brothers are allergic to commitment. You’re absolutely correct. Snagging Gray Thorne for more than a kiss…more than one round of hot sex…yeah, that is going to take some thought. I’m talking serious conspiring. Tomorrow’s my day off. Let’s both sleep on it, and meet at D & D’s for breakfast and come up with a plan.”