Boycotts and Barflies (22 page)

face.

Grace began repeatedly slapping the bar with her left hand as she tried to focus on something other than his tongue creeping closer to her mouth. She heard him murmur her name right before his mouth came down on top of hers to bite the lime. As soon as the wedge left her teeth, she pressed her lips together to make 166

sure her tongue stayed put. Michael’s lips, however, didn’t make that any  easier as he repeatedly kissed her, over and over and over, his tongue teasing  against the seam of her lips and setting off a multitude of different emotions  and desires in her.

She vaguely heard Maxwell congratulate the  boys on a job well done before he thanked the lovely volunteers for helping give the boys their rewards. Grace’s head was still spinning from the kisses with Michael when she opened her eyes to find his smiling face inches away.

“Did you like your surprise?” he asked as Grace watched him climb off the bar and hold a hand out so she could sit up.

“Yes, a little too much,” she laughed as she hopped off the bar and into his awaiting arms. “Were you trying to give me a heart attack?” she asked. He

simply smiled and shook his head from side to side. “I think I’m going to run to  the bathroom and throw some cold water on my face.” Her comment only  made his smile grow wider.

“Go calm yourself. But just so we’re clear, I’m not letting you out of my sight for  the rest of the night,” Michael said as he gave her waist a tight squeeze.

“That’s what I was afraid of.” Grace laughed as she moved away from him and  headed quickly for the bathrooms.

She scurried to the back of the club and as the bathroom door closed behind

her, Grace let out the loudest scream she could manage. It echoed off the walls

as she tried to compose herself. She walked over to the sink and turned the

cold water on high then watched it run into the basin as she gripped the sides

of the sink for dear life. The door flew open and Grace looked up to see Meg

and Bianca staring back at her, looking in no better shape than she was.

“What the … did you see? His mouth … and he said … and oh my God!”

Grace screamed again before putting her head between her knees trying to

catch her breath.

Meg came over and rubbed her back gently. “Grace, it’s OK, you did a great job.

You did it—you resisted his temptation, and by the way, just so you know, they

are standing right outside the door so you may want to watch what you say— or scream.” Meg stifled a laugh as the color drained from Grace’s cheeks. “Shit!” she yelled, scrambling to her feet.

Bianca laughed and hugged Grace tightly and whispered, “I’m right there with  you, Grace. I licked Jack, for God’s sake! He was shirtless and he tasted like  heaven. I can’t even breathe if I think about it.”

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Grace hugged her tighter and somehow it was extremely comforting to know  Bianca was having the same inner struggle she was. After a few deep breaths,  Grace went to the still- running sink, splashed the cold water onto her face, and then wiped it away with a towel. She threw open the bathroom door and found the smug trio standing in the hallway.

“Let’s dance!” Grace grabbed Michael’s hand and headed to the dance floor. They spent the rest of the night dancing and laughing. Jack and Michael showed them some of their best break dancing moves which, again, were impressive.  Ryan did his version of the robot until they all had tears in their eyes. Back to the table, they spent some time talking and laughing as they shared funny stories about one another.

At the stroke of midnight, Michael stood up and declared it time to go.

Sad the night was over, everyone gathered their things and headed out to the cars. Ryan and Meg took Bianca and Jack with them leaving Michael and Grace alone in the car for their ride home.

“Did you have fun tonight?” he asked as they left the club.

“Of course. It was the best non- date of my entire life.” Grace laughed as she held his hand, playing with his fingers.

“So, I get to feed you breakfast in the morning,” he reminded her, a knowing grin on his face.

“Yeah, I wanted to ask you, how did you get Meg to agree to that? What did  Ryan tell her?” Grace had been meaning to ask him that all night, but it slipped her mind until now.

“Well, I just said the reason for the ‘meeting’ was to help us with our Christmas shopping. I’m supposed to get ideas about what Jack and Ryan shoul d get Meg and Bianca.” He smirked proudly.

“Shopping? Very smart, Michael.” Grace praised him as she ran her hand slowly down his arm.

“I thought so.” He laughed then became serious. “Grace, do you trust me?”

She was startled by the question. “Of course I  do. I let you lick me tonight, for goodness sake,” she teased.

“OK, then do me a favor. Take a shower tonight.” Not a problem, a nice cold shower was already on my to - do list. “And wear warm pajamas to bed. Can you do that for me?”

“They seem like reasonable requests. Odd, but reasonable, so, um, sure,” Grace said cautiously trying to decipher the clues he had just given her. 168

He pulled up in front of the apartment, and before she jumped out of the car, he leaned over and gave her a kiss. “I’ll see you bright and early. Keep your phone handy. I’ll call you in the morning.”

“Good night, Michael.”

“Good night, Grace.”

As she heard his car speed away, Grace skipped up to apartment door. When she stepped inside, Bianca and Meg were sitting on the couch waiting for her. “Hey,” Meg said sweetly from the couch. Grace wandered over and sat down with them, laying her head on Bianca’s shoulder.

“So, when is Michael picking you up tomorrow?” Meg asked softly.

“I have no idea. He said he’d call me. I’m exhausted so I’m going to jump in the  shower and then go to sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.” She gave Bianca and  Meg a kiss and sauntered off toward her room.

Bianca called from the couch, “Don’t use all the c old water please.” Grace  laughed and closed her bedroom door.

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It was still pitch black in Grace’s room when she heard her phone start singing.  She sat up and grabbed it off the nightstand, only able to open one eye, the  other still tightly closed.

“Who died?” she mumbled into the phone. Her comment caused muffled  laughter to come from the deep voice on the other end.

“Grace, it’s me. No one is dead. Can you please come to the door?” Grace heard  Michael say in a hushed voice.

“What door? Where are you? Is  this a dream?” she asked through a yawn. Nothing he was saying was making sense. Then she heard a banging noise in  the phone and one coming from the kitchen.

“Come to the door, Grace. I’m here to pick you up for breakfast.” Michael tried  not to laugh at her in her haze. She glanced over at the clock; it was 4:45 a.m. “Do you know what time it is? Are you insane?” Grace asked as she sprang out  of bed and shuffled across the cold apartment floor toward the door. She stood  on her toes, looked through the peep  hole and then let out a shriek.

Standing outside were a wide awake Michael, Jack, and Ryan. All of them were  too smiley and perky, given the obscene hour of the morning. “What the hell  are you guys doing here?” Grace hissed in a panic through the door.

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She could hear them laughing behind the thin piece of wood separating them.

“We’re here to take you to breakfast,” Michael said, still laughing.

“Huh?”

“Grace, can you please let us in before your neighbors call the police?”

Ryan begged.

“Yeah, I’m freezing my nu—” Jack started in a loud voice but Grace whipped open the door before he could finish.

“Get in here.” She was still confused how Bianca and Meg could possibly be sleeping through this ruckus. Jack and Ryan walked in and sat down on the couch like it was the middle of the day.

“What are you guys doing here at—” she glanced at the clock, “—4:47 in the morning?”

“I’m here to take you to breakfast. I have to return you by 10:30, but Meg and I  never agreed on a start time for the meeting, so I decided to come extra early.  Are you ready to go?” he asked calmly, like it was the middle of the afternoon.  “By the way, nice hair.”

“Bite me.” Grace looked down to see that he was standing there in his pajamas  too. He had on black  flannel pants and a sweatshirt. “Nice pajamas.”

She laughed as she combed her fingers through her hair.

In the family room, Jack and Ryan picked up the video game controllers and  were ready to start playing. “Jack, Ryan, before you do that, and trust me you  will have plenty of time to play that while you wait for those two to get ready,  do me a favor and go wake up my dear roommates? They will be so excited to  see you here.” Grace flashed them an evil grin as they jumped to their feet.

She pointed to one door and reminded them who slept where. “Meg,” she said  and Ryan headed that way. Jack grinned and walked to the other door, pausing  briefly to look over his shoulder at Grace and wink before he opened the door. “Don’t suppose she sleeps naked or anything good like that, huh?” he asked  with a twinkle in his eye.

“Sorry, lover boy, not when she’s sleeping alone.”

Michael laughed, but Jack had to think about it for a second and then did a  small fist pump before going into her room. Michael wrapped his arms around  Grace and hugged her tightly. “Hmm. I wanted to do this all night.”

She snuggled her face against his chest. “Me too.” Grace felt his lips gently  brush the top of her head and then it happened: simultaneous  screams.

“Argh!”

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“What the hell are you doing here?”

Michael and Grace started laughing, not because of the screams, but because  the first scream didn’t come from Bianca; it came from Jack. Grace ran over to  find Jack  on his knees and Bianca gripping his wrist, which she had apparently  spun behind his back in some sort of move she’d only seen before on COPS. “God damn it! What are you, a fucking ninja?” Jack gasped from his knees. Bianca immediately let go of his wrist.

“Jack! Oh God, I thought you were a rapist or something. I just heard heavy  breathing and smelled cologne. Hi … ,” she purred when he made his way to his  feet. Grace rolled her eyes at Michael and they walked back to the living room  where they were met by Meg, hands on her hips, and her sleeping mask still  plastered across her forehead.

“Would you like to explain the early wake -up call?” She was furious, but  Michael just smiled and explained that in their agreement, they had never  established how early the breakfast meeting could begin. She looked wide- eyed at Michael who just grinned back at her.

“Very sneaky. Taking advantage of your little loopholes, are you?” Meg wagged  an accusing finger at him. Michael didn’t say anything; he simply took Grace’s  hand  and pulled her in front of him as a human shield.

“It’s a gift I have,” he said sarcastically with a shrug. Grace had been trying not  to laugh while Meg was mad, but she couldn’t hold it in anymore.

Meg pointed to the couch across the room. “Sit,” she commanded Ryan before  going into her room to get ready.

“Actually, what she should have said is ‘Get comfortable, Ryan,’ because she  takes a long ass time to get ready,” Grace said with a laugh before a small voice  came from Meg’s room.

“Shut up, Grace! Or I’ll tell Michael what I heard you say— or should I say

scream—in your sleep the other night.” Grace’s face turned red. She had no

idea what she’d said, but she remembered the vivid dream and definitely didn’t

want Michael to hear any of it. Jack snuck out of  Bianca’s room, rubbing his

shoulder, and went over to the couch to join Ryan and wait.

“Give me a minute to brush my teeth and change and I’ll be ready to go,”

Grace said as she turned to Michael, but he shook his head at her.

“Don’t worry about changing,  just come in your pajamas,” he insisted.

Grace looked at him in confusion, but shrugged and ran into her bathroom to

quickly freshen up. A jolt of adrenaline ran through her body at the thought of

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nearly six hours with Michael, alone. She scrubbed her teeth, ran a quick brush

through her hair, put some deodorant on, and dashed out of the bathroom to

find Michael laying on her bed, smiling.

“Ready to go get some breakfast?” he asked sweetly.

Not really, I’d like you to stay right there …

“Sure, let’s go.”

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As they hopped into Michael’s car, Grace asked, “So, where are we going to

breakfast, in our pajamas, at five in the morning?”

He flashed a toothy smile. “My place.”

That wasn’t the response Grace was expecting, but the more she thought about it, the more she grinned. Grace leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek.

“You are brilliant.”

“Of course I am.” He picked up Grace’s hand and kissed each of her fingertips.