Found by Love (26 page)

“What are you up to Mister?” The look he gave me put my heart in a lurch and I fought back tears because I didn’t want him to see me cry. The mischievous look that he had on his face gave me a little bit of déjàvu of a little boy that used to give me that same look before I ended up with water over my head or a permanent mustache. I’ve noticed the uncanny resemblance between Grayson and my nephew Jeremiah but that one look on his face was EXACTLY like Jeremiah’s and it tripped me out.

“What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?” I guess I was still looking at him indifferently so I put my arms out to him and he walked up to me and let me hold him in an embrace.

“Do you remember me telling you about your Uncle Derek and cousins that died in an automobile accident?” He nodded his head up at me. “Well…. The look that you just gave me reminded me so much of Jeremiah it hurt. It was the same kind of look he gave me before I got a big surprise from him. One time I opened a door and a bucket of water fell on my head!” That got him to giggling and I leaned down and kissed him on the tip of his nose to which he wiped it off real quick and said gross. I chuckled at him and pulled him into another hug and then grabbed him gently by the shoulders. “So… I ask again. What are you up to Mister?”

He giggled at me and shrugged his shoulders. “I honestly was just coming in here to see if dinner was ready. Caleb had to go wash up before dinner but I really think he just wants to go look at his tattoo in the mirror. I need to wash my hands. Is that okay?” He gave me a look of paranoia which had me laughing at him and I patted him lightly on the butt.

“Okay buddy but I’m watching you. Ya hear?” I pointed at my eyes and then his to which he giggled again. “I’m going to go tell Mattie and Caleb that it’s time for dinner. Finish setting the table for me if you don’t mind okay?”

“Okay. Let me know if I was right about Caleb, haha!” I reveled in the sound of his laughter and got to thinking. Knowing Caleb that’s probably what he is doing. It’s amazing how quickly you can get to know someone that you’ve just met and Grayson is probably spot on.

I walk down to the end of the hallway to Mattie’s study and lightly knock on the door and open it and he’s on the phone so I whispered to him that dinner would be ready in 10 minutes and he nodded his head to me so I left him alone and shut the door. Now let’s see what Mr. Caleb is up to because I’m curious to see if Grayson was right.

I slowly open the door knob to peak in and sure enough, Caleb is standing in front of the mirror flexing his muscles like a body builder would in the mirror. I see him stop and look at his tattoo and turn around and look at his back with a grin on his face. I put my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing because anyone that would look at him walking down the street would just think that he’s a good looking guy that makes a good living and is highly intelligent and would never do anything like entertaining himself by staring at himself in the mirror. Don’t get me wrong, he is all of the above but he’s also the biggest dork in the world which is why I love him so much. He’s MY dork!

I keep staring at him and I definitely like what I’m looking at. I could stare at him all day long but I sure wouldn’t have the same dorky look on my face that Caleb currently does.   I open the door as quietly as I can and shut it and stay there to make sure that I didn’t disturb him in his moment of ogling himself and I didn’t. He’s still standing there looking at his arms now and I finally lose it and bust up laughing which made him jump and turn around and looks like a deer in head lights.

“Hey you! Don’t you know it’s rude to come into a room without knocking?” He leans against the dresser and puts his arms across his chest very nonchalantly to make it look like he wasn’t doing anything which has me laughing so hard I’m tearing up at him. He shakes his head and gives me that beautiful cocky grin of his. “Yeah… I guess I got caught huh?” I nod my head at him and walk over to him and rise up on my tip toes and kiss him.

“You sure did! What on earth were you doing anyway? How often do you stare at yourself in the mirror and flex your muscles? Is there a certain time of day that you do this because I would love to add it to my daily itinerary.” He sheepishly dropped his head onto his chest and shook his head and I notice his face is beet red which makes me apologize. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you but you looked so cute doing that. Not to mention kind of HOT! Would you like for me to dim the lights and turn some music on? Ya know… Maybe do a strip tease for me? Here… Let me get my phone.” I pull my phone out and pull up my playlist and tap on Justin Timberlake’s ‘Sexy Back’ and pushed play. I start gyrating to the music and walk over to the bed and sit down on the edge of it waiting for him to start dancing. I bust up laughing when he gives me his death stare and starts walking towards me. I rise up and start crawling further up the bed because he has murder in his eyes but then he grinned as soon as he was on top of me.

“Are you trying to say that I wasn’t sexy but now that you’ve caught me looking at myself in the mirror I’ve finally brought ‘sexy back’ or do you just like that song?” The way that he was looking at me made me want to forget about dinner and keep listening to the song and let him dance with me in the bed but I laughed and turned the song off.

“Oh I do love the song but as sexy as you are it seemed appropriate and no baby… You’ve never lost your sexiness and you need to stop that.” He started nibbling on my neck which had me moaning and putting my arms around his huge biceps pulling him closer to me.

“Why’s that baby?

“Because dinner’s done and I need to go tell Grayson that he was right about….. Oh you need to stop that!” He had me moaning as he pulled my shirt up around my neck and started kissing me at the start of my belly button, all the way up to my breasts and bit one of my nipples through my bra causing my whole body to shiver. He stopped what he was doing and looked at me with a defeated look on his face.

“Dinner huh… I would rather stay in here and feast on you but if you say so. Let’s go” He gave me that smoldering look of his that made my heart race and it took me a moment to catch my breath and form a thought. He got up and reached for his shirt to put on for dinner and gave me a questioning stare to which I shrugged my shoulders at him. “What was Grayson right about? You didn’t finish your sentence.”

“He told me that you were probably in here looking at yourself in the mirror. Wow! He sure knows you doesn’t’ he?” I started cracking up from the look of shock on his face.

“That boy I swear! He’s too smart for his own britches! So when are you going to bring up Thanksgiving to him?” Ugh! I’ve been putting that conversation on the back burner because I’m nervous about what he’s going to say.

“At dinner I guess. Are you ready? Sexy?” He pulled me into his arms and gave me a passionate kiss that left me breathless. He let go of me and headed towards the door and turned around and looked at me with that sexy crooked grin of his.

“Yep! Because I’m looking forward to dessert. And maybe some dancing!” He started gyrating and humming Justin Timberlake while he was walking out of the door which had me laughing again but definitely had me ready for bedtime. Now to get this dinner and conversation over with.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

We were all sitting at the table in our usual spots. Mattie at the head of the table and me to the right of him with Grayson next to me and Caleb across from me to Mattie's left. The only sound at the table was the three of them moaning and savoring every bite. I looked over at Caleb and he was staring at me and rolling his eyes in complete and utter satisfaction. Grayson and Mattie had the same looks about them which had me suppressing a laugh.

"Claudia... I must say. I'm very impressed with your skills in the kitchen. I pictured you as being the kind of woman that was going to feed us a TV dinner but I'll have to admit. When you said you were cooking dinner I was a bit nervous." Mattie gave me a thumbs up and grabbed another bite of food.

"I'm so sorry to disappoint you Mattie. I might not cook very often but I CAN cook and ewwww gross! TV dinners? That's not food if you ask me." Caleb opened his mouth to say something but pointed at his mouth that was still full of food. He swallowed and reached for his wine glass to wash it down.

"Mattie? There's a lot of things about Claud that would surprise you and trust me. She's an excellent cook but she prefers take out instead of just cooking for the two of us." He looked over at Grayson who was literally licking his plate. "Hey buddy! You can get seconds, haha! You don't have to lick your plate like that." He looked up at us and gave us all an embarrassed grin and handed me his plate so that I could put some more food on it. I chuckled underneath my breath at him but it made my heart swell that he loved my cooking.

"I'm with Mattie. I didn't think you knew how to cook either. It's delicious Claudia."

"I'm amazed that you both didn't think I could cook! Do I look like I'm some kind of spoiled little princess or something?" All three of them nodded their head and said yes which made me laugh. "Well obviously that's not the case gentleman. Wait until you taste my pies next week at Thanksgiving and I can make the best chocolate chip cookies that you've ever tasted in your life."

"Oh my God! Her cookies are to die for!" There goes Caleb with the eye rolling again but Mattie's comment had him seething within seconds.

"Oh... I bet they are." He looked at me with lust in his eyes and I could tell that there was a slight sexual undertone to his statement and my jaw dropped in shock and I looked at Caleb and he was staring at Mattie with murder in his eyes. He must have realized how it came out and quickly apologized. "I apologize if that sounded wrong... Um. I can't wait to um... Try them. Uh... Have Claudia and Caleb told you Grayson that we will be spending Thanksgiving in Oregon this year?"

What the hell! His way of changing the subject was to go there? I looked at Caleb and he put his fork down and crossed his arms across his chest and gave Mattie a look that caused him to shiver in his seat.

"Does that mean that I'm moving in with you guys? Now? Or are we just visiting and coming back?" It took me a moment to compose myself from the friction at the table and the glares shooting back and forth between Caleb and Mattie that thankfully Grayson hasn't picked up on. I looked over at Grayson with the best smile that I could muster up to answer his question.

"Well, Caleb and I were wanting to take you tomorrow to go visit everyone for the week since you're out of school and I invited Mattie and Maria if she wants to go for Thanksgiving weekend. They will show up Wednesday night and have dinner with all of us at Cash and Olivia's." I looked at him and he obviously was done with his dinner and had a worried look on his face.

"Can we do something before we leave first?"

"Sure. What do you want to do?"

"I'd like to go visit my parents to tell them goodbye but that I'll be coming back. Tomorrow is Sunday ya know."

"Well of course we can. So does that mean that you're fine with going? Because if you don't they'll all come here but I would prefer to go there because Olivia and Cash do have four kids and two of them are little babies and it would be an ordeal for them to come here but they said they would if they had to."

"Yeah... I think it would be kind of fun and I'd like to meet all of them." I could tell that he was genuine which made me so happy I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Caleb cleared his throat and distracted me.

"That's great Grayson. You're going to have so much fun and I can't wait for you to meet Gideon. I think you two are going to really hit it off." He looked over at me and then hatefully looked over at Mattie. "Hey Mattie. Care to take a ride with me to the liquor store? I noticed that we are running low on wine and we need to have a talk." Oh boy. This doesn't sound good at all and I start to say something but Mattie interrupts me.

"Sure Caleb. I think it's time for a little talk." He looked over at me nervously. "Claudia, thank you for the lovely dinner, it was very delicious." He looked over at Grayson. "Grayson, how about you help Claudia with the dishes while Caleb and I go out for a bit." Grayson got a big grin on his face and grinned from ear to ear.

"Oh yes I will. I can't wait!" I've never heard a 10 year old be so happy to do dishes in his life and I noticed he had a devilish grin on his face that got me nervous. What is this kid up to? He's happy about helping me clean the kitchen and Mattie and Caleb look like they're ready to go to blows! Lord help me!

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Grayson and I are laid up in his bed watching movies and I'm getting quite worried about Caleb and Mattie because they haven't made it back from 'the liquor store'. Surely they didn't get into a brawl and are waiting for me to go bail them out of jail. Neither of them has answered their phones and I'm getting more worried by the minute.

I lean my hand on top of Grayson's head and chuckle at the dampness of his hair. That turkey got me good in the kitchen. After clearing off the table I went to the sink and turned the water on and got sprayed in the face and while trying to get the sprayer to stop I ended up getting drenched from head to toe!! While I was working on my ninja skills with the sprayer I heard hysterical laughter behind me.

I knew that little turkey was up to something and I totally fell for it!!!! After I got control of the sprayer I turned it on him and doused him with it to shut him up!!! He ran off from me and I chased him through the house and finally caught him on the couch and went on full throttle tickle fest on him. We were both having a blast laughing and tickling each other and then he started bawling and I thought I had hurt him. I scooped him up into my lap and tried to figure out what could have happened.