In Search of Grace (20 page)

             
“
Hey
you
- w
hat are you doing?
”

             
“Just
writing
in the backyard
,
” and thinking about you
,
she silently said to herself.

             
“
Are you ok?
”

             
“Yeah, I am good
.
”

             
“Hey,
I
am getting ready for work.
I will stop by before I leave
if that is ok
?
”

             
“
Sure, that would be great.
 
See
you
soon
.”

             
Fifteen minutes later,
Alex watched a
s Seth walked across her yard.
 
He was dressed in full uniform
,
ready for work.  She was struck
again
at how handsome he was in his blues.
 
She
felt the familiar stir
inside
,
and remembering the other night
,
she blushed
.  
Alex
stood up and stepped toward him as he reached her.  Standing inches
apart,
they stared at each other. 
She needed
to touch him
,
and w
ithout
thinking or any hesitation
she stepped close to him and pressed her lips to his then quickly moved to step back
.
  Seth’s hand came up to the back of her head
pulling her back to him
,
pressing his mouth to h
ers
.
  He eased her lips open with his tongue
,
and she inhaled
sharply
as a wave of feeling flowed through her.
  He tasted so good.
  Deepening the kiss, their tongues sparred with each other until Seth pulled back
nipping
at her bottom lip
before pulling away
. 
Watching the emotions filter
across
her
face, h
e pulled her close
so that
she could feel how much he
really
wanted her.
 
She reached up wrapping
her hands around his head
.
Seth
tried to hold himself back, but she had been on his mind all day today
.
  Seeing her having lunch with
Charles was tough.
He wanted to be the one sitting next to her at the restaurant
.  He wanted to be the one
making her
smile.
  He was surprised
at his own self-control
last night
,
but all he wanted was to pleasure her
. 
Groaning
,
he pulled her close again
and assaulted
the
lips that were pressed against his. 
Giving in to
her,
he wrapped
his arms around her
tightly
and
drank deeply from
the offering. 
They stood there for several moments
,
drowning
in
each
other’s
embrace until Seth pulled away. 
Cupping her face in his hands
,
he bent down and kissed
the tip of her nose
before resting
his for
e
head on hers
.
 

             
“
I wanted
to
make love to
you
last night
,
Seth
.
”

             
Seth
knew the statement was not easy for her
.  “I want you
,
Alex, but I want the time to be right.
Let’s
get to know each other better.”    Her
forehead
furrowed
into
a deep frown
,
and he laughed at seeing it. 
She was so serious. 

             
“Don’t think to
o
much about it rabbit”

             
It irritated her as she realized
she was
the source of his amusement. 
Attempting to push herself away, he held her even tighter.

             
“Stop running
,
Alex
;
learn to
enjoy the moment
.
”
  
She could
still feel
his arousal just from
their
kiss
,
and she knew that he wanted her.
That would have to be enough for now. 
Sighing
,
she relaxed against him, deciding to take Charles advice and give him a chance.   When his head came back down to her lips, she immediately opened
herself to him
.
Seth’s hand reached under her shirt cup
ping
her breast.  Inhaling sharply at the contact, she marveled at how quickly he could start the fire
burning
within her and let out a moan
.
 
Unexpectedly Seth swore under his breath
, pushing
her
behind him as he turned
away.
  Alex
,
dazed from
the
separation
,
was confused
.

             
“Seth?”

             
“Why hello there!”
 
A very shrill and surprised voice finally worked its way through the fog in
to
Alex’s head
. 
Realizing that
Seth was blocking her from Tara’s view while she sorted herself out
she
quickly
pulled
her shirt down
,
taking
deep breath
s to
steady
her.

             
“
Tara
,
h
i
!
”
 
Alex
stepped from behind Seth
.

             
“I’m
sorry
. 
I didn’t realize that you had company.” 
Tara
looked from Seth to Alex surveying the situation.

             
“
Tara
,
have you met our new neighbor?  This is Seth
Walton.
”

             
“N
ice to meet you
,
Tara.”
  Reaching out he shook
her hand
.   Before he could pull away
,
Tara
grabbed his hand with both of her
s
and moved closer to him while gushing.

             
“Oh,
I
just
love a man in uniform.  I
t is so nice to meet you finally.  I told Alex we had a
gorgeous
new neighbor
but didn’t realize just how gorgeous
.  How are you finding the neighborhood?”

             
Alex cringed at the little girl voice and the batting of the eyes.  Seth did not seem to mind and even seemed amused at the attention.   It irritated Alex that he did not pull his hand away from
Tara
’s
grip
.

             
“I like it
,
and it seems to be getting better by the minute
.
” Giving
Tara
a wink
he
continued, “I think I will hang around for awhile
.
”

             
“I certainly hope so.  We have needed some new blood on this street to liven things up.”

             
 
“Did you need something
,
Tara
?” 
Tara
blinked at Alex
,
paus
ing
as if to remember why she had come over
in the first place
.  “Oh yes, I wanted to return your book that I borrowed.”
  Handing Alex the book
,
she immediately turned back to Seth.  “Seth, would you walk me home.  It is getting
dark
early these days.
” 

             
“Sure
.  I am off to work anyways.
”  
Tara
squealed with delight and proceeded to wrap her arm around his elbow looking like a cat that just ate the cream.

             
“
Catch
you later
,
Alex
?
”  Seth smiled down at her then turned and walked out
of the yard
with
Tara
still clinging to him.

             
Not sure what just happened, Alex walked back into the house
before
realizing that she had never told Seth she was leaving for
New York
tomorrow.  Shrugging and still shaky from
the
kiss,
she
decided she
would call him
in the morning.  M
aybe
New York
would be a
good distraction from her neighbor
.

             
Alex felt e
nergized. 
Being in
New York City
always did this to her.  Some
people
felt overwhelmed with the amount of people and siz
e of the buildings
,
n
ot her.
She inhaled deeply taking in all of the sounds; cars driving, horns
honking,
thousands of people
walking
briskly
,
some running to wherever they need
ed
to go.  This is just what
she needed to clear her head. 
Spending several days
away
from Seth
would
help her put
everything
into perspective. 
A
t least she hoped it would
.
 

             
Knowing exactly where she was going,
having been to the
Crescent
Towers
many times, she
hopp
ed
into the elevator to the
40
th
floor
.  The
Lyman
Agency
had its own floor
,
and she marveled at the quiet atmosphere on that floor.  You would never believe that you were still in
New York City
. 
Smiling brightly at the receptionist, she took a seat to wait for Greg.
She found it ironic that with spending most of her life
thrust into
the background
,
here she was a public speaker
,
motivating people to move forward with their lives.  Alex
felt
a brief flash of hypocrisy as she recognized that she herself was a work in progress.
She hoped that during her
lectures
she conveyed this.   More than a few times after speaking, she would have some
one
come up to her saying that she was such an inspiration in their lives.   She would hear countless stories of specifics
,
and some even seemed to
reverie
her.   This
kind of adulation
made her uncomfortable, and she would always point out to them that her life was far from perfect. She would get the same look every time
, a
sort of glazing over of the eyes because she was saying something they either
did not
want to
hear or believe.