Breathless Page 8

  "I'll be there. Do I need anything?"

  "BYOB," commented Grayson. Alex nodded her head and went back to her desk.

  Chapter 11

  Alex arrived at Grayson's fashionably late. She

  changed her clothes after a quick shower at home

  and put on jeans, short boots and a sweater. Alex

  had stopped at the liquor store and bought a bottle

  of Stoli for the party and picked up a bottle of Hi-C

  orange to mix with it at the grocers next

  door. Alex knocked on the door, but doubted

  anyone could hear it over the stereo. She smiled

  and hesitated before using the doorbell.

  "They can't hear me," she said to herself testing the

  doorknob. Surprisingly it gave and she let herself

  in.

  The door opened easily and allowed her entrance

  into the pantry of Gray's house. A flight of stairs leading to the basement was immediately in front

  of her and the kitchen was on the right. She heard

  the noise coming from the direction of the living

  room, divested herself of her shoes and walked into

  the house.

  "Hello," she called.

  "Alex," questioned Grayson coming into the

  kitchen.

  "Yeah, the door was open. I tried knocking and

  ringing the bell. I guess you couldn't hear me."

  "Give me a heart attack. That door is supposed to

  be locked. Do you need a glass or are you just

  going to mix the two together in one giant

  container?" Alex smiled and asked for a glass. Grayson

  grabbed a tumbler from the cupboard, got some ice

  and helped Alex mix a rather strong

  screwdriver. After locking the door, he led her

  into the living room where everyone was assembled

  watching a Red Sox's game.

  "Baseball? Why am I not surprised?"

  Grayson laughed and introduced her to some

  friends of his that were not Hasani

  employees. She saw that Morgan and Joey were

  there, but there were no other women. "Gray, I'm

  the only woman," she said as she leaned close to

  him. "You're okay, Alex. These guys won't hurt

  you," he reassured her.

  Alex relaxed somewhat and sat down on the

  loveseat facing the crowd and the rest of the house. Alex had finished her first tumbler and was feeling

  good when James came in. He was stunned to see

  her car in the driveway and even more stunned to

  find her buzzed in the living room.

  "Gray, how long has she been here?"

  "An hour. She just finished her first glass and I'm

  making her her second. She's fine, James. I'm

  taking care of her.”

  "That makes me feel better," he replied sarcastically

  grabbing a beer from the supply he kept in the

  fridge.

  James pulled up a stool from the bar in the dining

  room and perched himself on the edge. Laying his

  cigarettes and lighter on the end table, he took a

  long swig from his beer and watched as Alex followed the baseball game and made commets to

  Joey about the players. "Something else, I don't

  know about her," he said to himself.

  "Come on," she said, "That guy couldn't catch a ball

  with four hands.”

  James laughed at her joke and drew her

  attention. She looked at him with glazed over

  eyes and he realized she was almost too far gone

  for her own good. Hopping down off the stool,

  James walked over to her and sat down beside her.

  "How you doing," he asked.

  "Just fine," she smiled.

  "Alex, come here," called Grayson from the dining

  room. Alex got up from the couch, steadied her legs and

  walked into the dining room. Grayson and Morgan

  had positioned themselves behind a homemade bar

  and were shuffling a deck of cards.

  "Where did this thing come from," Alex asked

  sitting down on one of the stools.

  "Morgan and I made it. It's not fabulous, but it

  works for us. Here," handing her a pocketknife,

  "carve your name in. It's a guest list too," he

  smiled.

  Alex took the knife, sat down her drink and carved

  her name into the bar. It wasn't the easiest thing

  to do while feeling this good, but she accomplished

  it well, handed back the knife and took a long drink

  of her screwdriver. The first glass of the potion had dulled her senses and Gray had deliberately

  made this one stronger. Alex couldn't really tell.

  Grayson shuffled and explained the rules, while Alex

  watched him. She was mildly attracted to him and

  felt comfortable around him and his friends. She

  believed him when he said that she would be

  okay. Alex immediately lost the first

  hand. Shaking her head, she laid down the

  mismatched cards and Morgan laid down a

  straight.

  "Good thing we aren't betting for money," she

  laughed.

  "How about something more interesting?"

  "What?"

  "Clothes. " "You're going to look funny in this sweater," Alex

  joked and then consented to play.

  James grew more interested from his position on

  the loveseat as to what was happening in the dining

  room. He heard Alex laughing and joking with

  Grayson and his friends, but couldn't quite divine

  what the joke was because Morgan was standing in

  his line of vision.

  "Jimmy, catch," yelled Morgan half turning and

  tossing an article of clothing his way.

  James caught the item and looked at it

  quizzically. Suddenly the smell of the garment

  caught the trigger in his brain and James realized

  that it was Alex's. "Shit," he muttered standing up and making his way

  into the dining room.

  Alex sat there calmly drinking and playing cards

  dressed in her camisole and jeans.

  Morgan was rubbing Alex's shoulders and she was

  growing sleepy from the combination of the

  massage, alcohol and heat in the room.

  "Alex," James asked as he approached her.

  "Hey, join the party. You're sitting over there like

  a bump on a log. Live a little," she replied turning

  her attention back to the game. This time she won

  and had both Morgan and Gray remove their shirts

  to put them on a level playing field. Alex lost the

  next two hands and removed her camisole to reveal her bra and a sock, arguing that it was a valid piece

  of clothing.

  "Okay, that's enough of that," she declared when

  she lost the next hand and her sock. Her

  sensibilities kicked in and made her remove herself

  from the game before she lost much more.

  "Let's dance," she requested, moving to the stereo

  and finding a sultry tune. Swaying to the music,

  Alex approached James and pulled him into an

  embrace. "Dance with me," she requested

  tightening her grip on him.

  James resisted the urge to argue with her. She

  was still half naked and pressing her barely covered

  breasts to his chest. James reeled from the

  sensation of her being so close to him. Her

  perfume penetrated the fog of the beers he had consumed and he hel
d her tightly to him, trying to

  cover her nakedness with his hands and mold her

  body to his.

  Alex was memorizing the feel of James' hands on

  her bare skin. The alcohol had been potent, but

  his touch brought her out of her haze and to

  reality. Here she was dancing with the man who

  invaded her every thought awake and asleep. She

  moved with him in perfect rhythm of the music

  while his callused hands ran over her bare back and

  occasionally, she caught his beard on her

  shoulder. Alex was sure she would die from the

  heat that he was creating in her. To survive, Alex

  pulled away from James and moved to Grayson to

  finish the song. Grayson felt Alex's exhaustion creep into her. The

  alcohol was having more of an affect than he

  expected.

  "You still with me," he asked.

  "Yeah, I'm here. I need to get dressed though. "

  "No you don't. You're fine," he reassured her.

  The song on the radio wound down and Grayson

  took Alex to the bar for another drink. Alex was

  just finishing her gulp when she noticed that James

  was no longer there.

  "Where did James go," she asked Morgan who had

  taken a seat next to her.

  "He had to go, said something about the dogs." Alex nodded her head and finished her drink. She

  looked around and saw that most of Grayson's

  friends had left. In fact, it was just her, Grayson

  and Morgan. Still heady from the vodka, Alex

  didn't feel the fear she expected she

  would. Actually, she was quite intrigued at what

  would happen next. The alcohol had loosened

  way too much within her and being lonely again

  tonight was not on her mind.

  "I have to go too. Melissa will be looking for

  me. Bye," said Morgan, guzzling his beer and leaving.

  Chapter 12

  Alex heard the door close in the kitchen and turned

  to Grayson. "I guess I should go too, huh," she

  said.

  "You don't have to. You can, I mean I want you to

  stay," he replied taking her face in his hands and

  kissing her on the lips.

  Alex inhaled sharply at the unexpectedness of the

  kiss. Her body reacted eagerly and she found

  herself returning the kiss. They moved to the

  recently vacated couch where Gray laid her down

  and soon joined her. He located the remote for

  the stereo and searched for a quiet station for

  them. Alex watched as Gray removed his glasses

  and laid them down on the table again taking her lips. Alex tasted the beer and whiskey on his

  tongue as it penetrated her mouth and searched for

  hers. His free hand roamed her body gently

  caressing her left breast, shoulder, thigh and

  hip. The couch offered very little space and the

  pair moved to the first floor bedroom.

  Gray and Alex were all hands as the two sought to

  undress each other in quickly and urgently. All of

  the frustration she felt and loneliness in being here

  evaporated in the span it took them to have

  sex. Grayson was not an accomplished lover, but

  took his task to heart and brought Alex to the

  heights she required. Grayson, too, took the

  opportunity to relieve his own need and as she

  wrapped her legs around his waist feeling passion

  rise again as he thrust himself in her. Alex muttered James' name against Grayson's face.

  He ignored her mention of James' name basing it on

  the fact that she and James had been

  dancing. Alex, however, knew why she said it and

  was embarrassed for saying it at that moment.

  "I'm sorry, Gray," she apologized as he rolled away

  from her.

  "Don't be. I should be apologizing to you. "

  "Why?"

  Grayson propped himself up on an elbow and

  brushed the hair out of her face,"For taking this so

  fast. I never meant this to happen tonight. I

  wanted us to get closer first, to get to know each other. You have to know things about me. "

  "Grayson, please. I can't handle this right now. "

  "Because of your feelings for James?"

  Alex looked him in the eye. She thought he hadn't

  heard her, but had been wrong. "Mostly.”

  "Then why wasn't he here instead of me?"

  "Because. "

  Grayson threw himself out of bed. He wasn't

  satisfied with her answer. "Alex, that ain't an

  answer," he spit out gathering his underwear off

  the floor. "I know. There are too many complications for

  him and me. "

  "But not for us? What's the difference? Your fiancée

  would understand me and not him?"

  "Tad wouldn't understand any of this," sitting up in

  the bed holding the sheets to her chest, "Grayson, I

  don't want to hurt you," realizing that was what she

  was doing she said, "You're right, I shouldn't be

  here."

  Alex crawled from the bed and put on the clothes

  that lay scattered in the bedroom. She walked

  quickly to the dining room and finished dressing as

  the remaining alcohol seeped out of her system. "Alex, wait, I'm sorry. Look can we please talk

  about this.”

  “I need to go, Gray. I'll see you Monday," she

  muttered and hurried out the door to her car.

  “Damn," Grayson yelled as he slammed the door.

  Alex drove home in a daze; another screw up,

  another mistake. She wondered when or where it

  would end. After showering quickly, Alex crawled

  into bed just as the sun was breaking the through

  the clouds. Her mind was a blank and fortunately

  she was exhausted and no visions came to haunt

  her. She woke up later that evening feeling ill and

  decided it was the flu and stress. Alex never got

  hung over and refused to believe her excess

  drinking last night caused this illness. She called

  off work on Monday and Tuesday prompting James, Grayson and Morgan to be seriously concerned. In

  her eight months at Hasani, Alex never took a sick

  or vacation day.

  James immediately thought she was avoiding them

  and was refusing to come to work. Morgan told

  him that Alex and Grayson had spent the night

  together causing him to be jealous beyond all

  boundaries. Why she denied him but not Grayson

  was beyond his thinking, unless Grayson forced

  himself on her. James shook away the

  thought. Alex would never allow that to happen

  to herself, although she was really gone on vodka

  on Friday night.

  James was in the process of questioning Grayson on

  Wednesday morning, when they heard Alex's voice

  from the center office. "Morning, Allen. Nice mess. Thanks," she said

  upon seeing the piles that accumulated in her

  absence.

  "You're welcome. It's not that bad. Francine

  annexed your desk for some of her filing. "

  "I'll remove it," she hollered then flounced in and

  took a stack of papers.

  "Great, now I'm down to two piles," she smiled then

  walked through James' office on her way to the

  coffee machine.

&n
bsp; "Morning," she said to James and Grayson as she

  passed through.

  "Morning," they replied in unison.

  Alex retrieved her coffee, calmed her nerves and

  walked through again. On Saturday, she hated herself and by Sunday she had come to terms with

  her actions, unfortunately by Monday she was

  completely ill and took Tuesday to recover. She

  was determined to carry on business as usual.

  "James, don't forget the safety meeting

  today. That's the only reason I moved my ass out

  of bed this morning," she remarked to him on her

  way through.

  "Nice talk, Alex," said Grayson to her retreating

  back. Alex laughed and went to sort her desk.

  Grayson left James' office without ever talking to

  him about Alex. If James wanted to know so badly

  he could ask the source. Grayson was still upset

  about what happened. It wasn't that he didn't

  understand her behavior, because he did. What

  pissed him off was Alex's casual attitude to him. Grayson wasn't going to tell James about

  Alex's whispering his name. It took something

  away from his ego. On his way back to the

  machine shop, Grayson saw Alex emerge from the

  office and saunter into inventory. He watched as

  Doug and Dave welcomed her back, and asked how

  she was. She laughed off the flu, promised she

  wasn't contagious and got down to business.

  After lunch, the safety committee was called into

  the second floor conference room. Adam

  suggested that Hasani form the committee to keep

  up on maintenance and safety issues. It had

  served as a good tool. Another inspector from

  OSHA was scheduled to come through in several

  weeks and nothing major appeared to be at issue. Alex climbed the stairs, set her stuff on the

  conference table and continued into the R&D

  offices.

  "Afternoon gentlemen," she said, "who's coming to

  the meeting?

  "We're toast if the place burns, Alex. Why

  bother? The only other safety issue is Harry's

  smoking here. "

  "That's why we put the chain ladder in, Frank. "

  "I'll be jumping down onto Jeff’s Lincoln

  Continental, before I use that damn thing. " Alex

  laughed at his sarcasm and stayed for a few minutes

  while everyone else assembled. When the noise level was right, Alex went into the meeting. "Hi,

  sunshine," remarked Dave pulling out her chair.

  "Hello again, Dave. How's Claire?"

  "Great, we're getting divorced again. "

  "You two change your minds more than your