saving grace

Chapter 5: Games

You were whole heartedly confused by all of the flirty antics. You put your hands on either side of her body allowing yourself to stand once more. You turn around to unhook her legs and you hear her sigh dramatically. You let out a small laugh.

"Are you gonna walk in that or do you wanna borrow something?" you ask her while waving your hand in the direction of your closet area.

"I could definitely wear something else if you don't mind," she responded while pulling on the edge of her light pink blazer.

"Help yourself to whatever you like! I'm gonna throw some stuff together for Blue for our walk," you tell her, sauntering out of the bedroom door.

You grab the pet water bottle that you use for Blue and fill it up with cold water in the sink. When you turn back around, you accidentally catch a glimpse of Cate's reflection. The door remained halfway open upon your exit and you could see into the full length mirror. She was sliding on a pair of your white, cropped Nike sweatpants. You watched as the material glided up her long, muscular legs. You then see her begin to unbutton her undershirt and that is when you force yourself to look away.

God, you don't know what has gotten into you. You had to take your hand and physically wave the air towards you to try to cool yourself off.

She cannot feel the same way about you.

You hear the door creak open and so you try to make yourself look busy by tightening the already fastened lid of the dog's water bottle. When you look up, notice she had thrown on the matching oversized sweatshirt.

Even all covered up, she looked absolutely radiant. Her stunning blonde hair was thrown up in a messy bun and sun glasses rested on her nose, unfortunately covering her glorious orbs.

She must've caught you staring, as she asked, "Are you ready, darling?"

"Yes ma'am," you say dragging out and emphasizing the second word.

"You make me feel old calling me that," she tells you with a slight laugh.

"You can take the girl out of the country, but you cannot take the country out of the girl, ma'am," you inform her. "It's a respect thing, honey. You're just gonna have to get used to it."

You wink at her as you say this, upturning her lips once more. You then grab Blue by the collar and hook her leash.

"Let's go!" you proclaim with a beaming smile.

You walk ahead of her towards the door and she follows closely behind with Blue leading the way. You open your front door and exit it, moving off to the side as you get through the doorway. Cate proceeds to exit as well but doesn't move when you go to reach for the door handle. She is certainly in a playful mood as you have to reach around her right side to pull the door shut, leaving your faces just inches from one another.

The tension was unreal.

You pulled back after shutting the door, still leaving your hand on the knob, and whispered, "Excuse me, ma'am."

You slowly pull your hand away from the door and delicately, enticingly, brush the entire length of your arm, all the way down to your fingertips, across her own upper limb.

You then turned around dramatically, not letting yourself catch her facial expression. If this was a game, you were definitely winning...for now at least.

You proceeded to walk and talk about life. You don't necessarily love to speak about your personal life with how fucked up it feels, so you let Cate talk as much as she wanted to.

She told you that she had four kids with her now ex-husband Andrew, and she even spoke on some of the issues that led to their split. In times where you felt she was struggling to continue on, you would graze your hand over the small of her back or give her a soft smile of encouragement.