“Fine. You can call me baby.”
Ice nodded, and Grace began cutting her steak.
“You still pissed?”
Her steak knife banged to her plate. “I had just given you my first blowjob, and instead of saying something romantic or even something like, maybe, good job, you compared it to others you’d had by God knows how many women,” she hissed.
“I said it was the best.”
His male reasoning had her clutching the knife in her hand. “How would you like it if I compared something you do to someone else?”
“Like what?” he asked suspiciously.
She laid down her knife and took a bite of her steak, chewing thoughtfully. “I know. When I went out with Jones—”
“Who’s Jones?” Ice stiffened.
“He’s a professor from the college,” Grace explained. “Like I was saying, when I went out with Jones—”
“How many times did you go out with him?”
“If you will let me talk, I will tell you.”
Ice’s mouth snapped closed.
“When I went out with Jones before the prison riot, he took me to dinner. He complimented me on how much he admired my teaching skills, how my yard looked, on how well my dogs behaved…” At that, Ice snorted, but she ignored it and continued. “Even on how pretty I looked in the candlelight at our table.”
“He did a lot of complimenting,” Ice replied coldly.
“Yes, he did. And he did it gracefully.”
“Which department did you say he worked in?”
“He works in the English department,” she informed him then saw his narrow-eyed stare. “Why?”#p#分页标题#e#
“Because I’m going to go beat the shit out of him. I’ll let you know if he takes it gracefully.”
Grace’s chair scraped back from the table as she got up, going to her kitchen. Sliding the warm, covered plate from the oven, she then paused by the refrigerator to get him a beer. She went back to the table and set his new plate down in front of him, retaking her seat.
“Thank you,” Ice said, picking up his knife and fork.
“You’re welcome,” Grace muttered ungraciously.
Ice cut up his steak but before he took a bite, he gently laid his knife and fork down on the plate and turned toward her.
Cupping her cheek in the palm of his hand, his thumb brushed her full bottom lip. “I’m sorry, baby. It’s just what you did in the shower made me feel shit I’ve never felt before. I tried to tell you that, and it came out all wrong.”
Grace melted at his explanation. She had wanted it to feel special, and he had just given her that.
“I’m sorry about Jones, too. I shouldn’t have thrown him at you. You wouldn’t have actually hurt him, would you?”
“Of course not,” Ice assured her before taking a bite of his food. “Hell, being an English professor is lame enough; I don’t need to make his world more miserable.”
After dinner, they did the dishes together before watching a thriller on television. Grace never let herself watch suspenseful television, but she didn’t make Ice turn the channel. Thankfully, she fell asleep during the middle of it because her eyes had been tightly closed.
Sometime later, she drowsily had the impression of Ice carrying her to bed, listening to him talk quietly to her dogs as he shut them out of the bedroom. She burrowed under the covers when Ice laid her down. Her period was almost over, but she still felt achy and tired.
As Ice lay down next to her, his hand going to her stomach and gently massaging the stiff muscles, Grace sank back asleep, but the dark images from her past flashed through her mind. She unconsciously tossed and turned throughout the night. Many times, she would have woken up if not for Ice’s voice whispering to her in the dark.
She woke in the morning, feeling more tired than when Ice had carried her to bed. Grace tossed back the covers when she found herself pinned to the bed by Ice’s arm over her waist. She turned her head on the pillow to see his head leaning on his raised arm, staring down at her.
“Good morning,” she greeted him huskily.
“Morning. Did you sleep well?”
“Pretty good, I guess.”
“Didn’t seem too good to me. You tossed and turned all night.”
“I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t keep you awake. I know you’re tired from driving back and forth.”
“Cut it out, Grace. You haven’t had nightmares before. What set them off last night?”
“I don’t know.” She hedged, “Maybe the stress of Bear getting loose just hit me or our fight.”
“Or maybe the movie we watched?”