Commitment

Part 82

Start with the simple bits, he thought. So he opted for generalisation, "Bob said he had tried to find a job, that allowed him to handle his current circumstance" He answered the query in her eyes. "Yes, most people balked when he explained the various aspects, the barriers and the possible stipulations."

"Oh dear. Poor chap." She knew what it felt like, when you have no real prospects. She, like him, were between a rock and wall. Keeping her eyes firmly on her duvet, because every time she thought about him, she became flustered. Especially now, when she recalled the way his thumb had stroked her lips and chin, she might as well not have had a brain. So she mumbled softly, "Well, you didn't balked." She felt vulnerable when she was around him. Not because he scared her, but because she scared herself. What happened to her self-preservation, she wondered, and scolded herself, why beg him to stay? Idiot, idiot, idiot, she murmured silently. What is the matter with her? She was already mulling over how to recover her preservation instinct.

Gray shrugged, not sure if his statement would dispatch his progress with her. From hero to jerk within seconds. He ran his fingers through his hair, and glanced across the bedroom towards the window, hoping to find inspiration. It was his pause that had Regan incline her head, peeked at him and frowned. She pulled her legs up, tenting the duvet with her knees and clasped her knees with her arms and linked her fingers to secure her knees. Unable to restrain her curiosity any longer, she said quietly, "You could have dismissed his application." Regan remind him.

He shifted uneasily, "Yes, well, to be honest, I did hesitate." He subconsciously braced for a rebuke and again reached for her hands. Her fingers were linked holding her shins and his fingers and thumb stroked the back of her fingers. "I was about to dismiss his application."

"Really?" She asked rather more brusquely then she had intended, as she tried not to appear flustered. She wanted to mask her reaction to his touch. A caress that had sparks, heating her blood. A simple caress. Just his fingers brushing the back of her hands.

He looked her in the eye before shifting his gaze away, "Yeah. I did." His thumb continued to caress. It felt wonderful having that contact, albeit, a whisper of contact. But as that thought registered, he knew, if a simple touch, like his thumb stroking her fingers, imagine what the feeling would be if the contact were more.

She lowered her legs, and left her hands on the top of the duvet, and she thought by doing that, he would not continue to brush the back of her hands. But she was wrong. He reached for the nearest palm and linked their fingers. Sparks like a Catherine wheel firework went off. Her heart beat kick into an uneven pulse when their fingers made contact and linked.

She gulped. "I would appreciated it if you do not hold my hands." She tugged her hand away. And she quickly stashed her hands beneath her duvet cover that covered her lap and clasped her hands as the residue of sparks of the Catherine wheel were circulating in her system.

He chuckled. "I like holding your hands. It warms my hands." More than warmed his hands. He suddenly made up his mind about something and his body language changed. His posture was relaxed and his confidence overtook his caginess. "Poor circulation you understand, cold hands. And you know what they say about cold hands." He quirked an eyebrow.

She snorted and suddenly the tension eased out of her shoulders, just like him, a few seconds ago. Regan recognised he was teasing her.  She returned to the conversation, "Why did you hesitated about engaging Bob?" She tipped her head and frowned, "Why?" She brought her hands from beneath her duvet and folded her arms.

Gray shifted on the bed, turned a bit, so that he was no longer just perching on the side of her bed, he lifted his leg, bend at the knee, so that his knee was braced on the top of the duvet. His knee brushed her thigh. How could that touch, with material between their skins, resulting in the increase in her pulse? She nearly gulped. She lowered her gaze, because she didn't want to reveal her thoughts. Gray secured his knee, by placing his palm on the crook of his knee on the bed.