Page 4 of A Beary Nice View
I nod my head. “Okay. Still, I can’t help but feel like I’m to blame. Let me make it up to you.”
“H-How?” he stutters out, looking up at me and biting his bottom lip.
“I know this is a stretch and we’ve never properly introduced ourselves but I have a perfectly good laundry room you can use at my house. You can come inside and use it.”
“I wouldn’t want to impose on your space. I’m sure you’re busy and have places to be.”
“Believe it or not, I actually don’t,” I tell him with a grin. “For the first time in a long time, I’m on vacation right now. I’m supposed to be having fun.”
“Oh, umm. Right. Okay.’”
“You can say no. I won’t push.”
The guy looks down for a moment, contemplating. When he looks up, his blue eyes shine a little brighter. “Thank you for the offer. Just today, to make up for you hitting me with your truck.”
I can’t help but mirror his smile. “Perfect. Why don’t you go park your bike and then come inside, okay? Also, I should probably mention; my name is Alaric.”
“Dell. It’s nice to officially meet you,” he says softly. “I’ll be right back.”
I watch him turn his bike around, taking him in. He’s tall and lanky, his skinny jeans highlight the length of his legs. Gods, he’s so hot but again, I have to keep reminding myself that there’s no chance in hell he’s actually interested in someone like me. I’m just the older neighbor who almost ran him over and is trying to be nice and make it up to him.
I run my fingers through my hair. I’m worried I’m being too much right now. First I show him my dick in the middle of thenight, then I run him over with my truck, and now I’m telling him to get in my house to wash his clothes? Am I being an overbearing teddy bear right now?
Thankfully, I don’t have to sit here, wallowing in my own self-doubt for long. Dell comes back with his hamper of clothes, a soft smile on his face.
“Are you sure this is okay? You truly don’t have anything to be sorry about.”
“If you’re okay coming into my house then I’m more than okay with you doing some laundry.”
Dell nods his head, his blond hair bouncing as he does. “Okay,” he finally says. “Lead the way.”
I head into the front door of my home, opening the door wide so that Dell can come inside. He slips his shoes off and pushes them beside the door before looking around. Something about his politeness stirs something inside of me. I push that aside and focus on showing Dell to my laundry room.
I have a little room off the kitchen where my washer and dryer are. It’s not a very big room but wide enough to move around freely. There are shelves above the machines with everything he might need to wash everything and a section past the machines where you can hang up certain clothes if they can’t dry in the dryer.
“Oh, this is nice,” Dell says, setting down his hamper.
“Thank you. I renovated this whole place and made it my own.”
Dell’s eyes widen. “Really? That’s amazing! I can tell a lot of time and care went into this place. At least, at first glance,” he adds quickly.
“You have an eye for design?”
Dell shakes his head. “Nothing like that. I don’t think I’ve ever used an actual tool in my life, but I can just tell when things are well loved, you know?”
I lean against the door frame, smiling softly. “I know exactly what you mean.”
“Anything I should know before I get to work?”
“Should all be straight forward,” I tell him, nodding up at the detergents. “Everything you need you can find up there. Pretty standard washer. Just put the setting knobs how you want them and then hit start.”
“Perfect. Thank you so much, Alaric.”
Jesus Christ, I like the way he says my name. It takes all of my self control not to actually shiver at the sound of his voice. In this tight room, I can breathe Dell in and I would be lying if I said I didn’t like what I smelled. He smells like fresh honey dripping straight from the hive and fuck, that does things to my inner bear.
Dell smells good enough to eat.
“I’ll be in the kitchen if you need anything,” I tell him before stepping away.
