Page 208 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 1

“What’s your name?” Maybe attempting a normal conversation would help his brain climb out of his shorts.

“Alaina Rowen.”

“I’m Gray Woolphe. W, two Os, L, P, H, E. Some Indian agent’s idea of a joke a hundred and fifty years ago or so.” He smiled, hoping he looked friendly and not as horny as he felt.

“You’ve been watching me.” Her words weren’t a question, but a statement of fact.

Gray nodded. “I saw you wish yourself a happy birthday, then wish for a man to replace your toy. I thought I would make your wish come true. I’m not a masher or an ax murderer or anything like that. I’m a pilot for the Marines. I’ve been deployed overseas for the past six months, but I’ve been reassigned to Cherry Point starting next week.”

She nodded but took yet another step backward. When her calf connected with a chair seat, she lost her balance. She landed hard in the chair, her gaze still on his.

She looked stunned. She looked fearful. She looked as if she wanted to rip his clothes off and have him for dinner. Gray strode forward and settled into the other chair.

Alaina relaxed marginally as he told her about himself. Being a Marine meant he was healthy and employed.

“Would you like a beer?” All at once the manners her mother had drilled into her since Alaina could walk kicked in.

“A beer would be good.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back.”

She was not surprised when Gray stood as she pushed up from her chair. She hurried into the house and retrieved another beer from the refrigerator. When she returned to the patio, he was right where she had left him, though he was staring at the table.

She followed the direction of his gaze. When she realized it was her neon green vibrator, she groaned with embarrassment. Stepping forward, she held out the beer bottle without a word.

“Thanks.”

Gray lifted his gaze from the still-glistening vibrator as he accepted the beer. He waited until she sat down before sitting himself. Looking across the table, he took in her glowing pink cheeks, then studied the rest of her. Clothes covered her from neckline to bare feet, though erect nipples poked against her shirt. Blood-red polish colored her toenails while her fingernails were bare. “Why do you cover up such a knockout body? You should never wear clothes.”

She made a face before answering. “I work for my father, and I don’t think he would approve of me working naked.”

“You don’t like your job.”

Alaina raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Why do you think that?”

Gray drank his beer as he stared into her eyes. She was scared. Not of him, but of herself, of the wildness inside her, of letting go and unleashing the wild woman she hid behind long skirts and proper manners. “I can see it in your eyes.”

“No, I don’t like my job. But I can’t do what I really want to.”

“Why not?”

His question stopped her for a moment. Why not? Because to do what she really wanted took a faith in herself and her dreams that her father had erased from her with endless lectures throughout her life about being practical. Following her dreams also meant fighting with the historical society, and then renovating the second floor of the family’s hundred and fifty-year-old house.

She had inherited the family home from her grandmother five years before and had received a check every month from her mother’s estate. She had been saving that money to pay for the renovations. It wouldn’t take much work to prepare her grandmother’s suite. Then she could use that rent to help pay for the renovations to the rest of the house.

With a sigh, she admitted, “I guess I’m scared.”

“What is it you want to do instead of working for your father?”

“I’ve thought about renovating this house, turning the upstairs into three two-room suites so I could rent them out and take care of people. I’d also like to sell some of the quilts I design and make.”

“A bed and breakfast? That’s a lot of work for one person, isn’t it?”

“Not a bed and breakfast. I’m thinking more along the lines of the old-time boarding houses they showed in old movies. A place where people rent a suite long term and come together for meals. A place where we would care about one another. Like an extended family. I could even offer breakfast and dinner, family style. Problem is, I’m not sure the historical society would approve some of the changes I want to make since this place is on the historical registry.”

“I see only one drawback to your idea.”

“Oh?”

---