In A Perfect World

:::Ok folks, this is the last *boring* background chapter...the action packed, stand alone, smut-fest is soon to follow in chapter 10!!:::


Grant smiled and shook his head in agreement, “Yes, I suppose there are some things that need clearing up,” he took Kerry’s hand, the one holding him at arms length, and lead her to the couch, indicating they should sit.

Gently lifting her chin to make her look at him he said, “Last year was my first trip down here. I’d sort of had my eye on you from the second you walked into the office. I could tell right away that you were a sweet girl, a nice girl; not the usual type that hung around with the rest of the crew. I couldn’t believe you’d have anything to do with me after knowing all the other morons for as long as you had. You know, guilt by association? Right? You were no fool. I figured that if I showed any interest you’d think I was playing you. You’d think the other guys put me up to it, you know very well what they’re capable of. So, I stepped back.”

Kerry stared right at Grant, like he had three heads and six eyes.

“Then, WOW!! There we are watching TV and you notice me trying to crack my neck. You offered the back rub, and then it’s the ticklish spot. And yea, I just about went through the roof when you sucked in that cold breath of air. And YES, about that time everything was out of control, one thing lead to another, and YES, I received the most mind blowing blow job. I about couldn’t walk back down to my trailer, my legs were so weak.”

Kerry was still trying to process Grant’s first sentence about having his eye on her from the beginning. Everything else he was saying was just background static, until he mentioned the ‘mouth music’ she gave him. He had her attention once again.

“I didn’t want you to get some sort of reputation. Like I said, this was my first trip down, never laid eyes on the place before, and within the first 24 hours I’m getting blown!?! And fantastically I might add! If anybody found out, especially those guys, you would’ve never been able to show your face around here again! Regardless of the fact that it was consenting, regardless of the fact that we enjoyed ourselves; at least I think we did, I did anyway. You heard what Stevie-boy said. They could never understand that there’s more to someone than what meets the eye. I firmly believe in ‘don’t judge a book by its cover.’ That’s why I put you off, that’s why I had to stay away. If we’d connected again, there would have been no stopping us.”

Kerry was still staring at Grant, but now she saw more than the man. More than the green/grey eyes, the perfect ass, more than the ‘book cover’. Grant was truly as beautiful on the inside as he was on the outside.
She was speechless, again! {Wow! Twice in one day! This has gotta be some kind of record!}

Grant spoke once again, “Wouldn’t the ‘old Kerry’ have thought ‘there’s no way in hell he could really be interested in me’? You’ve changed more than you think. Yea, you look terrific, great, fantastic even. But your whole outlook has changed too, you’ve got attitude to spare now. You’ve got the confidence to not let anybody get away with crap! And that’s another kind of beautiful all together. D’you think ‘old Kerry’ would have even attempted this kind of elaborate con?? No way, abso-fuckin-lutely NOT”

Kerry felt herself blush and turned away. She couldn’t argue with Grant, she had felt the power in numerous situations since losing the weight, but having it pointed out to her, knowing that others could see it, she didn’t know how to react to that.

“I…I…I know I’ve changed some……,” Kerry wasn’t talking to anyone, really.

“Some? SOME??” Grant was flabbergasted at the understatement, “Let me ask you something, were you planning this, this whole scam? Did you have it all figured out for when the bus rolled in this afternoon?”

“No,” Kerry’s answer was automatic; but then the actual insinuation behind the question jolted her, “NO! Of
course not!”

“Ok then, how’d it get started?”

“Well, David came up looking for me and when I answered the door he just stood there and stared, he began to ‘apologize’ for disturbing me and asked where ‘Kerry’ was! I honest to gods could not believe that he didn’t know it was me and thought he’d figure it out in a couple a’ minutes.”

“Uh-huh, and then what?” Grant prompted her to continue.

“I decided, just for fun, to see how long it would take him to see that it was me. I thought if he didn’t figure it out, somebody would, so I just kept it up.”

Grant nodded his head, understanding the immense satisfaction Kerry would get at having put one over on the guys. “But nobody figured it out, nobody called your bluff.”

“NO!” The disbelief in her voice was palpable, “They all fell for it hook, line and sinker! Then David announces that ‘Cassie’ has one more person to identify and there YOU stand! Like you just walked out of every damnable dream I’ve had about you since last year!! And I instantly decided ’it's payback time.’ I figured our little tryst was only good for you. One thing led to another, you got your satisfaction, and I got buptkiss. My hormones may have started it, but they got noooooo satisfaction and I figured it was as good a time as any to get even!”

Grant watched as one emotion after another swept over her face- disbelief in not having been found out by the gang on the porch; shock when she turned and saw him; fury, anger, definitely resentment when she spoke of their encounter. But he could not identify what washed over her for the split second she spoke about dreaming of him, “I’m sorry I put you through all that.”

“Well, I know now that you had honorable intentions. But it didn’t make it any easier! You looked me right in the eye and said,” Kerry dropped her voice to imitate a man’s low baritone, “‘it was a one-time thing, we let our hormones take control, and it wasn't right. It would just be better if we could forget it ever happened.’” Then, in her voice “That was easy for you to say. I felt like I wasn't even there for the entire rest of the weekend. You said we could still be friends, but you’d walk out of a room if I walked in. That hardly seemed friendly! You were afraid I’d think you had played me?? That’s the understatement of the year, fella,.” The volume and intensity of Kerry’s voice rose and fell again with the emotions behind her words.

Grant sighed heavily and leaned forward, elbows on knees, “So by trying to protect you I still screwed up.”

Kerry put one arm around his shoulders and lay her other hand on his leg, “Well, yea, sorta…but I don’t understand why you didn’t try and tell me what you were doing? Why couldn’t you tell me?!?!? Why did you let me think you were such a sleaze? And what the hell were you going to do this year??”

“What I was going to do this year? I honestly can’t say. I guess I was going to just ‘wing it’. See if you were even still here, see if I could find you if you weren’t. If I did but you didn’t want to have anything to do with me, I wasn’t going to push. If you would see me, I had no idea how to explain last year. Would you believe me? Or would you think I was just looking for another easy lay?” He paused a moment and let the question sink in. “Last year, what I did was the right thing to do. All I wanted to do was protect you, but I wasn’t thinking far enough ahead. I wasn’t thinking I’d have another chance,” Grant straightened up and took both of Kerry’s hands in his, “to be right here, right now, next to you,” his eyes bore into her once again with such strength she could see the sincerity of his words, “able to tell you how I really feel.”