Free Breathless by Laura Storme Page A

weeks from today to get up to code. I’ll
do another tour then and whatever I find then
you’re stuck with.”
“Deal,” Alex said shaking Adam’s hand. She
escorted him to the door, hugged him for old-time
sake and said good bye.
“Say hello to Pam for me.
She should come with
you in two weeks and we’ll have lunch.”
Adam nodded his agreement and promised to see if
he could get her to come then before leaving the
plant.
Alex stood in the doorway of the factory,
watching him leave then strolled back to Jeff’s
office.
“Alex, you saved our collective asses,” Jeff
announced as she entered the room, “Thanks.”
“No problem. But Adam’s serious when he said
we have two weeks.
We need to get somebody in
here ASAP.”
Jeff and James interviewed past applicants and
settled on Eric Marshall to fill the maintenance
position.
He was hired on the spot and began the
next day.
The hard stuff was tackled first including
rewiring the two ton jack, installing circuits in the
weld shop and replacing the frayed extension
cords.
They had just finished when Adam
returned.
This time he had brought Alex's college
roommate Pam and the two had reminisced over
lunch and then dinner after Adam declared the
place up to date and gave Hasani a clean bill of
health. Grayson knew Alex was in a better
mood.
She had stopped in the machine shop
several times and had lunch with them on Friday
afternoon.
He decided to give it another shot and
invite her to a party at his house that night.
"So Alex," he smiled, "what do you say?
Tonight,
we’re partying at my place, Morgan, possibly
Melissa, a few others.
.
.
"
Alex knew it was coming, Grayson had been smiling
too much.
She chuckled and wagged her
eyebrows at Joey just to make him blush.
"Okay, how do I get there?"
Grayson almost fell off the bench.
He expected
another rejection, but since the OSHA inspection
had gone so well, she had cheered.
Morgan smiled at Gray's reaction, drew Alex a map
on the back of her tablet and wrote a time there.
"I'll be there.
Do I need anything?"
"BYOB," commented Grayson.
Alex nodded her head and went back to her desk.

Chapter 11
Alex arrived at Grayson's fashionably late.
She
changed her clothes after a quick shower at home
and put on jeans, short boots and a sweater.
Alex
had stopped at the liquor store and bought a bottle
of Stoli for the party and picked up a bottle of Hi-C
orange to mix with it at the grocers next
door.
Alex knocked on the door, but doubted
anyone could hear it over the stereo.
She smiled
and hesitated before using the doorbell.
"They can't hear me," she said to herself testing the
doorknob.
Surprisingly it gave and she let herself
in.
The door opened easily and allowed her entrance
into the pantry of Gray's house.
A flight of stairs
leading to the basement was immediately in front
of her and the kitchen was on the right.
She heard
the noise coming from the direction of the living
room, divested herself of her shoes and walked into
the house.
"Hello," she called.
"Alex," questioned Grayson coming into the
kitchen.
"Yeah, the door was open.
I tried knocking and
ringing the bell.
I guess you couldn't hear me."
"Give me a heart attack.
That door is supposed to
be locked.
Do you need a glass or are you just
going to mix the two together in one giant
container?"
Alex smiled and asked for a glass.
Grayson
grabbed a tumbler from the cupboard, got some ice
and helped Alex mix a rather strong
screwdriver.
After locking the door, he led her
into the living room where everyone was assembled
watching a Red Sox's game.
"Baseball? Why am I not surprised?"
Grayson laughed and introduced her to some
friends of his that were not Hasani
employees.
She saw that Morgan and Joey were
there, but there were no other women.
"Gray, I'm
the only woman," she said as she leaned close to
him.
"You're okay, Alex.
These guys won't hurt
you," he reassured her.
Alex relaxed somewhat and sat down on the
loveseat facing the crowd and the rest of the house.
Alex had