Coming Home- Rock Bay 1 by M. J. O’Shea Read Free Book Online

respected him, and oddly enough, Tally already trusted him as well. At least in a public setting.
He stepped out of the shower and dried off with one of his grandmother’s fluffy cream-colored towels that were covered with bouquets of pink garden flowers. Then Tally pulled his sweats and a tank top back on before leaving the bathroom.
“Night, Grams. I’m going to go to bed,” he called from the landing. He could hear sirens and gunshots coming from the television. When he’d come upstairs earlier she’d just been starting Law and Order. He smiled to himself. Gotta love Grams.
“Goodnight, Tally,” she called distractedly. “I’ll see you tomorrow, dear.”
Chapter Four
     
    A
NOTHER day with Tallis Carrington. Lex sighed. He hadn’t slept well, even though he’d been more tired last night than he could remember being in a long, long time. The day before had been a strange sort of emotional purgatory. Not quite hell, but way too uncomfortable to be anything close to contentment. He’d wavered for hours between remembered hatred, strong attraction, and the odd new feeling that perhaps Tallis Carrington was gone and the Tally that had taken his place was actually a decent human being who’d come upon harder times than he wanted to admit.
    Don’t be a moron, Lex Barry. The saying “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” didn’t come out of nowhere. Even so, Tally was probably the saddest wolf Lex had ever seen. He sighed as he pulled on a freshly washed pair of jeans and a soft black T-shirt that was worn and comfortable against his skin. He didn’t want to go downstairs and deal with his conflicting feelings. He didn’t want to be having feelings at all. He didn’t mind acknowledging Tally’s good looks. It was a fact; the guy was gorgeous. It was the rest of it that bothered Lex—the butterflies, the wavering between anger and admiration, the odd, annoying impulse to pull Tally into his arms and tell him that everything would be okay.
    Jesus! Moron city! Lex knew he needed to teach Tally the ropes, and quickly, so he could leave Tally alone in the shop and not torture himself constantly with Tally’s proximity. His original intention in hiring an employee, which was to finally have a few minutes in the day where he wasn’t working, seemed secondary. He just needed to escape.
    Lex locked his apartment door and trotted quickly down the stairs to the hallway below. He knew Tally would be waiting for him, and, as he’d said yesterday, it was showtime.
    T
HE day had gone well. Better than Lex could’ve imagined. He’d expected hiring someone would be more work than doing the work himself—at least for a few weeks. But Tally was smart, and he picked things up faster than Lex could’ve hoped. Lex was confident that he’d be able to leave Tally alone in the shop soon. And he needed to be able to. Being near the guy was driving him nuts. It was nearly impossible to keep up the cold facade around him when Lex was genuinely curious. He wanted to know what’d happened to change Tally so much, where he’d been, why he seemed so sad and worn down. That prostitution or homelessness comment stuck in Lex’s head. He couldn’t forget the total lack of hope on Tally’s face when he’d said that.
    Jesus. Knock it off. His problems are not yours to solve. Nor are they any of your business.
Lex locked the door to his shop and grabbed the can of trim paint that was sitting at his feet. His mother had said their baseboards were getting chipped, and Lex knew it hurt his father’s knees to bend down like that. He thought he’d at least do the dining room and the living room that night and maybe look at the other rooms after he had Tally trained and could take some more time off. He set the can of paint on the floor under his glove compartment and started his car, ready to drive the short distance to the house he’d grown up in.
His parents’ house looked a lot better than it had in years past. Lex’s shop had been