Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 106774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
“You have two choices,” Gray says, knocking the door closed with his hip. “I found a Rice Krispies treat and a chocolate bar. Can you eat either of these?” He hops on the bed next to me. “Neither say they have peanuts in them, but … how do you know? Do we trust these companies?”
I laugh.
“What?” he turns his face to mine with his brows pinched together. “Are you laughing at me?”
“No. I’m not laughing at you. I just think it’s so nice of you to be so cognizant of my allergies.”
He drops the snacks onto his bare chest. “I can’t kill you yet because, if I recall correctly, and I do, you insinuated that you wanted me to nut in your mouth.” He grins mischievously. “I’m not going to let a nut steal that nut, if you follow me.”
I giggle. “Oh, I follow you now. But I’ll swallow you later.”
My phone chimes as a text message alert pops on the screen. I roll onto my back and hold my phone up in the air, opening my app.
Gianna: So there’s this guy …
Audrey: I don’t know how you keep finding them. Haven’t you exhausted the supply in this city?
Gray unwraps the Rice Krispies treat. “Which one of your friends has the taser?”
“Gianna.”
He offers me a bite of the bar, and I nibble the corner.
Me: Thoughts about this one?
Audrey: Wait. Do we know this guy?
Gianna: It was the guy from the email. The one who banged his coworker’s wife.
Audrey: I have a bad feeling about this one.
Gianna: You would be right, my sweet little Auddie. The sex could’ve been an email.
Gray takes a bite, then snuggles up to my side. “What is she talking about?”
“God only knows.” I chuckle.
Me: The sex could’ve been an email. I’m struggling with that one, G.
Gianna: I mean, he was a great emailer. His delivery was smooth, his points intriguing yet satisfying. I craved more. But sex with this buster? It would’ve been better if he had typed it out and hit Send.
Audrey: Sorry. Are you home yet, Astrid?
I whoosh a breath as my stomach turns to knots.
Obviously, I’ll tell my friends about tonight in vivid detail. It’s sort of fun to be the one with a story to tell for a change. But I haven’t had time to process the events of the evening, and I really don’t know how to explain it to Gianna and Audrey with Gray peering over my shoulder.
He offers me another bite. “You gonna answer them, or what?”
“Yeah. Just trying to figure out how.” I bite off the edge of the bar, then chew slowly. “They’ll take this the wrong way.”
“What way would that be?”
I glance over my shoulder at him.
Gray studies my reaction to his question, watching my every blink and sigh. He’s freshly washed from our shower a little while ago. His torso is bare, showcasing his ridiculously crafted muscles and tanned skin, and a pair of blue running shorts sits low on his hips. If I didn’t already know what he was packing beneath them, I’d be dying to find out.
“My friends are both dramatic, but in opposite ways,” I say.
Gianna: Shall I get my hopes up?
Audrey: Take a breath.
Gianna: Out of the three of us, one of us should be having great sex. It isn’t you. It’s not me. But it could be Astrid.
Gianna: Thick thighs and rugby guys. I’m here for it.
“Me, too,” Gray says, chuckling. “Let’s send them a selfie.”
“What?”
He shrugs, running a hand along my inner thigh. My legs open for him … just in case.
“You want to send them a selfie?” I ask, my jaw slack. “Are you serious? You don’t care that we’re half naked in bed?”
“I’m the lucky fuck in bed with you,” he says, nuzzling his face in the crook of my neck. “Why do I care who knows it?”
Oh. I feather my fingers through his hair. My head leans against his as he presses kisses against my throat. The gesture is tender and sweet, rich yet subtle, and flames the slow burn simmering in my chest.
I forget about my friends and ignore their incoming text messages. Instead, I close my eyes and just live in this moment with Gray. A blanket of peace settles over the two of us. Does he feel it, too? Does he notice the sprinkle of magic in the room—the shift in temperature that feels like possibility is blooming?
I might be crazy. The facts lean that way. It’s not like me to go out of town with a guy, let alone stay all night with him at his brother’s house after getting fucked in a field out in the middle of nowhere.
Who am I right now? I grin. I don’t know, but I think I like her.
“Look up,” I say, positioning my phone over our heads.