Page 73 of Stars and Scars

I’m dying to know what he was about to say. Dying!

“Hey now, you can’t do that! You were about to say something really profound and/or personal, I just know it.”

“I don’t have the right to say any such thing.”

I put my hands on my hips and glare him into oblivion.

“Gray, we slept together. Maybe it didn’t mean much to you, but it did for me.”

His eyes widen, and he suddenly takes me by the arms.

“Charlotte…it meant something to me, too.”

He lets out a frustrated groan and turns away from me.

“I don’t know which way is up when I’m with you.”

“Hey, it’s all right.”

I embrace him from behind, feeling the tension in his neck and shoulders. The longer I hold him, the more he relaxes. At length, he puts a hand on top of my own and our fingers weave together.

We go back to practicing the close quarters thing, but without as much laughter as before. Things just got real. Damn real. If I was worried that Gray was only into me on a physical level, those fears have been at least somewhat reduced.

He goes into the cabin, to prepare us a snack. It's been a long time since breakfast. I use the opportunity to check my various accounts. To my delight, my team has uploaded the video of myself and Grayson in the Jeep, when we first started out. That seems like a lot longer ago than it actually was.

Is it possible to fall for someone in just a couple of days?

My fans certainly seem to think so. Almost every single comment from my followers contains a common thread.

Wow, what a cute couple!

Your ‘bodyguard.’ yeah, right, he can guard MY body anytime.

Grayson is going to watch Charlotte. Very, very closely.

I think Charlottesville has a new resident.

Charlotte and Grayson, sitting in a tree…

I put my phone down, my face burning hot. Oh my God. Is it that obvious?

I laugh helplessly. I’d pretty much given up on finding a decent guy in LA. Turns out, all I had to do was have my life threatened to meet Mr. Right.

Or have I? I remind myself that Grayson is a CIA spook. He pretended to be something he was not over a long and illustrious career. He’s probably a master at manipulation. How do I know he’s not just telling me everything I want to hear?

I shake my head. No, I’m not that gullible. And if Grayson were going to try and love bomb me just to get into my panties, I think he’d be a lot less subtle.

But he is a subtle guy…

I keep going round and round in my head. And I’m not getting anywhere. I go inside to see how Grayson is doing. I find him in the process of plating summer sausage on leftover biscuits, with a side of his lumpy but tasty gravy.

“This is a ton of fat and carbs, but I guess I’ve worked a lot of calories off today.”

He smiles as we sit down on the sofa with our snack. His gaze drops to my phone, still open to one of my accounts.

“I think I see my name on one of those posts.”

I quickly shut down the screen.

---