Page 24 of From Coast to Coast

“Pizza is here,” I repeat.

“Right.” He puts a hand lightly on my shoulder as he passes, and my brain chooses this moment to let me know that he’s got the biggest hands I’ve ever seen. I turn and watch him as he goes to the cupboard to grab plates.

“Do you want anything to drink?” he asks. “I’m going to boil some water for tea. I could make you some?”

Tea—fucking tea!This sends my nervous system into a tizzy and it takes me seconds longer than is appropriate for me to formulate a response. Grayson is standing at the oven fidgeting with the kettle, perfectly at ease. My phone feels like it’s burning a hole in my pocket. All I can think about is Brody’s profile proclaiming that he was a tea drinker and a snowshoer.

“Sure,” I finally respond, proud of the way my voice doesn’t waver. “Tea sounds good. Thank you.”

He grins at me over his shoulder before carefully pulling out two mugs and dropping a peppermint teabag in each. I can’t get over the fact that he uses a real kettle and not an electric one. It shouldn’t be cute but it fucking is, and now I’m freaking out. Taking a bite of too hot pizza, I watch as he pulls his phone out of the pocket of his sweats and stares atit. It takes him a few seconds before he types something. My phone buzzes in my pocket.Shit.

“You went to a ski resort to snowshoe,” I realize, accidentally speaking the words out loud instead of keeping them in my head where they belong. He slides a mug over the island to me and grabs two slices of pizza. Leaning a hip casually against the counter, he holds his plate under his chin as he takes a bite.

“Sure did,” he answers. “Why?”

Why, indeed. Because I’m pretty sure he and I have been jacking off to each other’s dick pics for the last week. Because Brody’s dark chest and leg hair would fit perfectly with Grayson’s equally dark head of hair. Because sometimes I notice things about Grayson that exceed the bounds of platonic friendship.

“I just thought of that, sorry. Random, I know.”

“You good?”

I nod, but save myself the trouble of answering by taking a monster bite of pizza and chewing as slowly as I can. Checking my phone, I close my eyes for a few seconds when I see the chat.

Ree

How do you feel about meeting up? Maybe grab dinner sometime this week?

Brody

Sounds good. Are you free on Wednesday?

Wednesday. Of course I’m fucking free because we don’t have a game on Wednesday and practice is early. Just like it is for Grayson. Laying my phone carefully down on the island, I set my half-finished pizza onto my plate and take a deep breath.Even if Alex and I end up being wrong, I can’t live with the possibility and not tell Grayson my suspicions. If I say nothing and it ends up being him, I’ll be the dirtbag who took advantage of a situation where he’d been counting on anonymity. No matter how uncomfortable this might be, I need to tell him.

“Are you busy Wednesday?” I ask, and try not to stare at his mouth when he sucks stray sauce off of his thumb.

“Might be,” he answers noncommittally. He glances down at his phone, resting on the counter, and my stomach falls further. “I might have a date.”

“Me too,” I say quietly, and he smiles.

“Yeah? Good for you. You work quickly.” He laughs, reaching out to snag another slice of pizza. I watch his arm, noticing the play of muscle beneath skin. “If my thing falls through, you could borrow my car, if you wanted.”

“Your thing won’t fall through.” He looks at me, one eyebrow raised questioningly. I hold my hands up in front of me, palms facing him. “Okay, this is going to sound absolutely insane, but I think I might be your date.”

“Huh?” he mumbles around a mouthful of pizza.

“Brody.” I point to him. “Meet Ree.” I point to myself.

For a protracted moment I think I’ve got it wrong. He looks confused—maybe a little bit amused—but not shocked. I wait him out, unsure of whether I’m hoping for it to be him or not. The situation has the makings of disaster, certainly, but when I look at his face, it’s hard to care about that. I like him, that’s for certain. Does that freak me out? Yeah. But not enough for me to ignore the attraction. I want to see where this goes.

“Uhm,” Grayson says, straightening so that he’s no longer leaning against the counter. “What?”

He doesn’t look pissed or disgusted, thank god, justpuzzled. It’s a cute expression to see on his big scruffy face, but, seriously,now is not the time, Remy.I pick up my phone and open the app. He stiffens.

“Ree is a nickname my mom uses. And that’s from when I had an appendectomy.” I enlarge one of the photos I’d sent him, pointing to the scar visible on my abdomen. I see his eyes track upward from my phone to my bare stomach.

“Remy,” he says carefully, eyes wide when they meet mine. “I don’t…”

He glances back down at my phone where the naked picture of me is still pulled up. I watch as he swallows, closing his eyes and taking a step back from the counter. If the island wasn’t between us, I’d follow him.

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