Page 38 of Scoring Grey

“Are you in my bed?”

“What do you think?” I answer cheekily.

He didn’t specifically ask me to sleep in his bed this time. I’m already sleeping in the spare bedroom since Dash is staying at my place, but I liked sleeping in his bed last week when he was out of town, and truth be told, after our kiss today, it’s where I wanted to be.

“FaceTime,” he says, pushing through the request before I can comment. I would have said yes anyway. The second I see his tired, amber eyes, I can’t help but smile. It’s obvious he’s worn out. The hockey season is already long enough. Add in the taxing travel schedule, and it’s more than draining, so the fact that he’s keeping his eyes open for me means a lot. “You’re so pretty, blondie. I miss you.”

“I miss you too.” My voice is weak and sounds unsure even though it’s not. Sharing these sentiments is new. He smiles big, and stepping outside my comfort zone has never felt better.

“Will you fall asleep with me?” He props his phone against a pillow while he stacks some behind his back, and I can’t look away. This new angle puts his bare, expertly defined stomach and chest on display, but it’s not until he twists left that something catches my eye. Low on his hip, right above his sexy abdominal V-line, are tiny white marks; they’re faint, almost like scars, but if I’m not mistaken, they look like half-moons. I can’t be sure because I don’t get a chance to thoroughly examine them before his eyes are on mine. “What’s that look for?”

“What are those marks on your side?”

“You don’t want to know,” he dismisses my question with a tone that suggests he’s right. “Are you going to make yourself comfortable?”

“If you answer my question.”

“Get comfortable in my bed, and I’ll consider it. I want you to take that pillow to your right, slip it between your legs, and roll onto your side the way I know you like to sleep.”

I look away with an exaggerated eye roll but do as he asks. “The only reason you know I like to sleep like that is because you insist on breaking into my room while I sleep.”

“It’s hardly breaking in when I have the code.”

“I didn’t give you the code,” I remind him as I get cozy. Once I’m situated on my side, I prop my phone up on the pillow beside me and tuck my left hand under my face; it’s not until I look at the phone that I notice his eyes have darkened with an all-too-familiar look. “Are you seriously already salivating about sleeping on this pillow I have stuffed between my legs when you get home?” I tease, trying to stay one step ahead of his shenanigans.

His tongue slowly dips out and swipes over his sinful mouth before his eyes drop, and I realize what’s happened. When I shifted, my boob popped out of my silk night dress.

I reach to slip it back inside, but he says, “Don’t.” His voice is a plea as much as it’s a demand. “I’ll tell you what you saw if you leave it.” My fingers toy with my thin strap, and my heart races as I try to process his words and the ten million other things I’m feeling, all fighting for my focus. “I’m not there. I can’t touch you. Looking isn’t breaking any of your rules. Let me see you.” Those words send a delicious thrum straight through my core. “Come on, blondie, your body is saying yes. Listen to it.”

I bite my lip, and in the small corner of my phone, I can see my skin is pebbled, and my nipple is erect. I like that he can see me.

“Okay,” I say with a stuttered breath.

He groans and closes his eyes momentarily before saying, “I want to preface this with, I warned you that you didn’t want to know.”

I hold his gaze and nod. “I’m aware.”

His eyes drop back down to my exposed breast. “Do you remember the day in the art room?”

“Cal… come on, be serious. Just because my breast is out doesn’t mean we need to walk through the times we hooked up.”

He raises his hands in defense. “I’m answering the question. I swear it.” He runs his forefinger over his bottom lip. “Will you let me tell you how I remember it?”

“I thought you were going to tell me about what I saw.”

“What if I told you it’s part of the story?”

My eyes narrow on his as I try to determine if this is another one of his schemes, but I relent. I’m more than curious now. “Fine.”

“It was a Friday, and you had spent the entire week avoiding me.”

“That’s because I found out about your threats to the male population should they be caught talking to me. I wasn’t a possession.”

“To this day, I still want to kick Redman’s ass for opening his big mouth. It was a joke.” I raise an eyebrow. He knows better. “Fine, it was partially a joke. You know you got under my skin at the party we attended the weekend before. You had every guy at the party trying to shoot his shot when you and half the cheer team jumped into the pool in your underwear. Everyone got to see what was mine. I had to mark my territory.”

“Again, not a possession or property to be claimed.”

“You know what I mean, and don’t sit here and act like you didn’t get just as worked up seeing the opposite sex make moves on me.”

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