Page 24 of Until I Found You
“Hey,” he croaks.
Hearing the crack in his voice causes sweat to break out over my skin. It’s already warm outside, with the humidity the weatherman said it would get close to ninety degrees today. The heat I feel rushing through me isn’t just from the warm temperatures, but everything to do with having his eyes on me once again.
“Here we go again.” Brea giggles from behind me, causing a grin to spread out over my face.
“Hey, Graham.” I smile.
His eyes rake over my body, before meeting my eyes. I swear for a minute I hear him mutter “shit,” but I can’t be sure if it was him or a voice in the distance.
“Want me to help you with that?” he asks, pointing to my suitcase, sounding more confident this time.
Looking down at my suitcase and back up to him, I tell him thank you as he steps closer to me. He smells so good and it reminds me how hard having him around this weekend is going to be.
He smells clean, like fresh linen, and something else that’s uniquely Graham. It’s hypnotizing and arousing, all at the same time.
“It’s good to see you, sunshine. You look good.”
The mention of my nickname causes my heart to drop. I force a smile on my face to hide the way it hits me hearing him call me sunshine again.
I want so badly to wrap my arms around him and melt into his body, the way I always would when he called me his sunshine.
“You do too,” I mutter. “You happy to be going back to Chicago?”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, I realize how nervous I am to hear the answer. I almost wish I could press rewind and take it all back.
Lifting his arm, he runs his hand through his hair looking somewhere behind me, before he looks back down at me.
“Not as happy as I am to be home.”
The way he says home eases some of the restraints I had around my heart, making it easier to breathe easier again.
“Good.” I smile. “We’re glad to have you home.”
We’re loaded up and on the road by ten in the morning. The RV Wes was able to get for us is beautiful. It has so much room, which is good considering we have five guys and four girls along for the trip, we need it. We have a long drive ahead of us, so I park it at the table with the girls. The guys took over the living area, watching ESPN highlights on the TV.
“Are you guys going to tell me what we have planned for tonight?” Ellie asks, her eyes bouncing to each of us for any sign of who’s going to spill it.
Ellie’s the most low-key out of all of us. She’s not much of a partier, so I’m sure she’s wondering what the heck we have in store for her when we get there.
The truth is, I don’t have the slightest idea what Kinsley has up her sleeve. She’s been tight-lipped about everything.
“Do you trust me?” Kinsley asks, a devious smile on her face.
“I do…” Ellie says slowly, her eyes narrowing at Kinsley. “Although I’m starting to wonder how much I should be trusting you.
“Please tell me you didn’t do anything crazy like get strippers or something,” Ellie says hesitantly. Her eyes glance to Callum, who’s sitting behind Kinsley, making sure he didn’t hear her before shooting back to Kinsley.
Kinsley barks out a laugh and I can’t help but chuckle at the comment. Callum would lose his shit if Kinsley had her near a guy, much less shirtless.
I almost wish she would because it’d be entertaining to see.
“Are you serious?” Kinsley asks, deadpanned. “I’m not trying to ruin our trip here, Ellie. We both know Callum wouldn’t like the idea. At all.”
“I wouldn’t like what?” Callum asks, silencing everyone.
Everyone except me, of course.
“Oh, we were just saying you wouldn’t mind if we stole Ellie for the night. Took her out to the strip club, let her experience her last night as a single woman. You know, make sure she’s sowed all her wild oats before she’s a one-man woman for the rest of her life.”
