Page 102 of Play Me
My chest tightens. “We can, if you want. Or we can stay at Hart’s. Your choice.”
She studies me for a few seconds before she smiles. “Let’s stay at Hart’s, as long as he won’t care.”
I grab her some tissues to clean up and get myself sorted, too. All the while, I’m flooded with thoughts about how right this could be … but also how bad this could go.
God, please don’t let me fuck this up.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
Astrid
The ceiling fan whirls softly, sending a gentle flutter of air around Gray’s childhood bedroom. His bed is soft, much softer than mine at home, and his pillows are like puffed marshmallows spun into cotton. I curl up next to the wall, beneath a poster of a sports star that I can’t name, and scroll around on Social.
I can’t wipe the smile off my face. Naturally, I’ll overthink everything eventually because I always do. But the idea of spoiling my pure bliss tonight is unfathomable, and I’m too realistic to know that something will ruin it for me soon enough.
That’s life, baby.
My ears perk up as Gray’s footsteps pad down the carpeted hallway. My core tightens, already associating Gray’s presence with pleasure. It’s a wild concept, one so far from the migraine I associated him with when we first met. Will this change once we’re back in Nashville? The thought worries me, and the fact that I’m worried about it, that a part of me openly acknowledges that I want more of this, concerns me more.
“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 stealthat nut, if you follow me.”
I giggle. “Oh, I follow you now. But I’llswallow youlater.”
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.
