Where Grey makes my pulse race, ChasingColors42 just makes me feel…determined. He seems lost to me, lonely. I want to know what makes him tick, what makes him so sure that becoming a single dad is what will fulfill him, but it’s not my place.
I have told him that I’m not the surrogate for him, but he’s nothing if not persistent.
A small smile plays on my lips when I see his name on my screen.
The sound of wood scraping on the floor has me looking up from my screen. Grey’s joined our table with a moody scowl on his face, but he says nothing.
“Braxton will be here soon,” Madi says, mentioning Greyson’s brother and her boyfriend in a soothing tone he doesn’t deserve.
I like the secret thing we have going, but he’s a total asshole. Grey smiles pleasantly at Madi though, so maybe he truly does save his surly assholery for me.
Regardless, I’m not in the mood for his shit today. I’m about to open my messages when he leans in to my space.
“Miss me?” His gravelly tone has me sitting up taller as my entire body comes alive in a way it’s never done for anyone else.
“Not even a little.” The lie tastes bitter, but I ignore it. We have a physical connection, nothing more.
“So you’re not pissed that I snuck out of your bed this morning?”
I scoff, and my friends lean forward, attempting to eavesdrop on our whispered confessions.
“I appreciated it. It was an act of kindness I didn’t think you had in you.” I press my lips closer to his ear. “Any time you want to sneak out in the middle of the night so I don’t have to see your smug face in the morning is just fine by me.”
My breath hits the sensitive flesh of his ear, and he shivers. It’s an involuntary reaction I take great pleasure in.
“I’m only smug because I made you come three times last night.” He leans even closer, his lips ghosting the shell of my ear. “And you begged for it.”
“I don’t beg.”Liar, liar, pants on fire.
“Oh, but you do. And it’s my second-favorite sound on earth.”
Do not ask. Do not ask.
“What’s your favorite?”Damn it, Savannah.
His hand falls to my thigh under the table, out of sight of our friends. “I’m more of a show than a tell kind of guy. So, when I knock on your back door tonight, trust that I’ll show you the second I strip you down.”
“Awfully presumptuous of you. I never said you could come over tonight.” I hear Madi and Clover giggling in the background, but I’m addicted to the way Grey’s heat fills in mycold, dead cracks. “We’re not exclusive.” My gut lurches, but it’s the truth.
Greyson freezes. It’s a momentary blip in his shield that he quickly reinforces with steel.
“Beautiful little liar. You know I can’t stay away from you any more than you want me to. Our…fighting during the day only makes our nighttime activities that much hotter.” His voice drops with each passing word. “And if you were seeing anyone else, I’d know about it, since I’m in your bed every fucking night.”
“You are the most irritating man on the planet, you know that?”
He chuckles. It’s low and deep in his chest. My eyes close as I fight the way my body reacts to him.
“And you’re the rudest, most annoying woman I’ve ever met. It’s all that…hate that makes us so explosive, and you know it.”
I do. Jesus, do I know it. Except I’m not entirely sure it’s hatred I feel when he’s in my presence—not that I’ll ever admit that to anyone.
He runs his nose along my jawline. It’s the most physical contact we’ve ever displayed publicly, and I know I’ll get an inquisition from the girls the second he’s gone, but I couldn’t pull away even if he was literally on fire.
“It is…it is hate, right?” It’s the first time I’ve ever heard Greyson be anything but one hundred percent confident, and the red flags start waving in both hands.
Of course it’s hate, what else could it be? We fight any time we’re fully clothed. It has to be?—
“Sorry I’m late,” Braxton says. “Pops was…er…causing trouble over at Huckabee’s Hardware. I had to sort that out on my way over.”