Page 116 of Secrets That We Keep (Forbidden Descendants 2)

With a sigh, I lamented, “I know.”

“I mean, Yellow?” he pressed incredulously.

I frowned. “Hey, it wasn’t weird to me when I was little. It was just my name. No one ever made me feel like a freak because of it until I started school. So, wow, thanks for all the lovely bullying memories you’re bringing back. Appreciate it.”

His eyes widened in horror. “Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

I laughed, letting him know I was never really upset with him. When his eyes narrowed over my teasing, I sobered. “If it bothers you so much, you can call me—”

“Oh, no.” He shook his head insistently and slashed out his hand. “I’m sticking with

Yellow. It’s unique. Like you.” Grinning, he kissed the tip of my nose. “Honestly, I can’t imagine you being called anything else, anymore.”

And he lay back down beside me, only to say, “Though Rose is a perfectly acceptable color name. Or Jade, Coral, Lavender…”

I sighed. “Do you want me to call my parents and ask why they picked Yellow?”

“Amber,” he murmured to himself, ignoring me. “Marigold could even be a color name. And it’s a nice yellow hue.”

“El,” I cried with a laugh. “You can call me El. That’s what my counselor coined me.”

“Nope.” He shook his head. “Your name is Yellow. I’m calling you Yellow.”

And that seemed to be that. Until about twenty minutes later, when I was half asleep and just enjoying being next to him in peaceful silence.

“Scarlett,” Gracen murmured, jarring me alert. “Scarlett’s a good color name. Or Peach.”

“Oh my God,” I groaned, yanking the pillow from behind my head and using it to whack him across the chest.

He grunted out a surprised laugh and then snagged me by the waist, towing me on top of him so he could bury his face in the nook between my shoulder and throat.

“You gotta find it funny that you hooked up with a Gray, though,” he finally said, gazing adoringly at me.

I blinked once before my eyes widened. “Oh my God,” I gasped. “Your name can be shortened to a color, can’t it?”

He grinned. “And it is, quite often, in fact, by family and friends.”

“No.” Horror contorted my features.

“Yep,” he answered with a gleeful grin. “Afraid so.”

“That’s it.” Nose wrinkling with disdain, I shook my head and tried to wiggle away, but he just kept holding me there. “I think we’re going to have to end this here and now. No way can I continue my parents’ line of crazy color names and date a Gray.”

“Oh, come on,” he cajoled, smoothing a hand over my hip and kissing my collarbone to make me compliant. Which worked. “We won’t be like them, I swear. We’ll give our kids normal names.” Then he winked and added, “Like Vermilion, Burnt Sienna, or—wait for it—Razzmatazz.”

I threw my head back and cracked off a laugh. “I love it,” I decided, slipping my fingers up the center of his chest to curl them around the back of his neck. “It’s a deal.”

Eyes sparkling with delight, Gracen asked, “Seal it with a kiss?”

“You’re on,” I told him as I lowered my mouth to his.

And our future was decided.

Morning came all too early. Especially when it was the annoying ring of my phone that woke me.

Gracen had been relentless the night before, though. He woke me up at midnight, telling me it was a new day so he should be allowed to go down on me now, and he proceeded to do just that until I was writhing through another orgasm.

Then we worked out Mr. Green a couple more times and finally passed out together in the wee hours of the morning.

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