Page 58 of Third Time Lucky

“You’re a gutsnow,but you weren’t always.”

Lake just laughed. He ran his hands across Ares’ soft ears and bopped his nose. “Why Ares?” he asked curiously. He didn’t think that any of them were all that into Greek mythology.

“Quinn, one of Peyton’s boyfriends, has a beagle named Persephone,” Felix said. “And we liked it so… Ares.”

“God of war,” Lake murmured, patting the enthusiastic puppy’s head. “Fitting, probably, when he eats all your shoes, shits on the carpet, destroys a cushion, and then falls asleep in the wreckage.”

“Exactly!” Zach said brightly.

They spent the next few hours talking shit, sort of trying to watch a movie that consisted of popcorn throwing and random trivia questions that Zach wasn’t allowed to answer. Lake felt content and happy. It had been too long since he’d had a night with them, just being themselves. He’d missed them. Having Avery there only made it better; his brother and his best friends werehappy,and Lake was happy for them, and having them all in the same room without all of the ugly tension they used to have wasnice.

It was roughly eleven thirty when he finally called it a night and left.

He checked his phone before he started his car. Grady hadn’t responded to his text. What did that mean? Had he just not seen it?

Why did Lake care?

He started the car and pulled out of the drive, waving at where Felix was waiting for him to go. He bit his lip as he made his way home. Why did it matter if Grady hadn’t answered his text? He’d been answering them all day, so it wasn’t like they’d been incommunicado. Maybe he was working late, or doing his own thing, or had to gone to bed early or—Lake sighed.

He wanted to see Grady. That’s all there was to it. He’d only seen him that morning, but heneededto see him. To look at his gruff face and touch him and feel his heart beating. He didn’t care what that meant. Lake just wanted to be near him.

He switched the indicator from left to right and headed for Grady’s house instead of home. It was almost midnight, and he was probably asleep, but Lake ached for him, and he hoped that maybe some part of Grady did for him too.

He knocked instead of using his key. He’d used his key before, so he didn’t know why it felt weird now. Maybe because he was so uncertain about what they were? What everything meant. How Grady felt.

Grady met him at the door with bed hair, wearing a pair of silk boxers and looking half asleep. They were kissing before the front door had even closed properly. Grady ended up fucking him against the door before taking him to bed and doing it again, making Lake scream so loud he was surprised Grady’s neighbours didn’t call the police. He fell asleep tucked against Grady’s warm chest, with his hair tickling Lake’s cheek and the soothing rise and fall lulling him into dreamland.

Gradypouredthewafflebatter into the maker and closed it, leaving it to sizzle while he grabbed out all the condiments. He stared blankly at the bench of items lined up as he tried not to panic.

He’d asked himself numerous times over the last three days what the fuck he was doing, and he still didn’t have an answer. Lake had shown up Thursday night and then again Friday night and then… hadn’t left. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other now that they’d opened that gate. It was like they’d both been possessed. He took one look at Lake, and he had to touch him, fuck him, leave his scent on him.

Grady needed to stop it now before it went too far. He needed to travel back in time and stop itbeforeLake had kissed him, before they’d begun whatever the fuck this was. Hell, before they’d evenmeton New Year’s Eve because that’s really where it had all begun. They’d collided like two stars in the night sky and merged as one from that point, like a stellar collision.

“Morning,” Lake mumbled behind him. A warm forehead pressed against his back, hands trailing down his sides. That was all it took to light Grady up. It wasn’t just about his sex appeal; Lake made him bright on the inside, in too many ways. In all ways.

“Are you hungry?” Grady asked. He turned and pulled Lake into his arms. He ran a hand through his mussed hair and kissed his temple.

“Mmm,” was all Lake said in response.

Grady ran kisses down Lake’s cheek, across his jaw, and found his way to Lake’s lips. Lake whimpered and melted against him as their tongues said good morning.

Grady gently nipped Lake’s bottom lip as he let go. “Go sit down,” he said, nudging Lake towards the kitchen table. “Are waffles okay for breakfast?”

Lake groaned as he all but collapsed into a chair. “Waffles sound like heaven.” He turned, his hazel-brown eyes wide and endearing as he said, “And coffee?”

Grady should be immune to eyes like that. Not because he was exposed to them often—he didn’tknowanyone who had them or had used them against him, at least—but because he was a cop who had seen the most angelic of faces do the most horrific of things. A simple look shouldn’t make him cave like this. He was supposed to bebetterthan this.

But he still took Lake a coffee and a glass of juice, gave him another lingering kiss that had him aching in all his sensitive places, and made sure his soldier had enough to eat.

They were halfway through eating when Lake stopped chewing long enough to say, “I want to get a butt plug.”

Grady spat his juice out over the table, having made the wrong decision to take a sip right before Lake opened his mouth. He should have known better by now. “Excuse me?” He grabbed some napkins from the middle of the table and wiped up the mess, glad he’d already finished eating.

“Think about it,” Lake said eagerly, leaning forward. Grady had to quickly move Lake’s plate of food out of the way before he put his chest in it.

“Think about what?” Grady asked. Lake wearing a butt plug? He wasdefinitelythinking about it, now.

“I could wear it all day, and so when I got home all you’d have to do is pull it out and then fuck me. No prep required.”

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