608 Alpha Ave - Adriana Locke Page 0,15
what life will be like for them someday,” I say, not daring to break eye contact.
His chest rises and falls. He licks his lips.
I lick mine right back. “Thanks for the insight, Gray. It’s been a real pleasure.”
I turn away from him and take one single step onto the beach when a set of hands digs into my hips.
Six
Haley
Externally, I freeze.
Internally, I explode.
Grayson’s body is hard, his chest like a steel wall at my back. His fingers bite into my skin. It’s a sensation that would make me cry out or at least jump without the flood of hormones coursing through my body.
I stare straight ahead at the pristine waters of the lake and wait for him to say something—to do something.
Please. Please, do something.
His breath is hot against my neck. “You wanna know what I think?”
The question feels so incredibly loaded. I bite anyway.
“Yeah,” I say, my voice all but a whisper.
“I think you don’t really want a nice guy like Bryant.”
He moves so his lips nearly brush my skin. I can sense their proximity and can hear the closeness of his breathing.
My backpack drops to the ground with a thud.
“I think,” he says, squeezing deeper into my hips, “that’s why you think you don’t understand men. You have no interest in getting to know that kind of man.”
I force a swallow, trying to steady myself. Every insolent poke and prod has gotten me to this point—a point that’s way over my head. I’m drowning.
Still, I’m not mad at it. I’m not scared. I may be batting way out of my league, but I’m comfortable with the proverbial bat in my hand.
I take a long, deep breath and center myself.
“Maybe you’re right,” I say, lifting my chin. “Maybe I don’t want Ed Sheeran lyrics after all.”
His grip eases enough for me to shift my weight.
“Red isn’t my color, and I’m no thong girl …” I grin and brace myself. “But I’m not wearing panties at all, so—ah!”
My words are halted by the sudden movement of Grayson’s hands. He flips me around in a one-eighty that’s so swift, so quick, that I can’t even catch myself. Instead, he catches me.
Panting, I look up into his eyes. The hints of blue are gone, and they’re dark like a predator that spots defenseless prey.
Only, I’m not prey, and I’m certainly not defenseless. But I’m willing. I’m so damn willing.
His chest moves up and down with the intensity of every breath. I don’t dare move out of his arms. I stay pinned in place by both his muscled arms and the weight of his stare.
“I’ve stayed away from you. I’ve made it my fucking life’s mission not to be alone with you or get involved in your life from the day we met,” he says, his tone bordering on a growl. “And now you do this.”
I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean. He’s tried to avoid me? He’s tried to avoid this?
What the hell then?
“It’s polite of you to blame this situation on me,” I say, attempting to pull away from his touch. “I was moving on, and you’re the one who stuck your nose into my conversation at Cherrywood—”
“A conversation you initiated to piss me off.”
I shrug. “Maybe. Maybe you’re right. Maybe I didn’t realize how much you didn’t want to be alone with me, and I was thinking that …”
A shadow drops across his handsome face. The softness in his features that remained despite his brusque tone is gone.
“Never mind.” I try to turn inside the cage he’s built with his arms but can’t move. I sigh and look at him. “Grayson, please.”
“Please what, Haley?”
His tone is gravelly and raw, yet pregnant with … something else. Something more. Something that sparks a tiny flame in the bottom of my stomach.
“Please let me go.”
He sucks in a breath. “Is that what you want?”
“Wouldn’t you if I told you that I’d tried so hard to stay away from you?”
He rolls his tongue around his cheek again. “That’s not what I meant—at least, not how you took it.”
“Then explain or let me go. Honestly, I don’t care which one. Whatever is fastest, I guess.”
He looks over my head, taking advantage of the height difference between us, and gazes at the lake. He’s obviously mulling something over, and I appreciate that. I like a guy who thinks things through. But I also like a guy who doesn’t put me in a situation like this where I feel a healthy dose of embarrassment.
Maybe I read