The Avery Shaw Experiment - By Kelly Oram Page 0,9

choked on some spit.

“Aves, you’re my best friend. You’re practically my twin sister. Of course I love you.”

He was clueless. The friggin’ moron was completely clueless.

Avery’s face paled and her hand started shaking in mine. I gave her a gentle squeeze just to let her know I was still there, and suddenly she clamped down on my hand so hard I almost cursed.

Her voice trembled as she whispered, “I love you too, Aiden.” Then, still crushing the bones in my hand, she looked up at me. Her desperation was obvious. “You ready?”

I didn’t miss a beat. “Hell yeah.”

I dragged her out of there without letting her look back.

Avery

If Grayson weren’t propelling me forward with the arm he had around my shoulders, I would probably have still been standing on the front steps to the condo building. I was in shock all over again.

I couldn’t believe it. I mean I literally could not believe it. As in, my brain physically wouldn’t accept the information.

“He has to be wrong,” I mumbled as Grayson strolled me down the street. “He didn’t know what he was saying. He didn’t understand what I was asking.”

“He definitely didn’t get it, but Aves . . .” Grayson sighed.

“He can’t know whether or not he loves me if he’s never given it a thought. I’ve been so patient, all these years. Maybe I just needed to say something. Maybe if I’d just kissed him once.”

“I don’t know, Avery. He’s pretty dense, but a guy doesn’t just ask for space if he’s in love with you. Even if his love is subconscious.”

I think this conversation was making Grayson uncomfortable, but I couldn’t stop myself. My brain was stuck in a loop because moving forward meant acknowledging that Aiden saw me as a sister, and that was simply unacceptable.

“He just hasn’t ever considered the possibility of a relationship between us,” I insisted. “Maybe he hasn’t hit that level of maturity yet. I mean it’s not like he’s ever gone out with anyone else. He never talks about any other girls.”

“Maybe he’s gay.”

“Grayson!” He was laughing at his own joke. “Aiden is not gay! Don’t you even joke about that! It’s not funny.”

“Come on, it’s a little funny. It would also explain how he could spend almost seventeen years with a girl like you and never make a move, because no straight guy could do that.”

My stomach did this weird flip. Had Grayson always been so sweet? I hadn’t thought so, but he’d been incredible since the moment I jumped in his shower.

I leaned into him, sagging against his side, and the next thing I knew, my arms were around his waist and I was hugging him. He stopped walking and hugged me back. When his arms pulled me tight against him, all of the tension left my body.

“I didn’t realize you were so nice, Grayson.”

The warm sound of Grayson’s chuckle rumbled pleasantly against the side of my face that was resting on his chest. “Damsels in distress have always been my Achilles’ heel, but don’t let that fool you. I’m really not that nice.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not. If I was nice, I wouldn’t be having such a hard time not grabbing your butt right now.”

I gasped and shoved away from him. He let me go but caught my hand and intertwined our fingers. His holding my hand made me blush even worse than his perverted comment had.

Since I couldn’t bring myself to look at him, I didn’t notice when he stopped walking until I was yanked to a halt. He stood in front of a small bistro with a questioning look. “Hungry? Dinner’s on me tonight.”

The restaurant was dark and cozy with soft lighting. Grayson helped me out of my coat, then held out my chair for me before taking his seat directly across from me at the small, candlelit table for two.

The moment was so surreal. I always knew Grayson was charming. There was a reason he’d dated most of the girls in school, and yet they still kept lining up to be his next fling.

Seeing Grayson Kennedy in action and being the focus of his attention were two entirely different things. He wasn’t doing it on purpose to seduce me or anything, but even set on “friendly,” he was freaking me out a little.

The server brought out glasses of ice water, and I started chugging mine because Grayson was making me so nervous.

“You might want to slow down there, slugger, before you get a . . .”