my memory.
“I can’t do this.” I stood up and took a step back. He stood and stepped toward me and I raised my hands keeping the space between us while his face twisted with confusion.
“Please, Eva. I need you,” he begged quietly. I didn’t meet his gaze because my guilt wouldn’t allow it. I had no right to say anything with Elijah lying in my bed. But where I pushed people away when things got bad, Grayson clung to any seemingly happy memories.
“Madelyn’s dead and you’re trying to bring this up now?” I had no idea what had come over me. As much as I hated Grayson at times, I knew he was hurting over Madelyn’s death also. He shot me a look of disgust and my stomach rolled.
“I can’t believe…” his voice trailed off and he turned to leave.
“Grayson,” I called after him. He raised his hand to signal he was done talking and slammed the door on his way out.
“Shit,” I muttered under my breath and leaned onto my kitchen table before burying my face in my hands. I took a couple deep breaths and headed back toward my bedroom. I turned the knob slowly and peeked inside. Elijah laid in the same position I had left him. He appeared to be fast asleep. I was hoping some miracle he hadn’t heard the exchange between Grayson and I. I tiptoed across the room and crawled into bed next to him. I snuggled closer and put my hand on his chest. His arm never uncovered his face as his other hand shot up and grabbed my wrist.
“It seems like I have some competition.” His tone was unreadable. I nervously laughed at the idea of Grayson ever being able to compete with someone like Elijah.
“He’s nothing you have to worry about,” I replied. His grip on my wrist tightened momentarily before he released it, rubbing his thumb softly over my skin.
“I know. You couldn’t lie to me if you wanted to.” He said peeking out from under his arm and grinning. “You turn an adorable shade of pink when you get nervous.”
I shot him a half smile.
“…or excited.”
He rolled onto his side and put his hand on the side of my face, stroking it softly with his thumb. I stared into his deep brown eyes trying to read them, but it was too dark. He slowly dipped his head down and kissed me gently. I relaxed below him and completely forgot about my difficult conversation with Grayson. He rested his forehead against mine and I closed my eyes as he spoke.
“I have no idea what I’m doing here, Eva,” he whispered. His eyes shot open and he studied my face, his unspoken past plaguing him. It was more than obvious that he had some skeletons in his closet. Literally.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he said with a heavy breath and pressed his forehead back against mine. I slid my hand behind his neck and pulled his mouth closer. “I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to let that happen.”
My cheeks burned with embarrassment as I thought about laying on top of him. I knew he was trying to be a gentleman.
“What did I ever do to deserve you?” I asked with a grin as I kissed him, letting him know he had no reason to apologize. He ran his head through his hair and was seemingly lost on that question. He lay back onto the pillow. We were silent for several minutes until he finally spoke.
“What do you want to do tonight?” he asked staring up at the ceiling.
“No work?” I questioned back, glancing over at him. He shook his head no. “Hmmm,” I said as the possibilities ran through my head. “We could check out some clubs,” I said knowing full well the last thing I would consider fun is dancing in public but I wanted to get out of the house.
“We could do that,” he responded with a nod. “In the meantime...” He turned on his side a kissed me passionately, picking up where we’d left off. My hands roamed over his muscular back as his fingers entangled in my hair, pulling me deeper into him. I moaned against his lips as his grip tightened in my hair. I felt a smirk spread across his mouth as his hand slid over my hip.
“I thought you didn’t want to do this,” I teased with a giggle.
“I never said I didn’t want to.”
I was completely lost in the moment. I never heard the