the way into the full love that filled me now.
He buried his head in my chest. “I’m such a stupid male.”
I kissed the top of his head, heart so full it felt like it could explode, and I suddenly forgave a bunch of writers the lines that I used to scorn, because it did feel that way. Like the emotions were too much to contain in our human forms.
His bedroom door banged open, and Stephen walked in. It took him a second to register Mayson’s and my bare bodies twined together at the desk, but then he turned back toward the door.
“Shit, man. Lock the door next time.”
Mayson laughed, calling to him. “What did you want?”
“We’re going to the Dairy Queen. We were going to ask if you wanted to come, but I can see you’re otherwise engaged.”
He was talking to us as he was pulling the door shut.
“I’m hungry,” I told Mayson.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” Stephen threw back.
“Don’t be an ass. Give us a couple of minutes, and we’ll be down,” Mayson said.
“Again, dude. Do you really want me to go there?”
He slammed the door behind him.
Mayson looked down at me. “We don’t have to go.”
“You going to keep me locked in your room, ravishing me all day?” I teased.
“Is that going to be a problem for you?”
But he was already easing away from me. We dressed in silence, me keeping his T-shirt but sliding my miniskirt and boots back on before we headed toward the door.
He stopped me there, pulling me back into his arms with a kiss.
“I love you, Gracie-Lou,” he said with a huge smile.
I punched him in the stomach, not holding back. “I love you, too, but call me Gracie-Lou and you might have to find a new right ball.”
“I think we may need my balls,” he laughed.
“Eh. I think one would do.”
But my heart was full. Full of love and happiness for this man who was willing to give up everything in his world to be with me.
Mayson
YOU MAKE IT FEEL LIKE CHRISTMAS
“It barely took a breath to realize
We're gonna be a classic for all time.”
Performed by Gwen Stefani & Blake Shelton
Written by Shelton / Stefani / Tranter / Busbee
I held Grace’s hand as we made our way down the stairs to meet Stephen and my sister. They both had sly smiles on their faces, and I knew he’d already spilled the beans to Khiley about catching us, literally, in the act. I didn’t care. I was full of happiness. Lighter than I’d been in months.
Grace and I had spent the morning moving together seamlessly. Full of a passion and softness you didn’t expect from Grace. It felt like the glow of sunsets mingling into twilight. It felt like crickets chirping and the hush of a car in the morning light. Waves pounding the shoreline and rainbows of mist touching the sea.
Grace. Was. Everything. All of her. Mine.
I wasn’t ever letting her go again.
The talk was easy as the four of us ate lunch at the Dairy Queen. Even Grace, who was normally pretty close-lipped around people she didn’t know very well, was somehow softer. As if she, too, was feeling lighter.
After we ate, Stephen dropped us off at the hotel so we could retrieve Cole. He’d been alone for almost twenty-four hours, and I felt a twinge of guilt that we hadn’t let him know we’d made up. That we weren’t quitting on each other or him. But I couldn’t regret the time I’d spent with Grace.
Cole opened the hotel room door, took one look at our joined hands, and then smiled. He grabbed the takeout bag we’d brought with us and backed into the room, letting us in.
“Thank you, Jesus, Mary, and everyone in between.”
He dug into the food as if he hadn’t eaten in a week, which, to Cole, it probably felt like he hadn’t. He was tall and lanky but full of muscles. Muscles he’d built over years spent on the Ninja Warrior training grounds at his dad’s gym. His appetite was as aggressive as his workouts.
“Nice to see you and the she-devil made up,” he said after he’d inhaled most of the food.
“You’re lucky I already handed you your milkshake, otherwise you’d be wearing it,” Grace said. “I’m going to change real quick.”
She grabbed a few things from her luggage and then went into the bathroom. My eyes followed every move she made. I couldn’t wait to have her tucked up against me once more.
When I turned