Page 70 of From Coast to Coast
He lets me situate myself to my liking before wrapping an arm over my shoulders and threading his fingers through my hair. When I press my mouth to the nearest bit of skin I can find, he tastes like the beach.
“So, is it okay if I tell people about us? About you?” he whispers through the dark, fingers still dancing across my scalp.
I tilt my head just enough that my lips aren’t smashed against him. “Of course. If you want to.”
“Yeah. I want to tell Troy.”
“Tell Troy to spread it around that you’re not available. I’ll be calling every bar in Colorado, too, to make sure the bartenders all know to back the fuck off.”
He laughs, rich and smooth in the inky black of the room. His arms tighten as he gives me a little squeeze.
“Matt was the first person in two years to ask me out like that, Remy. Other than you, that’s the most interest I’ve had in a very long time. But, if it makes you feel better, you canpiss on my leg and mark your territory before we fly home in a few days.”
“Cover you with cum so that people can smell me on you from thirty clicks away.”
Another laugh, this one little more than a soft rumble in my ear.
“But seriously, Gray, tell whomever you want. Change your relationship status on social media, I don’t care. Hiding while things were only physical was fine, but I want to post pictures of us together and not have to pretend you’re just my bro. I want to hold your hand when we go for a walk on the beach, and hug you for far too long in airport pickup. Iwantpeople to know you’re mine.”
“You did a lot of thinking these past couple weeks, huh?”
“Yeah.” I sigh, shifting closer and letting my leg fall in between his. “I was worried, because I apparently can’t be trusted to understand my own feelings, as evidenced by the fact that I got married to someone who probably would have made a better friend than a wife. Everything with you was so new and exciting, and there was a big part of me that wondered if the way I was feeling was only because of that. But that’s bullshit. I’m scared I’ll mess things up again, but that’s not a good enough reason to not try.”
“It takes two people to mess up a marriage or a relationship, Remy,” he says gently. “It also takes two people to make it work.”
“Yeah. Neither Amanda nor I tried very hard, I guess. She was my best friend and I loved hanging out with her, but I was never, like, clamoring to get home from road trips so I could be with her. Alex thinks that probably should have been my first clue that things were wrong.”
I’m starting to get too warm now, the heat from Graysonand me turning our little pocket of space into a furnace. Instead of moving away, I burrow a little deeper. I’m already sweaty anyway, and his chest is the perfect pillow.
“Maybe,” he agrees, smoothing his hand over the back of my head and down my spine.And that’s why snuggling is worth being overheated—casual touches that I’d otherwise miss out on.
“You down to meet my mom tomorrow?” I chuckle a little bit at the ridiculousness of me essentially asking him to meet my family only a day after we get together.
“Sure.”
“She’s going to ask you to do housework,” I warn him. “She’s going to take one look at you and see nothing but a big, strong laborer.”
“I don’t mind helping with chores if that’s what it takes to date her son,” he says, as his hand makes another pass down my spine. I fidget a little bit, adjusting my face and enjoying the soft feel of his hair against my cheek.
“It’s a pretty long drive, so we should get some sleep. Don’t be surprised if I wake you up the same way I did this morning.”
“I will be unspeakably disappointed if you don’t.”
I’min one of those ridiculously good moods that feels like my body is filled with sunshine as I drive toward my mom’s place. Grayson is in the passenger seat, dark sunglasses on and fingers tapping a beat on his thigh as the radio plays “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl).” His shorts are pulled up a bit because of the way he’s seated, and I keep getting distracted by the sight of his dark leg hair. I keep findingreasons to reach across the center console and rest my hand on that leg, pleasure tingling through my fingertips at the scratch of hair against calluses.
Grayson spends most of the time looking out the windows, head practically on a swivel as he tries to catch everything. I point things out as we go, enjoying playing tour guide and telling him stories of growing up here. The ride is so enjoyable, I don’t even have a second to feel nervous about the fact that I’m bringing someone new home to meet my mom. A male someone.
It’s not until we’re pulling slowly up my mom’s narrow, winding drive that the first bout of nerves hit. I peek over at Grayson and put my hand back on his leg.Everything is going to be fine. She’s going to love him.
“Do we need to get our stories straight?” Grayson asks suddenly, putting his hand on top of mine and rubbing his thumb over my knuckles.
“Our stories?”
“Yeah. Like…what do you want her to know about me. About us.”
“Oh.” I shrug. “I mean, I wasn’t planning on telling her about how I apparently have a kink for being manhandled, but everything else, yeah. She already knows we played together, and that you let me stay with you in Calgary. I didn’tspecificallysay we were together, but I’m pretty sure she picked up on it anyway. When she called me last week to finalize the plans for her opening up my house, she kept referring to you as my partner.” I look over at him, smiling a touch sheepishly. “I never corrected her.”
“Partner is good,” he murmurs. The car jolts over a pothole, and I press my foot down on the brake, slowing the vehicle even further. If you want to visit my mom, you haveto earn it. “I still think we should have stopped somewhere so I could have brought something for her.”