The kiss is quick, pulling back just as Greyston’s lips part and his tongue slides along my lower lip. I gaze into his excited blue eyes and lick my lips, tasting myself as he had for the first time. It’s…different, but not awful. Greyston watches me as I appraise the situation, and his eyes darken with desire. I pull him back to me without warning, and kiss him, plunging my tongue between his lips and moaning as I slip my hand between us and around his stiff length.
He groans into our kiss, his hips moving into my hand before I pull it free. Our lips part, and I scoot back on the bed, making room for Greyston to be a little more comfortable. I am ready to take this final step with him. We both are.
He joins me on the bed, kneeling between my legs, and then he lowers himself on top of me.
Kicking his boxers off, Greyston looks excited as he prepares to rejoin me on the bed, and then he stops, glancing toward his bedside table. “Shit.”
“What?” I ask, my eyebrows arching.
He seems upset with himself. “I don’t have any condoms.”
“Oh.” My hope plummets at a frightening rate. Greyston looks absolutely devastated. I offer him a smile and drop my eyes to find him still standing at almost-full attention. “Well, we can wait until later, then. In the meantime, maybe I could help you take care of that?”
It doesn’t take long for Greyston to throw me over his shoulder and carry me toward the bathroom. Once we’re in the where I help him alleviate his not-so-little problem before Daphne shows up to go paint-balling with us.
Chapter 21
We’re about ten minutes late from when we said we wanted to meet, but Greyston insisted we stop by the store so he could grab an energy drink. When we finally arrive, we find a parking spot in the lot, right next to Toby and Callie’s luxury SUV. Xander is with them, having been picked up after getting settled into his room. None of them seem annoyed by our tardiness, and we still have about five minutes before our reservation, anyway.
Smiling, Greyston takes my hand and leads me forward, Daphne following. “Juliette, Daphne, I’d like to introduce you to Xander Richland.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I tell him.
When he smiles, I notice the shallow dimple in his left cheek. He’s about five inches taller than me, slender and athletic. His curly dark hair is long, hanging just above his chin, and his dark brown eyes are soulful. He looks trustworthy, and his energy reads the same.
Xander nods his head curtly, the left side of his mouth turning up as he looks down at Daphne. “It’s a pleasure.” He reaches out for her hand, and I have to bite my lip to keep from giggling when I see Daphne blush as he kisses her knuckles. She’s not a blusher—not ever—so this is huge.
“So, um…” Daphne stumbles for words—another first. “You play baseball, right?”
Xander’s smile widens, and he nods. “I do.”
“And do you like it?” she asks before cringing and shaking her head. “That was stupid. Of course you do.”
“It wasn’t stupid.”
“So, Xander, how was your flight in?” Daphne asks, reaching for a sandwich.
“Pretty good, thank you.” Xander turns to Greyston. “And the hotel is incredible. Thank you and Toby again for taking care of everything. Y’all have officially gone above and beyond.”
“We’re just trying to show you everything Phoenix has to offer,” Greyston tells him.
“Guys, we should head in,” Toby announces.
As we walk toward the building, Greyston can sense my excitement and reaches over and places his hand on my lower back. This of course only invites back a different kind of excitement, even if he doesn’t really mean for it to—or maybe he does—and I find myself thinking about earlier and what we might do once we’re alone again. Even just remembering the intensity of his stare when he first arrived home sends shockwaves through my veins.
The sexual tension between us continues to mount with every second. I feel like I’m going to burst at the seams if we wait any longer. Glancing over at him, I bite the inside of my cheek and wonder if maybe he’s thinking the same thing…
“You’ve been awfully quiet,” he points out. “Plotting out your war strategies?”
“Something like that,” I say with a sly little shrug. “You scared?”
Turning his head, he arches a brow and gives me that crooked smirk that I love. “You gonna take it easy on me?”
“Aw,” I coo, reaching out and placing my hand on his cheek. “Not a chance.”
Greyston laughs. “Didn’t think so. Thought it was worth asking, though.”