“Believe it or not, there was once a time when Cammie and I were good friends.”
“Yeah, I’m not buying that. You two are way too different.”
“Well, it was the second grade,” I correct, and he laughs.
“Now that makes sense.”
“Yeah we were friends up until the fifth grade.”
“What happened in the fifth grade?” Gray asks, sounding distracted.
I look up and can see him from my peripheral vision playing with my hair, combing through it and then bending down. A second later, I feel a light kiss on the top of my head. I close my eyes and savor that feeling. I’m going to be honest. Banger was an amazing man, but he wasn’t very demonstrative. In fact, I can’t really remember getting kisses or hugs growing up. Heaven knows my mother wasn’t one to do that. Banger… well, I always knew he loved me. That was never a question, but he wasn’t really the hugging or kissing type. The closest he came was hugging me and slapping me on the back when I rebuilt my first engine and it purred like a kitten when he tried it out. He half hugged me and half gave me an approving slap and told me he was proud of me. I felt like I hung the moon. So, Gray doing this now feels… strange and good. Very good. Too good.
“You with me?” he prompts me when I get lost in my thoughts.
“Cammie’s mother learned of our friendship.”
“And?”
“And that was it. Her daughter couldn’t fraternize with someone below their standing in the neighborhood.”
“What a bitch. I’m suddenly glad that’s one Riverton I haven’t met.”
“Yeah, Cammie’s parents divorced a while back. Davina moved to Paris with some shipping tycoon. She didn’t want Cammie.”
“Shit, that’s rough.”
“Yeah. Some mothers shouldn’t have kids,” I agree, but I’m thinking completely about my own mother.
“I’m sorry,” he says, and I shrug off his concern, feeling my face heat. I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me. I especially don’t want them to know how much my mother’s actions hurt me.
“Anyway, once Cammie realized she shouldn’t be seen with someone who was beneath her, that pretty much ended our friendship.”
“That’s it? I could have sworn there was more animosity than that between the two of you.”
“Well, add in high school, us liking some of the same boys, years of resentment and a few other spices, and you have a recipe for disaster.”
“Women are just too fucking complicated.”
“This is why I prefer to hang around men.”
“Well, that’s one thing I can be glad of,” he says, pulling me on the bed until he has me pinned on the mattress and he’s leaning over me. “Being a man, I can tell you, Cooper, that I’m glad you prefer hanging around me too,” he whispers, bending down and placing a small kiss on my chin and then slowly moving along the main bone in my jawline. He’s cupping my face with his hands, his thumb brushing against my skin, and he’s holding me so gently I could get lost in the needs he’s awakening inside of me.
“Well, I aim to please.”
“Show me,” he says, sucking gently on my neck and nibbling there. I’m trying to concentrate on what he’s saying, but the desire and heat he’s stoking inside of me almost makes it impossible.
“Show you what?” I gasp just as I feel one of his hands move between my legs.
“How much you want to please me.”
“We’ll be late,” I tell him, but not really giving a damn. I’m sure he can tell by the way I spread my legs to allow him easier access.
“I don’t really give a fuck,” he says just as I feel his fingers slide into my pussy.
“In that case,” I gasp as he thrusts his fingers hard and deep inside my walls.
“Yeah?”
“Fuck me, Gray. Oh god, fuck me and don’t stop.”
“I got you,” he whispers against my lips, driving his fingers in again just as his tongue thrusts into my mouth. “I got you,” he says again, and he does. I’m addicted to this man. It’s never happened before, but it’s too late to stop it now. I let myself get lost in the sensations he’s creating in my body and try to ignore the fear—at least for now.
“You’re late,” Miranda grumbles as I walk through the diner to the back booth—the same booth Miranda claims every freaking time we eat here. She demands we sit at the back of the room, and she always faces the doors. She’s got more than a few issues. She’s also the one friend besides Jackson that I allow in my life, so I put up with the quirks. God knows I have more than enough of my own.