CHAPTER 24
MAPLE
“This looks amazing,” I say as I take a seat at Everly’s table and look over the stuffed French toast she spent the morning making while Hardy spent half an hour squeezing oranges.
It was fun watching them prepare the brunch they invited me to.
They worked seamlessly in the kitchen, predicting each other’s moves, lending a hand without having to be asked, and occasionally running a hand over each other’s backs or subtly kissing the other’s head. It’s really sweet seeing them together.
“Thank you,” Everly says. “I saw the recipe on Instagram, and I had to try it. I just hope it’s good.”
“Smells amazing, babe,” Hardy says, leaning over and placing a kiss on her cheek.
Everly smirks at him, then pours us some orange juice. “And the orange juice looks great, Hardy.”
Hardy puffs his chest out as if he just got done making a Michelin Star–worthy meal. “Takes a steady hand to create a nearly pulp-free fresh orange juice.”
If they weren’t so cute, I’d roll my eyes.
“You’re really impressive,” Everly says.
“I think you said the same thing last night as well.” He wiggles his brows, and now it’s time for me to cut in.
“Okay, can you not with that? I know we’re all friends, but that’s pushing it.”
Hardy chuckles. “Sorry.” But then he glances at Everly, who’s blushing.
Ugh, these two.
We fill our plates up with fruit salad and French toast and syrup, and then dig in.
“So,” Everly says, a smile playing on her lips. “I happened to stumble across some pictures this morning. Seems like you and Graydon were getting cozy.”
I pause in the middle of cutting my French toast and look up at her. “Where did you see those?”
“One of the gossip accounts I follow. They picked it up from a sports account, of all things.”
“Let me see,” I say, my heart racing as I think about last night.
From the way Graydon’s eyes roamed over me to the feel of his warm palm against my skin to how he slipped his hand under the fabric of my dress, holding me close with the subtle press of his thumb.
And then there was the short but intoxicating kiss at the end of the night.
I went to bed with my heart fluttering, my body buzzing, and my mind whirling because I never would have expected that.
Ever.
Yet I wish it had happened sooner.
I wish it had happened more.
I wish I hadn’t left that car without him.
Everly flashes her phone at me, and I let out a small gasp as I stare at the screen.
It’s a picture of me and Graydon, taken from the side. You can clearly see his hand slipped beneath the side of my dress, his posture holding me protectively as I stare up at him.
I swipe to find another picture, us at the bar and me holding on to his lapel, smiling up at him.
And the third picture is of us leaving, his hand holding mine, him clutching my bag and us both smiling as we make our way to the car.
Holy shit. We look stunning together. We look…seriously into each other. Then I think about his gruff—yet insanely sexy—demand.
“If you’re really appreciative, Maple, then thank me properly.”
If this is what Gretchen wanted from last night, to unveil the PR romance, these photos would do it.
My cheeks blush as I look at Everly and Hardy smiling like fools.
“Care to share what’s going on?” Everly asks. “Because that looks like a lot more than just a PR relationship.”
Hardy leans forward and whisper-shouts, “His hand is practically cupping your breast!”
“Oh my God, it was not cupping my breast.” Trust me, I would have known.
“Looked pretty damn close.”
Not close enough.
“Soooo…” Everly presses. Think, Maple.
Except I’m struggling to think up anything because his every stroke tantalized me. Short-circuited my brain. I loved every moment he touched me. I’d wanted more. I’d wanted him to remove the dress…
“That was, uh…that was just for the cameras. We knew they were going to be there. Gretchen wanted to have the relationship leak last night.”
“Uh-huh.” Everly plops a piece of French toast in her mouth while Hardy sips his orange juice. “I understand the leaking of the photos, but there is no way you’re just pretending in those pictures. So spill.”
God, nothing gets past her.
I drag a piece of French toast around some syrup. “Well, I don’t really know what’s going on.” I look up at both of them. “But I did kiss him on the lips last night.”
“What?” Everly shouts, her eyes bugging out.
“Oh shit, really?” Hardy says, a smile playing on his mouth.
“You kissed him? How much? How long? How was it? Did he cop a feel? I need all the details.”
She takes my fork away from me, sets it down on my plate, and then pushes the plate away. She then props her chin on her hands and waits intently for my answers.
So I guess we won’t be eating right now.
“It was in his car, after the event. The kiss was maybe like five seconds, no longer than that. Nothing else occurred, and there was no tongue, just lips. But it was…” I let out a dreamy sigh. “It made my stomach flutter.”
Everly claps her hands together excitedly.
“Who initiated it?” Hardy asks.
“Um, I guess maybe both of us?”
“So you attacked each other together?”
I shake my head. “No, I’ve been thanking him when he drops me off at my apartment every day with a kiss on his cheek.
And yesterday, he was, God, he was so amazing at the event, getting donation after donation, relating countless facts about flamingos that I’d shared with him but hadn’t thought he was paying attention to.
And it was just…” My smile stretches across my face as my skin tingles with the memory of how engaged he was, how sweet and protective.
“Is that what it looks like to have hearts in your eyes?” Hardy asks.
Everly chuckles and nods. “It sure does.”
I bring my attention back to them and clear my throat. “Anyway, I kissed him on the cheek and thanked him and then he barely let me pull away before he said, ‘If you’re really appreciative, Maple, then thank me properly.’”
Everly’s hand goes to her chest as she whispers, “Oh my God.”
“I know.”
“I mean, I’m a straight man and even I got a bit sweaty on the upper lip,” Hardy says as he dabs his napkin over his face, causing us both to laugh.
“So then you kissed him?” Everly asks.
“Yes, it was brief, but oh my God, it felt like…like all the other kisses I’ve experienced in my life meant nothing.”
“Hey,” Hardy says, a pinch in his brow. “I resent that. We had some good kisses.”
“Not like the one I had last night.” I smirk at him, causing Everly to burst out in laughter and Hardy to grow more irritated.
“You’re saying that the smallest whisper of a kiss from Graydon was better than all the times I had my tongue all over your mouth?”
“Yup.”
Everly laughs even harder, and he pokes her in the arm. “Everly, don’t laugh at that. Tell her your husband is a very good kisser.”
Everly lifts her hand and shakes it in a “so-so” manner. “Eh.”
Flames erupt in his eyes as his anger shoots to the roof. “You take that back or…or…divorce.” His hand playfully slaps the table.
Chuckling some more, Everly leans in close to Hardy and places her palm on his chest. “You’re the best kisser to have ever kissed my lips.” That satisfies him as he leans in and pecks her mouth. “Then again, I’ve never had a whisper of a kiss from Graydon St. John.”
“That’s it.” Hardy pushes away from the table as Everly and I dissolve into a fit of giggles. “I don’t have to put up with this kind of abuse.” He picks up his plate and his orange juice and huffs. “I’m going to eat out on the balcony where the pigeons will appreciate me.”
“Okay, JP,” Everly scoffs, but then she stops him with her hand on his stomach and beckons him down to her. He leans in and she kisses him lightly, then shivers. “Ooh, nothing will beat that.”
He rolls his eyes but says, “Better remember that, baby.”
When he shuts the screen door to the balcony, Everly brings her attention back to me and says, “He’s actually a really good kisser.”
“When I kissed him, I was impressed.”
“I heard that, you assholes,” Hardy says through a crack in the sliding glass door.
We both chuckle and then attack our French toast.
Of course he heard that.
Comfortable in a pair of pink pajama pants and a white shirt that says Single and Ready to Flamingo, I bring my knees up to my chest and press play on my movie before snagging my popcorn bowl from the table.
After brunch with Hardy and Everly, I ran some errands, took a long walk around Golden Gate Park, and then came back here. I showered and promised myself an unhealthy dinner of popcorn and Butterfinger Bites.
Sometimes you just need one of those nights, and I did, because I needed the distraction.
All day, my mind has been on Graydon.
I’ve been tempted to text him, to ask him how training camp was today, to ask him to come over and watch a movie with me, but I’ve held back. I’ve kept my hand away from my phone and focused on things I needed to take care of because…frankly, I have no idea where I stand with him.
He wanted that kiss, I know he did.
He held me close last night, and he wasn’t faking it.
He has been every bit attentive and protective, and it’s made it seem like…like there’s something special between us, but I’m too scared to ask.
I’m too nervous to even venture into the idea of there being more because is that something I even want? I’ve been out of the dating circuit for so long now that I don’t even know how it works. And does he even want to date?
Ugh…I have no idea.
But, God, last night…it really didn’t feel like it was all for show. It felt like so much more than that.
Sighing, I pick up my phone as How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days starts to play. I click on Instagram and take in all the notifications already waiting for me. We turned off the DM option because that became insane, and instead we just take the time to look at the comments.