Chapter 14
CHAPTER 14
Without complaint, Porter watched three episodes of Grey’s Anatomy on Netflix. By the third episode, I could tell that he was actually getting into it.
“Who’s that chick?”
“Addison. She used to be married to McDreamy, but their marriage broke up when she had an affair with McSteamy.”
“Which one is steamy?”
“The big blond. He used to be friends with McDreamy, but the cheating pissed McDreamy off.”
“And who’s McDreamy with?”
“Well, he’s supposed to be with Meredith, but they aren’t together. Because she’s pissed about him not telling her about Addison.”
“He should have tried morse code.”
I laughed. “It’s a fail-safe in all relationships.”
“Want more wine?”
“Hell, yeah.”
He reached down to the floor and produced the bottle. I held my glass while he poured .
“You need a beer fridge in here.”
“I might never get out of bed.”
“It happens.” I watched him crack another beer, and side-by-side, we sipped our drinks.
“Tough week?”
“Maybe. But maybe not as tough as yours?”
He shrugged and took another sip. “I’ve had better.”
“Have you talked to her?”
“Nope.”
Oh . Well, that was interesting.
“Are you going to?”
“Not sure.”
I wanted to ask him what he did all day and night if he wasn’t with Felicia, but perhaps I didn’t want to know. Maybe he was whoring it up. This moment was nice. I didn’t want to muddy this time by confirming he was having sex with someone else.
He cut into my thoughts. “Want to talk?”
“About?”
“That note.”
“Not really.”
He examined his beer can. “Okay. How about the gala?”
It shocked me how much I wanted to ask him to come with me, but knowing what the guy was going through, it didn’t seem fair. “I hate those events. But I’ll do my part. If I had something as important as that happening in my life, I’d want my parents there no matter how much we’re at odds.”
“Why do you parents want you back with Yates so much?”
“He has good pedigree. Ivy League schools. The right parents. All the connections. In their eyes, he’s of elevated status.”
“What about what you want?”
“They don’t believe I know what I want. They think he’ll make me happy.”
Grey eyes peered at me. “You’re all right, you know that?”
“You’re not so bad yourself. ”
He set his beer can aside and leaned back on the pillow with his head behind his hand. “Can I make a request?”
“Always.”
“You won’t hold it against me?”
“I doubt it.”
“You have to promise not to tell anyone.”
“I’m the vault. People actually tell me that they call me the vault behind my back.”
He caught his lower lip in his teeth, debating. “Can we watch another episode of Grey’s ?”
“Oh, my God.” I burst out laughing. “You’re joking.”
“Hey.”
I rose to my knees, lifting my wine glass in victory. “Yes, folks. Another closet fan is born.”
He grabbed my hand, but he had a massive smile on his face. “You’re blowing this out of proportion. I’m not a fan. But they left us with a cliffhanger.”
I pushed his hand back, so it was pinned by his head. “Admit it. You took your first hit, and now you’re begging for more.”
He laughed. “You said you wouldn’t hold it against me.”
I was making him laugh. Why did that feel so damn good?
I drained my glass and reached over him to set it on the nightstand. “Think of what this would do to their ratings if they knew a decorated Navy SEAL was their latest fan.”
One minute, I was leaning over him, and the next minute, he had me flipped over on my back until he was kneeling over me, his hands pinning my hands above my head.
“You promised me you wouldn’t tell anyone,” he growled, playfully.
My stomach tingled, but my brain told my stomach that he was only playing the role of a big brother. “Some secrets are too big to keep.”
“You know, I’m skilled in various torture techniques. ”
My inner flirt raised her head. “If you’re trying to turn me on, it’s working.”
Those grey eyes, so dark they were almost charcoal, dropped to my mouth. We were both breathing hard. Too much booze and temptation. I could see him internally debating.
It would be a total mistake, but didn’t we deserve this? Hadn’t we both been burned? Shouldn’t we snatch our moments of happiness where we could?
He started towards me.
Thank fuck.
Eyes wide open, I watched as he lowered his face to mine. Our eyes locked, neither of us breaking eye contact. His lips were mere centimeters away from mine.
I’d never wanted to kiss anyone more in my life.
“This is probably a really bad idea.” His breath whispered across my lips.
I breathed it in. “The worst.”
“You want to stop?”
“Not particularly.”
“Good answer.”
A tinny version of Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train interrupted us. We both froze, eyes locked. He pushed himself up but didn’t look at his phone.
It was her.
I knew it was.
“Do you have to get that?”
He shook his head.
“Do you need to go?”
“No.”
He was still kneeling over me. Staring down at me. I knew he was thinking of her now, but he was sitting on me . He looked trapped. He was actually debating continuing messing around with me, even though his head was no longer in the game. Probably because he was so damn polite .
Sometimes, the kindest thing we can do for people is to save them from themselves.
So, I swatted his hard stomach, careful to keep my movements light. “Well, if you’re not going to kiss me, can you do something useful and get me some more wine?”
He didn’t move.
I gave him a playful shove. “Come on. If this is my cheat day, I want to drink myself into oblivion.”
He stood up. Taking a deep breath, he ran his hands through his hair. I pretended not to notice, but who could miss the spectacularly impressive hard bulge in his jeans?
Jesus. I was walking on a fine line here. One that wasn’t going to end well for either of us.