Chapter 29 #2
“Get out from under there. Now.” It doesn’t seem to matter if Grey is angry or turned on, his rumbly Drill Bit voice just does it for me because I respond to his command without thought or question.
“Goal-Line Gossips.”
“That’s enough.” Coach B. doesn’t raise his voice, but everyone hears him. “If y’all keep getting into the stadium undetected, who’s to say our competition can’t do the same thing?”
“Well, Coach.” I groan as I crawl out to a place where I can stand.
It’s so freaking filthy down here. “I dated a guy in college who taught me how to sneak in here. He worked with the grounds crew. I don’t think just anyone could get past the gate unless they knew where the faulty chain link is, so I think you’re safe from the competition. ”
“Five full ladders, then hit the locker room,” Grey shouts, using his coaching voice. Even that is sexy as hell.
A chorus of groans hits my ears, but I slowly spin to face Grey’s tumultuous gaze.
“What are you all doing here?” He’s barely holding on to his control.
“Ah, Uncle Grey. We’re just worried about you. You remember how that goes?” Sage is taunting his uncle, and he knows it.
Grey’s jaw clenches so hard I can practically hear the squeak of his teeth grinding together.
“I was under there to make sure you were safe.” Grey’s mouth barely moves, but we hear every word.
“And they were under there to show support, since you seem incapable of asking for help from those who actually know what the hell they’re doing.” Sage wraps his uncle in a hug, then lines up to run ladders with the rest of his team.
Coach B. chuckles, then walks away, leaving Grey on one side of the white line, with me, Brax, Madi, Clover and Elle on the other, but Grey is only staring at me.
The longer he stares, the more intense my desire to laugh. I don’t even know why. It’s not kind to laugh in someone’s face, but this entire situation is out of control.
Madi sniffs next to me, and it’s the crack that splits me wide open. I laugh. Hard. Tears stream down the sides of my cheeks as I gasp for air through the full-belly giggle-fit.
Grey stands and watches it all for long moments while Madi reaches into my back pocket to remove Braxton’s phone—I’d forgotten I still had it.
“This is funny to you?” he finally says.
“It’s funny to us all,” Braxton howls.
Grey ignores him, waiting for me to answer.
My stomach cramps with my effort to contain my delight. “It.” Gasp. “Is.” Gasp. “Come on, Grey. Did you see yourself?”
I swear, the left corner of his lip twitches.
“They Dirty Dancinged you.” A new round of laughter fills the air around us.
This time, I know his lip twitched.
“You—you looked soooo uncomfortable.”
One tooth separates his pressed lips, then two. I’ve almost got him.
“I kept expecting Ethan to put his hands on your shoulders and make a Greyson sandwich while ‘Hungry Eyes’ played overhead.”
His shoulders bounce, and he flashes two more teeth.
“No one puts Greyson in the corner though, Monroe. Not even for you.”
“Did you—” I look to Braxton on my right, but he’s doubled over laughing. “Did he just make a joke…about himself?”
When I glance back at Grey, he’s wearing a large, genuine smile that makes my chest ache.
And then…he laughs. It’s a sound that fills in all the cracks in my soul that not even superglue and denial could fix. His face relaxes into the happiness. He’s so carefree in this moment, I want to bottle it up and spray him with it the next time he’s carrying the world on his shoulders.
I want to see him like this forever.
A whistle blows on the field, but Grey’s attention is on me—on the happiness that leaked from my eyes while watching him, on the way my chest rises and falls too rapidly, on the smile I can’t seem to wipe from my face even as my cheeks heat under his intense perusal.
“Are you laughing at me, Monroe?” Each word he speaks is expelled on a step closer to me.
I nod, feeling the pressure on my cheeks and knowing I’m exerting muscles that have remained dormant for too long.
“Well, with you,” I say. “You obviously have a sense of humor about yourself.”
He steps into my space, wrapping his arms around my waist and pressing our hips together in a way that’s not even close to a PG rating.
“I love your laugh.” He’s so quiet, so earnest when he says it that the rolling laughter catches in my chest. “You don’t do it enough.”
“We’ll, ah…just see you later.” Elle’s stage whisper is so ridiculous, I bury my face in Grey’s chest.
“I laugh,” I say when they’re out of earshot.
He shakes his head, never breaking eye contact. “Not enough.”
My shoulders droop. “What are you doing out here, Patch?”
Soft lips press against my forehead. “I studied the list of challenges at the fair, made a plan of action, and then implemented steps to learn what I didn’t know.”
“But…why? Why go to all this trouble?” I’m scared of his answer, and I want it more desperately than I’ve wanted anything in a very long time.
“It’s simple, Sav. You’re mine, and I’m yours. If you think I’ll allow anyone else to win, even momentarily, what’s mine, then you’re out of your goddamn mind. Say it.”
“Say what?” Tension finds its home between my shoulder blades.
“That you’re mine.”
The eye roll is automatic. “I’m yours…for now. Nothing lasts forever, Grey, you know that.”
“Stubborn, sexy ass.” I’m not even sure if I was supposed to hear those words, but I feel them in the intensity with which he stares at me.
“You’re mine, end of story. I have the bachelor bake-off in the bag.
Savvy trivia? Easy. Chili for charity, I can do in my sleep.
Build-a-date, I’ll figure out as I go. But Cupid cowboy and who wants to woo the sweetheart are my sticky points.
I’ve never wooed anyone in my entire life.
Line dancing feels cult-like. But I’ll figure out how to win both, even if I have to make myself a fool to do it. ”
He laces his hand through mine and leads me toward the parking lot.
“Until then, we’ve got some speed dating to get through.”
It takes a moment for his words to register, and when they do, I dig in my heels.
“Speed dating? What are you talking about?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. Madi and Clover will be at our house in an hour to help.”
Traitors. Neither of them said anything to me.
“Help with what?”
Grey holds open the passenger door of his brand-new SUV. “I’m going to learn how to woo you, and to do that, I need to know every fantasy rolling around in that big head of yours. The girls are coming over to facilitate a practice run of who wants to woo.”
“That’s cheating.” I huff but slide into his passenger seat. “Madi is a cohost at the live event. She can’t give you the questions ahead of time.”
“I’m not asking for the questions ahead of time, I’m asking them to prepare me for anything and everything they think I should know to win.”
“That’s still chea—”
The asshole slams the door before I can finish my sentence.
“It’s not cheating,” he says when he gets behind the wheel. “It’s a cram session.”
“Oh my God. It’s the same freaking thing.”
His hand lands on my upper thigh, and the fight drains out of me.
For better or worse, Greyson is taking a crash course in all things me.
And part of me hopes he’s still here after the final exam.