Chapter 13 Grayson #2
Kat sets her beer down and sits up a little straighter.
“So, Hollie is married to this guy named Trent Rudolph, who lives in a tiny town about an hour south of Nashville. It’s the hometown of Logan’s wife, so I get to hear all the lore.
I also saw her one night in the local bar. She’s a lovely woman.”
I don’t know if I’m drunk or if she just dropped a lot of information on me. “You’re making that up.”
“Hand to God,” she says. “It’s also the town that Hazel lives in, and her husband is best friends with this Trent Rudolph.”
“What kind of small-town, six degrees of separation, world are we living in?”
“The one where the town of Rolling Hills, Tennessee, is a little too busy for its population.”
“Fascinating.”
“It really is,” she continues. “I had my doubts about moving to Tennessee when Logan told me that we were relocating to Nashville. But I’ve enjoyed it so far.”
“Were you originally from Los Angeles?”
“No, but from California,” she says, turning so she’s now lying on her shoulder, facing me. “My parents still live there.”
“You’re not going West for the holidays?”
She shakes her head. “Parents are divorced. Dad has a new family that doesn’t like me too much. You know, daughter from the ‘other’ family and all. I would’ve visited Mom, but she joined a smutty book club for divorced women over fifty and they all decided to go on a cruise for the holidays.”
“Good for her.”
“That’s what I said. Which is why I can now go lay on a beach for a week, guilt free. Well, maybe, if it ever stops snowing.”
On our second beer and second movie of the night, we decided to open the curtains to watch the snow fall. We figured if we’re stuck here for it, we might as well enjoy the ambiance. And just from what I’ve seen, we’re not leaving this hotel for a few days.
“That sounds amazing,” I say. “Soon you’ll be eating at a beachside restaurant with a mai tai while I’ll be listening to my father brag about my brother’s latest case.”
“Will it at least be an interesting case?”
“Not even a little bit. He’s a divorce lawyer. The best I can hope for is a torrid affair.”
“I’ll cross my fingers for you.”
“Thanks.”
The conversation fades away naturally, and we both turn our attention back to the movie. Well, partially. I can’t help but notice that Kat is still turned toward me. And even more, she’s now burying herself a little lower into the pillows, like she’s about to go to sleep.
“You okay?”
She nods, but lets out a big yawn. “Great.”
I chuckle as I check the time. I don’t know when it got to be past eleven, but somehow we’ve drank a six-pack of beer and watched three and a half Christmas movies. “I can turn the lights off if you want to go to sleep.”
At the word “sleep,” her eyes flew open. Rookie move, Ross. Damn. She throws back the blankets and begins to rise.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I ask as I pull her back down to the bed.
“To the cot.”
“No, you aren’t.”
She wiggles out of my loose hold as she stands up. “Grayson, I appreciate the chivalry, but look at that cot. Now look at you. You were hanging off it last night. I don’t mind.”
“Well, I do.”
“So what are we going to do? Both sleep in the bed? Is this where our stubbornness is taking us?”
I don’t know if she realizes what she just suggested, but she does after the grin forms on my face.
“Actually, yes it is.” I roll off the bed before heading into the closet to grab every spare pillow and blanket I can find. I even take the extra one that was being used on the cot.
“What are you doing?”
“Neither of us are going to concede.” I throw the pillows on the bed, but turn so I’m now standing in front of her, a position we’ve found ourselves in a few times this weekend. “I’m also going to assume that I can’t kiss you?”
That takes her by surprise. “Uh—no…”
“You sure?”
Her head is nodding, but the big eyes and the frog she just swallowed suggest otherwise.
“Okay then.” I do kiss her forehead though. One, because I can, and two, because she’s not expecting it. “Then I’m going to take these pillows, and we’re going to make two beds.”
She shakes her head to bring her back to reality. “A pillow fort? Are we eight?”
I level a look at her. “Do you have a better idea? I mean, we could go without, sleep in the same bed. Or, I can sleep on the cot. The choice is yours, Vixen.”
She scrunches her nose at me, but I don’t know if it’s for the use of the name or the options I laid out for her. I just like that I’m getting a reaction of any kind.
“I’m going to guess that no decision means we’re sharing a bed,” I say, putting the last of the pillows on the bed. “Now, I’m going to pop into the bathroom quickly. That okay?”
She nods. “Yeah. You go first.”
I move quickly, brushing my teeth and washing my face before slipping on a T-shirt and pajama pants.
If I was fucking with her, I’d choose to sleep shirtless tonight—yes, I noticed how she looked at me in the hot tub today.
Yes, it made me feel really fucking good—but the fact that I’m sleeping with her at all is the win I’m going to take. No sense in being greedy.
Kat and I silently switch places, and while she’s in the bathroom, I clean up the space, putting the empty food containers out in the hallway to get picked up and also grab my book and reading glasses from the desk.
I make myself comfortable on the left side of the bed, propped up on the headboard once more, which is where I’m sitting when she comes out.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
I look around, because I’m not sure if I’m missing something. “Reading?”
“No.” She points to me, then jerks her thumb to the other side. “That’s my side.”
“But this is the side I was sitting at all night.”
“Yeah, and that was fine for TV watching. Now it’s time for sleeping, and I sleep on the left side.”
I shake my head. “No can do.”
“But—”
“But what, Kat?”
I fight off my smile, because I can tell she’s tongue-tied. I love it when I do that to her. “When…the last time we—”
“Slept together?”
“Yes. The last time we slept together,” she says in a huff, finally taking a few steps toward the bed. “I distinctly remember you being on the right side of the bed, which was great, because that’s not my side of the bed. But here you are, being on my side. So I’m going to need you to switch.”
I look to my right then back to her. “Nope. Sorry. Get comfy, roomie. It’s time for bed. Either that or the cot.”
It’s a bold move I just made, but I know for a fact how uncomfortable that thing is. If she chooses that over the bed, she’s more stubborn than I thought.
“Listen, Grayson, I’m honestly a pretty go-with-the-flow person. But there are a few things in my life that I need to happen. It always has to be Heinz Ketchup. Twizzlers over Red Vines. And I have to sleep on the left side of the bed.”
“Yeah…no,” I say, putting down my book and flipping off the light on my side.
“No?” she squawks, even though she does walk to her side of the bed and gets in. “Why are you being so difficult? What happened to the chivalry?”
I wait for her to fully lie down before I roll over the pillow fort, hovering on top of her. My move catches her by surprise, her brown eyes round and unblinking. And it takes all, and I mean all, the power in my body to not lean down and take those perfect lips with mine.
“I sleep closest to the door,” I begin. “That’s why I slept on the other side last time, and it’s why I’m going to sleep here now.
This is a non-negotiable, Kat. Because I am chivalrous.
Also, if we were walking, I’d be on the side closest to the street.
I’ll always open a car door for you. Hold open a door.
And always, I mean always, will I be the one sleeping closest to the door. Do you understand?”
Kat is silent, just nodding at my words. I take advantage of the situation, and lean down, gently pressing a kiss to her forehead.
Another bold move? Absolutely. But frankly, I don’t know when I’ll be able to do it again, and I wasn’t going to waste that chance.
“Oh, and one last thing,” I say, lowering myself the closest I can get to her without touching. “I’m not going to kiss you. That is, until you ask me to. Because I am chivalrous. And I’m willing to wait however long it takes.”