Chapter 14 Greyson #2
“So, are you guys fu—” Gabe starts but stops short, it being his turn to look at the kids. “Are you guys doing the bang-bang on the regular now?” he asks with a knowing smirk. What the fuck? How does he know we slept together?
“Wait, what? You guys are hooking up?” Silas questions next with furrowed brows, then looks at Clay, who observes us. “Did you know about this?”
“No, but I had my suspicions. My wife is a horrible liar,” he replies.
“Hey! I am not!” Morgan slaps her husband in the chest, which only makes him chuckle.
“So are you? And how the hell does Ellis know before us?” Sy asks again, to which I’m not sure how to answer.
I know I didn’t tell anyone, which only leaves Emma. When I look at her, her eyes are wide, and she won’t look at me.
“I overheard the girls talking about it in the kitchen earlier,” Gabe informs us with a shrug.
Emma glares at Cecilia and Morgan, knowing they're the ones who spilled the beans since Aubrey isn’t here with us right now.
“Bunny? You got something to say? Have you been spilling our secrets?” I ask calmly, loving to put her on the spot.
Emma huffs out loudly and turns to look at me.
“I’m sorry! I just had to tell someone! So I told the girls, thinking they would keep their mouths shut.
” She glares at them again, and this time they at least have the decency to look guilty.
It makes me want to laugh. Bunny then rolls her eyes and folds her arms over her chest. “By the way, you never said it was a secret, so I did nothing wrong.”
“Hmm.” I lean over, whispering in her ear so only she can hear. “I think we’ll have to work on you keeping what happens between us to yourself. Tell me, Bunny, should I punish you for this slip-up?” When I pull away, her pupils are fully blown as she breathes deeply, lust filling her hooded eyes.
“I didn’t tell them everything! I at least kept the second time to myself, so that should earn me some points, no?”
“Wait, it happened twice?” Morgan pipes in since Emma apparently didn’t get the memo that we were whispering.
“At least you lasted a whole week this time before telling anyone.” I chuckle and turn back to my plate, cutting into my waffle and sticking a piece in my mouth. Emma groans and drops her head back.
“So? Is that a yes? You didn’t answer my question,” Gabe inquires.
“Why do you need to know?” I ask.
“Just wondering if the beautiful Em is off the market again or not.” He winks at her, and my jaw tightens. Anger fills me at the thought that he sees her as a piece of meat he can toy with whenever he’s in the mood.
“She’s off the market for you. That’s all you need to know,” I answer gruffly, staring at him and making sure he sees just how much I’m not kidding around.
Clay scoffs and shakes his head.
“What!?” Jesus, calm down, Ford. These are your friends.
“Nothing man, I’ve just never seen this side of you. It’s different.” He shrugs.
Yeah, that makes two of us.
It’s 10:00 at night when we finally touch down in Toronto. Emma holds a sleeping Gracie as we collect our luggage, then head over to the car rental service. Once we have the keys, we walk outside to the car and are hit with freezing cold air.
“Holy snowflakes! I forgot how cold it was here during winter!”
A small smile forms on my lips as I watch her looking around with amazement.
She’s right, it’s colder than I thought it would be.
I should have expected it. I am from here, after all.
I hurry to place Gracie’s car seat in the rental and take her from Emma.
Once Gracie is tied in and secure, I shut the door and go to the trunk, placing our luggage inside.
When I turn around, I find Em twirling in the middle of the parking lot, arms stretched wide and face to the sky. She giggles as huge snowflakes land on her face, then sticks out her tongue to capture one.
This is the free version of Emma I love. LIKE… I mean like. The one where she lets go completely and becomes her goofy self without a care in the world. It’s nice to see her slowly coming back to herself.
I walk over to her with my hands in my coat pockets. “Come on, little snow bunny. Time to go.”
“No, wait! Twirl with me, Greyson.” She stops to look at me.
“Yeah, I’m not doing that.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t you miss being a kid? It’s so beautiful. Just enjoy the moment. I know you want to. Twirl for me, Ford. Twirl.” She resumes her antics. “I’m not going to stop until you do. So better get a move on it, Grey.”
I chuckle with a head shake. “Fine! But if you tell anyone I did this. I’ll have to kill you.”
She stops again and fake pouts, fluttering her eyelashes. “You would kill an innocent little bunny? Such a bad, bad wolf.” She winks, then spins again.
I sigh heavily and stretch out my arms, imitating her movements. I spin on the spot, snow covering my face and hair, until a heartfelt laugh explodes from my lungs. Shit, she’s right. I haven’t done this since I was a kid, and it feels amazing.
When the laugh subsides, I lower my head and look over at Bunny as she carries a breathtaking smile on her lips. I take a step toward her and wrap my arm around her waist, pulling her against my chest while she pants with that same smile still on her face.
“It’s getting late, we should go. We have a big day tomorrow,” I tell her softly as I brush her hair out of her face.
“Okay,” she murmurs.
I release her waist and take her hand in mine, guiding her over toward the passenger side. Then I wait until she’s seated and buckled in before closing the door and heading to the driver’s side.
Twenty-five minutes later, we’re pulling up the driveway to my parents’ two-story colonial house.
It was the first purchase I made when I hit my first million with the NHL.
Aubrey and I grew up in a three-bedroom broken-down apartment with my dad working two jobs and my mom working night shifts at the hospital.
We weren’t dirt poor and never really missed out on anything, but our parents made big sacrifices for us and our education. I know hockey is the reason they had to work so much and give up on family vacations and a decent home, so it only made sense that I paid them back in some way.
Emma takes Gracie in her arms while I collect our bags from the trunk. When we arrive by the entrance door, it swings open, and Aubrey waits for us on the other side. She came up two days earlier to spend more time with my parents.
“What took you guys so long?” she asks as she takes Gracie from Emma’s arms, giving us room to remove our coats.
“Sorry, Greyson was having fun twirling in the snow at the airport. I tried to get him to stop and get in the car, but he wouldn’t. He even forced me to join him,” Em tells her, the lie falling from her lips so gracefully that if I didn’t know the truth, I’d believe her.
My jaw drops open, then shuts tight as I glare at her. She giggles and looks away. Oh, you’ll pay for that later, Bunny.
“I would have loved to see that.” Brey laughs quietly. “The rooms are all set for you guys. Dad put up a crib in your room for little Gracie, and Em, you’re right next door.”
“Are Mom and Dad still up?” I ask her, looking around for any sign of them.
“No, they went to bed about an hour ago. Mom wanted to wait up, but with all the cooking preparations we did today, she was exhausted.”
I nod and carry our luggage up the stairs.
First to my room, where Aubrey lays Gracie down in her bed, then wishes us goodnight while I bring Emma’s suitcase to her room.
I place it by the foot of the bed and turn back to find Em looking at the room with a smile.
It’s small compared to her room at home.
“I hope this is okay?”
“Of course it is. It’s homey, I love it.” She turns to me and gazes my way with affection. “Thank you for inviting me, Greyson.”
“No need to thank me. It’s the least I could do after being the reason your Christmas plans were canceled.” I offer a sad smile.
I feel a bit guilty for the trouble I’ve caused with her family, but Emma just seems relieved she doesn’t have to deal with that anymore. Although I do know she’s talked with her dad earlier this week as well as this morning, so I’m happy to see I didn’t entirely ruin things for her.
I decide to change the subject. “Are you hungry? We could grab something quick downstairs.”
When we got home from our Christmas brunch, we changed and had a quick dinner before heading to the airport. But for some reason, I’m always starving after a plane ride. Actually, I’m always starving. I guess that’s just normal for an athlete.
“A little, yeah.”
“Okay, let me just set up the baby monitor, and we’ll head down.” We go back to my room, plug in the monitor, and grab the parent unit before quietly making our way downstairs.
Once in the kitchen, I go through everything—the pantry, fridge, cabinets—in search of what we could have. “How about hot chocolate and ice cream? Unless you want an actual meal, then I can make you a sandwich or something.”
“No, hot chocolate and ice cream sounds perfect!” She grins excitedly and quietly claps her hands together.
I grab the milk from the fridge and collect the chocolate powder from the pantry, then wander over to the cabinet that contains the mugs and take two down.
As I’m filling them with milk and placing them in the microwave, the realization that Emma hasn’t surprised me with a special mug this week hits me.
I’m a little disappointed by it. Even if I fake annoyance every time I receive one, I like seeing what she comes up with. Maybe I should stop pretending I don’t like them so that she can keep getting me some.
Once I’ve finished with the hot chocolate, I take out two bowls and dump in a hefty amount of Rolo ice cream. We stand with our backs to the counter, munching away and sipping our mugs. Emma takes a big spoonful of ice cream and moans with her eyes closed as she wraps her lips around the spoon.
Taking advantage of her distraction, I gather some ice cream and hold my spoon up facing her. Placing my finger over the tip, I pull the spoon back and fling the chunk directly at her, hitting her right in the cheek.
She gasps loudly as her eyes fly open. Collecting another spoonful, I reposition myself, waiting for her to turn my way.
“You did not seriously just throw ice cream at me!” The clump falls to the floor, leaving a nice brown smear over her skin.
“That was for telling my sister I was the one dancing in the snow.” I smirk as she finally turns to me and notices the spoon aimed at her once more. “And this one. This one is for telling everyone about our private moments.”
“NO. No, Greyson! Don’t you dare!” She puts her hands up to shield herself, but it’s too late. The chunk of ice cream sails through the air and lands right at the base of her neck, falling down into her cleavage.
“OH MY GOD! Cold! Cold. That’s so cold!” She quickly scoops it up and drops it on the counter. I put my fist to my mouth as I try to hold in my laugh, but it’s no use. Her expression is hilarious.
“Oh! You are going to pay for that!” she tells me while taking some from her own bowl and launching it at me. I duck just in time, making the piece hit the bottom cabinet.
“Maybe next time you’ll learn to keep what happens between us to yourself.” I lift a brow as she narrows her eyes at me, then takes more ice cream and throws it at me.
“For the millionth time, I didn’t know it was supposed to be a secret!” She misses me again, which makes her growl in frustration.
I laugh harder and grab her by the waist, pulling her to me. “Always so dramatic.” Forgetting about the spoon, I dig my hand into my bowl and bring my covered fingers up to her face, smearing it all over her pale flesh.
She shrieks and tries to fight against my hold, but I don’t let her get away. “GREYSON!”
“Look what you’ve done. Little Bunny’s all dirty now. Here, let me help you clean up.” I flatten my tongue and lick up the side of her face.
She squeals as I do the same to the other side. “Greyson, stop!” she says, laughing and throwing her head back.
I lick the sides of her neck, then the center, before dipping lower into her cleavage, taking my time licking and sucking everything up. Her hand falls to my hair as a soft moan leaves her lips, making my cock grow hard in my pants.
A throat clears from beside us, and I quickly pull my face away from Bunny’s chest and look up. An identical older version of myself stands at the entrance to the kitchen, watching us.
“Oh, hey, Dad. Sorry if we woke you, we were just grabbing something to eat,” I tell him, not letting go of Emma even as she tries to step out of my grasp. He already caught me with my face between her breasts, no point in pretending now.
“Yeah, I can see that,” he says in a sleepy voice, then chuckles.
He walks over to the fridge that’s right beside us, grabbing the milk, then pouring himself a glass. He takes the time to drink it by the sink while looking around at the puddles of melting ice cream.
Emma is a deep shade of red in my arms, looking completely embarrassed. My dad raises a brow in my direction once he’s done taking in the mess.
“We’ll clean up before going to bed,” I tell him.
He drains the last of his milk and sets the glass down in the sink. “You better.” He turns to leave but calls out just before exiting the room, “And not with your tongue like you were doing to the young lady.”
I snort as Em drops her face against my neck with a groan. “Oh God, that was so embarrassing! That is not how I wanted to meet your parents for the first time. They’ll probably think I’m crazy now!”
“Seems like a fitting assumption.”
She gasps and pulls back to punch me in the shoulder. “Asshole!”
I grab her wrist and kiss the inside of it. “I’m just kidding.” I smirk with a wink. “Why don’t you go shower while I clean up here?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, Bunny, go. I’ll see you in the morning.” I let go of her wrist and drop my arm from around her waist. As much as I’d like this night to end differently, I remind myself of the rules she’s put in place.
She brings her hand up and cups my cheek, then delicately plants her lips against the other. “Goodnight, Greyson. Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas, Bunny,” I whisper back as she turns and walks away.