7. Greer #3
He did his best to choke down his laughter.
With the look on her face, her big, blue eyes wide and bracing for him to come out with some sort of wild tale, he knew she probably thought he’d be out all night drinking and partying with anyone and everyone.
He’d had some days like that, but discovered pretty early on they weren’t too fulfilling and left too much damage in their wake for what they were worth.
Now that he’d been training, he’d kept his focus. He certainly enjoyed a few days to himself every now and again, but most of it involved rest. Seeing his mom and his brother.
And now? It included Tessa, too.
“I’d definitely be playing pool.”
“O-oh,” she said, clearly not expecting that answer. And boy did he love throwing her off balance. But this time, she adapted and rallied. “Where?”
He pretended to think, setting the handle of his cue on the floor, holding the rod with his free hand. “I suppose I could hit up any of the places in Boston,” he said. “There’s dozens of pool halls. Bars.”
“Bars,” she said, her thoughts going right down the road he was laying for her. There’s really only one good reason to go to a bar, and it’s not to drink. It’s not to watch a game, and it certainly wasn’t to play pool. It was to meet people. Someone to date. Someone to take home.
And as he watched her turn a slight shade of green, it was clear Tessa did not like the idea of him making himself available for that.
Before, when she’d declared how much she enjoyed his company back when they were stuck in that storage room, his heart had leapt at the thought, even if it screamed at him to be cautious.
She was in a delicate place mentally with her ex, who wouldn’t go away, not to mention physically being thrown together in a fake relationship with Greer.
What she said could have been a byproduct of feeling claustrophobic in a near-emergency situation.
But if she were jealous over the idea of a non-existent woman coming onto him, there was a good possibility she was feeling for him what he felt for her.
“Or maybe,” he said, pausing once more, and taking a small step toward her, putting him on the edge of her personal space. “I might go to a friend’s house and play there.”
“Sounds like it could be fun,” she agreed, though he could tell she was already wondering what friend he was thinking of.
Not once did she think it could be her.
Because she didn’t think of him as a friend.
“Tess?” he asked, locking eyes with her, green to sapphire. She tilted her head up to meet him, her eyes soulful as she tried to understand.
“Yes?” she answered, her voice just above a whisper.
One last test of her resolve, he reached up to the side of her face, stroking his fingers down her cheek as he tucked her hair behind her ear. Her eyes fluttered at the movement, and it took everything in his willpower not to descend on her, stealing her for himself and sealing it with a kiss.
“There isn’t anyone else I’d rather be with than you,” he said, watching her focus entirely on him. “Not right now, not on vacation. Not just playing pool but… all of it.”
“Greer, what are you saying?” she asked, her voice hopeful but also cautious. And yet, he couldn’t think of anything standing in their way any longer.
Not even themselves.
“I’m saying I don’t want to fake-date you,” he said, abandoning his cue to the table and reaching for her. “I want you for real.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, the words tumbling out of her mouth in a rush as she stepped toward him. She automatically raised her hands as he pulled her close, setting them on his chest like the most natural thing in the world. “We aren’t anything alike at all. How can you be sure this would work?”
“I can’t. But I’m tired of pretending,” he admitted.
“I tried to, but if I’m being honest, I fell for you the moment I laid eyes on you.
” Locking eyes with her for only a moment, he slowly began to lean in to kiss her.
Not only did he not feel an ounce of hesitation on her part, but for the first time ever, she met him halfway.
Tessa threw her arms around him in urgency, their mouths colliding as if the exact same thoughts had crossed her mind and he only got to saying them first. “It was never pretend for me.”
“It wasn’t for me either,” she said, pressing herself closer as her hands roamed over his torso, shoulders, neck, everywhere.
It was like she had removed the block in her brain that kept her hands to herself, and now that she was touching him, she couldn’t quite decide which spot she liked best. He loved the sensation and wanted so much more of it. “It never was.”
Hearing her declaration was the line in the sand for him.
They’d already waited too long, and he was done being patient.
Reaching down and grabbing the backs of her thighs, he easily hauled her up.
Somewhere in the distance, a cue clattered to the floor as she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, clinging onto him.
Every part of his body was completely consumed by Tessa.
His mouth was locked on hers, kissing her lips, her jaw, her neck.
Her warm body pressed against him as he walked them toward his room.
“Are you sure?” he asked, barely getting the words out before she covered his mouth with hers. It was a whole other side of her he’d never seen before, and there was no denying it.
Tessa was a woman who knew what she wanted.
“Stop thinking, Greer,” Tessa said, dragging her mouth from him and framing his face with her two hands. “Of course, I want this.”
He broke into a smile, the very idea that she knew him so well she could tell his thoughts, not to mention his hesitations. “Just gotta be sure.”
And with a yelp from her, he broke off into a run across the house.