Grayson
. . .
NINETEEN
I pull up to Hunter’s, putting the car in park. Nova is pretty sleepy but wanted to stay awake to see her mom. I shoot a text to Laine, not wanting to leave Nova in the car alone. I wonder if Maisie is still in there. That thought dies when two sets of eyes pop out of Hunter’s front door.
I roll down the window of Laine’s car, the rain getting the seat wet. It was easier to take her car than switch Nova’s car seat to mine. I’m thankful for that when both the girls approach the car.
“I told Maisie you could give her a ride home, since you’re already heading to the ranch,” Laine says, opening the back door to slide in next to Nova. Nova squeals, throwing her mom into a bear hug. “I missed you, sweet girl,” she coos.
I clear my throat. “Yeah, yup, that’s totally fine.” I don’t know how I thought Maisie would be getting home, spending the night maybe, but it never crossed my mind she might need a ride too.
“Thank you.” Maisie gives me a shy, apologetic smile, slipping into the front seat. Nova can’t go anywhere without her unicorn, and she has it strapped into the seat next to her, taking up the back.
I mess with the buttons in Laine’s fancy car, making sure the temperature is just right. The joking man from earlier is out the window tonight. Maisie has a way of making the nerves come out, but she also feels like home.
“Waisie!” Nova cheers, clearly not as tired as I thought.
“Hey, Nova girl. Did you have a fun time with your uncle tonight?”
She bounces in her chair. “We had pancakes again. You missed it,” she pouts, crossing her arms.
Maisie chuckles under her breath, grabbing the door handle tightly as I put the car in reverse. “Maybe next time,” she promises.
The drive to Laine’s is fairly quick. The further we drive, the harder Maisie white-knuckles the door handle.
She fumbles through her purse, pulling out a lip balm to use.
Her hand trembles when she puts it away.
I take note but don’t say anything. There’s nothing about Maisie I wouldn’t notice at this point, down to her new nail polish.
Honey colored, just like her eye.
After dropping off the girls, we hop into my truck and head back to the ranch. The truck is silent, the sound of my tires crunching on the gravel drowning out my thoughts. That is, until the buzzing begins.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
I ignore the first round, except it continues like an endless loop, lighting up the seat between us.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
I can’t help but look down to see what it is. Maisie’s phone is ringing out of control. She’s back to gripping the door handle like it’s her lifeline, so she hasn’t even realized it yet.
“What’s that?” I ask, tipping my chin towards her phone.
Her eyes blow wide, and she snatches her phone. “It’s nothing.”
“Doesn’t sound like nothing,” I mumble under my breath, craning my neck to see what’s on her screen.
I’m a nosy bitch, sue me.
“It’s none of your concern.” She’s all confidence now, quickly swiping away the notifications. Lucky me, I see one before she can make it disappear.
It’s a dating app notification. They all are. Messages from men…dozens of them.
“What the fuck is that? Why are you on a dating app, Maisie? Those men are only interested in one thing on there.”
Her eyebrows pinch, the door handle long forgotten, replaced with rage. “Maybe that’s exactly what I’m looking for,” she grinds out, rolling her eyes at me.
My hands tighten on the wheel, and the leather groans. “You can’t be serious.”
“You’re not my dad, Grayson. You have no say in this. You’re not even my daddy,” she tacks on for good measure.
If I wasn’t so goddamn mad at her right now, I would laugh at that and then spank her ass until it turned red.
“I thought you swore off all men?”
She shrugs, leaning back in her seat. “People can change their mind. Wait…how do you know that?”
Shit.
Well, there’s no lying my way out of this one, so I lay it on her straight. “You told me when you were drunk that night after the bar. You didn’t explain, just said you weren’t in the market. But now, I find out you’re messaging guys online? Doesn’t add up.”
It really is none of my business. I can’t have her, I know that. But that doesn’t mean I want someone else to fill that role. I don’t want another man's eyes gracing her skin. Another man's hands roaming her body. I want to be that man.
Maisie looks mortified by my words, probably wondering what else she said that she doesn’t remember. Not much, honestly, but she doesn’t know that, and I can tell it's eating her alive. To my surprise, she doesn’t reply, just sighs under her breath, pinching the bridge of her nose.
Her phone goes off in her hand, and she entertains it, swiping into the message and giggling. “Are you going on a date?” I press, my jealousy getting the best of me. Her phone dings with another message, and my teeth grind. “How many men are you talking to?”
She doesn’t even lift her eyes from her screen to look at me. “They are messaging me, not the other way around,” she clarifies. I don’t know if that makes it worse or better.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
My words come out clipped. “How many?”
“Thirty four—” Buzz. “Five,” she giggles, swiping open another message.
Is she doing this to get back at me? Make me jealous? If she wants me to lose my goddamn mind, she’s about to learn just how territorial I can be. Only when it comes to her, though. Maisie brings out my dark side I usually reserve for the ring.
“This is a bad idea,” I groan under my breath. I know there’s no man on that app worthy of her. I don’t want to see her get hurt, or so I tell myself to help numb the sting.
“Why?”
I scoff, taking the turn to the ranch’s entrance. “Those men aren’t good for you.”
Now she’s scoffing, slamming her phone down on the seat. “And you are?”
“Yes…no. Fuck, it’s complicated.” My voice softens. “I don’t want you to get hurt, Maisie.”
She throws her hands up. “Unbelievable. It’s too late for that, Grayson. The damage is done.” She unbuckles her seatbelt. “You’re more confusing than the Pythagorean theorem, you know that?”
“Put your seatbelt back on.”
Her drunken hazed eyes find mine. “Make me!”
“I’m not playing games. Do it now.” This woman is testing my patience.
“God, you're an insufferable, controlling, son of a bitch. You ignore me for two fucking weeks but think you can tell me not to message a hot man who is openly interested in me.” She glares at me. “I want out. Stop the truck right now, Grayson. I’ll walk home.”
“Over my dead body am I letting you out of this car. It’s dangerous and dark, and you’ve been drinking.”
“Fine, whatever. I’ll do it myself.” Maisie’s hand finds the door handle, and I panic.
“Fuck,” I mutter, swerving the truck to the side of the road and slamming on my brakes. The truck comes to a halt, and Maisie’s door flies open before she stomps out into the rain.
“Are you insane?” I scream over the roar of the rain, running after her. “You could have hurt yourself.”
“Clearly,” she shouts, not slowing her pace. She storms off into the dark, going the wrong direction, like always.
“Maisie, stop. Please.”
Her laugh finds me through the chaos of the rain blanketing us.
“Or what, Grayson?” She spins on her heels, throwing her arms out.
She looks like an angel fallen from heaven.
“Why do you even care, huh? You can’t just shut me out and treat me like I’m some infection you don’t want to catch and then go and get mad at me for entertaining someone else.
” Her laugh is almost hysterical now. “What do you want from me? I’m not some doll you can throw around however you please.
I’m a human with real feelings, and I’m tired of tiptoeing around you before letting you drag me back in every damn time. ”
“I…I… Fuck it.” I rush her, my face getting pelted by the rain until I close the distance between us. My hands find her face, and I pull us close so our noses are touching, rain dripping down between us. I don’t notice any of it, though. All I see is her.
“I want you so fucking bad, it hurts to breathe, woman,” I murmur against her lips.
“Yeah?” she whispers, blinking up at me. “Then show me.”
Our lips crash together in a frenzy, and it feels like coming home after a long day working the field.
I can finally take a full breath when her soft lips collide with mine.
I groan into her mouth, my fingers tangling into her wet locks to pull her impossibly closer.
I need her attached to me so I know this is real, that it’s not me imagining exactly what her lips tasted like, same as I do every night before falling asleep with only her on my mind, haunting my dreams.
This is real, and I’m drowning in her. I do it happily with a smile on my lips.
I pull away only an inch to whisper against her lips, “You drive me mad, honey.”
“More,” she moans, pulling me closer by my hair.
I’m a beast, insatiable when it comes to her.
I force her lips open with my tongue, and she lets me in easily.
So pliable under my touch—I love it. I tease her at first, gently swiping my tongue against her.
She fights for dominance for only seconds before she’s melting under my touch.
There’s no patience in this kiss, just a need to taste every inch of her, learning every curve of her lip and stroke of her tongue.
I can’t get enough of her, the taste of vanilla and fucking honey lingering on her lips from her lip balm.
I walk us backwards until her back collides with my truck. She squeals into my mouth when I lift her hips, propping her on my hood, our lips staying connected the entire time. Her legs spread on their own, and I slip between them, pulling her neck down to draw her closer.
I could live off the little whimpers she lets out every time I kiss her deeply while playing with the wet hair at the nape of her neck. “Maisie?” I moan against her lips, pulling away for a breath.
“Hmm?” she says, a lust-drunk smile on her face.
Happiness looks good on my girl. Fuck, she’s not my girl, though.
“You taste like heaven and sin,” I whisper, kissing down her neck.
Her head falls back on a moan, her thighs crushing me between them. Who needs gods when I can worship this deity on my knees?
“Fuck, Grayson, that feels so good,” she pants, grinding against me as I work my way down her neck to her cleavage. I leave a trail of soft kisses down her wet skin before needing to taste her again.
My hand finds her chin, pulling her face back to mine. I take my time this time, savoring every lick and moan I draw from her, planning to bottle them up like the greedy man I am.
Where has this woman been my whole life?
My thumb finds the pulse on the side of her neck, and I indent my thumb into it.
It beats furiously under my touch, picking up pace when I languidly swipe my tongue against hers, lapping her up like dessert.
I nibble her lip, sucking on it to slowly pull away.
I’m two seconds away from taking her against my truck.
My finger trails along the waist of her jeans, slipping beneath. “Gray,” she moans, and we both freeze.
She’s never called me that before. I’ve always been Grayson or cowboy to her, not Gray…never Gray. It makes this personal—it makes this real.
I feel the panic set in at the same time as I see it dawn on her. We are both out of our element here, running on desire over emotions, over logic. I was a jealous bastard and needed her all to myself. I had to mark my territory like the dominant fucker I am.
This woman is going to drive me to insanity.
Maisie bites her lip, looking mighty uncomfortable sitting up on my hood with my raging hard on pressed against her. She clears her throat, readjusting her outfit that got twisted in our fury to eat each other's faces.
“It’s cold,” she mutters, avoiding my gaze. “We should get back to the ranch before one of us gets sick. I’m sure you’re a baby when you get sick, and I for one don’t want to deal with that,” she jokes, trying to lighten the mood, but it falls flat, just like her face.
Apparently, we are going to pretend none of this just happened. I know why I have reservations, but why her? It shouldn’t, but it stings seeing her withdraw from me. She wanted this just as badly as I did. I so badly want to know what’s going on in that pretty head of hers.
I grab her gently by the hips, helping her down. “C’mon, let's get you warm.” My voice is firm, but I feel deflated.
I feel like a confused, wrecked man.
I feel empty without her now that I know what it feels like to have her.
I’m fucked.