Page 127 of Eleanor & Grey
“Thank you, Grey. This is...” I breathed in deep as I saw the stack ofWesley Petersbooks. “This is beyond perfect.”
“I have to go do some press work, but here’s the key card. You can come and go whenever you want. Just show security that and your VIP lanyard. There will be a big confetti drop at midnight to celebrate the official launch of the whiskeys, just FYI in case you want to see it. There are also going to be fireworks outside. I know it probably sounds stupid, but it’s actually pretty neat.”
“I’ll be there,” I said, smiling. I could tell how much it meant to him, and I didn’t want to miss it. “I’ll find you.”
He smiled, and I loved it.
“Yeah, come find me.”
With that, he left, taking my heart with him.
* * *
I stayed in my reading nook until the clock hit 11:50p.m. I read the words of a fictional land that was far, far away for hours,but still, Greyson kept crossing my mind. I didn’t even try to fight the thoughts. I let him stay there.
I stood up to go meet him, and I gasped slightly when I opened the door to see him standing there.
“Greyson,” I said breathlessly.
“Hi, Ellie.”
“What are you doing here? I was just coming to find you for the confetti—”
“I can’t stop thinking about you,” he confessed, placing his hands against the frame of the door and leaning toward me. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you for some time, and I don’t know what that means. When I close my eyes, I see your face. When I daydream, it’s you who’s there.”
My heart was racing at a pace I hadn’t known hearts could achieve. I felt hot and cold all at once as my hands fell to my chest and I stared into those beautiful eyes.
“Sometimes when I’m around you, I feel it,” he said.
“Feel what?”
He looked up at me with the sincerest stare, parted his lips, and whispered, “Everything.”
Why wasn’t my mind catching up fast enough? Why weren’t my thoughts forming?
“Tell me I’m crazy, Ellie. Tell me you don’t feel it when you look at me. Tell me you don’t see it when we lock eyes. Tell me I’m insane and there’s nothing between us.”
“I can’t tell you that, Grey.”
He tilted his head up a little. “And why’s that?”
“Because I can’t stop thinking about you either.”
He dropped his hands from the doorframe and moved a little closer to me. “You feel it?” he whispered, moving so close that his breath danced against my skin.
I nodded. “I feel it.”
There were so many reasons why we should’ve walked away. He was still mourning, and I hadn’t known how to make my heart beat correctly for a man.
We were still broken, and cracked, and growing and learning. We were mistakes and perfection, flowing streams and hurricanes.
But for how long could I deny what I felt? How could I pretend that the feelings weren’t there? Truth was, I thought the feelings for the man in front of me had never really disappeared.
How could they?
He was him, I was me, and we were us.
This was us.
