Leaning back against a mountain of pillows, I stretched my legs across the mattress and threw the ball across the yard. Clyde took off after it and Sugar took off after him, nipping at his heels. I chuckled as Clyde picked up the ball and Sugar stood on his hind legs, trying to snatch it from his mouth.
“I like that smile on you, Mr. Michaels.”
I looked up and found her walking out the back door, wearing nothing but one of my button-downs. She’d always had a thing for when I rolled up my sleeves, but clearly she’d never seen the magic of a dress shirt brushing her thighs.
“I like that shirt on you, Ms. Grey.”
She swirled her finger in the air, indicating my T-shirt, and smirked. “Funny because I hate that one on you.”
“Say the word and I can remedy that.”
Her hair was as wild as the glint in her mischievous eyes. “I’d rather take it off myself. Is there space over there for two?”
I quickly switched my coffee to my other hand then patted the mattress beside me. She didn’t hesitate before accepting the invitation to join me, though her seat of choice was between my legs, facing me, with her knees bent and feet planted on either side of my hips. It wouldn’t have been my first choice for early morning cuddling.
Well, until I saw she wasn’t wearing any panties.
“Fuck me, woman,” I hissed.
“Oh, we’ll get there. But first, we need to talk about today.”
Clyde dropped the ball beside her, and she blindly threw it off to the side without ever tearing her gaze off mine. I only noted it from my peripheral vision because my gaze was still aimed between her legs.
“I need to go to The Wave today and at least check in on things. I haven’t been by in months. It’s highly possible my dad passed down his pride and joy to the worst restaurant owner in history. But I’ve been living by the old no-news-is-good-news theory.” She laughed and used her finger under my chin to guide my gaze back to meet hers.
Using the backs of my fingers, I brushed over her clit.
She sucked in a sharp breath through clenched teeth at the contact.
“Babe, if you wanted me to listen and participate in making plans for the day, you really should have worn panties.”
She grabbed my wrist, moving my hand to her inner thigh. “Or you could pay attention now so we can figure out exactly how much time we have left for you to tease my clit however you like.”
I gritted my teeth. I did not like the talking part of that equation. Though watching her come as I finger-fucked her from that angle would have been well worth the brief interruption. “I’m listening.”
She grinned. “Are you working today?”
“I called and had Emily cancel my appointments. I have more pressing matters to attend to.”
“Perfect. In that case, after you attend to your matters, I thought maybe we could do lunch at The Wave and then hit the mall. I didn’t bring much with me, so I’ll need to grab a few things. I also need to hit the pet store. I brought Sugar’s food, but all of his supplements are back at my place in Savannah.”
“He’ll probably be fine without them for a day or so. How long are you staying?”
She slanted her head to the side. “Uhh…forever?”
I stared at her for a long second. After all this time, my brain couldn’t quite fully compute. “Like a week or two?”
Her brows pulled together and she glared at me down her wrinkled nose. “I was kinda leaning more toward like a century, but ya know. I’m flexible.” She pursed her lips. “I’m starting to feel like we weren’t involved in the same conversation last night.”
I blinked at her.
Once.
Twice.
One hundred times. Or at least it felt that way.
Time passed impossibly slow as I tried to make sense of the words forever and a century. Logically, I was well versed on their definitions. However, I was not accustomed to the universe ever allowing them to come from Remi Grey’s lips in the context of spending a lifetime with me.
I wanted to jump to conclusions and assumptions about what all of it meant. To dive forward, wrap her in my arms, and take one single fucking breath without the fear of it being ripped from my lungs all over again. But I’d launched myself off that cliff too many times not to know how excruciating the fall to rock bottom could be. So, in the name of this little thing called self-preservation, I swallowed hard, willed my heart not to beat out of my chest, and calmly asked, “Could you elaborate on that a touch more?”
Her face got soft. “You deserve to be watered.”
“Yeah, see, that doesn’t help me at all.”
