I wokewith a fuzzy tongue and a stomach tied in knots. The light shining through the window made my head throb like someone had driven spikes behind my eyes while I slept. I sat up with a grunt. Grey wasn’t in the room with me. That made sense. I was pretty sure I’d made an idiot of myself the night before.
The memory of my confession of love replayed in my mind, and I cringed, shoving my face into my hands with another groan.Why did I do that? Why did I do any of that?I shouldn’t have gone out with Josh and Kellan. I should’ve kept my ass at home in my room like a good boy and waited for my boyfriend to call.If I even stillhavea boyfriend after last night.
I heard the doorknob turn, and my head jerked up in time to see Grey stepping into the room, holding a giant cup of water.
“You’re up,” he said, offering me the water.
I gratefully took the cup. “Unfortunately.” My throat felt raw when I spoke, so I chugged half of it as quickly as I could.
Grey smirked. “How are you feeling?”
“Sogreat,” I said. “Do me a favor, and never let me drink again.”
“Aw, and miss out on how fun you are when you’re drunk?” he teased.
My face warmed. “Yeah, about last night… I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” I said. “Puking my guts out, being generally annoying…” I sighed. “Saying ‘I love you’ at an inappropriate time.”
“I thought that was supposed to be a secret,” Grey said.
I glared at him in response.
Grey laughed and sat next to me, resting a hand on my leg. “Did you mean it?” he asked, toying with a stray thread on a pair of shorts I didn’t remember changing into.
My knee-jerk reaction was to deny my words, to do anything and everything to take it back, because if I admitted the truth, then I would be exposing myself way too much. And my unease at the way the past few weeks had gone with Martin and the band had me craving the safety of denial. But I wouldn’t do that. Partially because I still desperately needed him to know, and more because I could feel it in my bones that trying to take back the words would do nothing but blow up in my face.
“OfcourseI did,” I said. “I’m in love with you. How could I not be? You’re so fucking perfect.”
Grey looked at me for a long moment—so long that I was getting uncomfortable with the lack of a love confession in return. Then, I noticed the extra moisture in his eyes and realized he was holding back his emotions.
He had to clear his throat before he spoke. “I love you, Ethan,” he said with a husky voice. “I love you so fucking much.”
I jumped him then, unable to keep my hands off him a second longer. Unfortunately, I had forgotten the cup in my lap, and water got everywhere in the process. I didn’t care. I still had to kiss Grey.
“I love you,” I said between kisses.
“I love you too,” he repeated. After another, kiss he pulled away. “We should probably do something about the water.”
“Good point.” My hands trailed down to the hem of his shirt. “How about we start by getting you out of these wet clothes?”
“Be honest with me,”I said after we’d sat down at the closest restaurant to eat a couple of hours later. “How bad was I last night?”
“You weren’t bad.” Grey scanned his menu. His eyes flicked to me. “I thought it was cute.”
“Cute,” I repeated skeptically. Despite my tone, I still flushed at the words.
“Yeah, you were silly and lovey.” Grey shrugged. “Like I said, it was cute. Even if you ended up getting sick.”
“Yet, somehow, I’m still embarrassed.”
“Well, I can’t help that,” Grey said. “Other than pointing out that if you’d done anything truly embarrassing, I probably wouldn’t have had sex with you this morning.”
“You mean I’m not hot enough to be worth boning if I’m annoying?” I clutched my invisible pearls in mock indignation. “I’m not sure my self-esteem can handle that information.”
Grey held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, you might have me there. I probably still would’ve wanted to have sex with you.”
