Crystal’s eyes dart back and forth between us. “Well, this has certainly been an enlightening afternoon. Thankyou both so much for playing, and Grayson, congrats on your win!” She stops the recording and turns to both of us with a smile. “You guys are going to make my job almost too easy. I’ll be in touch with more soon!” Crystal packs up her stuff and heads out.
Grayson tries to duck out of the little makeshift recording studio, but I stop him. “Okay. ’Fess up. How did you know that, really? We haven’t talked about how I thought I was going to be a teacher.”
He shoves his hands in his pockets. “You mentioned it once. Back when we were working onMy Love on Top. I guess it just stuck in my head.”
I check to be sure there’s no one around us before stepping into him. “I can’t believe you would remember something so insignificant after all these years.”
He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “Nothing about you is insignificant, Emmy.” His fingers curl around my waist, and he pulls me in even closer. “I can’t wait to collect my prize.” He brushes his lips over mine in the softest of kisses before grinning impishly and ducking out of the room.
Leaving me with an uncomfortable anticipation. Because I can’t wait either.
—
The knock on the door comes during one of the blessed thirty-second reprieves my bitch of a uterus has decided to reward me with. It’s two days after the blasted promo video, and I’m holed up in my room.
“It’s open.” I manage to choke out the words just in time. Another cramp is coming and I screw my eyes shut, my arms clutching my lower abdomen as the door to myroom opens and then closes. “Please tell me you have pads and painkillers and a heating pad, Liz.”
“Emmy? Are you okay?”
My eyes fly open when someone who is most definitely not Liz answers.
Grayson strides across the room, closing the distance between the door and the bed in a few large steps. He kneels next to the bed, bringing him right to my eye level. His hand reaches out, smoothing a lock of hair from my face.
The worry is kind and genuine, and when I think back to how I treated him when he was in a similarly vulnerable place, it almost makes me feel worse.
And then another cramp hits, and nope, this is definitely worse.
“What’s going on? I got a text from Liz that shooting was canceled because you weren’t feeling well. I thought you might have a cold or something, but this looks serious. Do we need to go to urgent care? Or the ER?”
If I wasn’t folded over in pain, I’d probably find it adorable how frantic he sounds. I use one of my thirty-second relief periods to calm him down. “I’m fine. It’s just cramps.”
“Just cramps? Are you sure?”
I breathe through another one. “Liz is bringing me painkillers and a heating pad. And then I’ll be okay.” At least, she better be bringing them. It’s been at least twenty minutes since I texted her, and she knows time is of the essence when it comes to knocking out my cramps. I internally kick myself for being unprepared, but of course the one time it really matters, my period shows up two weeks early.
Grayson plants a quick peck on my forehead. “I’ll be right back.”
I give him a sarcastic thumbs-up, but I don’t think he sees it, because he’s already headed out the door, not bothering to close it behind him.
He returns a minute later, a small plastic bottle and a fabric-covered heating pad in his hands. “I grabbed these from my room. I can’t help with the pads, I’m afraid, but I’ve got the rest covered. My knees are shit after all that hockey, so I always have these with me on location.” He pops open the bottle. “How many do you want?”
“Four.” I shift myself into a slightly upright position and hold out my hand.
“Four? Ems, the recommended dose is two.”
“Yeah, and when one of your organs decides to rip itself apart and expel itself from your body, then you can take two.”
He hands me four pills and a glass of water from my nightstand. While I swallow the capsules, he reaches behind the table to plug in the heating pad and hands it to me after I set down the water. I roll over so I’m flat on my back, pressing the welcome warmth to my lower stomach.
“Grayson West, you are my new favorite person.” I close my eyes and sigh with the smidge of relief the heat brings me.
“Is there anything else you need? Do you need me to run to the store and get pads?”
I peek at him out of the corner of one eye. “Are you serious?”
He kneels down next to me again and takes one of my hands in his. “Yes?”
I grip his fingers as another gut-busting cramp rips through me.
