Page 77 of Teach Me Your Ways

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GRADY

Idouble-checked the address Cece had texted me. It didn’t make sense. It was an airfield. Not like an airport but a private airfield. There was nothing around but sunbaked pavement, a line of hangars, and two runways slicing through flat fields. I pulled up the text message to make sure I had input the right address.

It was right. When she sent me the message, she said very little. I wasn’t even sure why I showed up. That was bullshit. I knew why. I wanted to see her.

It had been a couple of days since we established our truce. Lina, Cece, and I had gone to lunch together yesterday. It had been cordial if not a little stiff. But it was a test and we both passed. And by passed I mean I didn’t throw her on the table and have my way with her. When I got home, my right hand and I had a nice date. I was going to need to invest in some lotion to get through the semester or my dick was going to be left raw.

Last night, she sent the message and asked me to meet her at the address. There was no point in denying I had gotten just a little hopeful. I was up for a secret tryst in the middle of nowhere. If she was willing, I wasn’t going to deny her—or me. I was a selfish bastard when it came to Cece. I wasn’t going to deny myself the chance to bury myself inside her.

My hopes were quickly dashed when I realized I was at an airfield. Unless she planned on banging in one of those hangars. Fuck it. I could get down with that. My eyes scanned the area and I finally spotted her. She waved me over.

I slowly drove and parked. There was a small propeller plane sitting on the tarmac, polished and low-winged. Cece stood near the cockpit talking to an older woman. Fuck, just seeing her sent a shiver of excitement running through me.

When she saw me, she stepped away from the woman and walked over to me. “You came,” she said with a smile.

“I did.”

“Meet my family.”

I almost choked. Shit.

“What?”

I stayed by my Jeep, trying to process what she’d just said. Family? Here? At an airfield? What the hell was happening?

“Damn, okay,” I muttered under my breath, then straightened up and walked toward them.

The older woman had her chestnut hair pulled back in a practical ponytail and wore jeans and a bomber jacket despite the heat. She looked like she could handle herself.

“Mom, this is Professor Grady Stone,” Cece said.

“Hi,” I said, extending my hand to the woman.

“Maggie Monroe,” she replied with a firm handshake and a knowing smile. “Cece’s mother.”

“Nice to meet you.” I glanced between them, still confused about why we were all standing next to a plane.

A little girl with red hair that pretty much screamed she was Cece’s bounced over. “Hi. Are you Mommy’s friend?”

I had no idea how to answer that. “Yes. And you are?”

“Sophie.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Sophie. I’m Grady.”

“I know,” she said.

“How old are you, Sophie?”

“Five.”

I smiled again. “I bet you’re in kindergarten.”

Her eyes lit up, clearly appreciating the attention. “Yep I just started.”

“Come with me,” Cece said. She gestured toward the side of the hangar, away from her daughter and mother’s hearing.