Page 53 of All In

Oh, I’m great. Fucking perfect.

“Harlow.” I tilt my head back so I can look at him. “You okay?”

I nod, since apparently my brain-to-mouth thing is fucked up. His eyes dart around my face for a second, and then his lips tilt up in a smile. “I can’t believe how quiet you’re being. Never thought I’d see the day.” I don’t really know what to say to that, so I just cock my head. “Quiet is fine, as long as you’re alright.”

I nod again. I really am totally fine. Great, even. Better than great.

He chuckles softly. “Come on. Let’s get you in bed.”

After quickly drying me off, Gray scoops me up in his arms, which honestly makes my stomach flip a little, and then he carries me into the bedroom and lays me down on the bed, pulling the blankets up and tucking me under the covers.

A few seconds later, he’s crawling in beside me, and, without thinking, I roll toward him, snuggling into his side.

“Goodnight, Harlow.”

“Night, Gray,” I whisper, finally finding my voice.

It doesn’t take more than a few seconds before I’m out like a light.

Chapter 17

Grayson

I can’t decide if I’m freaking the fuck out or if I’m living all my dreams. Both. I think it’s actually both. For one, I’m playing last night over and over again in my head on a loop. Harlow’s facial expressions, his moans, and the way I literally stole his words will probably never leave my head again.

I’m gonna be an old man on my deathbed, still thinking about the way his lips stretched around me. About how no matter how much I gave him, he just wanted more. About the way his body convulsed and shook as he came on the shower floor.

And that’s not even taking into account the way he sank into my embrace and fell asleep within seconds. It took me forever to fall asleep. My brain was too loud. It seemed like Harlow—who always has a constant stream of thoughts and words—gave them all to me.

Even now that he’s back to normal and moving a mile a minute, I can’t stop thinking about it all.

“Here?” he asks, pointing at a high-end jewelry store.

He’s beaming, happiness and excitement pouring from every inch of his body. After waking me up with excited rambling about picking out our rings today, he hasn’t slowed down once.

The whole time he was waiting for me to get ready, he was bouncing around, pacing back and forth, and checking the time over and over. As if all the rings in the city were going to disappear.

I thought at first that maybe the whole ring thing was a drunken thought, but as soon as he opened his eyes, his first words were, “Let’s go get our rings,” and he hasn’t stopped talking about it since.

It’s fucking with my head. Not that I don’t want it. I do. Of course I do. It’s been my dream since I was twelve years old, but now that it’s actually happening, I’m wondering if it’s more of a nightmare. Sure, we’re married, and sure, we’ve had sex now, and sure, we’re buying rings, but it’s not real. I’ve wanted this my whole life, and I finally have it, and it’s not even fucking real.

“I’m not sure,” I say, shaking my head. “This place looks expensive.”

He glances up at me with a pout. “I’m not worthy of an expensive ring?”

I’d go broke to buy him an expensive ring, but… “It’s only for three months, right? So maybe we should do something more… cost-effective.”

That seems to deflate him some, and I want to take the words back. “Oh yeah, I forgot about that.” I can’t see how. It’s all I can think about. Already there’s a calendar counting down the days in my head until all this goes away. “Okay, but can’t we just look?”

I sigh. “Sure.”

There’s no harm in just checking it out, and I’ve always been shit at telling Harlow no.

His previous excitement comes back, bubbling up and damn near spilling over as he opens the door and breezes inside.

The store is nice, with cases filled with rings, necklaces, and earrings, and when we’re both inside, the woman behind the counter with a name tag that says Olivia waves at us. “Hi, how can I help you today?”

Harlow reaches back, grabbing blindly for my hand, so I slide my fingers through his, and he tugs me forward. “Hi, we’re looking for wedding bands.”