Page 82
My grin is unrepentant. “Of course.”
CHAPTER 37
Kylie
“Ladybug?”
Grayson’s voice makes me freeze in guilt. He pokes his head into Peanut’s room, his gaze scanning the mess I’ve made of their clothes. His expression is full of baffled amusement. “Whatcha doin’?”
“I needed to reorganize all the clothes we’ve amassed. And then… Well, things just sort of escalated from there.”
He wades into the middle of the room, carefully avoiding the random piles of things I’ve been attempting to put to rights. “How can I help?”
My chin wobbles, tears pricking my eyes as I look at his gorgeous face. He’s so handsome, and I just love him so much that I can’t put it into words.
“Oh, no. Ladybug…I didn’t mean to make you cry. Tell me how to fix it.” He pulls me into his chest, and the absurdity of the situation makes me laugh. “I am so confused, honey. I’m gonna need you to help me out here.”
That only makes me laugh harder as the tears continue leaking out of me. It takes me a second to compose myself, but I wipe my face as I straighten. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize. I just want to make sure I didn’t upset you.”
I shake my head, pressing a quick kiss to his soft lips. “You didn’t upset me. I’m just so grateful for you. Instead of calling me crazy or making me feel bad for reorganizing something that was already well organized, you offered your help. Then the absurdity of me crying over something so silly hit me, hence the simultaneous laughter and tears.”
Gray smiles indulgently. “I love you, Ladybug. Now, tell me what to do because there’s no way you’re going to get all this put away by yourself.”
I point at different piles to explain my thought process, and he follows every direction to a T. We work together over the next hour to get Peanut’s room back to rights. I fall even more in love with him when he doesn’t say a word about how I organized the room in almost the same way it was before.
When we’re done, he leads me to the kitchen to immediately make me a snack. He joins me at the table while I eat, his hungry gaze never leaving me. I’ve never figured out why he enjoys watching me stuff my face, and I can’t find it in me to ask because I seem to like the attention for some reason.
“When are you picking up Luddy from your parents?” I ask him.
“After dinner. Mom said the Ice Festival included a bunch of new food trucks this year, and you know how much my dad loves a deep-fried anything.”
“So you’re saying we have the whole afternoon to ourselves?”
A lascivious grin stretches across Gray’s face. “We sure do. Whatever will we do with the time alone?”
I wiggle in my seat. “I’ve been dying to watch that new TV series based on the book we read last month for book club.”
It takes everything I have not to burst out laughing at how hard Gray tries to switch his mind from his sexual train of thought to something more mundane.
I take pity on him and straddle his lap, digging my fingers into his hair to make my intentions clear. “I’m kidding.” I kiss him hard, teasing his bottom lip with little nips until he gets annoyed and takes over.
With my belly between us, we can only push this so far. Gray gently guides me to stand. He uses his seated position to his benefit and works my leggings and underwear down. As he’s helping me pull my feet out, my phone buzzes on the table. We both ignore it, especially when he pushes my oversized T-shirt up and starts to kiss a path across my belly toward my breasts.
My phone buzzes a second time and immediately buzzes a third when I don’t answer. With a sigh, Gray pulls back. I reach over to find the missed calls are from my mom.
I grimace. “I need to see what’s going on.”
Nodding, Gray helps settle my shirt back in place. I smirk at him when he doesn’t move to pull my pants up as the phone rings in my ear.
He whispers, “I’m being hopeful.”
“Kylie.” Mom answers. “Why the heck didn’t you answer your phone?” She clearly isn’t in distress if she’s chastising me first.
“I don’t keep my phone glued to my hand, Mom. What’s going on?”
She huffs. “I need you for something. Can you come over?”
