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“Honestly, it wasn’t anything special. You came in for donuts. And I just”—she tilted her head—“I just really liked you. I never told Min, which I feel bad about now, but I never wanted her to feel awkward about it. I never expected it to last this long.”
I knew what she meant. “So you called Garrett, to vent about me, and...?”
“He said he’d been thinking of coming up anyway and so he did. I thought he was going to assess the situation, see if there was any inkling of...anything, between us. Apparently he’d planned on doing that by seeing if he could make you jealous.”
“It fucking worked.”
The minx actually smiled. “That’s what he said. Although I didn’t really believe him. Although maybe,” she hedged, “maybe that’s what made me hold on to you for just a little too long at Fox Hill.”
The hug we’d shared when Min had called with the news about Sarah Gibson. “You weren’t the only one.”
To hell with the damn bet. This was crazy.
If the knock at the door, room service most likely, hadn’t come at that exact moment, I’d have lost. I’d have grabbed Thayle, pulled her into my arms, and made her mine.
In good time, Neo. You’ve waited years for this, a few more minutes won’t kill you.
Or would it?
TWENTY
thayle
“They actually putextra whipped cream on it.” I replaced the lid, having taken out the small plate of chocolate cake from the small mini cooler built into the delivery cart.
We’d just finished eating what could only be described as the most romantic dinner of my life. With the sliding door still open a crack, just enough for us to hear the falls, Neo had set up dinner on the table next to it as I “freshened up.” We’d talked about other times that either of us had come close to spilling the beans about our crushes on each other. The whole thing was surreal, honestly, though I still didn’t know how far back it went for him. At least as far back as his senior year of college, which was nuts.
Every time a pesky thought likeWhat will I tell Min?orWhat happens next?popped into my head, I pushed it away. There would be enough time for those questions tomorrow. Tonight was for regretting that stupid dare.
“Good,” he said about the whipped cream. Neo sat back, putting his glass down. The bottle of wine we’d brought from J. Saunders was now half empty.
I dipped my fork into the cake and took a bite. “This is even better than the other one.”
“I imagine it will be.”
His meaning was clear. Flutters in my stomach signaled a change in the air between us, from serene to charged. The only question was, who would break first? I was stubborn, perhaps too much so, and took another bite of cake. “Want a bite before I eat it all?”
“Don’t you dare,” he warned.
“Now’s your chance.” I took another bite, making sure to lick my lips more dramatically than necessary.
“How about a deal?” His voice had definitely taken a new tone.
“I’m listening.”
“You dared me not to touch you. Can I assume that means my hands?”
I stared at his lips. “Sure,” I conceded.
“Good.” He stood and began to unbutton his shirt. First one button, and then a second. I watched, mesmerized, as each of them came undone and Neo shrugged the shirt off. A lot more of him than his forearms were exposed now. A rock-solid chest and defined abs, which I’d yearned to touch for as far back as I could remember, were now on full display. But he didn’t stop there. Neo unbuttoned his jeans next.
I seriously could not breathe.
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” he said as the sound of his jeans’ zipper nearly made me come on the spot. “You’re going to undress with me. I’d do it but—” he wiggled his fingers, “—not allowed.” Entranced, I waited for him to finish, not able to move. “Then you are going to take that plate with you to the bed and put whipped cream on every place you want me to touch. With my tongue, of course. Don’t want to break the rules.”
How anyone could meet the three Grado brothers and claim any of them were sexier than Neo, I could never understand. One look at him, and you just knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that the fun guy turned intothisafter dark. I had always sensed it. Standing, I congratulated myself on being right. His quiet confidence gave him an authority even his father, the Grado man everyone agreed had the most charisma, the most charm of all, couldn’t claim.
I took off my sweater, letting it drop to the floor as Neo pulled down his jeans. And then, one last bit of clothing and he was completely nude. His cock, hard and ready for me, jutted out so startlingly, because this was Neo after all. The man was a Greek god come to life.
