One mission accomplished. One more to go.
I arrive at the door to the guest room that Johanna has claimed as hers and knock.
“Hey, Joey,” I call.
“Gray,” she smiles upon swinging the door open. “You’re home.”
“I need your help with something,” I admit.
Johanna lights up at the request. “Youneverask for help. This must be serious.”
I catch her up on everything that’s happened the past few days—signing my divorce papers, impulsively flying to Dallas, coming back to LA with Mia—and finally, the plan Brandon and I hatched.
“Brandon came up with that?” she asks, something unreadable flickering in her voice.
“Yeah, why?”
“No reason,” she says a little too quickly. “It’s great, that’s all.”
She walks with me to the kitchen, tells me to go sit down at the bar and she’ll take care of everything. It’s official—none of this plan is my doing.
Johanna puts together an amazing spread of food and packs it into a backpack cooler she found in the pantry. A bottle of white wine, a blanket, and a speaker fill a second bag. She’s truly thought of everything. I watch her in quiet awe, realizing for the first time how capable and thoughtful she can be when she wants to. It’s rare to see her doing something for someone else—and enjoying it.
“Thank you, Joey,” I say sincerely.
She smiles in return, but before she can respond, the sound of the garage door interrupts us, echoing through the house.
Mia’s back, and it’s game on.
Chapter seventeen
"Comedown (Slowed and Reverbed)" - Toby Hobart
Mia
Rylee and I return from a morning full of spa treatments. Rylee insisted that I need to be prepared foranything and everythingGrayson could plan for us. As a result, I’ve been thoroughly waxed, plucked, manicured, and pedicured by the time we get back to the house. We enter through the garage door and find everyone hanging out in the dining area, but Grayson is nowhere to be found.
“Hey, baby,” Eric calls to Rylee. “Get a drink from the fridge and come join us, girls.”
“Actually,” Grayson says, entering the room carrying a single white rose—my favorite. “I’ll be stealing my woman for the rest of the day. Sorry, guys.”
He takes my hand and leads me back out through the garage door.
“Where’s my big, romantic gesture, Eric? I want roses and whatever else they’re doing, too!” I hear Rylee whine before the door closes behind us.
I have to laugh.
“Eric’s not really the big, romantic gesture type, but I am,” Grayson says with a wink, opening the passenger door of his Camaro and handing me the rose.
Oh, this is definitely a date.
My heart is racing just as fast as it did when Grayson kissed me for the first time in his bedroom. I still can’t believe that not even a week and a half ago, my life was completely different.
“Are you gonna tell me where we’re going?”
“Hell no,” Grayson chuckles. “I will tell you this, though—it’s the first place the guys and I went the night we moved into the house. And I know this isn’t technically your first night here… but it’s your first night here with me, officially. So I want this to be one of your LA firsts too.”
I don’t think my heart rate can pick up any quicker, but it does. I wonder if Grayson has any idea of the effect he has on me. He’s every bit of who I fantasized about when we were growing up, but somehow better. I still can’t believe out of all the women he could choose from, he’s really picking me.
