Say what you will about Greyson Cartwright, the man isnotalways the smoothest.
Grumpy? Sometimes. Annoying? Also sometimes. Adorably charming when he wants to be?
Unfortunately.
But if he were cast in a Razzle Dazzle film, he’d be the awkward librarian who can’t quite hide all of his feelings. And while I love Jonas Rutherford, the channel’s biggest star, and while it absolutely pains me to admit this, I’d watch Grey in that role in a heartbeat.
Even after all the heartburn he’s given me these past few weeks.
“You have a boyfriend,” he repeats.
“Long-distance. It’s brand new. Military. He’s stationed in Korea right now. We have phone sex every night before I go to bed.”
“That’s yourtoothbrush,” he stutters.
I suck in a breath.
He goes red as all the hearts that have started going up around town before Valentine’s Day.
“Are you sure?” I ask.
He snags the cleats, hands me Jitter’s leash, and squats quickly, bending over his feet while he figures out how to strap on the spikes.
“I didn’t realize you’d taken the bedroom that shares a wall with mine,” I say. “Verygood to know.”
“You don’t have another boyfriend.”
Another? “Are you sure?”
“You don’t date.”
“Maybe I found my soulmate and changed my mind.”
“Yesterday?” He’s still staring at the ground, working a lot harder than he should have to in order to get the spikes on.
And when he straightens, he’s managed to go straight-faced again, though he’s still pink in the cheeks.
I’ll be kind and assume it’s the cold getting to him.
But more, I can’t answer his question.
I don’t want to play games.
I don’t want to lie.
All I want to do is take a hike with him.
“Which way?” he asks, pointing at where the trail forks just ahead.
And I pick a direction.
I’m heading up my favorite path with a man that I should not be attracted to and my dog who loves him.
Gossip help me if he wants to be alone here because he knows I called his grandmother.
23
Grey
