“I’m really sorry,” she replied, her voice filled with regret. “I just think…Andy can be a little tricky and I don’t think right now is the best time to?—”
I placed my thumb over her lips, stopping her babbling. “I get it. Your brother is protective of you and he owns my team.”
“There’s also the fact that I’m your daughter’s teacher.” Uncertainty was settling over her features and I hated the idea of her regretting what had happened.
“Things are a little complicated,” I admitted before brushing another light kiss on her mouth. “But we can make it work.”
She still didn’t look all that confident. “I think we need to keep this under wraps for a while,” she said. “Is that okay?”
Was that okay? Hell no. I had the best girl I’d ever met in my arms. I wanted to tell the whole damn world about it. But I understood Gracie was going to be a little more skittish about this than me. That was fine. I could wait.
“Sure,” I told her, bringing my face down to press my lips against the spot where her neck met her shoulder. She shivered in my arms and I grinned, sliding my hands down to squeeze her perfect ass. “Honestly, it’s kind of hot. Like you’re my dirty little secret.”
I expected her to shiver again at my tone. Or laugh at my ridiculousness. Maybe tease me about how I washerdirty secret, not the other way around. What I did not expect was for her to stiffen in my arms.
I lifted my head. “Gracie?”
She shook her head a bit, like she was shaking something off, and plastered a smile on her face. It looked strained to me. “I really need that shower. You’ll call later?”
Then she was ducking out of my arms and backing away from me.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that something had just gone wrong there, but I couldn’t force her to stand here and talk to me when she was already stressed out and running late.
“Of course,” I told her. “Feel free to text me any of the sexy thoughts you have throughout the day.”
She laughed and her face finally seemed to go back to normal. She looked happy, really happy, and I let out a relieved breath. Maybe I’d imagined the tension. “Talk to you soon.”
“Okay.” She turned and headed for the bathroom.
I waited until she was at the door. “Hey, Gracie?”
She turned back to me, those gorgeous green eyes clear and sparkling. “Thanks for the best night ever.”
I was rewarded by one last flush of color on her cheeks. I wanted nothing more than to follow her into that shower, but Iforced myself to walk to the stairs instead, satisfying myself with the memories of all the other times I’d made her blush in the last sixteen hours.
CHAPTER 17
“Explain this whole weasel thing to me again.”
I took a deep, calming breath, trying to restrain my desire to start shouting at him over the phone.At least he’s trying,I reminded myself. Even if he had just called one of my favorite characters in literature aweasel thing.
“Pan is not a weasel,” I said, pleased by how calm I sounded.
Liam made a disgruntled sound on the other end of the line. “I asked Josie if he was a pet?—”
“He’s not apet!” I gasped, even more horrified.
His chuckle was low and warm in my ear. “That’s what Josie said. And she sounded about as outraged as you just did.”
I grinned in spite of myself. “I can’t blame her. TheDark Materialsbooks are amazing. And the relationship between the humans and their daemons is central to theentire series.”
“I thought a demon was something scary. Aren’t these books for kids?”
I blew out a breath. “Look, it’s great you’re trying to get into Josie’s favorite series,” I told him. “But I think you might be a lost cause.”
His voice dropped into something raspy and delicious. “Don’t you go giving up on me yet, Gracie.”
I shivered, pulling my knees up into my chest and snuggling a little deeper in the comfy cushions of my couch. Hearing his voice like that, so close to my ear, the sound deep and enticing, had me thinking of everything that had happened the only time Liam had joined me on this couch.
