At that, those eyes flashed to me as he quickly reached for his pocket again. An intriguing mixture of apology and determination swirled within the curiosity there before he released a low, “It’s Briggs.”
“Answer it.”
His throat shifted with a forced swallow as his gaze drifted my way again. And I knew in the way he was looking at me that he was contemplating ignoring the call—that he was worried we’d never get back to the conversation otherwise.
But I was no longer ready to voice the thoughts I’d just come so close to, so I nodded toward the phone and repeated, “Answer it.”
With a nearly indiscernible shift of his jaw, Gray tapped on the screen before lifting the phone to his ear.
Rocking back a step, his mouth twitched as if he was trying to force it from the frown it’d fallen into. “I was actually about tocall you,” he said in greeting as his mint green eyes flashed my way. “How bad do you want me at that desk?”
I straightened at the seemingly innocent question because I knew—Iknew—what he would say next.
Whether he truly intended to, or he was just trying to get an honest answer out of me, he was about to ask for the Donut.
“Absolutely not,” I hissed as I erased the small distance I’d placed between us, already reaching for his phone.
But Gray was prepared—of course, he was.
He grabbed my outstretched hand and twisted it until he had my entire arm bent behind my back, using it to turn me in the opposite direction, all while he told Briggs, “I want permission to take on a Donut in Amber.”
A grunt barreled from him when I used my free arm to elbow low on his stomach, but he just wheezed, “My family brought it to my attention. Monroe plans on taking it.”
The next thing I knew, one of his feet was sweeping mine right out from under me as he used all his weight to fall forward.
With me underneath him.
I bit back a curse and braced as Gray did the same. Bear-hugging me from behind and rolling as soon as we hit the unforgiving wooden porch before quickly shifting until he had me pinned.
“Just how I like you,” he teased, prompting an enraged sound to crawl up my throat as I tried throwing him off. But his knees just dug harder into my forearms as he leaned over and grabbed for his phone that must’ve gotten lost sometime between us hitting the porch and Gray getting the upper hand.
Putting the call on speaker, Gray sent me a look that was devastating to my resolve. “Sorry, there was...a situation,” he said with a tilt of his lips. “Say that part again.”
I had the strongest urge to slap him when the smirk caused one of his dimples to grace me with ahello.
Stupid dimples. Stupid smirk. Stupid fluttering stomach and traitorous heart.
A very Briggs-like sigh sounded. “Monroe,” he muttered in greeting but didn’t wait for me to respond before continuing. “Gray, whatever the Donut is, just get as much information as you can. I need—” He released a sharp exhale. “Gray, I need you back here.”
Us.
He neededusback there, I realized, as all those ridiculous flutterings were replaced with a growing pit.
Gray intently studied my face, clearly wondering if I’d caught that too and what I was thinking about it. But he just asked, “What’s happening?”
Briggs hesitated for a moment. “Ears?”
“Just Monroe,” Gray answered before quickly amending, “But my family’s just inside.”
A grunt sounded through the phone. “We got a call from North Carolina,” Briggs said vaguely. “There’s something they need us to take care of. Here. It takes priority over Donuts.”
Gray’s head dipped. “Understood.”
“We’re meeting as soon as you can get here,” Briggs said pointedly. “So, get here.”
But Gray didn’t make any attempt to move from where he was still pinning me to the porch. He just continued studying me as he took slow, calculated breaths. “And Monroe?”
Silence greeted us for long moments before Briggs relented, “Monroe knows where I want her. She can do what she wants.” Never actually speaking to me, even though he knew I was right there.
