“Wrong answer.” His voice dropped another octave.
I hurried over to my picnic. My voice was sounding suspiciously rubber-chicken-like as I said, “I, as your ever faithful assistant, have been waiting for you to arrive so I could give you your after-school snack.” I cleared my throat and held the paper plate out to him.
“There’s a bite taken out of that cupcake,” he said slowly, eyes not leaving mine.
“You said you hated cupcakes,” I reminded him.
“Why is it on the plate then?”
“Sometimes trying new food is scary, and you have to see that someone you trust is happy eating it and then you want a bite too.”
I picked up the cupcake and took a huge bite. If the cupcake were smaller or if I hadn’t taken such a large bite, it might have been sexier. As it was, I felt frosting smear all over my face.
“See?” I said, chewing, then swallowed. “It’s safe.”
I held it out to his mouth.
His lips thinned.
“You know,” I added, tongue darting out to lick the frosting on my mouth, “when we go to Disney World, you’re going to have to be open to trying new things. Otherwise you’re going to miss out on the whole experience.”
“Are you out of your mind? I’m not going to Disney World. I hate Disney.”
I rolled my eyes dramatically. “You haven’t even seen any of the movies. Stop being childish.”
“And I never will. I hate watching TV.” His eyes narrowed.
“You hate everything; that’s hardly an excuse.”
A low growl from deep in that bare, muscular chest.
“You need a vacation,” I said stubbornly, “and besides, everyone has fun at Disney. Everyone.”
“You know how people say, ‘over my dead body,’ but it’s clearly an exaggeration?”
He grabbed the front of my shirt, the motion causing the plate balanced on my hand to tip over, scattering cheese and sliced smoked sausage all over the marble floor.
I gulped, as the backs of his fingers grazed my chest.
“I mean ‘over my dead body’ as in ‘you will have to drag my cold, dead corpse to Florida.’”
“At least your corpse wouldn’t complain when I put Mickey Mouse ears on it,” I retorted. “Probably would be a better roller coaster companion.”
As if he suddenly realized what he was doing and where his hands were, he abruptly released me.
“Get out.”
“I have to pick up the food you dropped everywhere. Like I said, adult toddler.” I picked up one of the pieces of cheese and lifted it.
“Don’t put that in your mouth!” Grayson was revolted.
“With an attitude like that, you’re never getting a blow job,” I said sharply.
“I … you … you …”
I looked up at him.
Suddenly Grayson jumped in front of me, shoving me behind him, pushing us both back toward the double doors that led from the ballroom to the observatory.
