“Yeah.”
“You’re lucky someone didn’t hotwire it.”
“It’s pretty hard to break into,” he says, inputting a code into a little keypad beside the steering wheel and then making a little humming noise. “But you have a good point. I’ll bring it all inside when we get back.”
“How much is there?” I ask curiously. Gray doesn’t speak, just glancing at me with that familiar heat in his eyes that makes my whole body ache for him.
“A lot. I wasn’t taking any chances.”
He starts the car and we cruise away from my house, the turmoil of the last few hours settling heavily on my shoulders in the dark and warmth of the car.
My eyes flutter open in what feels like minutes, but I check the clock, and it’s been half an hour since we left my place. Gray is watching me, a soft smile on his face.
“Let’s get you inside.”
By the time we step out of the elevator, I’m dead on my feet. Gray carries a large duffel in one hand, which he pulled from the trunk, and takes it into a walk-in closet where I hear the beep of a safe.
I wait a few minutes for him before wandering into the living room to look at the fish. I take a deep breath and feel my whole body relax while I watch them slowly swim around.
Gray enters behind me, taking my hand gently in his and leading me into the kitchen, where he deposits me on a barstool and goes about making us both a hot chocolate.
He’s quiet and contemplative as he moves in front of me, and my stomach is in knots as I wonder if he’s expecting me to tell him that I love him, too. In all honesty, I don’t know how I feel about him, not yet.
I’ve never been in love before. I don’t know what it’s supposed to feel like. All I know is every time he looks at me, my knees turn to jelly.
I laugh as he reaches into the refrigerator and pulls out whipped cream, squirting a generous amount onto the top of each mug.
“You want marshmallows?”
“No,” I say, smiling up at him. “I think that’s enough sugar for one night.”
We carry them into the living room, and he sits beside me on the couch as we watch the fish.
“You okay?” he asks quietly. I turn to him as a crease forms between his brows.
“I don’t know what you expect from me,” I say slowly. “What is this that we’re doing?”
“Dating.”
“But you said you loved me.”
“I do.”
“And I didn’t say it back.”
“That’s okay.”
“How?” I ask incredulously. “How is that okay?”
“Because I wasn’t expecting to feel the way I feel, and we started this all wrong. We both need some time to adjust, and that’s okay.”
His eyes look insanely blue in the light of the fish tank. I finish my hot chocolate, not sure how to act until he puts an arm around my shoulders and sighs in a deeply contented way that makes my stomach flip.
“You know what I think we should do?” I say decisively, putting down my empty mug.
“What?” he says, sounding worried.
“Take a shower.”
