Page 28 of Arctic Titans of Northwood U: Volume 2

I snorted. “I know you couldn’t kidnap me. I’d kick your ass.”

“I don’t need to kidnap you,” Grayson said. “I already stole you.”

My heart nearly burst out of my chest. I bit my lip hard against the silly smile that tried to spill. Up and up and up we went for several more songs. Finally, between giant sentinels, I spotted an iron-wrought gate.

Grayson slowed to a halt and pulled the window down. I could only see him reach for something outside the car before I heard a female voice come through a speaker out of my field of vision. I didn’t understand her.

“Grayson Reed,” my date said, and a reply crackled from the speaker. A moment later, the iron gates pulled inward and opened to let us pass. The road continued through the forest, although it didn’t look as wild as the thick evergreen that separated us from the civilization we had just left behind.

“I swear to God, Gray, if it turns out that you’re part of a cult and I’m the blood sacrifice, you’ll have a very awkward encounter in the afterlife.” I didn’t even realize I’d said it until Grayson threw his head back and laughed out loud.

“Aww, that’s sweet. You expect us to meet in the afterlife. Forever and ever.” He feigned heart-eyes, although they seemed a lot like the regular way he looked at me. “Kudos on that joke, by the way,” he teased.

“I learn,” I said. Sawyer would have been beside himself if he’d heard me now. He never missed a chance to point out that I ‘did sarcasm’ whenever it happened.

Slowly, we reached a long single-story house and Grayson told me to wait inside the car. He hopped out, walked into the house, and returned a few minutes later. The anticipation was building inside of me so much that my foot started tapping the car’s floor against my best attempts to keep it calm.

Grayson wore an innocent expression as he drove on. We passed the house and followed the narrow road at a crawling pace. There were wooden road signs pointing to even narrower paths into the woods. Each was a different color and had a number painted prominently, so I puzzled out what this was. And when Grayson took a right turn and drove up the dirt road between the pines and sentinels, I held my breath. What appeared in front of us was nothing short of a dream. A red brick-and-mortar cottage with a terracotta roof, arched green door, matching windows, potted plants with memories of their bloom still clinging to them, and an orange and yellow light coming from above the entrance.

“Gray,” I whispered.

He killed the engine and met my gaze. “Do you like it?”

“I…don’t even know where to start,” I said.

“Come,” he suggested, and we got out of the car after we took our backpacks from the back seat. I followed him as he approached the house. “If you’re hungry, the kitchen is open until eleven. They do room service, but the restaurant looks too cozy not to go there.”

I wasn’t hungry. Or, at least, I wasn’t hungry for food. I was starving for his affection and kisses, though. It was clear as day to me that I wanted us to lock the door when we were inside. I didn’t care about food or drinks or air. I wanted him. Only him.

Grayson unlocked the door and we entered the house. When he turned the lights on, there wasn’t a single overhead bulb. All were lamps in the windows and corners of the room. The place was spacious, with a high ceiling and an open floor plan. To my left, there was a round dining table with four chairs. A lamp in the middle mimicked candlelight and was discreetly connected to the light switch Gray had just flicked on. Against the back wall, behind the table and chairs, there was a huge wine rack. The majority of space was taken up by the sleeping and living areas to my right. It was separated by vertical planks that allowed me to partially see through the gaps. On my side, there was a long sofa, armchairs around a coffee table, and a huge flat-screen TV mounted to the wall with bookshelves around it. Behind the partial wall of planks, there was obviously a huge bed. I could see one nightstand from where I stood. And to the left of the bed, there was a door, which I figured led to the bathroom.

“This is…” I whispered, but words failed me. It was warm inside and so cozy that I instantly knew I wanted my future home to look precisely like this.

“I know,” Grayson said in apparent awe. “It’s way better than in the photos.”

“I can’t believe you did this,” I said. “And I was suggesting my room.” I had to laugh. “You are unbelievable.”

He turned to me, his backpack dropping off his shoulder. “Do you like it?”

“Are you kidding? I love it.” A grin was plastered to my face and there was no way to contain it.

“I was worried,” he admitted. “Maybe I went too far. Or not far enough. I overthink sometimes, and I get obsessive, according to Spencer. I didn’t want to scare you, but I also didn’t want to disappoint you. I just wanted to make it special. Like you deserve.”

I couldn’t tell why he thought I deserved anything special. My lips parted and I gazed at him in absolute wonder.

“So…hungry?” he asked.

I shook my head. I watched the sharp contour of his red lips and desperately wanted to kiss them. I wanted to put my hands on his biceps and feel them bunching. I wanted to wrestle for dominance and I wanted to dance to soft music. I wanted to dig my fingers into his hard pecs and I wanted to softly kiss every inch of him. The hot coals that had been glowing in me since our first night together were a wildfire of desire now. My stomach was full of the fluttering wings of butterflies. My nerve endings tingled. My whole body was desperate for him.

“Me neither,” Grayson said. “Thirsty? There’s wine.”

“Maybe later,” I said. I felt like I was hovering above the ground. I felt like we were drifting on the open sea. I wanted to leap and cross the distance between us, but I had to know he was ready. It wasn’t just my comfort we had to respect. Far from it. The fact that he had given me weeks and never once added the pressure of expectation made me very careful in how I did this.

“Later?” His tone was mildly teasing.

“After…” I said the word and paused, but Grayson’s glittering eyes were completely on me. I inhaled through my nose. There was a speech I could give, thanking him for being such a gentle creature. And there was the option not to speak at all but lean in and hope for the best. I chose neither. “Gray, if you don’t kiss me in three seconds, I might actually die.”

He laughed as he looked at the ceiling, then met my gaze and quite literally swept me off my feet. He spun me around until my back bumped against the door and his front leaned against me hard enough to keep me pinned.