Page 51 of Come Back to Me

He opens my hand and flips it over, running circles with the pad of his thumb. “Do I though?”

Pressing my lips together, I close my eyes for a few seconds. “I don’t think we’ve had a proper conversation aboutthis.” I gesture to the both of us with my hands.

“You need to be more specific, Vi.”

“I’m not ready to have sex with you,” I blurt out.

Why did I say that out loud?

His mouth slowly opens and closes as a lump goes down his throat, raising his eyebrows. “Noted.”

“Am I reading you wrong? I swear I’ve been getting the sense you want to, but I’ve been too scared to speak up about it.”

We head out of the bathroom, ending up back in my bedroom.

“Of course I want to.” He grabs my hand, guiding me to sit next to him on my bed. “But, I don’t want to do anything yet, especially ifyou’renot ready. The last thing I’d ever want to do is pressure you into doing something you don’twant to do.”

Throwing myself onto him, one of my arms wrap around his neck with my hand landing on his back. The other arm shoots straight up, my hand resting on his shoulder. “Thank you.”

“Again, you’re thanking me for doing the bare minimum.”

I kiss him on the cheek. “Gray,” I whisper in his ear.

“Yeah?”

“Do wereallyneed to go out there?”

“No, not if you don’t want to.”

“Good, because I’d rather stay here with you.”

“Okay.” He pulls me further onto the bed, so I’m sitting next to him. “You don’t think you’re going to be missed at your own birthday party?”

I shake my head, exhaling. “No, I really don’t.” Pursing my lips out, I turn my head towards Grayson.

“What’s up?”

“Could tonight be the night where I unwrap you?” I smirk.

“How much do you want to unwrap?”

“Just the top half. Is that okay?”

“That’s more than okay with me.” He gives me a smile that makes me feel like I’m ice cream melting in the Florida heat.

“I need you to do me a favor though,” I say. “Can you lock the door?”

“On it.” He gets off the bed, rushing over to the door. After he locks it, he jumps onto the bed and lands directly on me.

I groan, whipping my head back onto my pillow.

He runs his fingers through my hair. “Sorry. Did I hurt you?”

“I wasn’t expecting you to jump on me.” I get a bad case of the giggles.

“Maybe I need to jump on you more often, so I can hear you laugh like that.”

My breath hitches, causing my giggles to come to a halt. It’s all because of the way he’s staring at me.