Play It Safe(81)

“Do you think it’s weird that I sleep with my fake, g*y boyfriend?”

That was me. I blurted it right out and for a second I wished I had the power to shove it back in but then I felt Gray’s body shaking and I knew he was laughing.

I lifted my head to look at his face and again got the dimple.

Damn, but I loved that f**king dimple.

And he was definitely laughing.

I loved that too.

Then he answered, “Yeah.”

I stared at him as it dawned on me.

Then I said, “It is. It is weird that I sleep with my fake, g*y boyfriend.”

Gray’s body started shaking harder and the word was also shaking when he repeated, “Yeah.”

Great.

His arm around me tightened and he slid me partially up his chest so my face was closer to his still smiling one.

Then he said, “Shit that’s weird to a man from Mustang, Colorado is probably not weird in Vegas. There’s probably nothin’ you could do that would be weird in Vegas.”

I lived in Vegas for a long time therefore I knew this was totally true.

Gray wasn’t done.

“And he loves you near as much as I love you. And you love him. I see his play, I get it and the way you love him, I get why you’d give that gift to him. You got somethin’ outta it too and way he loves you, I get why he’d give it to you. You love someone, you do shit like that and that, Ivey, is not weird.”

Okay, well, good to know the seven years had not changed the fact that Grayson Cody was understanding, generous, kind and loving.

What he would say next would prove that seven years had not changed the fact that Grayson Cody was a serious macho man rancher cowboy.

And I knew this when the amusement shifted out of his face, it got serious, his arm got tighter and he stated, “That said, that shit stopped about half an hour ago.”

“Right,” I whispered.

“Right,” he whispered back.

Totally a macho man rancher cowboy.

Therefore, it killed me but I had to be honest and I felt it was fair to warn him, “You know, a long time has passed. I’ve changed. I’m not the Ivey you knew. You were right that night you saw me, I’m hard as nails. I’m not a pushover anymore.”

That was when he gave me the gift of Grayson Cody that I missed most of all.

His arm squeezed tight, his body shook deep and he burst out laughing.

I watched it. I loved it. I loved it no less than I always loved it but I didn’t laugh because I was being deadly serious.

Gray looked down at me, saw my serious face and pulled me further up his chest so we were eye-to-eye still, incidentally, chuckling.

Then he muttered, “Bullshit.”

“It’s true,” I told him.

He kept grinning and repeated a muttered, “Bullshit.”

My hand moved to curl around his neck and I whispered, “No, seriously, Gray, it’s true.”

Gray’s grin faded and he got serious too.

“They came to me, both ‘a them.”

“What?”

“Your fake, g*y boyfriend and that mammoth black guy. They came to me.”

I blinked.

Then I whispered, “Sorry?”

“Keycard?” he asked and my body stilled as it hit me. “He gave it to me.” His hand came up, fingers sliding into my hair at the side, holding it back and he continued. “He told me everything, Ivey, everything about you. Both of them came but your fake boyfriend laid it out. Those two men would do anything for you. They’d walk through fire for you. You were hard as nails, those men, who they are, what they do, what they’ve undoubtedly seen, where they live, they would not give one shit about you. You were hard as nails; you wouldn’t take a coupla phone calls from Janie, hightail your ass up here and sort my shit. You wouldn’t give a f**k where Gran was stayin’. You thought I moved on from you in three months; you would not save me from losin’ my land. You thought everyone in Mustang thought you were trash; you would not protect their legacy. You are not hard as nails, Ivey. You’re just Ivey.”

“Shut up, you’re going to make me cry,” I snapped, fighting tears and again Gray burst out laughing, both his arms moving around me to pull me more on top of him and hold me tight. “Gray! I wasn’t being funny!”

“Dollface,” he said through his continuing laughter, “women who are hard as nails do not cry at the drop of a hat and I’ve not spent a lot of time with you in seven years but a lotta the time I’ve spent with you, you’ve been bawlin’.”

This was true.

Shit.

“Well, when I see Lash and Brutus and you see me kick their ass, you’ll see my hard.”

His face got that near to tender look I also missed a whole helluva lot and he whispered, “You’ll give them attitude, no doubt, but you’re as devoted to them as they are to you and you know they did that shit for you so it’ll be a show and they’ll know that too.”

He was right.

I decided to change the subject, not to a better one but change it anyway.

So, hesitantly, I asked, “What did Lash tell you?”

“Everything.”

Fabulous.

Unfortunately, I needed detail.

“What’s everything?”