Beyond What is Given(118)

“Then let her have the shop.” The wind bit through the thin material of my dress shirt.

“Grayson.”

“You want my forgiveness? Prove you’ve changed, that you won’t hold her rightful place hostage.”

“It’s still your place, too.”

“It hasn’t been in years. Sure, I helped a little with The Alibi’s design, but it was mostly Joey, and you know it. You may want me, but you need her. Let her prove it to you if you don’t think she has already.”

“How?”

“Give her the reins at the Miami show. Let her hire a crew and race the Pineapple Cup.”

“She’s softer than you think, Gray. It would crush her to lose.”

“Joey won’t let you down. She doesn’t know how to fail.”

He crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked off in the distance, a pose I knew meant he was deliberating. “Okay.”

And just like that, I was free, the last tether chaining me to North Carolina cut. “Okay.”

Dad cleared his throat. “Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I’m here, and I’ll be there tomorrow if you want me. There’s nothing in this world that could stop me from loving you. Whether you graduate first or last, I don’t care as long as you’re happy. I’ll…trust you to be safe.”

It was all I’d ever wanted, but I still couldn’t stop thinking that Sam was upstairs. Time to make her my first priority.

“I’m glad you’re here. I really have to go spend time with Sam, Dad. I only have her for a few hours.” I was sorry, but I wasn’t.

“I understand.”

I walked past him, but turned once my hand was on the handle. “Dad?”

“Yeah?”

“I want you there tomorrow. And I didn’t finish last. I’m first in my class.” I watched that sink in.

He simply nodded his head. “I’m not surprised. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I watched him get into a rental car parked across the street and drive off, probably to the hotel Mom and Mia were at. Then I took the stairs two at a time until I got into my room.

Heaven. Sam stood with her back to me, tugging at the zipper. She glanced over her shoulder. “Oh, do you mind? I’m borrowing a shirt and some boxers.”

A surge of possessiveness overwhelmed me at the thought of her in my clothes. “Not at all.”

“Good.” She laughed. “Then get over here and unzip me.”

I rubbed my hands together to warm my fingers and then pinched the small zipper between them. When it wouldn’t budge, I slipped the back of my hand inside her dress to get a better grasp, and the zipper gave.

My dick hardened with every inch of exposed skin, and I groaned when the dress parted to the top of her ass, revealing the tiny bow at the back of a blue thong. “You’re. Good. All unzipped.”

I ran my fingers up her spine and relished in her gasp. “Thank you.”

My own clothes felt foreign as I handed her the shirt and boxers she’d pulled from my dresser and turned my back. Every muscle in my body clenched when fabric rustled to the floor. I crossed the distance to my dresser and pulled out a pair of sweatpants, quickly stripping to my underwear and pulling them on.

“So you leave your clothes on the floor now?” Sam asked, already sitting on my bed.

Stop thinking about how naked she is under those clothes. What the hell? She was always naked under her clothes. Everyone was. I rubbed my forehead. “Yeah, well, maybe I’m just anxious to join you.”

“No sex,” she reminded me, sitting up on her knees.

“Even if you beg,” I reminded her as I slipped under the covers, and then pulled her against me. She tucked under my chin perfectly and gasped when our hips meshed. “It doesn’t exactly stop me from wanting you, Sam.”

She kissed the underside of my jaw. “Yeah, me, either.”

Fuck, I wanted her. It had been so damn long, and now she was here, dressed in my clothes, pressed up against me in my bed. But if she needed to realize I wanted her for more than sex, I could make that happen.

I just might be a corpse before morning.

“Tell me about Colorado,” I said. She sighed, intertwined her smooth legs with mine, and then started to talk. She told me about the upcoming hearing, the other girls who had come forward, and that her transcripts had already been corrected.

“Once the news got ahold of it, I had a hard time. They tried to keep our faces out of the story, but they haven’t exactly been successful.”

“I’m proud of you.” I rubbed lazy circles along her back. “I know it wasn’t easy to come forward.”

“We’re stronger together, the other girls and I. We have a stronger case, and I think I have a chance of getting back into classes after the hearing in January, even though I hit him.”

My palms itched to do the same. “I want you in my life.” The words were out before I could stop them, and then it was like a stream of vomit I couldn’t contain. “I love you. This right here, holding you, tells me everything I need to know about my future, because this is where I want to be. I don’t care if I’m in Colorado, or you’re in North Carolina, or if we move to North Dakota.” I pulled back so I could look into those green eyes that I prayed would show up on our future daughters. “I know you can’t stay, and I can’t go. So I don’t know how, but we have to figure something out. I swear I can’t breathe when you’re gone.”