Make Me Yours(83)

“You’ve lost that loving feeling…” Danny’s muscled arm is thrown around Gray’s neck, and my face gets hot.

Love like muscle memory squeezes my chest. My fingers curl wanting to touch him, my lips heat wanting to kiss him. The space between my thighs hums with need. Last summer feels so long ago, but I remember everything.

As predicted, Danny takes Leslie’s hand, attempting to woo her. Leslie’s a year older than me, and she’s wearing a tight green dress that accentuates her Marilyn Monroe figure. Her eyes fix on Gray, who’s laughing and pointing at someone in the crowd.

Straight, white teeth. A deep dimple pierces his cheek. He nods, his lips close, and the muscle in his square jaw moves. He reaches out to take a fresh beer, and his bicep flexes briefly. My brother grabs him again, and his shirt rises slightly, revealing the line of a V heading into his low-slung, faded jeans.

God, he’s so fucking hot.

“Cut his mic!” Ruby yells. “Have some pride, man!”

Her voice draws Gray’s attention to where we’re standing. Our eyes lock, and emotion like electricity shoots through me, starting at my lower stomach and filtering through my limbs. His stormy eyes darken, and in that one look, I know he remembers.

Leslie watches us like a hawk.

A really pissed-off, green-eyed hawk.

My bestie is at my ear, breaking the moment. “How are you planning to get him alone with your brother hanging on his neck and that female vulture circling?”

Ruby and I are inseparable. She knows as well as I do Danny would shit twice and die if he knew how far Gray and I went before the guys returned to college last fall… and how many times.

I’ve held onto those memories like life.

Even after Gray told me I should date other guys.

“Your daddy’s right.” He looked at me with tortured blue eyes that contradicted every word he said. “You’re so young. You don’t know what you want.”

I only kissed him again, crawled onto his lap again, put his hands on me and made us forget my disapproving father, my overprotective brother. Neither of them had been there for me the way Grayson always had.

“I know what I want…”

“Andrea Harris?” A nasal voice kills my memory, and Ruby spins to block me.

“Incoming!” she cries.

It’s too late.

A skinny guy our age wearing plaid shorts and a mustard yellow shirt, steps around her to me. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

“I’m sure you have…” Ruby gives way.

“Ralph.” I force a smile. Ralph Stern has been hounding me to go out with him all senior year. Too bad he’s a mashup of Sheldon Cooper and Dwight Schrute…

Not to mention my heart’s been gone a long time.

“I didn’t see you today when I stopped by the shelter.” Ralph smiles, revealing heavy silver braces on his teeth, bless his heart. “Did you catch a ride with Daniel and Grayson?”

Ralph’s the only one of our friends who calls us by our regular names like he’s part of the parent group.

“I left early to take a shower.” I love my job at the animal shelter, but I didn’t want to smell like kitty litter tonight. “Gray came straight from the airport. Danny’s been here since Tuesday.”

The serenade ends, and party guests immediately mob my brother and his best friend. Gray’s head rises above the crowd. He’s smiling and charming, but every few seconds, his eyes find mine in a sizzling wave of promise.

He inspects my outfit, stormy eyes passing over my skin leaving heat in their wake. I’m waiting for him to move away, toward the dark hall at the back of the room.

“Did you hear me?”

I force my attention to Ralph. “I’m sorry?”

“Mother said her ladies group is having a special luncheon for Daniel after church on Sunday. I’m supposed to invite you.” Ralph’s brown eyes cast to the side. “She said to bring your dad, but I figured—”

“Danny leaves Sunday afternoon.” As I say the words, my heart sinks, because Gray will leave with him.

“It’ll be right after church in the fellowship hall. To say goodbye. She said your grandmother would’ve wanted it.”

“I’ll mention it to him.” Everyone in St. Stephen does things for the sake of my grandparents, the Oakville Harrises. You’d think we were royalty…

Except the Harris fortune has been disappearing since I was a child. My dad doesn’t work, he drinks all the time, which means we’re nearly broke. Pretty much all we have now is an old name, this lake house, the old house in town, and a few “priceless” antiques.

“In other news.” Ralph straightens, tugging on his waistband. “I took a job with pest control, so I’ll be visiting the clinic pretty regularly. Maybe we can go out to lunch sometime.”

I see Gray drift to the back hall. My stomach is tight, and I clock the amount of time it’ll take me to meet him without drawing unwanted attention.

“Wait, you remove pests?” Ruby’s loud voice cuts in. “How ironic.”

“It’s mostly raccoons, but I had two ladies call with snakes in their swimming pools last week.”

“Metaphorically speaking?” She’s teasing, but I’m too distracted to play along.