Chapter 16

Skylar

Greyson’s hand on my thigh was doing all kinds of crazy things to me. My cheeks were hot, my breath was rushed, and my mind was racing with thoughts of the night we had spent together; of him, naked, hovering over me like a sex god. I was wet again, and the jeans he had purchased for me to ride on the back of his bike weren’t helping things. The vibration of the bike beneath me had also been a bit of a turn on, especially while having my arms wrapped around his body.

I needed to think of other things. This constant state of being horny had to be interrupted. He had no idea what he was doing to me.

“So, your sister,” Greyson said as he tossed a strawberry in the air and caught it between his teeth. I applauded him, and he bowed his head in thanks. “I can’t seem to wrap my head around her and Nikki as friends, you know? It just doesn’t make sense. She seems so nice and Nikki seems so…”

“Not nice?” I finished for him.

Greyson nodded with a smile on the lips I wished to kiss. “Yes. What’s the story there?”

“Well,” I said. “She is a bit of a handful, and I have to remind myself all the time that she has been good to Renee. Our parents died when we were young. Renee was in her final year of high school, and it hit her pretty hard. As hard as it could hit any child, I imagine. Nikki was there for her, day after day, and she helped her through the whole thing. I tried my best, but I was grieving too, so Nikki was more of a solid foundation. Someone stable that Renee could go to.”

“I’m sorry,” Greyson said, and his eyes were sad for me.

“Don’t be,” I said. “It was a long time ago.”

I hated how this topic always ended conversation. I worried that he was going to shut down like most people did, fearing he would say something wrong. Instead, he lifted his gaze from me and looked out at the rest of the park.

“My parents died when I was young, too,” he said. “I had a sleepover at a friend’s house one weekend. It was a big deal. My parents were the overprotective sort, you know? They weren’t too keen on me spending the night with another kid’s family. But after a lot of persuading and begging, I convinced them that it was a good idea. At least, I convinced my dad, who convinced my mom.”

I waited for him to continue. I felt a surge of anxiety in my chest.

“I rode my bike home the next morning. My friend only lived a few neighborhoods away. It was a fifteen-minute ride at the most. When I rounded the corner to my cul-de-sac, my house was roped off with yellow police tape, and there were five police cars there.”

“Oh my God,” I said, my hand going to my chest. I didn’t want to hear the rest. My heart was already breaking for him.

“Robbery gone bad,” he said, one shoulder performing a miniscule shrug. “Guy broke in and tried to take what he could. He wasn’t right in the head, the cops said. My dad confronted him, and one thing led to another. I came home to no parents.”

“Where did you go?” I asked. As a nurse, I had come across more than my fair share of children in foster care. I had met several with similar stories to Greyson’s.

“The parents of the friend whose house I slept over at took me in. I didn’t have grandparents or any other relatives, and they stepped up. They signed the papers. The whole thing. It wasn’t all bad. They’re good people. They raised me from where my parents left off, and I gained a brother in the process.”

“What’s his name?” I asked, hearing the tone of his voice shift to something more grateful and happy.

“Matthew,” Greyson said. “But we call him Meek. Your parents, how did they die?”

I had never been asked about their death in such a direct manner, and it didn’t bother me the way I thought it might. Perhaps it was because Greyson was the one asking. “Car accident. They were driving home from my dad’s work retirement party. He was sober, but the guy in the other car wasn’t.”

“So, both our families were the victims of foolishness,” Greyson said, squeezing my knee reassuringly. “And yet here we are.”

“Here we are,” I said.

We stared at each other for a moment. I was thinking about how hard it was going to be to say goodbye to him before I went back to Houston. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was having some of the same thoughts.

“Tell me something else about you,” he said, laying back on the blanket and knitting his hands behind his head.

“There’s not much to tell,” I said shyly, looking down at him. A bit of his stomach was showing above the waist of his jeans, and the cut of his hips was not helping my panty situation.

“I find that extremely hard to believe,” he said.

“Honestly, I don’t know what else I can tell you. I have dedicated the last seven years of my life to my job. So much so that I think I may have missed out on a lot of opportunities.” As I said the words to him, it was the first time I ever really believed them.

Renee had been telling me for ages that I needed to get out of my shell and my comfort zone so that I could start “collecting experiences.” She insisted that I needed to see what I was missing out on and that I needed to learn what balance was. That had been the whole point of this trip to Las Vegas.

It had all felt so juvenile to me until I met Greyson. That was the first moment I realized what I had been shutting myself off from. Connections. People. Relationships. Being with him made me feel alive for the first time in years, and I hadn’t even noticed that I wasn’t feeling this way. I had lost my passion, and somewhere along the lines, I’d started defining my existence solely by my career.

“My job can be the same,” Greyson said. “But I’ve learned how to manage it all. Even so, it takes up a bit more of my time than I would like.”

“It sure seems like you are able to take a breather whenever you like,” I teased. He had dropped everything over the last couple of days to accommodate me and my schedule. I wasn’t ignorant to that.

“True.”

“This has all been really nice, Greyson. Truly. You made this trip special for me. I didn’t even want to be here. I wanted to go home as soon as I arrived.”

Greyson smirked at me. “Well, when you showed up, you were under the impression that you’d be spending the bulk of your time with a walking talking Barbie doll who’s shallower than the fountain in the lobby of The Citrine.”

I burst out laughing and shook my head. “Fair enough.”

“Your sister is right, Skylar,” Greyson said, all serious now. “You have to step out of your box every now and then. Good things can and will happen. You just have to open yourself up to the possibility of it all.”

I nodded. He was right, of course, but my life and the path I had chosen still held certain demands. I had patients who needed me back in Houston. And even though I was happier than I had been in ages sitting on that plaid blanket with Greyson, there was still a little voice in the back of my head telling me there were things to be done. I was going to have a lot of work to do when I got back to the hospital. I couldn’t silence the nagging thoughts, no matter how hard I tried. I could only tuck them aside to deal with later, when I left Greyson behind.

“What about you?” I asked, resting my hands in my lap.

Greyson lifted his eyebrows. “What about me?”

“Tell me something about yourself.”

Greyson feigned thoughtfulness by scratching the new scruff on his chin. “I’m a Taurus. I like dogs but am terrified of cats. I don’t trust them. The way they look at you is like they can see your aura or something. My favorite food is pizza.” He shot me a quick glance and grinned. “What else do you want to know?”

I laughed. “I think you covered the most important things.”

He nodded confidently. “I thought so too.” He checked his watch. “What do you say we head back?”

“Sure,” I said, getting to my feet with his helping hand.

Greyson rolled up the blanket, and I packed up the bag and slung it over my shoulder. He asked me to give it to him to carry, but I waved him off. “I’m perfectly capable of carrying it on my own, but thank you.” I smiled. I wasn’t used to a man wanting to do things for me. I wasn’t used to a man wanting to do things to me, either.

We walked through the park holding hands. Children played below us amongst pipes spouting water, and their joyful giggles fluttered up toward us. Brightly colored bathing suits stood out against the dullness of the pavement beneath their little bare feet.

“Do you ever want kids?” Greyson asked.

“I’ve never really thought it was an option,” I said honestly. “I’ve always been too busy to even consider trying to fit them into my lifestyle. I’d have to quit my job. And my job is my life.”

“So I’ve heard.” He smiled.

“What about you?”

“I’ve always wanted a family,” Greyson said. “More than I’ve ever wanted anything else. One day, when the time is right, I know I’ll have one. Eventually.”

I gave his hand a squeeze, and he squeezed back as our feet left the grass and struck the gravel of the parking lot.

When we arrived at the bike, Greyson came to an abrupt stop. He pulled me back a step and into his side. I looked up at him, confused, as he stared dead ahead at a black SUV parked in the far corner of the lot. I looked from him to the car, trying to figure out what the problem was.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“No.” He shook his head and grabbed our helmets from the bike. All the while, his eyes watched the SUV.

I shrugged my leather jacket back on and put on my gloves. Greyson geared up too, but he was only half paying attention to what he was doing. I watched him search for his keys in his pocket at least three times as the SUV reversed out of its parking spot and drove slowly down the lane behind the bike. Greyson watched it the whole time.

“You’re sure everything is okay?” I asked again.

Greyson blinked and nodded. “Yes. Sorry, everything is fine. Do you need help with your helmet?”

“Yes, please,” I said, pulling it over my head and then tilting my face to the sky so he could do the strap up under my chin.

When we were both fully geared up for the ride, Greyson got on the bike, and I climbed up behind him. I wrapped my arms around him again and wished I could smell him. All I could smell was the car freshener-esque aroma of the inside of my helmet.

He started the engine, and the bike hummed beneath me. He pulled out of the stall and rode slowly across the gravel. I could hear it crunching beneath the wide tires until we hit pavement. Then he opened it up, and the engine roared. We tore off down the street that would lead us back to the highway.

The speed gave me an excuse to hold on to him tighter.