Page 117 of Untamed
“Boy. . . .” I push his hand away, trying to play hard to get. “Let’s at least make it out of Austin.”
Smirking, his tongue darts out, wetting his bottom lip before sinking his teeth into it. “The girl I know . . . she’sfearless.”
Of course he went there, but I don’t budge. At least for now.
We’re just outside San Antonio when the rain picks up and Grayer hears a song that makes my heart pound. That same song he was singing in the barn. That same song playing in the kitchen the night he broke my heart. Randy Travis “Are We in Trouble Now.”
He turns it up and pulls over—off the highway—and reaches for my hand. “Dance with me?”
“In the rain?”
He nods. “In the rain.”
I let him help me into the back of his truck and take his hand. It’s a slow touch he gives, pulling me near him and I sigh. Pathetic maybe, but this boy holds me in his hands now and always will.
I thought falling in love again would never happen to me. I thought it was impossible. And then it did. In days. And it was one hell of a ride.
“What’s the meaning of this song?” I ask, watching his face react to my question.
“It was one of my pops’s favorite songs.” The corners of his mouth tug but there is a vulnerability in his stare. “Do you remember the night at the party where I saw you with Joel?”
“Yeah.”
“I never went to bed that night.” He shakes his head at the memory. “I sat in my truck in the field behind my pops’s place and drank. Drank until I couldn’t even see straight. That song was on my iPod. I had it on shuffle and it kept coming on no matter how many times I skipped it. I ended up punching my fuckin’ stereo and tossing my iPod out the window to get it to stop.”
I laugh, knowing that’s why his knuckles were bloody that night. “But you woke up singing it anyway?”
“Yep. Stuck in my head I guess. And then that night in the kitchen, it came on.”
“Fate maybe?” I tease, still moving with him as he sings a few lyrics in my ear.
His left hand reaches around his neck and takes my hand in his, holding it to his heart as we dance. “Are we in trouble now?”
“I think we are.”
We both laugh, and then the rain creates a silence around us. The occasional gust of wind rocks the truck lightly as I listen to a song that fits us so perfectly.
That’s when Grayer’s eyes meet mine, our boots scraping over the metal bed of his truck. He leans in and presses his lips to my forehead. “Will you remember tonight?”
“I will, Eight Seconds.”
He presses his lips to my forehead again, this time I pull back and look at him.
“I love you, Grayer Easton.”
He nods, of course, and smiles, raindrops dripping from his hat that he removes and places on my head. “I love you, too.” He leans down to capture my lips. “Maesyn Calhoun.”
You’ve done me proud, heart.
