If someone had told me a year and a half ago that I would be right here, as happy as I am right now, I would’ve told them they were crazy. Looking back, I don’t think I truly realized how miserable I was, how I was barely getting by. I trained, competed, took care of Suzy, but I wasn’t happy. While Grady has always been present in my life, I feel like he opened my eyes and made me see the world differently when I needed him the most. It blows my mind to think that I’ve known him as long as I have, and it took us this long to come together, when being with him now feels like the most natural thing in the world.
As if he knows I’m thinking about him, Grady comes over to me, flashing me a small grin before he sits down on my lap. He hooks an arm around my shoulders, and his fresh, masculine scent wraps around me, making my insides flutter. We fit together so perfectly, and I can’t believe there was ever a time when I didn’t see that.
The night passes in a flurry of good time, laughter, and more beer. The more we all drink, the louder we get, and it’s probably a good thing Conrad lives on several hundred acres.
“So, Sterling,” I call from across the fire. “Word around town is that you’re finally moving out of the barn loft.”
He nods, a bright smile on his face. “Yeah. I mean, I figure I’m at Shooter’s enough as it is. Might as well make it official.”
“’Bout time,” Cope teases.
“Oh, shut the hell up,” Shooter blurts out with a laugh. “Not everyone moves as quickly as you do, Mr. I have my boyfriend move in with me thirteen whole seconds after we start dating.”
Cope gives him the finger. “Hey, when you know, you know,” he murmurs, looking up at Xander, who is sitting in his lap. The love they have is evident in the way they look at each other. You canfeeltheir connection, and it’s been that way fromthe beginning. Cope, like me, was under the impression he was completely straight up until he met Xander. It’s crazy how you can be so sure of who you are until one special person walks into your life and makes you question it all.
Shooter and Cope go back and forth, teasing each other for a while, while the rest of us watch and laugh. They bicker like they’re brothers sometimes.
Grady leans in and presses a kiss to my lips. “Tonight’s fun,” he murmurs, loud enough only for me to hear.
“Yeah, it has been, huh?”
We gaze into each other’s eyes for a moment, everybody else fading away. A look passes through Grady’s eyes that I can’t place, but it makes my chest tighten. His lips part before he quickly closes them. Finally, clearing his throat, he says as casually as ever, like he’s telling me what the weather will be like tomorrow, “I’d like you to know how in love with you I am.”
His words take me by surprise, and my entire body warms, heart pounding behind my ribs. My throat feels so tight, it aches, and I’m hit with an overwhelming wave of emotion. He said it so easily, but there’s a hint of nerves in the way he’s watching me while chewing on his lip that lets me know he might not be as casual as he’s trying to appear to be.
He loves me.
He’sinlove with me.
And then it hits me…so am I. This comfort he brings me. The easiness of our relationship. The way he’s the first thing on my mind when I wake up and my last thought before going to sleep each night.
“I’m… I’m in love with you too,” I croak, emotion thick in my throat.
“Really?” he asks with disbelief. “You don’t have to say it just because I did. I don’t expect it.”
“I would never say it if I didn’t mean it.” Reaching up, I cup his cheek. “I love you so much, and I promise to spend eternity loving you. I can’t picture my life without you in it. Now, shut up and kiss me, G.”
Grady smiles shyly before doing just that. Our lips come together, and nothing else matters. I can hear the hooting and hollering from our friends as we show off some major PDA, but it doesn’t matter.
Our lips break apart eventually, but we don’t pull away from each other just yet.
“I love you, Grady Wilde.”
He presses a quick kiss to the tip of my nose. “And I love you, Boone,keep-it-in-the-family,Stanton.”
Grady can’t even get the full sentence out before he’s snorting out a laugh, and I can’t help but chuckle right along with him.
Fucking Shooter.
41
Grady Wilde
Two Months Later
“Hey, can you hand me the other thing of lemonade in the fridge?” Jade asks as she walks into the house from the backyard, carrying a nearly empty glass drink dispenser. “I can’t believe how fast everyone drank this one.”
“Yeah, of course.”
