"What is it?" I asked.
Paper in hand, she turned to face me. "It's a note from Lexie, apologizing for an argument, which was totallymyfault by the way. And do you wanna hear the P.S?"
"Sure."
Gwen beamed as she pointed to the bottom of the note. "You're still my favorite cousin." She was blinking now as if trying to rein in the tears. Sure, they were happy tears, but that didn't stop me from moving forward and gathering her in my arms. I pulled her close to say. "And you'remyfavorite girl."
Soon, we were lost to everything else as we hustled to her bed and let our bodies do the talking while our hearts healed and Cash yipped and frolicked with the kittens in the living room.
Yup, I was riding high, alright.
And, unless I was the dumbest guy on the planet, so was Gwen.
Chapter 52
Gwen
I was still nestled in Drake's arms when I suddenly realized something. I lifted my head to ask, "Hey, what should I call you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well…I know you as Drake, but your real name is Murphy. I get that you're technically both, but which one do you prefer?"
He smiled. "Which one doyouprefer?"
"I kind of like Drake," I admitted, "not because it's better or anything, but because that's how I got to know you." But then, before he could get the wrong idea, I quickly added, "But Murphy's great, too. Should I start calling you that?"
With a playful wink, he replied, "I'll answer no matterwhatyou call me."
He'd said something similar at his house, but surely, he hadsomepreference. I smiled. "Liar."
"Wanna bet?"
"Okay, how about this?" I said. "I'll just mix the two. Call you…Durphy?"
He yanked me close. "On second thought, call me Drake."
I laughed against his skin. "Are you sure?"
"Positive."
I would've been happy no matter what he said, but this was just icing on the proverbial cake. "Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Anything."
"Back in the beginning, you told your grandpa that I wasn't your type. What made you change your mind?"
He ran a warm hand across my naked back. "You werealwaysmy type." A smile crept into his voice. "And I'm pretty sure I told you that."
"Yeah, but on that first day, you toldhimsomething else, so I'm just wondering about the discrepancy. It's kind of a mystery, that's all."
"It's no mystery," he said. "I didn't want get his hopes up."
"Hishopes up?"
"Yeah, he's been on me to find a nice girl and settle down. And you were obviously nice, but uninterested, so I figured it was best to play it down for his sake."
"Awwwww…that's so nice."
