I choked.He was joking, right?
“You better bring coffee.”
“Bagels and coffee it is. See you in the morning, kitten.”
“Good night, friend.”
“Night.”
I wokeup the next morning before my alarm out of pure giddiness. I showered and primped myself for the shoot, making sure there wasn’t a hair out of place. Then I got dressed in a pair of soft, tight yoga pants I had gotten at Walmart on sale and then one of Millie’s light pink special BBL jackets. It was tight around the torso, giving the effect of a BBL. I thought she was crazy when she suggested it a year ago, but when she launched them, girls went absolutely nuts over them. She sold out on TikTok in the first week.
I packed an overnight bag in case the shoot ran late, and we were going to continue in the morning. The owners of the shop had suggested this could be a possibility, so I packed a few essentials and then headed for my living room.
I had been telling myself all morning not to let him in. I could be excited for a road trip with an old friend, but it wasn’t more than that.We could not be more.
Protecting myself was all that mattered, even though Millie had argued otherwise last night. We’d had an in-depth conversation about this road trip. She told me to throw caution to the wind and jump his bones at any given opportunity.
I reminded her I had only been kissed once. There was no chance I was jumping his bones or jumping anything of the sort. Hell, I would demand separate rooms if we had to stay the night.There would be no shenanigans.
I would not survive to live another day if he was actually good in bed, god-like, as some fans had described. I wouldn’t survive because it would be a one-time thing—another notch on his stupid, never-ending belt—and I wasn’t a one-time kind of girl. I was every time or never at all. And Griffin Silver couldn’t offer me what I wanted.
A knock on my door broke me from my own mental scolding to remain cold and stonewalled, and that, of course, all went to absolute shit when I opened my door.
Standing there, cocky grin tugging at those pink lips, dark hair a mess, skin far too tan so that his teeth were practically shining at me, and gray eyes darker than usual, he looked me over. Not once, not twice, but thrice.
I couldn’t say I hadn’t done the same. In fact, I couldn’t stop staring.
Thank God for whoever invented gray sweatpants.
Standing there in a pair of black Nike 270s, gray sweatpants, and a matching gray hoodie, he looked absolutely fucking edible. Brad Pitt inMr. and Mrs. Smithkind of yummy.
“Morning, sweetheart.” His low voice was music to my ears.
Stop it, Tate. Stop it. Not music. Nails on a chalkboard. Nails on a fucking chalkboard. You can’t fall for him!
“You’re early,” I stupidly said because it wasallI could think of at the moment. In fact, he was lucky my jaw wasn’t hanging on the ground because I could see hislittle buddy,who was, in fact,not little at all.
“Forgot you aren’t a morning person. I guess some things never change.” He stepped into my condo, grabbed my overnight bag, and then nodded for me to head out. I locked upwhile he watched me, and then we both quietly went to the elevator and then down to the main floor where his Escalade was running.
“Not scared of it getting stolen?”
“It was locked,” he said, popping the trunk and putting my bag inside and then heading around to the passenger side and holding open the door for me. I blushed. I, Tatum Grace, blushed at having a door held open for her.
“You didn’t need to do that,” I told him once he got into the car.
“’Cause you can do it yourself?”
My cheeks had to be on fire. “No, because we aren’t dating.”
“A man should always open the door for a young woman.”
“Your mother is old school.” I laughed, remembering her training him at a young age to be the perfect gentleman.
“It’s not a bad thing,” he admitted, pulling onto the road, and that’s when I noticed the two steaming cups of coffee.
“You brought coffee!” I picked up the cup on my side and took a generous sip. “Oh, ouch, too hot, but so, so good.” I moaned, and he laughed.
The first hour we went over our childhood memories. I was surprised to find out his favorite was the day he gave me his bike for my birthday. It came as quite a shock actually because it was mine too.
