Gray shifted so I was lying on my back and he was leaning over me. His body blocked the view, but he was a much better one anyway—his eyes soft and, most of all,seeingme.
“Ozzie.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “You’re beautiful inside and out. If I’m being honest, from the first time I met you, I think I fell in love a little.”
The air whooshed right out of my lungs. “Gray!”
“No, don’t panic. Listen. I know it doesn’t mean much. This is all pretend, and you’re…you’re marrying Carter, and I don’t want you to think I’m telling you all this to change your mind. If you do, that must be because it’s what you want. But I need you to know I find you insanely hot, and it’s hell to keep my hands off you. But what cemented you into my brain was the night you took an unfamiliar and lonely road to bring me Christmas presents. I knew you had picked them out because my sonwouldn’t make the effort. I haven’t stopped thinking about you since.”
Gray placed a finger on my lips and traced the outline with the pad. “You think I don’t know it’s wrong? My heart’s beating hard because I know I’ll fuck up my relationship with Carter by touching you like this, but I need you to know what I think of you, how I feel about you, and what I want to do to you. Ozzie, if in the future, you ever doubt you’re wanted, remember me. All I’ve done since we met was want you.”
The sincerity in Gray’s words made my eyes wet. I cupped the back of his head, pulled him down, and kissed him. I’d made some mistakes I regretted instantly, but as I unbuttoned Gray’s shirt, I knew no matter what happened, I would never regret him.
16
GRAY
When my wife gave birth to an eight-pound baby twenty-four years ago, it was one of the happiest moments of my life. Once I held the tiny hand in mine, I’d felt a fierce protective instinct to take care of him and give anyone who hurt him hell.
Today, I lay on top of his fiancé in the back of my truck with the sun setting behind my back. My lips were hot and insistent against his, and I was shoving his clothes off as fast as possible without releasing his mouth. Kissing Ozzie felt like an emergency, a desperate need clawing at the very fibers of my being. I had an ache that only he could fill.
It had to be him. Why? I didn’t know, but I was sure I was right.
Loathing myself, I raised my head. I was fine being the bad guy, but I needed to know this was what he wanted. Hurting Carter was the last thing either of us wanted.
“Gray.” He no longer had access to my mouth, but his hands were all over my naked chest. He’d already unbuttoned my shirt. His soft hands exploring my pecs, my nipples, my stomach almost made me forget why I’d stopped kissing him.
“Ozzie, if we do this, there’s no turning back. Are you sure?”
“Hmm.” He kissed my neck, sucking on the skin and licking the stinging area.
“Ozzie, are you listening?”
He dropped a hand between my thighs and latched on to my erection. “Don’t care about anything else. Want you, need you so badly. I just know you’ll do it right. You’ll do me right, won’t you, Gray?”
Damn right I would. I shrugged off my shirt and stood up to kick off my boots. Ozzie struggled to do the same, lying down. I might have finished undressing faster if I wasn’t busy taking in every inch of skin he exposed.
I threw my jeans somewhere behind me and lowered myself back to my knees. Ozzie was beautiful—his legs clamped together as if he were afraid of letting me see all of him.
“Now why would a beautiful boy hide himself from me?” I gently pulled his knees apart. A flush snuck into his cheeks and spread down to his neck. There was so much of him to love. His chest rose and fell under my appreciative scrutiny of his body from the softness of his shoulders to the gentle swell of his stomach.
“You’re really turned on by me?”
I took his hand and placed it between my legs. “You feel that, Ozzie? That’s all for you, sweetheart. It’s been doing that since the day you arrived.”
“Maybe you need to see the doctor?”
Laughing, I nudged my way between his legs. “Pretty and with a sense of humor. You’re perfect, and thankfully, I have all I need right here to cure me.”
Ozzie cupped the back of my head and pulled me down on top of him. I didn’t have to worry about my bulky frame like I had with my wife in the past, and I loved that.
He let his legs fall apart, creating space for me in the V of his thighs. His kisses were bolder, more insistent, as if he was staking a claim on me. I tasted the sweetness of him on my tongue, the rawness of his desire mingling with my own. I pressed against him, skin on skin, and we both moaned at the contact. Ozzie traced his fingers down my back, his body swaying beneath me. He dug his nails into my ass as he ground against me.
“Gray.” He broke off our kiss, gasping. His face was flushed and his eyes half-lidded with desire, making him look even more beautiful under the setting sun. “Oh god, I-I don’t remember ever feeling so much. I’m forgetting what I’m supposed to do.”
“Relax. I’ve got you.”
I peppered kisses along his neck, moving down to his collarbone, where I lingered for a moment, relishing in the taste of his salty skin. Swirling my tongue over his nipple, I squeezed the flesh of his chest and sucked him into my mouth. A cry tumbled from Ozzie that ended on a whimper when I kept suckling him.
“Gray. Oh, Gray…”
