The smell of bacon and eggs invaded my nose. I rolled over onto my back with a groan. Even though the answer was obvious, I reached my arm out and felt the other side of the bed. No Grant. He was cooking. Had he always been a cook? We've always gone out to dinner or lunch whenever we hung out. Even when we were at each other's apartments we ordered in. 

My knees and left shoulder creaked like they always did when I stretched. The events of the night before were fresh in my mind. I didn't know what possessed me to get up from my chair at dinner and suck him off outside. I've never done anything so brazen. I remembered looking at him and just being so fucking happy that he was here. If I had stayed here, alone with my thoughts, it wouldn't have gone well. 

But Grant wasn't just a distraction from all that shit. He was...well, Grant. It's never been oblivious to me about the way I felt. Yeah, I was scared as shit to face and admit the truth, but I was never blind to it.

My parents seemed to be a common issue there. It was hard living up to your parents' expectations. When they map out your future, its hard to go against that; especially when they were actually pretty great. Grant's parents were a different story. He's only told me a little about what happened with them, but I knew enough to know they were a fucking nightmare. 

"Good morning, sunshine."

I got to my knees in the bed when I heard Grant come into the room. The sheet fell down my body, leaving me naked under his wandering gaze. "Good morning, yourself." 

He sat the plate of food on the bedside table and looked back at me. "How did you sleep?"

I made a sound that was similar to a laugh and a groan. "Good, actually. Better than I have in awhile. You?"

He gave me a sexy smirk that had me aching to kiss him. "Pretty good." He gestured to the food on the bedside table. "I made you breakfast." 

I didn't bother looking at the food. I kept my eyes on Grant. "I see that."

He was wearing a pair of sweats with no shirt. His blonde hair was brushed to the side like it always was. I pulled him closer and gave him a slow kiss. It wasn't a deep and passionate one like we shared last night. No. This one was more of a thank you. 

"What was that for?" he asked when I pulled away. 

Instead of answering, I glanced at the plate he brought me. There was an omelette, some strips of bacon, and a piece of toast. "I didn't know you could cook."

Grant laughed a little and ran his hand through his hair. Was he...embarrassed? "Yeah, well, I never had occasion." 

That made sense. It was obvious why we never cooked for each other. It seemed to make things feel a lot more serious. Like we were in a relationship. Together. God, I wanted that. But I knew it wasn't a possibility. Not with our parents and everything else. But the thought of loving Grant for the rest of my life just felt...right. So fucking right.

Did that mean that this was what we were going to be? Living lies and sneaking off to have time together? If that was the case, it wouldn't be long before we had another one of our fights. Our disagreements. It was a vicious cycle and I was sick of it. He and I were going to need to talk about this. I didn't want to, but it had to happen before we left this cabin to go back to the city. 

"What are you thinking about?" Grant asked quietly. 

I pulled away from him and leaned against the headboard of the bed. "I'm thinking that I'm starving." I grabbed the plate and took a bite of the omelette. "Wow. This is really good." 

Grant chuckled and sat on the side of the bed. "I'm glad you like it." 

I noticed he didn't have a plate for himself. "You're not eating?" 

He shook his head. "I ate already. You know I'm an early-riser." 

That was the fucking truth. Grant was always up around sunrise. I was more of a noon-riser. Maybe tomorrow I could get up early with him. So, we could eat breakfast together. 

"Logan, we should talk." 

I kept my eyes on my food. I picked up a strip of bacon and ate it. "About?" 

"How I ended up coming here." 

Oh, yeah. That. I knew my brother and ex-fiancée asked him to; but I was unclear on the rest of it. I took a few more bites of my omelette before I glanced up at him. 

"Tell me," I said quietly, and my eyes dropped backed to my food. I didn't want to hear this. I didn't want to think about Amelia, Wyatt, or my family. But I knew that I needed to hear it. Otherwise, Grant was going to give me shit about it. 

"I was at Down the Rabbit Hole having some drinks." When I looked up at him and arched a questioning brow, he cleared his throat. "A lot on my mind at the time. Anyway, I was drinking and there was a girl next to me who was about to drunk dial what I thought was her ex-boyfriend." 

I knew who it was immediately; although, getting drunk like that didn't seem like her. "Amelia?" 

Grant nodded. "I didn't know it was her at the time, but I advised her that drunk-dialing an ex was never a good idea." 

When Grant refused to look me in the eye, I knew he was remembering the time I called him and he drunkenly told me he wanted to cut ties. He told me had regretted saying that to me. Maybe he really meant it. 

"What happened next?" I asked when he stayed quiet. 

"She explained who she was and she told me all the stuff she told you. She said she saw the texts and she saw us kissing in the driveway. She told me about her and Wyatt." 

Something about what he said stood out to me. I looked up and met his stare. "You said she was drunk-dialing an ex? You mean Wyatt?" When he nodded, I asked, "Wait...what happened with them?" 

Grant glanced away briefly. "She said that she and Wyatt tried to make it work. They went out on a date and she ended up telling him how she felt and he couldn't say the words." 

Well, didn't that hit a little too close to home. It always seemed like Grant was the one who was at a loss for words when it came to 'us'. Seemed he and my little bro had that in common. I guess Amelia and I were on Team Honesty.

"So, he hurt her. Again?" I shook my head as my anger started to rise. "He's such an asshole. I told him not to fuck this up again." 

Grant studied my face for a long while. I knew what he was going to say next. I knew he was going to be pissed that I didn't say anything to him about it, too. But he didn't really have a right to be mad. Not after that fucking phone call. 

"Ask me," I told him. 

His voice was low. "You were calling to tell me the wedding was off, weren't you?" 

I picked at the piece of toast on my plate. Taking little bites of it as I tried to force the words out. "Yeah, I was." 

"I'm sorry." The strain in his voice told me that he really did regret how that day went. But it didn't change what happened. "What else were you going to say that day?" 

I shrugged. "It doesn't matter now." 

Grant's voice was rough; but it also had that tone that said he wasn't going to be satisfied until he had his answer. "It matters to me. I fucked up. I know I fucked up. I'll apologize as many times as you need to hear it." His voice dropped to a desperate whisper. "Please, Logan. Just tell me." 

This time, when I looked into Grant's eyes, there was something I hadn't seen before. He was hurting. He was hurting like I was that day. This was important to him. Fuck. It was important to me, too. It was one of the reasons I've been so fucking depressed lately. 

After I cleared my throat a few times, I finally found my voice. "Amelia had asked me if you and I were going to try again. That's when it hit me that we never tried in the first place. Not—not really. We've fucked around. Sometimes we were seeing other people, sometimes we weren't. We went on one date." I scoffed and shook my head. "That doesn't even count does it. I was engaged at the fucking time." 

I knew I was rambling. I was scared to death to say the words he needed to hear. Is this how he felt when I made him open his heart to me? Payback really was a bitch. 

I closed my eyes tight before my stare met his again. "We never gave it a real shot, Grant. You know, both of us single. Going on dates. Arguing over the choice of wine with dinner. Sleeping over each other's apartments without storming off."

"Say it," Grant whispered. 

The words spilled out of me. "I want a relationship with you." 

The next words out of his mouth changed everything...

First off, let me say I'm sorry that I didn't post yesterday! My day got busy and it just wasn't happening. But...I have a surprise. I am announcing a new story that will be released in October. In spirit of Halloween just around the corner, I want to release my vampire forbidden romance titled Forbidden Fruit. This is the first book in a series of six. It's up on my profile, along with the Reader's Guide I highly recommend you check out! The first chapter will be released on 9/16.

Thank you for reading 🖤