Page 69 of Keeping You

“Oh, you’re so needy,” I mock.

His grip on my hair tightens again, and he tips my head back so that I make eye contact with him. “Yes, Spitfire, I’m always needy for my wife. You want to mock me, see if I let you come next time.”

Fucking. Hell.

Grayson Maxwell owning up to how much he needs me, but also putting me in my place is the hottest thing I’ve ever experienced.

His grip on my hair loosens, and I wrap my lips around him again. This time, I don’t go slow or tease him. I work to bring him to the edge as quickly as possible. I know he’s close when he twitches in my mouth and starts to pull my hair slightly. I hollow my cheeks two more times, and he comes, calling my name. I take every last drop he has to give me. When he’s done, I releasehim with a pop and run my tongue slowly over my bottom lip, collecting any stray drops.

He pulls his shorts back up and leans his head back, and a laugh leaves him. “Fucking hell, Spitfire. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with you.”

I stand and brace myself on the arms of his chair. “Keep fucking me, I guess.”

He laughs, and I head inside, needing a shower before I climb into bed.

Grayson’s not in bed when I wake up in the morning. He’s not in the kitchen or the back deck either, but his bags are packed and by the door.

Melanie spots me and gives me a soft smile. “He’s not here. He left early this morning. He said he’ll be back in time for you guys to get on the road.”

“Oh. Okay.” Grayson never mentioned to me that he had something to do before we leave today.

I take a seat at the table, and Melanie pours a cup of coffee and places it in front of me. I smile at her and take a sip. It’s exactly how I take it. She must read the confusion on my face because she says, “Grayson left a note beside the coffee pot earlier this week with how you take your coffee.”

Just another thing chipping away at me previous feelings towards him.

“We’re going to miss you,” Melanie says, pulling me from my thoughts.

I smile. “I’m going to miss you, too.”

She leans forward, bracing herself on the table. “No matter what happens with Grayson, please don’t be a stranger.”

Her words hit me straight in the heart. Does that mean she’s known all along that I was planning on divorcing Grayson? I can’t think of what to say, so I just nod. I finish my coffee and head back upstairs to finish packing my bag. As I’m lugging it down the stairs, I hear the mudroom door open and close and Grayson’s heavy footsteps. When I meet him in the kitchen, his eyes are full of pain.

“Hey,” I say, almost in a whisper.

“Hey.”

He reaches down and grabs my bag and his and takes them outside. Melanie and I follow behind him, stopping on the deck to hug each other.

When Grayson returns, he hugs his mom, and I hear her whisper, “Are you okay?” He nods against her and when he pulls back, he kisses her on the cheek and then leads me down to the car.

Grayson’s mood is distant when we get in the car. I watch through the side mirror as we leave Willow Valley and wonder if I’ll ever get the chance to return.

CHAPTER 25

Grayson

Iknow Hannah doesn’t deserve my distant mood during the long drive home, but I don’t know how to kick it. Every time I go and visit that spot, it puts me in a mood that takes time to kick. I had to go before we left. There’s no way I’d be able to live with myself if I didn’t. In the past, the only people who have had to deal with me after were Mom, Dad, and Chloe, and they understood it. I don’t even have the strength to explain to Hannah where I went and why it affects me the way it does.

She’s quiet, giving me space, and more and more it shows me I don’t deserve her. She’s giving me everything I need and asking for nothing in return. It’s selfish of me to continue taking from her the way I have been. Every time I visit that spot, it reminds me of the decision I made over ten years ago. It was one I didn’t make lightly. It was shaped by pain I don’t think I’d survive experiencing again.

Hannah is everything good. She deserves the world handed to her on a silver platter. I want to be the man who does that, and the thought that I can’t fucking sucks.

We make a quick stop for lunch in a little highway town before finishing our drive home. It’s almost 6 p.m. by the time we get there. When we get upstairs, we settle on the couch; me watching a baseball game and her reading a book. Both of us are silent the entire time. When I yawn, she closes her book, leaving it on the table, and gets up, offering me her hand. I stare at it.

“Let’s go to bed.”

My eyes dart to the couch where I’ve been sleeping for the last few weeks.

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