Page 81 of Unrivaled

“Uh, right.”

Her grin pulls wider. “I’m so glad you two are together.”

My cheeks heat, and I look away, grateful that she’s released her hold on me. “Oh, um …”

“Right, right,” she interrupts my stammering. “I get it. No worries. It’s still new or whatever.” She leans in closer. “For what it’s worth? I’ve never seen Gray act like this with anyone else. Ever. He’s absolutely smitten.”

With that, she slips into the bathroom, and I walk back downstairs mildly dazed from the encounter.

Gray’s smitten? With me?

I mean, I know he likes me. Obviously.

But some part of me has still been wondering if he’s pursuing me to make it easier to get access to Ben.

If Piper’s to be believed, though, maybe his feelings for me are separate from Ben. And he has mentioned that he’s wanted to pursue a relationship with me since back in high school. Would he still have wanted to if Ben didn’t exist, though?

That’s the question. And regardless of what Piper thinks, I don’t actually know the answer. And I don’t know that Gray does either.

* * *

By the time we get back to Gray’s apartment, Ben’s already asleep. I carefully remove him from his car seat and carry him inside. Gray holds all the doors open for me and gets a Pull-Up and pajamas out of Ben’s suitcase. The poor little guy barely twitches as I wrestle him out of his dress clothes and into the Pull-Up and his favorite pajamas with cartoon sharks eating pizzas all over them.

When I finish, Gray stands next to me and gazes at our adorable child asleep in his bed. “How is he even cuter when he sleeps?” he asks, his voice full of wonder.

“I don’t know,” I whisper back. “But he really is. This is my favorite time of day.”

Gray chuckles softly beside me, burying his face in my hair to stifle his laughter. “I can understand that.”

Wrapping my fingers around his, I tug him behind me out of the room and wait as he closes the door quietly behind us. We walk to the living room hand in hand and sink into his fancy new couch by silent agreement.

He twists a strand of hair around his fingers. “I like having you here,” he says, his voice barely above a whisper.

I give him a smile. “I like being here too.”

His eyes meet mine, and his lips part like he wants to say something, but then he closes his mouth and swallows. “Are you hungry or anything? Thirsty?”

Shaking my head, I bend and remove my shoes. “No. I’m still full from dinner. Did your mom cook all that?”

He nods. “Yeah. She went all out tonight since we were having special guests for Thursday dinner.”

“Oh, man. She’s an amazing cook.”

He gives me that boyish grin we were discussing at dinner. “She really is. It’s a blessing and a curse.”

A bark of laughter escapes, and I cover my mouth to muffle it. “Seriously? A curse?”

He shrugs, his smile going lopsided. “She always wants to feed me too many carbs and all the desserts. No matter how many times I tell her that I need to follow my meal plan, she scoffs and insists that I’m a growing boy and I need plenty of calories. And of course the calories she provides me are far superior to any I could cook for myself or whatever the team nutritionist has recommended.”

I laugh some more. “I can totally see that from her.”

His gaze softens as he continues to fiddle with my hair. “You were a hit tonight.”

I scoff. “I think you mean Ben was a hit tonight.”

“Him too.” His smile is crooked and a little wistful as he meets my eyes. “But you charmed them as much as he did. You’re where he gets that from. He might have my smile, but he has your charm.”

Ducking my head to hide my pinkening cheeks, I can’t suppress the smile his words bring to my face. “Thanks.”

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