His right hand slides up my left calf and hooks my knee. “You have a big smile. It takes over your whole face, and it’s impossible to look at anything else.” He pulls my legs apart before moving over me. His hand keeps moving upward, cupping my butt. “You have an amazing ass.” He flicks my bra open. “You’re the hardest worker I know.”

I swallow a couple of times. Otherwise, I’m worried I might start crying. Compliments don’t have to be sweeping declarations. They can be simple and matter-of-fact. And coming from Gray, who doesn’t compliment anyone about anything, it means a lot.

He keeps talking and touching me, and there’s a voice telling me that this won’t end well. That I might have thought I fell in love with Gray a long time ago—that was child’s play compared to this. That I fell when I kissed him. When he kissed me back. That every moment we’ve spent together, I’ve sunk deeper. That moving on before—as pitiful an attempt as it apparently was, since it didn’t exactly take me long to warm back up to the idea—might have been easy in comparison to this.

After we both come, he’s the one who tugs me to his chest.

We lie like that. He traces circles on my skin. I listen to his heartbeat.

And I know it with complete certainty.

I love you, Gray.

I just don’t know what to do about it.

I’m already awake when he starts to move. I keep my eyes closed because I know what I’ll have to face when I open them. Gray climbs out of bed. I hear the rustle of fabric as he starts pulling on his clothes. I never knew how final getting dressed could sound.

You can do this, Evie.

I scrunch my eyes as tightly as I can in protest, then open them. I sit up slowly.

Gray finishes pulling his T-shirt on before he glances over. “Morning.”

“Morning.” My voice comes out scratchy, so I clear my throat. Once. Twice. Three times. The ball of emotion doesn’t go anywhere.

He walks over and takes a seat on the edge of the mattress. “I’ve got to go.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“Evie…”

“Be careful. Don’t do anything stupid. Okay?”

“I’m good at my job, Evie.”

“Modest too.”

A smirk flashes across his face.

“Promise me you’ll be careful, Gray.”

“I promise.”

I lean forward and wrap my arms around him, inhaling his scent and soaking in his presence for the few more seconds I have it.

He kisses the top of my head. “You’re not a fly by, Evie.”

Then, he pulls back and walks away. In seconds, he’s gone from my life without a backward glance.