Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Gray

Traffic. I jumped out of the cab two blocks from The Plaza and tossed a fifty at the driver. Quicker to walk. Which is what I started to do, until my walk turned into a jog, and the jog quickly turned into a full damn sprint.

The doorman wasn’t sure whether to put his hand up to stop me or open the door.

“Where’s the restaurant?” I demanded.

“Which one, sir?”

Shit.“All of them.”

I started at the bottom. Palm Court was packed with people, but none of them was Layla. Next I hit The Champagne Bar, although that came up empty, too. I waited for the elevator to The Rose Club, but became impatient and went in search of stairs. Taking them two at a time, I made my way up and brushed past the maître d’ as he attempted to help me.

No sign of her at the bar.

I headed to an interior flight of stairs, which led to an oversized living room-like setup. Scanning the large room, I was just about to move to my next stop when I saw the top of a woman’s head over a tall red chair in a private corner of the room. She was sitting alone.

My heart raced out of control. It had to be her. As I got closer, I realized I had no idea what the hell I was going to say. Weaving my way through the furniture, I caught sight of a set of legs. Gorgeous, sexy, spectacular legs. I’d know them anywhere.

I stopped behind her chair and took a few deep breaths before taking the plunge.

Layla had her head down and was texting on her phone as I approached. It took her a few seconds to realize someone was standing in front of her. When she looked up, she blinked a few times.

“Gray? What are you doing here?”

“I need to talk to you.”

The surprise on her face morphed into anger. “Here? Now? You didn’t seem too concerned when I wanted to talk to you.” She stood and folded her arms across her chest. “Make an appointment with my secretary on Monday for whatever you need.”

“No.”

Her brows shot up. “No?”

“It can’t wait.”

She shook her head and stepped closer. The fire in her eyes should have made me back up, but instead it fucking turned me on. It reminded me of the first time we’d met. Her blunt mouth had attracted me to her even before I’d noticed how perfect her lips were. That had been our thing—straight-up, no-bullshit honesty.

Her hands flew to her hips. “You have some balls, you know that? You dump me, write me off as if I never existed, then show up here while I’m waiting to have dinner and expect me to drop everything and talk to you?”

“Don’t talk. Just listen.”

The fire in her eyes flared. She opened her mouth to say something, then shut it and lifted her arm to look at her watch. “You’ve got one minute.”

I couldn’t resist the urge to touch her any longer. Reaching out, I cupped her face in my hands. She didn’t smack them away, which I thought was a good sign.

“I fucked up. I know. I ended things because I thought it was best for you. Today I realized I didn’t even know what was best for me, so how the hell could I have known what was best for you?”

Her face softened.

“I know you don’t want children. A month ago I might’ve said the same thing. We both come from screwed-up families. But sometimes the unexpected comes along and makes us realize we never really knew what we wanted.”

“You never even asked me if I wanted children.”

I’d forgotten she didn’t know I’d read her list. I looked down at my feet. “When I was looking for takeout menus, you were in the shower. I saw what you wrote.”

Her eyes narrowed. “What I wrote? What are you talking about?”

I had the fucking thing memorized after so many times of playing it back in my mind. “I’ll never be his priority… I’ll get hurt again.… Never really wanted kids.… I deserve more.”

I looked at her and nodded. “I know you deserve more. You deserve exactly what you want. But maybe there’s a chance that what you want could change.”

Layla’s eyes seemed to go unfocused for a minute, as if she was searching for something. Then a look of recognition formed.

“You read one of my notebooks?”

“It wasn’t intentional. But yeah, I did.”

“And that’s why you broke up with me? Because of the list?”

I shook my head. “I should’ve spoken to you about it.”

“Yeah. You should’ve. You know why?”

I nodded. “Because I didn’t have the right to make a choice for you.”

“That’s true. But it also would have given me a chance to tell you what you read wasn’t about you.”

“What?”

“That’s right. I’d like to have kids someday. If you had asked me, I would have told you that. What you read was a list I made probably fifteen years ago—about whether I should forgive my father.”

I stared at her in disbelief.

She ticked off the list on her fingers. “I’ll never be his priority. I’ll get hurt again. Never really wanted kids. I deserve more. I believe that was written when he didn’t show up for my middle school graduation ceremony after he’d promised he’d be there. If I remember correctly, there was also he’s not dependable. Because he wasn’t. Ever.”

I ran a hand through my hair. “Jesus Christ. Are you serious?”

“Based on that alone, you walked away from me. Without a fight?”

“Max said when you spoke to her—”

Layla held up a hand. “Don’t even finish that sentence.”

Shit.

She lifted her wrist and glanced at her watch. “Five seconds. Anything else?”

Shit.

It was now or never. I missed everything about this woman. From the way she smelled to the attitude she gave me to the warm feeling I had in my chest being near her again. My eyes dropped to her nose, and I realized she hadn’t covered her freckles. It gave me the courage I needed to lay my heart on the line.

“I love you. I’ve never been surer of anything in my life. I fucking love you, Layla. We were meant to be together. We both knew it from that very first day. Loving you is like breathing; I can’t stop.”

Her pursed lips tilted upward, but then fell again. “You hurt me, Gray. Twice. I can’t go through that again.”

“I know. And if you let me have another chance, I promise I’ll make it up to you. I won’t doubt things between us again. I can’t. Because I want to grow old with you, Freckles. We both grew up looking at our parents’ relationships and not wanting to repeat what we saw. Ella will grow up wanting what she sees we have. We can break the cycle and do it right.”

Tears filled her eyes. “I’m scared, Gray.”

“Do you love me?”

She nodded. “I couldn’t move on after we split the first time because I didn’t know how to let go. I still don’t.”

“So don’t, babe. Just hold on. And I’ll do the same.” My thumb caught a tear that spilled over.

“I miss Ella,” she said.

It was my turn to get choked up. The only thing that made me happier than hearing she loved me was hearing she loved my daughter, too.

“She wants to paint her room in my house rainbow.”

Layla smiled. “We can do that. When I was a kid, I always wanted white walls with a big rainbow painted on it.”

She said we. I brushed my lips against hers. When she didn’t stop me, I kept going. I licked her lips, urging her to open for me, and she moaned into my mouth. The kiss was more passionate than anything we’d ever shared. So much pent-up emotion zapped between us that it was impossible not to feel the burn. I wrapped her in my arms, holding her flush against me. The smell of her perfume and taste of her sweet kiss had me lost to where I even was. When I lifted her in the air, wanting to wrap her legs around me and back her against the nearest wall, Layla came to her senses.

“Gray…”

“Mmmm?” I tugged her hair, and my mouth began to explore her neck.

“We’re in a public place.”

I nibbled her ear. “Bathroom. Where’s the nearest bathroom?”

She giggled. The sound was better than any melody to my ears. “I don’t think we should go into a bathroom. But…we are in a hotel.”

“Fuck, yeah.” Reluctantly, I let her go, but only to race her out of the bar and toward the front desk. She had to practically run in her heels to keep up with me. Those things were definitely staying on.

Thank God, the hotel had a room.

Once we were in the elevator, I finally got to press her against the wall. I grabbed her ass and guided her legs around my waist, neither of us giving a shit that she was wearing a dress. Then I sucked on her collarbone and told her all of the things I couldn’t wait to do to her.

“I can’t wait to come inside of you. I don’t even give a fuck that it’s primal and chauvinistic. I want to mark every part of your body as mine. I’m going to leave bite marks on your thighs before I suck your pussy and you come in my mouth. I’m going to come in your sweet cunt and then your mouth. When I’m done, I’m going to bend you over the bed and fuck your ass with my fingers until you beg for my cock there, too.”

“God, Gray.”

The doors slid open, and a startled-looking couple forced us to separate. Luckily, it was our floor.

Our only pause was stumbling into our hotel room like horny teenagers. And that was just because I couldn’t decide where I wanted to fuck her first—up against the door, on the expensive desk in the corner of the room, or on the plush, king-size bed. Then again, the arm of the couch looked the perfect height for bending her over.... Bed. The bed has to be first.

Somehow I managed to strip us both out of our clothes while keeping our tongues entwined. I pulled back to look at her when she was naked. Her raven hair spread out over the white bedding, and her naturally tan body had a sheen of sweat I wanted to lick off from head to toe. But her beauty kept me standing there, staring.

“You are…” I was truly at a loss for words. “I want to say beautiful, but it doesn’t seem like enough. You are…the love of my life.”

She reached up, extending her hand to me. I kissed the top and the palm before threading our fingers together and climbing on top of her. Pulling our joined hands over her head, I lined up my cock with her slick entrance. Rubbing up and down, the feel of her wet heat was almost enough to make me come.

I took her mouth in a kiss as I pushed inside. My arms trembled as I steadied myself. “I love you, Layla.”

“I love you, too, Gray.” She smiled and wrapped her legs around my hips.

I’d wanted to stay put, tell her more about how I felt about her, but the urge to move was too great. I glided in and out, sucking on every part of her body as I went—her tits, her throat, her luscious lips. But when our eyes locked, we began to make love. Real, true, raw, painfully beautiful love. Like nothing I’d ever experienced.

I wanted to keep going slow, cherish this moment in time and never leave it, but when your woman utters the words, “Come inside of me. Please come inside of me,” any chance of slow and steady gets tossed out the window.

My pace ratcheted up, and when she tightened her legs around my waist, I sank deep, rubbing against the spot she loved so much. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she moaned.

“That’s it. Come for me, babe. I’m going to fill your pussy…. I’m going to come so hard…”

Her body clenched down, and she began to spasm all around me. She called my name in a mix of a moan and scream as together we rode out her wave. When she started to come down, I sped up and fucked her even harder. Our bodies slapping against each other was the most erotic sound I’d ever heard. I was buried so deep, and she was so open for me, that my balls started to smack between her ass cheeks. Unable to hold back any more, I let go, coming long and hard inside of her.

It took a long time for us to catch our breath. Rolling off, I took her with me, settling on my back with her on top. Her head rested above my heart.

“Your heart is beating so fast.”

“That’s what you do to me.”

I felt her smile against my chest while I stroked her damp hair.

A few minutes later, she turned her head and rested her chin on her hand to look up at me. “Shoot. I need to make a call.”

My body stiffened. The only person she could possibly have to call at this moment would be her date. My arms locked around her, and I firmed up my grip. Logical or not, I was jealous of the man she’d stood up tonight for the mere fact that she’d almost gone out with him.

“Could we at least wait until my cock deflates before you get up to call another man?”

Her brows furrowed. “Another man? What are you talking about?”

“Weren’t you going to call your date and apologize for standing him up?”

She lifted her head. “Wait. How did you know I was even here tonight?”

“Etta told me.”

Layla started to laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

“Etta. She played both of us. I’m supposed to be meeting her for dinner here tonight. She told me a story about how she ran into her husband here and said they came back every year on their anniversary—how when she was a little girl she always thought the place was magical, and then when she ran into the man she eventually married here, it confirmed it.”

“I vaguely remember that from years ago. They’d both get all dressed up and come here every year.”

“So it wasn’t that you suddenly figured out you loved me and couldn’t live without me, it was more like jealousy that got you off your ass to try to win me back.”

“Does it matter what it took?”

“You’re a jealous person normally, aren’t you?”

“I’m only jealous when people touch what’s mine, sweetheart.”

“But I wasn’t yours when you thought I had made plans for a date with a man tonight.”

I reached down and pulled Layla up from my chest so we were eye to eye. “You’ve been mine since the day we met. We may not have always been together, but that didn’t make you any less mine.”