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“Doesn’t mean you can’t still get naked,” I add. “Just so we’re clear. Naked portraits are my specialty.”

He raises his brows. “Are they now?”

“Yep.”

“Funny, I didn’t catch any of those at your showing.”

“Well, of course not. Those are personal.” I’m barely holding back my laughter. I mash my lips down on my smile in an attempt to anyway.

“Mmhmm.” He smirks. “We’ll see about that.”

And I know I’m only joking—I’ve never actually painted anyone naked before. Not from a real, live model, anyway. But the thought of painting Greyson that way feels suddenly, absolutely andobscenelynecessary.

Yeah. It has to happen. I’m going to make sure it does.

I don’t even try to hide my smile at that thought.

Greyson laughs in response, probably already knowing where my mind has headed. “Did you enjoy yourself tonight?” he asks, switching gears, his tone shifting into a more serious one.

“I did. Probably a little too much,” I say, sighing and sinking back into Lady’s seat. “But your people are awesome.”

“Yours are too.” He chuckles.

“Yeah, they are,” I say, and my eyes drift closed. Lady rumbles beneath me, soothing. “I’m so happy you kept her.”

“Hmm?”

“Lady. I’m really glad you still have her.”

“Yeah? And why is that?” I can hear the smile in his voice.

I shrug, a small lift of my shoulders. “Remember that day you drove me down to the beach?”

There’s a beat of pause before, “Yeah, of course I do.”

“I never thanked you for that.”

“You didn’t need to, Jess,” he says quietly. His hand wraps firmly around my knee and squeezes once, reassuringly.

I open my eyes and nod, but I feel the need to thank him anyway. “It helped me,” I say. “I’d never really allowed myself to sit with my feelings like that, until that day. To sort through them and see where they laid. You gave me a safe place to do that, and I…

“I finally started healing that day. So, thank you.” I smile for the millionth time tonight, but this one feels wholly different from the rest.

His eyes meet mine. “You’re welcome, but that was all you,” he says.

“No.” I shake my head. “You helped me more than you know. In so many ways.”

He smiles, too, and nods, his eyes back on the road as he laces his fingers through mine. “You helped me, too, you know.”

I squeeze his fingers tighter and turn my body in my seat to fully face him. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” He swallows. “Talking to you about what happened with my parents…with my father. It helped me move on from it, too.”

“I’m glad,” I tell him, and I mean it with every fiber of my being. After all I’ve felt like he’s given me, it’s nice to know that I was able to give him back a little something, too...

I don’t realize we’re here until Greyson gently shakes me awake, and I startle a little in Lady’s seat.

“Sorry.” Greyson softly chuckles, and I smile into a yawn. “But we’re home.” He glances out the front windshield and up to his house with a crooked tilt of his lips.