Page 19 of A Lesson in Obedience

The waitress gave us a small nod and sauntered off to another table.

“Well, River never stops talking about you either by the way. Should I be jealous?” Riley snickered, nudging my shoulder with her own.

I let out a cough, flicking my eyes to Grayson, who was grabbing a breadstick and hadn’t taken his eyes off of her.

My best friend bit off a piece of bread. “Oh no, he loves you. Believe me.”

Riley had started chewing a piece of her own bread, but his words caused her to end up in a coughing fit. I narrowed my eyes at him because as much as his words rang true, I hadn’t exactly said ‘I love you’ yet. It was early and I didn’t want to scare her off, but I may have admitted that to him at two in the morning, at a bar where I spent hours unloading how much I enjoyed her very existence.

Grayson pressed his lips together, flinching. “Heh, I’m just kidding. He doesn’t love you at all. I’ll shut up.”

“Yes, shutting up would be a good thing right about now,” I scolded.

Riley placed a hand on her chest. “It’s okay.” She slapped my arm. “Are you saying that it’s not true?”

I opened my mouth and then closed it, running my index finger over my forehead. “When did this entire night become about me? I will not be ganged up on, thank you.” I looked at my girlfriend, giving her a small smile and kicking her foot under the table.

Grayson cleared his throat. “Fine, we’ll talk about something more interesting. Someone just had a birthday, hmm?”

Riley lifted her menu up, so it hid part of her face. “Yes, but that was last week. We are done celebrating me.”

I ducked behind her menu and kissed her cheek. “You should always be celebrated, gorgeous.”

I scoffed when I heard Grayson mutter the word ‘obsessed’ into his hand. Riley’s giggle brought music to my ears. They both started talking at the same time, laughing and finally got to the topic of books, which sent them into even more frantic rambling. She got distracted by something on her phone, giving me some relief from trying to keep up with their conversation, when I heard a familiar voice tapping against my mind.

Out of your league. Grayson thought to me.

I side-eyed him but he was engrossed in his menu.

I mentally answered him back.You think I don’t know that. She is practically dry heaving over here because you can actually have a conversation about the books she likes.

I watched the corner of his mouth lift up before he placed a hand over his lips.

She’s gorgeous.He thought back.

I had to stop myself from letting out a barking laugh. Ooh…does Grayson have a crush?

He looked up at me and I watched him swallow slowly.Of course not.

I peered over at Riley, down at the table and then back at my best friend. I let my thoughts travel like silk.I won’t be mad if you do. You are very good at fixing your face, but I can tell when you want to practically devour someone. I’ve seen it before, remember?

He reached for his water glass, downing half of it, but somehow maintaining eye contact with me.

“Are you guys having a mental conversation about me?” Riley inquired, giving each of us a skeptical look.

“What would you say if I said yes?” I asked, wiggling my eyebrows at her.

She pushed her bottom lip out. “I would say it’s rude, since I’m sitting right here.” She pressed her hand against my cheek and playfully shoved my face away.

“We were talking about how pretty you look tonight,” Grayson offered. “The pictures River showed me really don’t do you justice.” As if on instinct, I watched his eyes do a quick look over her entire body and then return back to her face if it never happened.

Her eyes widened and she placed her hands against her cheeks as if she could feel them heating up. “Thanks.” Her voice was small and a little shy, it was like she enjoyed the attention but didn’t know what to do with it if it didn’t come from me. I wasn’t going to think too much about it at the moment, but I could see a tiny smile growing on her face, almost as if she enjoyed the compliment now that she thought about it.

Interesting. It was early in our relationship, but I was more than excited to learn everything I could about this girl.

The waitress came over to get each of our food orders and while Riley was explaining the certain substitutions she wanted, I heard Grayson in my head again.

Fine, it might be a little crush. She’s all yours though.