Page 7 of Grey (Little River Stallions #2)

“You’re so distracted, you’ve dropped books three times,” Mrs. Fielder said from behind the circulation desk. “Are you all right?”

Tatum smiled. “I’m fine, I’m just tired.”

“Didn’t sleep well?”

She’d slept just fine, but she’d been caught up in the sexiest dream she’d ever had in her life and it had starred the surprisingly sweet Grey.

She still couldn’t believe that he’d not only looked up a local legend to share with her, but he’d listened intently to her ramble over dinner about the town legends that she’d learned about.

He asked questions, he teased her about some of the legends, and overall she’d had the best time with him.

Then he’d followed her to her cabin and walked her to the door, leaving after a kiss that devastated her senses and made her want to haul him inside by his collar and take him to bed.

Which was probably why she’d had a sex dream about him.

And woken up tingling in all the good places.

Even now her body felt alive just thinking about him.

He was so damn sexy. How could she feel like this after just a couple days? Two freaking dates and she wanted to climb him like a tree.

She walked over to the desk and said, “Do you believe in love at first sight?”

“Sure. Read enough romance books and you’ll feel like anything is possible, even finding true love after one glance.”

“Okay, but fictional stories are one thing and reality is another.”

“Yes,” she said, leaning forward on the desk.

“I do believe in love at first sight. When I met my husband, it was like getting hit with a dart between the eyes. Or in the heart, I guess. But love at first sight is shallow, you know? It’s the stuff of quickies and passion and bubble baths.

Love at first sight is a sprint, but real romance, real love comes later on.

That’s the stuff of late nights with a colicky baby, worry about paying the bills, or arguing about putting underwear in the hamper and not on the floor. Real love is a marathon.”

“I like that,” Tatum said.

“So did you fall in love with someone already?”

Tatum rubbed the space over her heart. “I’m a little nervous. Gunshy. I don’t want to get burned by jumping in too fast again, but I can’t stop thinking about him.”

“Tell me about him.”

She shared about getting lost and being rescued, the first date, and then the amazing time last night in the park. But she skipped the part where she’d dreamed about him sexing her up all night.

“I know them, they’re all very nice young men and highly thought of around town. What makes you so nervous?”

“I don’t trust myself. I stayed with my ex for too long, and I can’t even say why I did when it was bad from the get-go. I came here for a fresh start, and what does it say about my heart that the first guy I meet I practically fall in love with after he rescued me?”

“I’d say that it’s kismet, which is really no different than love at first sight.” She patted her hands. “It’s okay to be nervous, but don’t let it put up walls around your heart and keep you from what might be the greatest love of your life. Tell him your past so he knows why you’re nervous.”

“What if he thinks I have too much baggage?”

Mrs. Fielder scoffed. “Honey, he researched the park’s fountain so he had something to talk to you about. If that isn’t a man in love already, I don’t know what is. You know what I think?”

“What?”

“That you should go see him tonight. Tell him your truths and lay yourself bare. The only way you’ll know if he’s the right guy for you, if he’s your one-great-love, is if he sticks around after you flay yourself alive for him. Metaphorically, of course.”

Something like anxiety rose up inside her, but it wasn’t sharp like panic, it was more a worry that laying herself on the line might bite her in the ass.

But she knew that was her past talking and trying to hold her down.

She wasn’t the girl who was afraid to put herself out there anymore, and even though she’d planned to stay out of the dating pool for a good long while until she healed from her past, she couldn’t deny that being with Grey was wonderful.

“I’ll go see him after work,” she said.

She didn’t know what would happen when she got to the farm, but she was sure that it would be a night to remember.

Tatum’s heart was in her throat when she knocked on the farmhouse door. She could hear low voices inside, and when the door swung open, Grey was there.

“Tatum! I wasn’t expecting to see you. How was work? Would you like to come in?”

Oh crap, she was full-blown trembling right now.

Not just because of what weighed on her mind, but because he was so freaking good-looking that whenever she was around him, all she could think about was getting naked and doing fun things together.

His brow furrowed. “Hey, are you okay?”

Finding her voice, she said, “Yeah, is there a place we could talk in private?”

“Sure,” he said, stepping onto the porch and pulling the door shut. “There’s an apartment in the storage barn that no one is using.”

“Oh. Why is there an apartment in the barn?”

“The original owner built it for his son. When Tris first came to work for us, she stayed there, but after she and Khyle built their home, she moved out and it’s been empty since.”

He pulled open the door to the barn and they walked inside, then up a flight of wooden stairs.

He turned on the overhead light and she found herself in an efficiency-style apartment, with a kitchenette, couch, and television, plus a bed and dresser behind a screen.

“Are you hungry or thirsty? We keep the fridge stocked.”

“No, I’m fine.”

She sat on the couch and fidgeted with the hem of her skirt.

He joined her, their knees touching as he got comfortable. He put his arm on the back of the couch and gave her an encouraging look.

“I wanted to,” she started, then stopped and had to clear her throat.

Gah, she’d never really shared her life story before.

And there was something so significant about the whole thing right now because it was Grey and she liked him so much.

Even though they’d only known each other for a very short time.

Before she lost her nerve, she launched into her story.

“I had a really normal childhood. My mom stayed home and my dad worked long hours at a factory. She was always there to greet me after school with a snack and an encouraging “How was your day, honey?” And then when I was in high school, she got sick. Cancer took her when I was sixteen.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he said, reaching for her hand.

Their fingers linked, and she felt bolstered by his touch and the compassion she could see on his face.

Blowing out a breath, she told him that her mother’s death revealed a family secret her mom had expertly kept hidden from her all her life—her father was a drug addict and had been systematically trying to take every penny he made and give it to the local meth dealers.

Once her mom was gone, her dad took everything, including stealing from her.

“It took every ounce of creativity I had to hide the money I made from my part-time job from him. I had a checking account and he stole my debit card, so I closed the account and cashed my checks. He would search my room and steal any money he found, and if he couldn’t steal it, he would try to manipulate me into giving it to him.

I knew I had to get out—out of the house, out of town—so with the help of my guidance counselor, I was able to qualify for a scholarship and I went to community college at night during the last two years of high school. ”

“Shit, you were going to high school, and college, and working part time? When did you sleep?”

She chuckled and her eyes stung. It had been a damn hard two years. Especially when her dad had managed to wipe out her meager savings not just one time, but three times. He was always sorry, always tried to make it up to her.

“I didn’t. Not until I graduated with my associate’s of library science and from high school. I moved out immediately and found a roommate to share a place with after I got my first job in a library, and that’s where I met Ryan.”

She told him about the charming man who’d swept her off her feet and made her feel like she was important and that he cared.

“That was love-bombing, I think the term is,” she said.

“He was a narcissist, and after I moved in with him, I slowly realized the charming mannerisms were a facade, and then I just felt trapped. It was like once I was living with him, it was clear that only he mattered. He belittled me, never supported me, and made me feel like I was just the supporting character in his life.” She wasn’t sure exactly what had been the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back, but it had taken four years for her to finally have enough of it all.

A mixture perhaps, of finding women like herself on social media who’d broken away from men who didn’t value them, or the books she lost herself in to escape the awful feelings she had at the house.

“I went to see my dad to tell him that I wanted to leave Ryan. I think that I was looking for him to show me that he’d changed, that the four years we’d been radio silent had made him rethink his behavior.

But all he wanted to know was if Ryan would be willing to lend him money so he didn’t get kicked out of the crappy apartment he’d had to move into after losing the house that I’d grown up in.

I stayed with an acquaintance at the library where I worked for a little while after I left Ryan and looked for a new job out of state.

” She looked down at hers and Grey’s linked hands and smiled.

“You know what’s weird? Ryan never came looking for me.

Once I blocked his number it was like he just didn’t give a damn.

He didn’t come to the library or follow me to force me to talk to him.

I got lucky, I know, because he could have been one of those dangerous guys who stalked and terrorized me, but regardless, I was determined to get myself free. ”

She let the story of her life hang between them, feeling open and exposed in a way that she never had before. She very much wanted Grey to know about her history because he was a great guy, but she’d been burned by great guys before.

Grey cupped her face and she looked at him, meeting his pretty gray eyes and finding compassion and concern in the depths.

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m so very sorry for everything you’ve been through.

You’re so strong and fierce. I can’t imagine how scared you felt to move away from everything and start over on your own, but you did it.

I’m so freaking proud of you.” He leaned over and brushed his lips against hers.

“Thank you for sharing your life with me.”

She brushed at the few tears that had escaped while she talked. It was freeing to share everything with him, but scary too. She’d never told anyone the whole story. She’d always hated how long she stayed with her ex, and how destructive her dad’s behavior had been.

But she knew she was better than her past, stronger than all that. She felt free of the chains that had been wrapped around her for such a long time, and part of that freedom was knowing that Grey was the guy she wanted to be with.

The part of her that wanted to take things slow was the old her , the one who was afraid of falling into old habits or getting wrapped up with the wrong guy.

“You’re different,” she said. “I feel different with you.”

“Good different, I hope?”

She smiled. “Definitely. I feel like I can tell you anything and you won’t judge me and you never make me feel dumb for liking the legends and history of places. Heck, you didn’t even make me feel bad when you had to rescue me in the woods.”

“We all make mistakes.” He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and she shivered at the touch. “You’re so precious to me. I feel like I know you so much better now.”

She felt entirely lost in his eyes, lost to everything around them but what was simmering in the air. Tension and passion, both seemingly waiting for the other to make the first move.

She’d never considered herself bold, but after telling him all her truths and feeling better for it—lighter and less burdened by everything—she was definitely feeling something .

Hot, among other things.

“Grey,” she murmured his name.

“Yeah, sweetheart?”

Her breath gusted between her parted lips. Her heart pounded in her chest.

Instead of saying anything, she leaned into him for a kiss and poured all the passion she was feeling into it.

Would he understand what she wasn’t able to articulate?

That she needed him on every level in a way she’d never needed anyone before, and that’s how she knew he was her one right guy .

The man of her dreams.

Her sexy, sexy Grey.