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CHAPTER ELEVEN

Emory

My pulse rushed, filling my ears with white noise as we approached the turn for Forrester & Sons Auto. The house was just a few hundred yards ahead. The first-floor windows glowed orange in the distance.

His brothers were still awake, then. Waiting to greet us as we walked in?

I slowed the car, unsure that I was ready for a welcome wagon at my very first hookup. Allison had encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone…but this was a whole different dimension. Maybe if I was out and proud like Gray, but I was still figuring shit out.

What if we got further into this and I freaked out like I did with Dallas? Gray would let me stop. He’d said as much. But I’d have to flee his house like a ridiculous coward.

In front of his brothers.

“Emory?” Gray touched my arm. “You okay?”

I’d come to a full stop at a fork in the path: driving straight would take us to the auto shop, and curving right would take us toward the house.

“Um…”

“If you’re having second thoughts, you can just drop me off and go.”

My hands clenched on the wheel. “No, I… It’s just that your brothers are all there, and I know you said they know and they’re cool, but I’m not ready for all that.”

“Okay, I get it.”

I cursed under my breath. “I don’t want the night to end like this, though.”

I shot him a pleading look, silently begging him for something I didn’t know how to express. To give me what I needed even as I shied away from it.

“How would you feel about helping me rewrite a bad memory?” he asked.

“I’m not really sure what that means.”

He pointed toward the auto shop. “No one is in the garage at this hour. Last time I had a guy in there, the only time I had a guy in there, my life blew up.”

I drove into the auto lot. “Is that why you left town?”

“Yeah. Foster dad caught us. Wasn’t pretty.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It was a long time ago.” Gray shifted toward me. “Tonight isn’t about reliving that. It’s about experiencing something better. Giving me some good memories to enjoy every time I go to work.”

My stomach fluttered. Gray thinking about me every time he clocked in at the shop? I liked the idea of that. Even if we only did this once, even if it was casual, it would mean something to him.

Tonight was a big deal for me. I’d never forget it. And now, Gray wouldn’t either.

“Yeah, okay.” I drove up to the garage and killed the engine. “Let’s go.”

Gray unfastened his seat belt, then drew me into a long kiss. My insides instantly liquified, and I sank into him. It was strange, leaning into a man and letting his strength hold me, but natural too. Gray was solid—in body and spirit—the kind of guy who wouldn’t let me fall.

“Couldn’t wait,” he murmured against my lips.

I smiled as he pulled away, some of my nerves calming. When Gray got out of the car, I followed. The shop building wasn’t new, but there was a code-entry lock. Gray put in a six-digit code, and it whirred, and then the door clicked loudly as it unlocked.

He pushed it open, leading me inside. “Used to just have a key entry when I was a kid, but I guess after Bailey lost his key for the third time, Holden had enough.”

I chuckled. “I don’t blame him.”

Gray hit a switch on the wall, flooding one side of the bay with light. I scanned the garage as my eyes adjusted. An older-model sedan sat in the center of the space, a tall industrial toolbox on wheels standing nearby.

A worktable covered in auto parts, rags, and other odds and ends rested against the back wall, right beside a large floor fan and a minifridge.

Gray stepped into my field of vision. “Still want to see my ink?”

All concern for my surroundings disappeared. I couldn’t have torn my gaze away from him if I’d tried. “Yeah.”

He grabbed the back of his collar, tugging his black T-shirt over his head in one smooth move. Damn. I didn’t know where to look first. His body was just as solid as it looked in that hot Instagram photo. His chest was broad and covered with dark curls that matched his hair, thinning as it arrowed down the center of his stomach and trailed behind his waistband. His shoulders were built, his arms defined by muscle, and it hit hard that there was not a single thing about Gray that was soft or delicate.

But the ink was another story. It softened him somehow, even with its broad strokes and lack of color. Maybe it was the artist in me, appreciating the flow of ink over his shoulder, the abstract design curving around his biceps, the seamless transition into the tire treads tracking across his elbow, leading to the portrait of a woman on his forearm.

I reached out. “Can I…”

Gray took my wrist and guided my fingers to the ink on his arm. I traced the arc of a dark, thick line over his shoulder and down to his pec, where a barbed-wire heart rested.

“Why this?” I asked, lightly touching each barb that looked sharp enough to cut, even if it was only ink on skin.

“It’s for my brothers,” he said roughly. “So I’d never forget where I came from, even if I could never go back.”

I glanced up, meeting his dark, intense eyes, and my heart skipped. This was just a hookup. My first hookup. So why did the pain in his voice make me hurt for him?

“You’re back now,” I said softly.

“I guess I am.”

I bent to kiss the center of that sharp-edged, ragged heart, then gave in to the urge to trace his ink with my tongue.

He tensed beneath me. “You’re killin’ me here, golden boy.”

I pulled back and glanced up. “What do you?—”

Gray pulled me into a rough, wet kiss. “Need more. Can’t wait.”

He pushed me back against the car and dropped to his knees in front of me.

I sucked in a sharp, startled breath.

Seeing a man like Gray go to his knees for me made my head swim. He was the opposite of Dallas. Taller, broader, more confident. He put off pure alpha vibes. And yet…

He didn’t need to push me to my knees to prove he was stronger.

“Can I blow you?” he asked, voice husky. “I’ve been thinking about it all damn night.”

“Really?”

He looked up at me, his lips hooking up at one corner. “Yeah, golden boy. You look good enough to eat.”

Heat rushed through me. More lust than embarrassment this time. My cock throbbed in my pants, fully on board with Gray’s suggestion.

I reached for my jeans button with trembling hands. “Please. Yes. Hurry.”

With a chuckle, he helped me tug my jeans and boxer briefs to mid-thigh, baring my aching cock. I had only a second to think about the fact I was dropping my pants for a man. Then his mouth was enveloping me, hot and wet, and I could only fall into sensation.

I collapsed back against the car, letting it take my weight as I spread my legs as wide as my pants would allow.

Gray worked his tongue up the underside of my cock, giving me a wet, sensuous stroke as his mouth tightened around me.

“Fuck,” I gasped.

He made a rumbling sound of approval that shot sparks of pleasure up and down my shaft. My balls ached with envy, but even as the thought entered my mind, Gray was grasping my sac and squeezing gently.

I groaned at the absolute perfection of a man between my legs.

My eyes slipped closed, pleasure overwhelming me, but I forced them open again. I didn’t want to miss a second of that strong jaw flexing as Gray swallowed my dick.

He held my gaze—a boldness to him that made me realize that even on his knees, he was the one in charge. That eased the last of my nerves.

Gray would make sure this was good. He’d take care of us both.

He bobbed his head, taking me deeper, swallowing around me. I anchored my hands in his hair, holding tight as I tried to hold on to my composure.

His mouth was too good. He was too sexy.

“Stop,” I gasped.

He drew back, lips shiny with spit, and wiped his chin on his arm. “What’s wrong? You okay?”

I bit my lip hard, staving off my orgasm. “Didn’t want to come.”

He smirked. “Coming is kind of the point, golden boy.”

I grabbed his arm, tugging. He rose to his feet, bracing his hands against the car on either side of me. With his body on all sides, I was trapped—but I couldn’t think of anyplace I’d rather be.

“Just want to kiss you when—” I stopped short, biting my bottom lip. Was it weird that I wanted him kissing me when I came? The surprise in his eyes confirmed that it was. “Sorry, never mind.”

Gray pried my lip from my teeth, then leaned in and kissed me so gently my face heated with embarrassment. He must have thought I was ridiculous.

“C’mon, where’s your head, Em?” he murmured, pulling back. “Don’t you think I want to kiss you? I love this mouth.”

He kissed me again, slow and sweet, and the burn of arousal slowly overtook my embarrassment at not doing a guy hookup the right way. I slid my fingers into his hair, already addicted to the silky feel of it, and met his tongue with mine.

He groaned, pressing closer, his hard cock grinding against my hip. Which was when I remembered that this poor man hadn’t gotten an ounce of relief.

I fumbled to open his jeans. “Should we?—”

“Fuck yes,” he said, his hand closing around my shaft while I tugged his cock out of his jeans. Our bodies were pressed too closely for me to see it, but it was thick and hot in my hand.

Damn. Why was that so sexy?

I squeezed and stroked, and the kiss turned filthy—just tongues and panting and groans as we jerked each other off. I lost it first, which made sense because I’d been on the edge since Gray first put his mouth on me. I cried out against his mouth, my whole body spasming as my cock pulsed in his hand.

He squeezed my cock, prolonging the orgasm, milking me of every drop.

I lost the plot somewhere, too caught up in my climax to keep stroking Gray. He flexed his hips, fucking his cock through the tunnel of my fist, then cursed as he went rigid.

He shuddered against me, and hot cum flooded my palm.

We stood together, leaning against the car, as our breathing calmed. I expected Gray to pull away and clean up. Tell me thanks for the fun. Move on.

Instead, he kissed me again. Softly.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

“Good.” That word didn’t really do it justice. “Amazing. Incredible, really.”

“Yeah?” He grinned, eyes crinkling at the corners, softening his harder features. “So no regrets, then?”

It shocked me then to realize I wasn’t the only one with insecurities. That Gray might be concerned with my reaction to being with a guy for the first time.

“No, of course not. You were great.”

He nodded once. “Good. Because I’m not done with you.”

My heart skipped. “You’re…not?”

He stepped back, turning to grab his T-shirt from where he’d flung it on the hood of the car.

“Nope.” He mopped up, then handed over his shirt so I could do the same. “If you think this was good, just wait, golden boy. I’ve got a whole lot more I can show you.”

A thrill shot through me. “You do make a pretty tour guide.”

He grinned. “And I can take you to all the hotspots.”

I cleaned up and tucked myself away while my head spun with thoughts.

I could have more nights like this. Maybe next time with me on my knees, mouth full of Gray’s cock. Maybe he’d bend me over a car to lick out my ass, then fuck me with that fat cock of his. Make me whimper with pain even while I begged for more.

And shit, where had that fantasy come from? I hadn’t really let my mind travel far enough into bi territory to consider if I’d want penetration. But Gray was standing there, half-naked and so damn sexy, and I had to admit…I was curious now.

About so many things.

There was just one hitch in the plan to explore all my questions with Gray.

“So, uh, I want to keep doing this too, but I don’t know what will happen with that loan on the auto shop,” I said. “If that’s a deal-breaker?—”

“Hey, no.” Gray slipped a hand around the nape of my neck and squeezed gently. “The business shit won’t come between us. It’s not part of this, okay?”

“Can you really say that when my family’s business is the reason you could lose yours?”

He pressed his forehead against mine. “Listen to me, golden boy. If we lose this business, it’ll hurt. A lot.”

I sucked in a breath, but he kissed me before I could say anything.

“Still won’t be your fault. It’ll be my old man’s, and I’m not exactly surprised to find out he’s letting me down again. It’s what he’s good at.”

I combed my fingers through his hair. “I don’t want it to happen.”

He smiled wryly. “Me either, but if it does, it’ll just force us all to find a new path. That’s not always a bad thing.”

I wasn’t so sure he really believed that. The tattoo over his heart told me he wasn’t as cavalier as he seemed. Gray cared about his brothers. About their life together here.

Even if he wasn’t ready to admit how much.

But I couldn’t walk away from this. From him.

For the first time in my life, I’d done something for me…and I wasn’t ready to give it up.