Breaking Me Slowly

Three

I feel something soft brush against my cheek. My eyes slowly flutter open and it takes a minute for them to adjust. When they do, I’m greeted by the magnificent sight of Grayson in nothing but pajama bottoms. That’s right, he was shirtless.

Grayson has a boyish grin on his face as he climbs under the sheets, pulling me against his chest. He rests his head on my shoulder, rubbing small circles against my hip.

“How did you sleep?” he asks.

“I would’ve slept better if you were here.”

He chuckles. “Me too.”

I turn my head just slightly to get a look at his face. “Why don’t we?”

Grayson sighs. “Soon,” he promises. It was quiet between us for a few minutes. I enjoyed how we could sit in a comfortable silence without worrying about it being awkward. “Did you have a nightmare last night?”

My brows furrow. “What makes you think that?” I decide to ask, avoiding his question.

“I heard you muttering in your sleep last night. I came in to check on you and even tried to wake you up, but you were knocked out.”

“Oh,” I say. I clear my throat then add, “I wouldn’t call it a nightmare, more like a bad dream.”

Grayson is quiet. It makes me a little nervous but I’m more than delighted that he doesn’t bring it up because I didn’t want to talk about it.

“What’s on the agenda for today?” I ask, changing the subject all together.

“Not very much, thankfully.” He continues rubbing his thumb against my hip. “I was thinking we could grab lunch before picking up Veronica from the airport.”

I sit up. “Vern is coming?”

He frowns. “You’re excited that Veronica is coming today rather than spending time with me,” he observes, playfully.

“Jealous?”

“Very much so,” he replies. I see the glint in his eyes and I already know what’s coming. I jump up from the bed but not fast enough. Grayson already has a hold on me and pulls me back down onto the bed underneath him and tickles me.

“No, please! Stop!” I yell out.

He thinks about it.

“No,” he says and continues to tickle me.

“Fine,” I grit out in between laughs, “but I’m not responsible for your injuries!”

“I’ll take the risk.”

Grayson continues his tickling attack until there’s a loud bang at the door. The bedroom door swings open, revealing a very pissed off Jensen. Sydney quietly shuffles up behind him, a small smile on her lips.

“Can you shut up? Some of us are still trying to sleep!” Jensen says, angrily.

Grayson rolls his eyes. “It’s late. You should’ve already been awake.”

“Some of us don’t wake up at the crack of dawn,” he says grumpily. “I don’t look this good from waking up at six in the morning.”

“You don’t look any better at ten,” Grayson bites back.

Sydney bites down on her lip to keep from laughing. I quickly cover my laugh with a cough. Jensen stares at Grayson, angrily.

“Just keep it down,” Jensen says before turning on his heels and walking out.

Sydney hangs back just for a second. “Don’t take it personally, he was up all night with me and is just tired.”

“Are you alright?” I ask, worried.

“Just some late-night sickness,” she says with a wave of her hand, brushing it off like nothing.

I’m not so sure that’s all it is but I’ll take her word for it. Sydney notices the look on my face because she quickly says, “I have a doctor’s appointment today, so I’ll let her know.”

“Please do.”

Everyone has been on edge with Sydney’s pregnancy lately. Being pregnant and giving birth is already a complicated and risky thing but adding a half human-wolf to the pot just made it all that more complicated. We all tried not to think about it too much, but it was there in the back of all of our minds.

Once Sydney had walked away back to her room, Grayson turns to me with a coy smile. My stomach drops and my eyes widen at the anticipation of what he was going to do next.

Just as Grayson is about to make his move, my stomach growls. He hears it of course and I can tell he did because his smile quickly turns into a smirk.

“If you hurry and get ready, we might be able to make breakfast.”

I spring up out of bed, running to the closet to grab some clothes. “I shouldn’t be more than an hour.” I hear Grayson’s chuckle as I close the bathroom door behind me.

A little over an hour later, Grayson and I are taking a seat at the restaurant. The hostess lays out the menus on the table and lingers a little longer than necessary.

“If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask,” she says, her eyes only on Grayson. “Your waiter will be with you shortly. In the meantime, can I get you anything to drink?” Her gaze flickers to me for a brief second.

“Two waters,” Grayson says.

She nods and walks off.

When she’s far enough, I lean forward against the table. “Do you always attract the attention of the opposite s*x?”

He looks up from the menu, confusion swimming in his blue eyes. “What do you mean?”

I give him a dumbfounded look. “You know what I’m talking about. Just look around the room.”

He casually looks about the room. Most of the women turn their head away as he looks but one decides to be brave and hold his gaze. She doesn’t keep his attention for longer than a second even with her sultry smile.

“What about the guys staring at you?” he asks.

I blanch at him. As discreetly as I can manage, I look about the room. “Just one guy – and don’t try to change the subject. We’re talking about you.”

Grayson just shrugs. “It doesn’t matter if they look.” He looks me dead in the eyes. “I’m only looking at one person.”

I swear, my heart melts.

The hostess comes back and sets our waters on the table. She gives Grayson one last flirtatious smile then saunters off.

“Can you tell me a little bit more about this family that’s coming to visit us soon?”

Grayson looks up from the menu once more. He quirks a brow and says, “What do you want to know?”

“For starters, their names would be nice. What should I expect? Do I shake their hands or do they not like that?”

He sets the menu down and gives me a measured look. “The Delgado’s,” he says. “Ernesto and Nydia Delgado along with their daughter, Isabel.”

“What are they like?” I press on.

He rubs his chin. “Pompous is really the only way I can describe them.”

I frown. “They’re really not going to like me, are they?”

“It doesn’t matter. What they think won’t change anything.”

I mull over his words for a moment. I believe him without a doubt that his love for me will never change no matter what other people think. But still, I couldn’t force the small voice out of my head that kept telling me to keep my guard up.

“How old is Isabel?” I ask.

“Seventeen.”

I don’t know why it bothered me that we were so similar in age. “What is she like?”

Grayson sighs. “It’s been awhile since I’ve actually seen her or even talked to her,” he begins. “She’s nice – very dramatic though and loves attention.”

“Sounds like someone else I know,” I mutter.

“I hope you’re not referring to me.”

I smile. “I was actually referring to Jensen.”

Grayson laughs, like throws his head back and actually laughs. “Yes, Jensen is very dramatic,” he agrees.

“What else should I know?”

“Ernesto is the nicest of the three and the easiest one to talk to, although I don’t think you two would have very much in common.”

“Why do you say that?” I ask, sitting up straighter in my seat. Did he really think I couldn’t hold my own if it came to?

“Unless you’re a fifty-year-old man that loves to smoke cigars, drink bourbon, golf and hunt, then I would say you probably don’t have many common interests.”

I frown. “Oh.”

He laughs. “Exactly, but don’t worry it’s not too hard to hold a conversation with him. He’s pretty talkative – they all are actually.” He pauses, thinking. “You should know they enjoy talking about themselves, Nydia especially.”

“What’s she like?”

“Nydia has a very strong personality. She’s probably going to be the one to give you the hardest time, seeing as she is the one who isn’t a fan of marrying outsiders.”

“Outsiders,” I repeat, “you mean humans?”

Grayson sighs. “Yes, humans.”

All I can do is nod.

Grayson grabs my hand from underneath the table. “She might make a few rude comments here and there but that’s it. For one, she knows better than to start something on someone else’s territory and she can’t go against the Council and their approval of us.”

I felt a little relieved. Not much but enough to breath normally again.

“Anything else?” I ask.

“Just ask them a bunch of questions about themselves and you will be fine. Once you get them talking, they won’t stop. They do eighty percent of the work for you,” he jokes.

I smile at his attempt to humor.

“You’re going to be fine. I promise.” I didn’t realize how much I needed to actually hear those words until this moment. He leans in closer to me, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. “I love you and nothing will change that,” he reassures me.