Page 19 of Yours, Always
“Oh, you know how it is as a business owner, the work never stops.” Prudence stood. “I’ll swing by in the morning, okay?”
“I’ll come with you, babe.” Chuck led her to the door, calling over his shoulder to the brothers as they left. “See you guys later.”
After the door closed, Greyson sat unmoving, stunned. This was certainly not how he envisioned his homecoming with Prudence. Her leaving on the arm of another guy? Another guy she had been dating for a year and had failed to mention to him?Fucking Chuck? He stood and swung around to see Gabe pretending not to watch him from behind the bar. “What in the ever-living fuck was that?”
“That was Prudence leaving with Chuck. Are you telling me you really didn’t know?”
“I had no clue. She never said anything. And she’s never made an excuse to not hang out with me. I just got here.”
“Chuck didn’t seem to care that she’s never told you about him. They’ve been dating a while.”
“Yeah, I gathered that. Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”
“What are we, a couple of gossiping teenagers? I thought you knew!”
“Obviously not.” Greyson sat at the bar, shoulders hunching. “Well, fuck.”
“I didn’t think it mattered to you, Grey,” Gabe said seriously. “I would’ve brought it up if I did.”
Greyson ran his hands through his hair. “I know you would have.”
“But you and Pru have never…” Gabe trailed off—the question implied.
“No, we haven’t.”
“Huh.”
They didn’t say anything for a few moments until Gabe sighed and brought out two tumblers from under the counter. “Fine. You can have some of my private collection.” He grabbed the bottle of Glenfiddich. “I’ll make an exception this one time.”
Chapter Ten
Greyson woke the next morning with a slight hangover and Prudence on his mind. While a hard cock in the morning was not unusual, he was still getting used to the fact that Prudence was the reason for it. As he lay there, he let his mind wander, thinking of when his feelings for Prudence had changed—if they’d changed at all. He might have met Prudence in kindergarten but he’d first noticed…stirrings for her in junior high, but it had been easier, then, to tuck them away. Partly because, well, it wasjunior high.
It did become slightly harder in high school, though. He may not have given into locker-room talk when his lacrosse teammates wanted to know if they were together, but he also hadn’t discouraged it because Prudence had had no clue how hot she was, and he didn’t want any of those guys dating her. They were constant companions, and even as their friends were pairing off, they stayed platonic. Having a high-school relationship was difficult because any girl he dated became jealous of Prudence, no matter his insistence that they were just good friends.
It didn’t help that Prudence had had more curves than most girls in their class, and the cheerleaders he usually dated never understood why they were friends, as if that had ever mattered to him. He’d had one girlfriend insist that because of Prudence’s weight, there was no way he should be seen with her—that it would damage his reputation. He was honestly dumbfounded anytime someone mentioned Prudence’s weight. He only ever saw Prudence, but he only understood now that those comments were made out of jealousy. His feelings of protectiveness and almost possessiveness had started then. These had only grown in college.
She’d lost some of her plumpness the last year of high school and left for college a voluptuous bombshell, although she still didn’t see herself that way. He’d always known she was a beautiful person inside and out, but he couldn’t figure out why she couldn’t see it. You would never meet anyone as kind and generous as she was. And that smile, fuck, that smile was his kryptonite. He was relieved in the first year of college that she’d started to become more self-confident. Getting out of their small town she’d seen that there was a whole world that was less judgmental than small-town mean girls. But, with that confidence, he’d had to watch her start to go on…dates. The dude-bros, the scholarly types, the film majors and the musicians. She dated them all, and he knew she had fun.
He threw an arm over his eyes, squeezing them shut against his headache, thinking about yesterday at Finnegan’s. He’d seen her with plenty of guys, but why had she not told him about Chuck? Why was this one relationship bothering him the most?Because I’ve come home to proclaim my love to her. Obviously. Prudence had always been so open with him about any serious relationship, and that made him question the reason behind her being so secretive about this one. Even though he hadn’t been home to Amber Falls for quite some time, they did see each other often and talked regularly. She’d had plenty of time to say something…anything. The fact that she’d been dating Chuck this long and neither Prudence, Annabelle nor Gabe had so much as mentioned it to him? That seemed highly suspect.
He sighed, moving his arm from his eyes to below his comforter, stroking himself. Yes, the stress of his career was wearing him down. Yes, he had some hard decisions to make. He hadn’t told Prudence yet, but he’d been offered a position at the local university teaching drama. It wouldn’t start until the summer semester, where he’d be tasked to take over their Summer Stock performance, so he had some time to get everything lined up, but he knew that being with Prudence, to talk things out with her, weighing the pros and cons, would be easier with her at his side. And although he was sure he’d made his decision, he wanted to know that she was with him in this. Now he had to convince her to take a chance on him.
He knew he had to talk to Prudence this morning and she was going to be over sometime soon. His cock gave a jump—he was going to have to take care of this first. Throwing back the covers and shedding his black boxer briefs, he walked into the bathroom, one hand still moving on his length as he twisted the water on. Thinking about how lush she looked at the bar yesterday, he stroked up…about her perfect creamy complexion, he stroked down. Greyson stepped under the spray of the shower head and relaxed his arm against the tile in front of him, not bothering to close the shower door—he needed the release so bad. Tugging harder, he thought of her perfect pouty mouth wrapped around his cock, of her tight throat and how good she’d look draped over the side of his bed, how good her pussy would taste as he—
Greyson heard his bedroom door open, thinking it was Gabe he managed to choke out, “I’ll be out in a minute!” He stroked harder and faster, desperate for release. His breathing grew harsh, and he was so focused on his climax, he didn’t hear the quiet click of the bathroom door opening and, in a split second, saw a flash of red, and Prudence’s face came into full view, her eyes wide, locking with his, just as he came so hard directly onto the shower tile.Oh fuck.
“Oh. My. God!” Prudence screeched as she twirled around and slammed the door behind her.
“Fuck, shit fuck,” Greyson grumbled as he quickly rinsed himself before shutting the water off and stepping out, grabbing a towel and haphazardly wrapping it around his waist. “Prudence!”
He took a quick breath, he was winded from maybe his best jerk-off session ever, and swung the door open coming face to face with his friend. Her eyes were still wide as she stared at anything but him. He definitely didn’t see her gaze move to his barely there towel. He felt his cock start to twitch back to life and bit back a groan—her face was the most tantalizing shade of pink. He wanted to kiss the warm skin of her neck and see if that same shade spread across her breasts as he…Fuck!
“Pru, I’m so sorry.”
“No! Holy shit, Greyson,I’msorry, I should’ve called or something. I wanted to talk after yesterday, make sure we were still okay, and I was going to be here anyway on the way to the commercial, so I brought coffee. Gabe said you were up here, and I…shouldnothave opened your bathroom door.”
“Listen, Pru—”