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Then the corner of her mouth.

She tilts her face toward mine.

“Gray?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m not going anywhere tonight.”

I close my eyes.

For the first time in years, I want to believe someone when they say that.

But wanting something and knowing how to keep it are two different things.

“I don’t know how to be that man anymore,” I whisper.

Autumn cups my face and kisses my forehead.

“Then we’ll figure it out.”

Chapter 7

AUTUMN

There’s something deeply unsettling about waking up in Grayson Blackwood’s bed and discovering he’s already downstairs making coffee.

Mostly because I was hoping to wake up with his enormous body pressed against mine.

Instead, I got a cold pillow and a note on the nightstand.

Coffee’s downstairs. Don’t touch my tools.

Romantic bastard.

I find him in the kitchen wearing black sweatpants and a faded T-shirt, standing barefoot in front of the coffeemaker. His hair is a mess, his jaw is covered in dark stubble, and he looks like he slept approximately four minutes.

Which, considering last night, might not be far from the truth.

“Morning, handsome.”

He glances over his shoulder.

“Morning, trouble.”

I stop.

“Did you just call me trouble?”

“Seemed appropriate.”

“Not Pumpkin?”

“Trying something new.”

“Careful. Next thing you know, you’ll be smiling at strangers and volunteering at the animal shelter.”

“Don’t push it.”