But Garrett Bellows brought out my inner Byron. I wanted to blather on idiotically about the softness of his lips and the taste of his tongue. I wanted to profess ridiculous amounts of hyperboles over the color of his eyes and the smell of his skin.
Garrett Bellows short-circuited the more reasonable parts of my brain. And I now knew that wasn’t such a bad thing.
I needed less concrete and more what ifs in my life. Reason will only get you so far.
The heart needed to believe in things that didn’t necessarily make sense.
And Garrett Bellows and Riley Walker most certainly did not make sense.
But that didn’t mean it wasn’t right.
I opened my mouth under his and felt his tongue slip between my lips. I sighed like a lovesick fool as he devoured me. His hands came up to cup my face as he kissed me an intensity that both frightened and melted me.
“What about that jackass sniffing around your skirt? Your ex?” Garrett asked pulling away slightly to look down at me, his hands still holding my face. His lips were swollen and leaned up to run my tongue along the crease. Garrett’s eyes closed and he groaned deep in his throat.
“He’s such a non issue. Don’t even mention him,” I replied tersely, pulling his mouth back down to mine with enough force to bang our teeth together. We both laughed at my exuberance but continued to kiss each other like two kids exploring each other for the first time.
My eyes popped open. What about Gracie? How could I have forgotten about Gracie?
“Garrett, hang on a sec,” I put my finger to his lips, stilling him. His eyes were clouded with desire and I had to resist the overwhelming urge to dissolve into him again.
“What about Gracie? She may not like this,” I said, indicating the space between us.
Garrett looked legitimately confused, which in turn confused me even more.
“Why would Gracie care?” he asked. God, men were so clueless sometimes.
“Probably because she’s been wanting to get in your pants for months now. She’s already angry with me. I don’t want to hurt her,” I said, feeling a sudden wash of misery. So much for finally letting my heart do the talking. What was the point when I would never willingly hurt Gracie like that again?
Garrett’s fingers combed through my hair until they laced at the nape of my neck. He touched his forehead to mine our noses brushing against each other. “Gracie is a confused, bitter and extremely sick girl. She doesn’t want me anymore than I want her,” he said with conviction.
His words bewildered me. “What do you mean? She’s always talking about wanting to hook up with you,” I said, backing away slightly.
Garrett shook his head, looking suddenly irritated. “It’s not like that between Gracie and me. I’m just…helping her out. Or at least trying to. Trust me, she does not feel that way about me. She’s just very confused right now. She’s all over the place.” He pulled me back against him and kissed me soundly.
“Your loyalty is one of the things I love about you. But in this case it’s not needed. Though she will need you. More than she realizes,” he said cryptically.
“What are you talking about? You act as though Gracie has cancer. Is something wrong with her?” I asked, feeling the twinges of worry overtake the lust that had so recently flooded my brain.
Garrett wrapped my hands between his and cradled them to his chest. “Gracie has a serious substance abuse problem. Maysie, Vivian, and I have been trying to get her to go get help for a while now. She’s spiraling fast. I’ve been there, I know what it looks like to fall off the edge and Gracie is really close, Ri,” he said and I felt like even more of an ass.