“What are you doing?” Dad asks. “They’re getting ahead of us.”
“I’m booking us a room,” I tell him.
“What?”
“Look, Dad. I get it that it’s your house and all that, but I’m not going to have her sleeping down the hall when she can be sleeping in my arms. It’s not going to happen.” I don’t bother telling him that we’ve never, that I’ve never, had actual intercourse before in my life. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is her in my arms. I’ll do what I have to do to make that happen.
“Stop.” Dad places his hand over mine. I look up at him, and he’s smiling.
“What are you smiling about? You know how hard this is being away from her, and now you do this?” I’m pissed, and he knows it. His smile grows, and it makes me want to punch something. Not him, but something.
“I was teasing, Griff. Your mother and I know you’re in love with this girl. There’s no other reason you’d put yourself through this if you didn’t. We like Peyton, and your mom changed the sheets on your bed earlier today. It’s ready for both of you.”
“That’s wrong, old man.” I point at him. My shoulders sag as some of the tension drains from my body. Looking down at my phone, I was just about ready to hit the Book Now button. I contemplate doing it anyway to give us some privacy, but I want her to spend time with my family too.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think I was that convincing.” He laughs.
I slide my phone in my back pocket as we begin walking again. “We don’t joke about Peyton. Not ever.”
He nods, his lips tilted in a grin. “You remind me of me when I was your age. When I met your mother, I knew I would do whatever it took to make her mine and keep it that way.”
“You were in college, right?”
“Freshman year, just like you. Here we are all those years later.”
“Slowpokes!” Mom calls out.
I glance up to see Peyton smiling and laughing with my mom. Her eyes meet mine, and it’s as if her smile is reaching into my chest and squeezing my heart. I’ve never loved anything or anyone the way that I love Peyton. Now, I just need to find the courage to tell her and hope it doesn’t scare her away.
“Are you sure your parents are okay with us being in the same room?” she asks.
“Trust me. They’re fine with it. Mom even changed the sheets knowing you were coming,” I tell Peyton that same thing Dad told me at the airport.
“Okay.” She yawns. “I’m going to change and call it a night. I’m exhausted.”
“No clothes.”
“But your parents,” she counters.
“We’ll lock the door, but baby, you’re here for four nights, and I need to feel you next to me. I’ll let you sleep, I promise. I just want to hold you.”
“How am I supposed to say no to that?”
“You’re not.” I come around the bed and kiss the top of her head. “Go do what you have to do, but come back to me naked.”
“So bossy.” She turns to walk into the bathroom connected to my bedroom, but I grab her wrist to stop her.
“I will never force you to do anything you don’t want to do. If you really want to wear clothes, you can.” I swallow back the lump in my throat. I want to demand that she’s naked anytime we’re alone, but I don’t have the right. She’s mine, but she’s also her own person.
She turns and slides her hands behind my neck and peers up at me. “I trust you, Griff. I know you would never pressure me. In fact, I kind of like the way you get a little bossy. It shows me that you want me.”
“There will never be a day when I have breath in my lungs that I don’t want you. Maybe not even after that.”
“Thousands of butterflies,” she whispers.
“What?”
“That’s what it feels like in my belly when you say things like that. Thousands of butterflies.”
“Good.” I kiss her quickly and step out of her hold. “Go do what you need to do. It’s been too damn long since I’ve held you all night, and just so you know, we’re sleeping in tomorrow.”
She spins on her heels and heads toward the bathroom. I lock my bedroom door and shut off the light, bathing the room in darkness before stripping naked and sliding under the covers.
“Yikes, I can’t see you.” She laughs.
“Just follow my voice. It’s a straight shot to the bed, and there is nothing in your way.”
“Okay.” I hear her moving toward me, and when she reaches the bed, I hold the covers up. “Come here.”
The bed dips as she climbs in beside me. Draping the cover over us, I pull her into my arms and close my eyes. “This is where you belong.”