Page 30 of Naked Choke

“You think it bothers me that you’re inexperienced?” I ran my hand over the back of my neck when she nodded.

I smiled at her and my heart hurt, wishing I could chase the shadows away. I would. I would take all those feelings of self-doubt away, one kiss, one touch at a time.

“I’m going to love seeing what makes you hot.”

CHAPTER NINE

EMORY

“It’s been five days. Five days, Em, and now you’re telling me?” Christy pointed her fork at me. “I mean, he’s seriously hot.”

I glanced around, seeing if anyone else in the cafeteria was paying attention to us. I felt uncomfortable enough sharing the details about Gray with my friend, and didn’t want anyone else at the hospital to know either.

“I barely said more than goodbye at the party, and besides, it’s not like I left with him.” I stabbed my fork into the leftover pasta, spun the fork in circles so it wound around it.

“You went out to lunch with him and he was at your house for dinner last night!”

Thankfully, my mouth was full of the spaghetti from Casale’s so all I had to do was nod.

“Is he,” Christy looked left and right, then leaned in. “Is he…good?”

My cheeks heated a bit, but I was more amused than embarrassed. Then I thought about the kiss in my kitchen and I went a little hot and dreamy. That was the only one of the night, besides when he kissed my forehead when he left, at a tame hour of nine thirty.

“We haven’t done anything,” I replied. The kiss was mine, a little secret I shared with Gray and I didn’t want to do anything to ruin it by having Christy know about it.

“Is he gay?” her voice rose at the question and a few heads turned.

I sat back and crossed my arms over my chest. “No.” I laughed because I’d questioned the same thing. And the kiss we shared? He was definitely not gay.

“Then why not?”

I knew what she meant. Why not sleep with him?

“Is it because he’s…him?”

; “I didn’t know who he was.” I glanced at my watch. I had fifteen minutes until I had to get back to the ER. Christy was still in administration, so while I sat there in a pair of pink scrubs, she wore a skirt and blouse.

Her fork froze halfway to her mouth. “You didn’t…even I know who he is! I mean…he’s the…The Green Machine.” She whispered his name and for that I was thankful. I didn’t need anyone to know I was even talking to Grayson Green, let alone seeing him. Or dating him, or whatever it was we were doing. We were kissing. No, we kissed. “He’s drop-dead gorgeous, if you go for that bad-boy fighter who’s hot as holy shit type. Have you seen all the women that hang all over him?”

The pasta in my mouth lost all its flavor. “Of course I’ve seen the women that hang all over him,” I countered, frowning.

She reached across the table and put her hand on top of mine. “Yes, but he’s interested in you.” Her grin made me relax. “When are you going to see him again?”

I shrugged, finishing my pasta. The meal had been delicious and even with a guy like Gray who ate at least twice as much as me, there was enough leftovers for the rest of the week.

“He has a meeting tonight, so we didn’t make plans.”

He had said he’d call me and he had said he’d see me soon, and while those lines were usually the death knoll for any possible future, the heat in Gray’s eyes when he said it, when he leaned in and gave me the sweetest of kisses on the top of my head, I believed him. I believed in the feelings I had when I was with him.

“Then come out with me tonight. Paul’s in New York for some deposition and I was going to go to the new Thai place with my friend Leah.”

I didn’t have other plans. I never made them for the final night of my three days of work because I was usually too tired and didn’t like backing out. This time though, dinner sounded good. Maybe it was because I knew Gray was busy and I was recognizing that I spent more time at home—alone—than I should. Maybe it was because I missed him and needed a diversion. “Sure.”

She must have suspected I’d say no, because she beamed at me when I gave her my answer. “I’ll make reservations for eight then. Is that enough time to get cleaned up?”

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