I wake up the next morning tangled up in a bundle of sheets, almost unable to comprehend the magnitude of yesterday. Gray saved me from the darkest parts of my mind and pulled me out from the water I was drowning in. I can do anything with him by my side.

Gray stirs and turns to smile at me. His eyes flutter, unable to see me clearly without his contacts on. Nevertheless, he reaches under the covers to find my hand I let him take it, heat radiating through my palm and up my arm. I glance up at the plain white ceiling and imagine our love shooting up into the sky and illuminating the ceiling like a kaleidoscope of color.

"What time is it?" He asks while his eyes still dance with sleep.

It takes me a moment to register what he says before I reply, "10:16."

He nods with affirmation before rolling onto his side, letting go of my hand to search for his glasses. I laugh when he sighs hopelessly, probably assuming they vanished into another dimension or something. I sit up and turn to help him, but he eventually finds them and slips them on. Seeing Gray with his glasses on takes me back to the first time I noticed him. Something about them makes him even cuter if that's actually possible. Maybe it's the way they perfectly frame his angled face. Maybe it's the way they dip down his nose just a little bit, enough that he has to push them back up every once in a while. Maybe it's the way his electrifying green eyes reflect almost mystically in the frames.

Or maybe it's everything, and then some.

Tessa's face looks up and she perches herself on the edge of my bed, waiting for us to get up. Gray slips out from under the covers and crosses over to the bathroom, wearing nothing but his tight black boxer briefs. We don't need to worry about being discrete here. It's not like my father's around anyway.

While Gray takes a piss, I get dressed and lead Tessa downstairs. She clammers after me and I growl at her, exciting her and putting her in a playful mood. She smiles up at me with her tongue flailing everywhere, and it makes me wish I had a dog. My parents talked about getting one, but we never got around to it.

I brush the painful memory away and return my focus to breakfast. Although Gray said there wasn't anything in the kitchen cabinets last night, there's gotta be something we can have for breakfast, like an old box of cereal or a couple slices of toast. Then, my eyes notice an undisturbed pancake mix and I happily open the box, following the recipe on the back. While I'm in the middle of mixing the ingredients, Gray arrives downstairs.

"Are you making pancakes?" He asks like a giddy toddler, practically jumping up and down in excitement as I nod and flash him a quick smile.

"I underestimated you, Paris. I didn't see you as the cooking type."

"Don't speak too soon. I may still burn your house down, or my hands."

"Sorry to say, babe, but I think I'd have to dump you if that happened. What would I do if I didn't have a hand to hold?"

I play along with his flirtatious banter, biting my lip at the sound of babe rolling off his tongue so effortlessly.

"Well, I may have to break up with you just for saying that. Sometimes, you have to make sacrifices in a relationship, even if that means having a handless boyfriend."

"For you, I'd make all the sacrifices in the world."

His voice is breathy and soft, different from its normal deep and stoic sound. A chill runs down my spine as he looks right at me, licking his lips while staring into my deep brown eyes. I have to use all the self-control in the world to stop myself from running over and trampling him with a dozen kisses.

Our moment of flirting is cut short by Gray's phone, ringing loudly in the otherwise silent house.

"Who is it?" I ask, making my way over to his side.

"I'm not sure. My phone's been buzzing ever since we woke up," Gray explains mid-yawn, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"Shit! It's my mom. She's called eight times this morning!"

Instead of answering the call, Gray runs through the list of voicemails his mom left, all of them voicing a similar message of concern for his safety mixed in with a handful of obscenities.

"Oh fuck," Gray groans.

"What?"

"They're coming home to find me. They left Vegas hours ago. They'll probably be here any minute! I need to get back to my house. Like, now!"

"Of course," I assure Gray, putting my hands on his shoulders and soothing his frantic trembling. He looks at me with a fearful glance overtaking his eyes, and I know he wants nothing more than to stay here forever. But he needs to go.

Softly, I reach up and press my lips to his forehead, letting the soothing kiss radiate through his body until the only thing left trembling is his heart.

"What was that for?" Gray asks with a streak of red blooming on his cheeks, the deep brown returning to his eyes as his pupils slim.

"For courage. You look like you need some," I explain with a reassuring wink.

Gray breaks into a smile and his face burrows into my chest, resting there for a moment while I hold him steady in my arms.

Eventually, we pull apart. Gray retrieves his suitcase from my bedroom and leads Tessa to the front door, prepared for what's waiting for him at home.

"One more for the road?" Gray turns and asks with his signature smirk.

I roll my eyes before tugging at his shirt and pulling his mouth into mine. I can't wait until I've memorized the way his lips taste. It'll be a feeling so familiar, yet I'll continue to crave it as if it's the first kiss over and over again.