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And Greyson sees it

He traces the scar with one finger and sets esture only endears him to me Because he’s scarred too, but he’s not embarrassed about it

As he bends over and presses his lips to my scar, my eyes well up

"What happened here?" he murmurs

I don’t knohy he makes me emotional, but I blink back the tears and slide my hand down his chest over his own scar "What happened here?" I counter, ently, easing back and watching er sleepy, but dark and patient

I’m not sure I want him to know that one of my kidneys is not mine That I’m a transplant patient That I need to take pills to an That e this one for a new one yet again, if it starts giving up

These are not things you tell ato date, or just fk, or whatever we’re doing There’s this show called the Millionaire Matchet how the expert Patti went all over a girl who’d dumped some serious issues on a poor bachelor’s lap

You do not do that!

Guys do not care about it unless they genuinely care about you first!

Quietly, I touch Greyson’s nipple ring instead, and hearing hirin into his suddenly very dark, hungry eyes and say, "I should get a nipple ring"

He laughs, then sobers up and shakes his head "Yeah, that’s not happening"

"Why not?"

He rubsanywhere near ht arm is stained with blood, so I sit up with a start "What happened here? Did I scratch you?"

He e "It takes a little more than a kitten’s claw tocloser, I take the bandage and carefully wrap it around his bulging arood," he says dis it up, I ime feel this tenderness is so alien to uys to me Not even human More like enemies that must be handled with care Used, on occasion But what I feel for this one is theI’ve ever in my life felt Almost as if I know him from before In some past lifein my dreams

Before I can lift ainst his bandage and squirhtly down etsthe saht for over thiry-six hours And is he givingfroers to my toes His smile is lazy, sleepy, and it melts me

"That’s nice," he says in a rumbly voice

"What?"

"Nurse Melanie," he whispers

Soroan at my body’s stupid, instant reaction, then I tiphi roan in protest whenlike ot brunch with o of o"

"I propose you cancel," he says lazily

"I can’t I’m the only one who coatheringdown my dress "You can come if you want to," I blurt out, and when I notice his closed expression, I add, "No strings I mean, it’s just breakfast Not even that, brunch"