Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 68247 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68247 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“Thanks. I’m feeling . . . pretty good myself.” Her adrenaline was riding high now, and she wanted to take advantage.
She grasped Grey’s hand. “I have an idea, and it’s going to sound crazy. But I have the press’s ear now, right?”
He met her gaze warily. “Right . . . ?”
The idea had come to her as she’d been yelling at her father about the event and her role in it. “I want to use that attention to raise money for the cancer center at the hospital. I don’t care if they think I’m using you or keeping you with me because I’m so needy I can’t be alone. We know the truth, right?”
A beat of silence lay heavily between them before Grey asked, “What is the truth?” He sounded uncertain, and her heart twisted for all the pain she’d inadvertently caused him while trying to protect herself.
He’d stepped up from the beginning, while she’d been hesitant and unsure. She’d never expressed her feelings, not even after he had.
She met his gaze and held on, looking into his eyes. “I love you, Grey Kingston. I always have. And if I’ve handled everything thrown at me in the last few weeks, I think the future can only get easier.”
If eyes could truly lighten in color, his did. A slow, easy smile spread over his handsome face, and as she put her heart completely into his hands, she saw he would take the very best care of it. And her.
“I love you too, Very.” He kissed her nose and the side of her lips before devouring her mouth and lingering long enough for her to drown in his taste and scent.
He broke the kiss, his hands cupped around her cheeks. “I loved you when we were eighteen, but when I met you again, I fell even harder. You understand me, and you make me want to be a better man. Less selfish, less concerned about the outside world, and more focused on you. And family. The things that matter, that I lost sight of for too long.”
She grasped his hands. “You’ve done the same for me. You made me want to push past the fears that bound me for my entire life. I faced my father for the first time, and I feel . . . free.” She wasn’t stupid. She didn’t think that just because she’d expressed her feelings to her father her anxiety was gone for good. But she did believe she was more equipped to handle it now. And most importantly, she wasn’t running. “I’m here for the long haul. Whatever that may be.”
Before he could answer, Ella called out, “Is the ogre gone?” Her laughter broke the intensity of the moment.
“Later,” Grey whispered, his gaze holding onto hers. “We’ll define that long haul later.”
Her heart skipped a beat, and she nodded, finally ready for whatever life had to offer.
* * *
Grey didn’t trust silence. Especially when that silence came from Simon Colson. Over the next few weeks, things fell into place neatly. Almost too neatly, and Grey was nervous.
First Dawn Mills replied to his message and, through her representative, issued a statement along with pages from her deceased husband’s diary. All confirmed that Grey Kingston had done more than cowrite the album with Alden Mills. While her husband had been extremely ill, Grey had done most of the work on their collaboration, including writing the lyrics. Simon didn’t have another salvo, and he’d stopped messing with Grey’s life.
Whoever had defaced Avery’s apartment door hadn’t resurfaced. Ella moved back into their apartment, but Avery remained with Grey. Tyler demanded a bodyguard remain with each woman, and Grey insisted on covering costs. He didn’t trust Simon’s silence any more than he believed the stalker was a one-time thing.
But life went on, and Alden’s words from the grave turned Grey into even more of an icon than he had already been. Offers for collaboration and requests for him to write lyrics were piling up, so he had finally given in and hired a new agent to help him sort through things.
Every day, he expected Avery to freak out and think he’d find a reason to leave town, but she was steady. As a rock. True to her word, the day after the confrontation with her father, she’d asked Grey to contact a reporter he trusted to put the correct spin on a story. And together, they’d sat down for an interview.
She’d held his hand and told how her experience as a bone marrow donor as a young girl had led her to volunteer her time with the patients at the hospital today. She elaborated on the prom and explained how she’d like to do various events for the kids throughout the year, but the hospital lacked funds. And when Avery Dare, with Grey Kingston by her side, asked for money for the kids, contributions poured in.