Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 133321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 667(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 667(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
“I’m good. Really good. How are you?”
“Afraid for my job. It’s not good here.”
“Come to work for Bennett. Grayson is going to extend you an official offer for twenty percent higher than you’re being paid now.”
“Sold. When do I start?”
We work out the details, talk about my client, and then plan to meet at the Bennett offices Monday morning. “I’ll arrange to have her there,” Kevin promises of my client and we disconnect right as we pull up to the house. “Everything is falling into place,” I say, feeling a pinch of sadness. “I remember coming here and it being your father’s house he just never used. Now, it’s yours.”
Grayson pulls us into the garage and parks. “And he’d want me to share it with you.” He kills the engine and exits, and by the time I’m standing beside my door, he’s there kissing me. He glances at his suit and my dress we’d worn for the press conference. “Let’s change and take a walk.”
“I’d like that.”
A few minutes later, we’re both in sweats, tees, and we head to the beach where we start walking. We talk. We talk about everything and then we do it again and as we always do, we end up at the lighthouse. Grayson follows me up the stairs, and we reach the railing just in time to watch the sun begin to lower and streak the darkening sky in orange and red.
Grayson grabs a bottle of wine, and I don’t ask where it came from. We always kept wine here. We were always here. He fills two glasses and then offers me one. I sip and sigh. “So many times, I missed us here. So many times when we were here, I just wanted to stay and pretend the rest of the world didn’t exist.”
He sets our glasses down. “Then stay forever. Stay with me, Mia. Be with me. Be the mother of my children and we will have beautiful babies. You’re my best friend, you’re my other half. You’re a part of me that I can’t live without. You know I had to do this here. It didn’t feel right anywhere else and yet you feel right in every way.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out my ring and then goes down on his knee. “Will you marry me, Mia?”
Tears prickle in my eyes, and I shake my head. “Yes, a hundred times over. Can we just go do it now, so no one can stop us?”
He stands up and slides the ring on my finger. “No one is going to stop us and you’re going to have your perfect wedding, whatever you want that to be.”
“The part where we say ‘I do’ is all I want. I don’t care about the rest.”
“I do already, baby.”
“I do, too.” And this time, when he presses me against the wall and kisses me, I don’t stop him when he undresses me. I help him because this is our place, this is where I want us to get married. This is where I want our vows to be spoken. This is us.
Part Two: Love Me Forever
Chapter forty-six
Mia
Ocean wind teased with salt washes over Grayson and I as we exit the lighthouse, our special place, and head back toward his Hamptons mansion. I glance down at my finger, where the gorgeous emerald-cut diamond with hints of blue was placed only minutes before. It’s beautiful and it should never have left my finger, but it’s back now. This Friday evening has brought proof that love, real love, never dies, no matter what evil tries to destroy it. But it’s still painful for Grayson and me to know that I let Ri, a man who was eaten alive with jealousy over Grayson, use me as a weapon against him. Now Ri is dead.
“Does it bring back bad memories?” Grayson asks. “Because if it does, you can pick a new one.”
“This is my ring,” I say, stopping to turn to him. “I love this ring. You had it designed for me. No one gets to take this from me ever again.”
He cups my face. “I don’t want anything that will muddy up our future. Not again.” He strokes an errant lock of hair behind my ear. “The ring—”
“Is perfect. I am back where I belong.”
“Yes. Yes, you are.” He motions to the house, and we turn and start walking again, his grip on my hand firm. He still feels like he could lose me again. And I get that. He quite literally just lived through a man holding a gun on me, with the intent to kill me. So did I, but that isn’t where my head is right now. I’m worried about Grayson, not me, which is why my eyes land on the gorgeous mansion that is our destination, with such a heavy heart. It was his father’s. When I left Grayson, we lost the chance for his father to be a part of our wedding. I loved that man. I still can’t believe he’s gone. And with that, my eyes burn and my mind slides back into the past. Back to the day we told him we were getting married, back before Ri tried to destroy us.