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 don’t want a guarantee of anything,” I say.
“I don’t want her to have limits,” Grayson adds.
“Neither of you has a choice,” his father says. “This is the complication of money. It is what it is. Do this. It worked for me and Melanie. I’ll leave you both to talk about it.” He grabs the remote and turns off the TV before he heads for the patio door.
I turn back to Grayson and before I can even speak, he’s pulling me close. “My parents were happy, Mia. They didn’t need that agreement. They were so in love, just like us.”
“Then we need to listen to your father. If he says this is how we avoid conflict, we need to listen. Please. We’ll let him guide us.”
Grayson pulls me to him and kisses me. “Let’s just plan the damn wedding, woman.”
“I want nothing more, but please. Let your father guide us, Grayson. Please. I’m begging you.”
He studies me long and hard before he laces his fingers with mine, and we head for the patio, where we exit to find his father waiting on us. “Well?” he prods.
“Agreed,” Grayson says. “We’ll let you guide us.”
Relief washes over me and his father looks at me, proving that I’m always present and an individual to him, which is exactly how Grayson treats everyone. As if they matter. I nod. “Yes. We will trust your guidance.”
He smiles a warm, wonderful smile and says, “Let’s plan the wedding of a century.”
“Penny for your thoughts,” Grayson says, as we now step onto the very patio where his father had declared our future wedding the wedding of the century.
“I hate that your father won’t be here for the wedding.”
He strokes my hair and pulls me close, his touch, and the delicious woodsy scent of him familiar and right. I missed this man when we were apart, desperately missed him. “Me, too,” he says. “Me, too, baby, but some part of me believes that he is now resting in peace, knowing we’re back together. And that no matter what we face over Ri or anything else, we’re facing it together.”
I try not to think about what we might face over the Ri incident. Right now, I’m with Grayson, and we’re engaged again. That’s all that matters.
Chapter forty-seven
Mia
Iwake Sunday morning to raindrops pitter-pattering on the bedroom window and Grayson’s big strong arms wrapped around me, his woodsy scent teasing my nostrils. That scent is home to me. He is home to me and for just a moment, I think about the night I left him. I think about the woman who flung herself at him. It was such a damning moment, and yet, I should have known Grayson wasn’t that man.
“You’re awake,” he murmurs softly, nuzzling my ear.
“Yes,” I whisper, and when his hand runs over my bare arm, goosebumps lift on my skin and my nipples pucker. Just that easily, I’m alive in ways that only this man makes me alive. I’m aroused in ways only this man can make me feel.
A blink of a moment later, his hand is on my breast, his other sliding between my legs, and when he discovers just how slick and wet I am, his low, guttural murmur of, “Holy hell, woman,” spreads a smile on my lips, one that becomes a moan when the extremely hard length of his erection presses inside me. His body curls around mine and even as he thrusts, I’m pressing into him.
Heat burns between us and explodes into what is almost desperation. I’m not sure if it started with Grayson or with me, but now it’s ours. We own the desperation together. It’s not until a long time later, when we stand under a hot shower again, that I really start to process how badly the events of the past few years impacted Grayson. He lost his mother. I left him. His father had a heart attack while he was golfing with him. Now he just watched a monster hold a gun to my head. That desperation started with him and I understand. That was all about how much he needed to feel me close. How much he needed to know I’m alive and well. It’s a powerful thing to be loved so deeply.
“I love you,” I say, running my fingers over the dark stubble on his jaw. “With all my heart and soul, with all that I am.”
His hand slides over my wet hair. “And I love you.”
“I know. I won’t ever forget again.”
“You don’t need to keep telling me that, Mia. We’re here. We’re together. And we’re starting fresh, new.”
“I don’t want to be fresh. I don’t want to be new. I loved the us of the past.”
“We can be both, baby.” He catches my hand and holds up my finger, showing me the ring he’s recently put back on it. “We can be anything we want to be together. And we will,” he promises me before he kisses the diamond. “Let’s go make coffee and talk about the wedding.”