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)
* * *
A week into their new status quo, Avery couldn’t believe how seamlessly her life meshed with Grey’s. She liked the right side of the bed, he already slept on the left. She was a grump without coffee in the morning, he owned a machine with a timer that he was used to presetting the night before. And in realizing he had a huge sexual appetite, she discovered an untapped part of herself that felt the same way.
In past relationships, she didn’t normally spend the night or let a guy stay over. She wasn’t a cuddler, and she didn’t like awkward mornings after. And since she hadn’t been all that into sex with the bland guys she’d deliberately chosen after Grey, wrapping it up quickly had been easy. She knew, thanks to her previous times with Grey, that he’d exceeded every experience she’d ever had . . . or would ever have. What she didn’t know was that once they lived together, she would come to crave him so badly.
Morning sex? A necessity. Before bed? Hell yes. More than once, if he had any say. Cuddling became mandatory. Quickies during the day? Check and check. In fact, with Grey being a work-from-home guy and her a work-from-home girl, she was pretty sure she’d turn into a nymphomaniac if they kept things up.
Sex aside, their days meshed too. In the early morning, he exercised at the gym in his condo, and Avery worked on either a written blog or video. One day during the week, Rick drove her to the hospital to volunteer with the kids.
As far as the taping, she didn’t want her viewers to know anything was different, so Grey went to her place and picked up the poster that was always her backdrop for her video blogs and hung it up on an empty wall in the guest room. Earlier in the week, Olivia had come over and helped her set up the guest room so she could do videos surrounded by her makeup and accessories. Somehow, she was able to make it work. In the afternoons, Avery made them lunch like she would do for herself at home, and dinners were a mix of ordering in, one of them cooking, or going out.
The paparazzi, after circling her at the apartment, had seemingly disappeared. No more mentions on blogs or newspapers, and Grey had his legal counsel on notice just in case something happened again. Granted, it had only been a few days, but Avery appreciated the lack of attention, not just on her but on them. They were able to focus on themselves, and while they were wary and careful, there were no huge incidents to hit Avery’s anxiety or cause her concern for the future.
He liked to work on his music or meet with the contractor for the apartment next door in the afternoons, and that’s when Avery dragged Rick around town to get sponsors for the prom she had planned. Life went on, and work didn’t suffer.
And when she and Grey wanted to go out for a meal, they would duck out of his parking garage, alternating between her BMW and Rick’s unobtrusive black sedan, so they could go somewhere for lunch or dinner unnoticed. They drove an hour beyond Miami and found fun places where they could walk the beach and be alone. She wondered if it was possible that, with time, the curiosity about Grey and the other band members would disappear completely. While reminding herself that a week hardly set a precedent, she’d begun to feel more than a sliver of hope.
Hope was a dangerous thing, but she couldn’t contain hers, not when she was experiencing a level of happiness as an adult that she’d always thought was beyond her. And she wanted to hold onto it for all she was worth.
A few days later, Lola called early one morning, asking Avery if she’d like to meet for lunch. Avery had woken up with a migraine headache and wasn’t up to driving, but she was curious about what Lola wanted, so she had invited her over instead.
She hadn’t seen the other woman since the awkward night at Lola and Rep’s house, and Grey hadn’t mentioned her. He was at a meeting with Chloe Mandrake, lead singer of the punk rock band Night Madness, about Grey writing a song and collaborating with them for their next album.
When Avery had asked him about whether or not he needed a manager, he’d said he’d rather use his lawyer to deal with contracts if things reached that point. Meanwhile, he seemed excited about the opportunity, and to her surprise, Avery was too. She didn’t want to hold him back in his career, and she didn’t want him to feel like he couldn’t move forward because of her anxiety or fears. She wanted to believe in them, and she was trying as promised.