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)
There’s a knock on the door and I hear, “Mia?”
I jolt with Grayson’s voice and straighten, willing myself to calm. Death and that man have a bad history. He doesn’t need me melting down on him. Hurrying forward, I reach for the handle and my hand frustratingly trembles. I open the door and Grayson is standing there—right there, in front of me—so close I can feel the heat of his perfect body.
“Hi,” I say, and just that quickly, his hand is at my waist, and he’s stepping into me.
“Hi,” he says, his head low, intimately near mine. “You okay, baby?”
“I’m good,” I say, and it’s not a lie. Now that he is here, with me, touching me, I really am remarkably, incredibly good. My hand finds his face, fingers curling on his jaw. “Let’s go home.”
“Let’s stay a couple of more nights, just you and me, baby. In our own little world.”
I want what he suggests, I want it badly, just me and this man and no one else, but going back to the city isn’t just about me. It’s about him. He has a company under attack because of my stupid mistakes with Ri. “Let’s go home,” I repeat. “And come back next weekend, knowing that we’ve faced our dragons, and we’re the ones that set the fire.”
For a moment, he hesitates, searching my face again, that worry in his eyes etching his brow, but he doesn’t push. He laces the fingers of one of his hands with mine and kisses my knuckles. “Let’s go home.” We walk down the hallway toward the lobby again and a few minutes later we’re belted into the chopper.
We’re going home. That’s what matters.
We’re together. That’s what matters.
And we’re going to claim our happily ever after. I won’t let it be any other way.
Chapter fifty-four
Grayson
In life, there are defining moments. Moments that create us. Moments that break us. Losing Mia all but broke me. Finding her again healed me. The moment I stood in that stairwell and looked into Ri’s eyes, I’d seen evil. I’d seen the end of Mia and that would have been the end of me. The ultimate moment that would break me again, but forever. She survived. I survived. But I didn’t believe for one moment that she didn’t shatter inside.
We land in the city as the sun sets, the night allowing us the shelter of a moonless night. Storms brew in the distance, somehow off the nearby bay, while others seem to brew right here with us. I don’t know what triggered Mia back in the airport, but I know my future wife, and she’s sliding into a hornet’s nest of emotions. I need to get her home, get her alone, and place everything else on hold.
Once we’re on the ground, and in the back of a Walker-driven SUV that’s driving us home, Mia pressed close to my side, I text Blake: Move the meeting to the office tomorrow morning.
He replies with: I know this is a bad time, but it only gets worse if we don’t prepare for what comes next.
My jaw wants to snap. I type a reply: You. Just you. I’ve met Blake’s wife. She’s pleasant, but I don’t want Mia to have to perform socially.
He replies quickly: Understood, but Mia has lived through trauma, and she’s another woman. If you change your mind, she might be a good ear for Mia.
I consider his comment and regroup. I want to be Mia’s security blanket, but more than anything I want her to not need one at all. I reply with: Bring her. And thank you and her.
“Everything okay?” Mia asks, squeezing my hand.
I lean over and brush my lips over hers. “Just coordinating with Blake. He’s bringing his wife,” I add, not certain if I’ve mentioned this to her before now. “Is that okay with you?”
“Of course. Anyone who can help us get this behind us, and get Ri’s influence out of your operation, is exactly what we need.”
A profoundly Mia response. She’s selfless. She’s giving. She’s a warrior. Somehow I need her to see that feeling shaken and scared, human responses to trauma doesn’t change that. “Are you hungry?”
“A little,” she says, which isn’t Mia. She’s always hungry.
“How about our favorite Chinese place?” I ask, trying to offer her what she’s craving. Normalcy. A walk down memory lane, from our past, the part we both missed.
Her lips curve. “Yes. I’d like that.”
“Now, or after Blake and Kara leave?” I query.
“After they leave.” Her delicate little brow furrows. “Well, unless we need to feed them?”
“They know we need time to decompress.”
“Then after they leave.” She smiles again. “Like old times.”
“Like old times.”
A few minutes later, Adrian turns right instead of left, and my cellphone rings. It’s Blake. “Why am I certain I won’t like this call?”