Chapters (66)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Keep Reading
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sneak Peek
- Find Me
- Books by Mary Catherine Gebhard
- Acknowledgments
The remote vibrated in my lap and kept vibrating. I shifted, but that made it worse, igniting that forbidden and wrong need inside me. I shifted. Did he know? With his arms still over his head, he shot me a clandestine look. Tongue at his canine, eyes hooded. All male satisfaction.
Oh, he knew.
Abigail left.
“Stop, no, come back,” Gray said lazily, and he took the remote from my lap. He ever so slightly squeezed the inside of my thigh. I sucked in a breath, and just like that, I couldn’t think. Remembering the way he touched me. The promise he made. My thighs still vibrating.
Whatever was happening between Abigail and her bodyguard had me hooked. They were on the other side of the plane, whispering furiously.
Abigail brought Theo into Crowne Hall. He was never a servant, but he’d lived in the servants’ quarters with us. He was always just Abigail’s. Then one day he was gone, a bodyguard for Mr. Beryl Crowne.
It had been everyone’s favorite rumor. We all knew Abigail Crowne had no future with some random street orphan, so who was he to her? I swallowed, forcing myself not to look at Gray. Maybe Theo had been nothing at all.
Like me.
Abigail reappeared, sitting next to Gray, tea in her hand. He glanced at Abigail before going back to his video game. Theo stared daggers at us.
“I knew we couldn’t be together,” Theo said.
Abigail looked up from her tea, surprise written across her features.
“A guy like me, with someone like you, Abigail? I was your dog. I was only good enough to sleep at the foot of your bed.”
“Yup,” Gray said, without taking his eyes off his video game.
I swallowed against the pain of another scratch on my heart.
“Theo—”
“You weren’t just my best friend, Abs,” Theo said, cutting her off. “You were the best thing that ever happened to me. I couldn’t lose you… but if I loved you, I would. Every day with you I got closer to telling you the truth and ruining everything. When you kissed me?”
My heart was pounding and pounding. Whatever was going on between them, it obviously wasn’t meant for us, but I couldn’t stop listening. It felt like I was supposed to hear it. Nothing had ever been more relevant.
Was that what Grayson Crowne had become? My friend? After years of loneliness, of hiding, I had someone to talk to, a confidant. Someone to share my soul with. Even when he ignored me, I felt like he was watching me, seeing me, the real me.
I felt sick.
No.
I barely glanced at him, but his steely blue eyes were already on mine. I didn’t hear what Theo said next, because I was lost in Grayson. Then he looked away, back to his video game.