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
I pushed my hands through my hair. Outside the sun was bright through the wispy, foggy marine layer. Was this because of Story Hale?
The more I touched Story, the deeper she sank. She was ink in the water of my soul, spreading, changing the color and make of me. I wanted to kiss her so fucking bad. So goddamn bad. Taste me on her. I ground my jaw until the grinding echoed in my skull.
My self-control was a wire-thin thread that frayed every second I was with her. I was beginning to think the minute I plunged my cock inside her wouldn’t remove me but seal myself inside her permanently. The problem was, I wasn’t sure what I wanted anymore.
Even if she couldn’t acknowledge what we were, I couldn’t ignore it any longer.
“What did last night mean to you?” Lottie asked, no longer waiting for me to respond. Fear of my answer made her voice needle thin.
“I was using you,” I answered honestly. “She was in the room. And after…I was with her—”
Her palm collided with my cheek, her slap harsh and stinging, but the tears in her eyes branded much worse.
“I hate you,” she said with a trembling voice.
I sat on the edge of my bed, dragging my hands through my hair.
“You don’t like me,” I said, finding Lottie’s eyes. “You’re only trying to make it work because you have to.”
“I do. I do like you. I thought by turning you down I was saving myself from my fate. I told myself I wasn’t going to do this,” Lottie said. “I wasn’t going to be like my grandmother and mother and sister. I wasn’t going to end up in a marriage with a man with a wandering heart. And you’re Playboy Gray, the boy whose heart only knows how to wander.”
I never really understood the term knock me over with a feather until now. She liked me?
“I like you, Grayson,” she said quietly. “You were always my Prince Charming, and I’ve always wanted to be your princess. From the very first day we met, to that day at Rosey, to now. I was afraid, and I thought pushing you away would make it better. That it would hurt less when you didn’t like me back. It didn’t. It made it worse. I really like you, Grayson.”
We stared at one another, the same realization shadowing our faces. If only we’d been honest from the start, maybe when we fell in love, it would have been at the same time.
“It was always supposed to be you,” I said quietly, taking her hand. Tears glittered in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Lottie. She’s inside me. Shit. I can’t fucking let her go.”