Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 112(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 112(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand and shrug my shoulders. “Well?”
“Okay,” Grant says, taking a deep breath. “I feel like I need to…explain a bit about what you read.”
“Oh, here we go. It’s just out of context?” I ask, trying not to let my rage boil over. “What are you, a politician?”
“Seriously!” he protests. “Look—McKenzie knows I hate weddings, first of all. So she didn’t think I’d come at all. But then she told me she had this insanely gorgeous friend who would be there, and she tried to bribe me with that.”
“I didn’t see that in the messages,” I counter.
“This was all over the phone,” he replies. “And then when I still told her no, she countered back with what you read.”
“That she’d pay you to come and date me and–?”
“Yes, all that stuff,” he says, cutting me off. “But what you have to understand, baby, is that I had no intention of doing that at all.”
My whole body is shaking. This is hard to listen to. I feel like I’m in the middle of one of those word puzzles that I’m supposed to decipher and whether or not I figure out the truth at the end determines my IQ.
“Oh, you didn’t?” I frown. “What are you talking about?”
“I wasn’t going to romance some poor girl,” he replies, scoffing out a laugh. “I was just getting Kenz to chuck me some cash to come to her wedding!”
“Oh, come on, Grant!” I protest, throwing my hands up.
“I’m serious!” he replies. He’s moving all around, his voice is strained, and his body language seems sincere. “I was just going to tell McKenzie that it didn’t work out between me and whoever this girl was, because realistically, how can I romance a girl in a couple of days, right?”
I look at him for a second and then can’t help but laugh. I’ve been trapped in the whirlwind of our wonderful romance and haven’t even thought about how quickly things have been happening.
A slight smile comes over his face, and he takes a step closer. “Right?”
God, he’s so charming.
“I…I see what you’re doing here…”
“What?” He grins. “What am I doing, baby?”
“Don’t,” I protest as my body begins to swell with the familiar heat I always feel when he gets this close—not just physically. “Grant, I…”
“Believe me, Allie,” he whispers, reaching out for my waist. Should I stop him? “When you stepped into our room, you stepped into my life in a way no one else has before. You were the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen–”
“Grant…”
“And from that point on, I was falling in love with you.” I can see it in his eyes now. He means every word that’s coming out of his mouth.
It feels like steel chains I’ve been carrying slip off my shoulders and fall to the ground. At the same time, my legs give out from under me, and I begin to fall. But Grant catches me with his big strong hands that grip me around the waist.
He lifts me up and into his arms, and without even thinking, I wrap myself around him and press my lips against his.
The amount of relief that sweeps over me is indescribable. It’s like my entire brain shuts down and nothing remains functioning but my heart. All of my other senses heighten as I’m a thousand times more aware of his hands on me, his sturdy chest and thick arms, how wonderful his lips feel against mine.
But then I remember what he just said to me, and I have to pull back and look into his eyes—those brilliant eyes that shine so green back at me.
“Grant…” I whimper timidly. “You…you just said something a moment ago…”
“Yes, baby?”
“You said you were…falling in love with me?” I can feel myself blushing as I repeat his words—feel my heart rate jump like I just began a workout.
But Grant doesn’t seem to notice, or if he does, he doesn’t mind. He smooths back a bit of my hair and nods, keeping his eyes locked on me the entire time. “Yes, baby. That’s what I said.”
Instantly, I get all giggly inside. Keep it together, Allie.
“I…I thought that’s what I heard you say,” I reply. I open my mouth to speak but end up ducking my head down into his chest to hide.
“Why?” he asks, lifting me back to face him with two fingers under my chin. He’s smiling in such a soothing way. “Is there something you want to say to me, Allie?”
This is so crazy. I can’t believe everything that’s happened between us—that this is the man who I embarrassed myself in front of when I was twelve. That seven years later this man swept me completely off my feet in a way I never thought possible.
And moments ago, I was ready to run away from him because I thought it was all a lie. But I listened to him, and I listened to my heart, and I know how stupid that would have been. I mean, I could be carrying his child! Who knows? Just the thought has me absolutely giddy.