Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 128260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
“What?” he asked, his eyes moving over my face.
“You,” I said, my smile fading. “You’re stunning. On the outside, but even more so on the inside. The world is a better place with you in it, Carson Stinger.”
“I’m better by your side,” he told me. “It turns out the world needed us after all, buttercup.” He paused, rubbing his nose against mine. “I love you, Grace Hamilton.”
“I love you too.”
“Ready to go celebrate?”
“You have no idea.”
Twenty minutes later, we were walking into the bar at the Bellagio where I had walked away from Carson Stinger, Straight Male Performer, all those years ago.What a crazy, unexpected ride from that moment to this one.
Josh was there, busy hitting on a pair of blonds sitting at the bar, and Leland and Dylan were sitting at a table, chatting.
We approached the table and the men turned and smiled, greeting me and Carson, Dylan saying, , “Hey, Prosecutor!”
When the first round of drinks came, Leland raised his glass first and looked around at the guys. “To Ara,” he said. “Always.”
“To Ara,” they said in unison. And we raised our glasses and toasted in memory to the girl whose life and death inspired a group of good men to go to radical lengths to save others like her. It was her legacy, her last gift to the world. And it meant that she hadn’t died in vain.
We laughed and talked and celebrated that night. Celebrated all they had accomplished, all they had overcome, and all that they would always work to vindicate.
As Dylan was in the middle of telling a story, I caught Carson’s eye and I smiled. As he smiled back, his eyes warm and happy, I thought back to our first exchange in this very bar, and how I had thought I hated him. I looked at the same man in front of me now, the man I knew I never wanted to live without. And I thought to myself, Life is wild.
_________
Carson
I hung up the phone and sat at my desk thinking about the call I had just been on. I had spoken with the Houston chief of police. He wanted us to organize a similar task force in their city, as human trafficking was a growing crime, and they simply didn’t have the resources to address it.
I’d have to talk to Leland, but I thought it was a good possibility that we could get something going there, maybe not just in Houston but in other cities as well. He had a lot of contacts—wealthy contacts—that would have the means to fund an operation like ours.
Leland was out today, and so I opened my computer and started composing an email that he would see tomorrow morning, outlining all my thoughts on the proposal, making sure I wrote it all down while it was still fresh in my mind.
Just as I was finishing up, I heard a soft knock on my door and called, “Come in.”
Grace peeked inside and smiled. “Hey, baby, this is a nice surprise,” I said.
“I brought lunch,” she said, holding up a couple of takeout bags. “Hot dogs.”
I laughed. “God, that sounds good. How’d you know I love hot dogs?” I asked teasingly as she placed the bags down and walked around my desk to sit on my lap.
“Oh, I know everything about you, Carson Stinger,” she said, a glint in her eye.
“You think so, do you?” I asked, smiling and kissing her neck.
She laughed as I tickled her ear with my tongue. “Mm-hmm,” she said. “But.” She paused. “You don’t know everything about me.”
“Oh really?”
She shook her head. “No. I have a secret.”
“A secret? Ah, well, how about we play a little game then? A shot for a secret?”
She paused. “Well, okay.” She leaned forward and took the pens out of the cup on my desk and moved it to the far edge. Then she reached into her purse, next to the takeout bags, and pulled out a dime.
I took it from her hand. “Last time I won your secret, my whole life changed.”
She just smiled, tilting her head in the direction of the cup.
What was she up to, exactly? I lined up my shot and threw the dime. Perfect shot. Yup, still had it. “Give it up, buttercup,” I said.
She took in a big breath and blew it out. “So, as it turns out, your boys are really good swimmers too,” she said quietly.
“My boys?” I asked, confused.
She just kept staring at me.
And then I suddenly understood and my whole body froze. “You’re pregnant?”
She nodded, still watching me nervously.
“You’re pregnant,” I repeated, letting it sink in. “We’re having a baby.”
“Yes,” she confirmed.
I couldn’t help the grin that spread over my face.
“You’re happy?” she whispered, relief dancing across her features.
“Yes, buttercup, I’m happy.” I smiled. “Very happy.”
She laughed, but it sounded like there was a small sob beneath it.