“I’m here,” I say, kissing her forehead. “I’m not going anywhere.”
She looks up at me but she still seems nervous, like she wants to believe me, but still can’t.
“What is it, sweetheart?”
“You’re not going anywhere, but you are.”
What she says is simple, but means everything.
She’s right. I’m a touring musician. I spend half of the year every year on the road. In all my haste to get to her, I have to admit to myself that I haven’t really thought anything through in terms of how we’re supposed to make this work.
“Come back to LA with me,” I blurt.
Her eyes widening, she sits up in the bed and starts to laugh. “What?”
“I’m serious!” I exclaim. “Come back with me. I know it’s crazy, but Rylee’s already got one foot out the door thanks to Eric. You wouldn’t be alone. I swear, Mia, you’dloveit there.”
She lets out a stunned laugh. “Grayson…”
“I’m not just throwing this out there. You and Rylee could be the exclusive media team for Catastrophically Charismatic. I’d hire you both in a second. You’re already basically doing the job. Think about the content, the access, the reach—it’s the opportunity of a lifetime, and your bosses will see that.”
Her laughter fades. She looks at me like she wants to believe it—wants to believeme—but logic is still screaming in her ear.
“Gray, Rylee and I have lives here. Jobs. Commitments. You and I barely even know each other. We just reconnected, or whatever you want to call it, less than two weeks ago. This… what we’re doing now—it’s been less than twenty-four hours!”
I nod, heart racing. “I know—and I get it, but that’s the part I’m excited for. Wegetto learn each other. I don’t care if it’s been twelve years. I still remember things about you. I remember the way your nose scrunches when you read. How your brow furrows when you’re focused. I bet you remember things about me, too. Besides, what matters is how wefeel. I feel like I’ve finally found something real.”
Mia blinks, and takes a few moments to absorb what I’m saying. I wish nothing more than to know what she’s thinking.
“Remember how you said that you’re mine?” I ask.
She nods.
“I’m yours, Mia. Completely, irrefutably yours. There won’t ever be anyone else for me. Not after last night. The way you fell apart for me? You’ve ruined me, sweetheart—in the best way.”
Her eyes soften.
“I want to say yes,” she says slowly. “God, I really do. For someone I thought barely noticed me growing up, you’re making a hell of a case now.”
That’s all I need.
I tug her gently toward me and kiss her, slow and deep and certain.
“Say yes, Mia,” I whisper against her lips. “Please.”
“Yes,” she says, barely audible. “Just… Please don’t make me regret this.”
A grin breaks across my face. An unstoppable, can't-believe-I-got-the-girl grin.
“You won’t,” I swear. “I’ll spend every day proving that you made the right choice.”
All I have to do now is get her back to LA—and give her a life better than any song I’d ever written.
Chapter fifteen
"Cliché" - mgk
Mia
