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“Prep us for what?” I ask before Grayson can speak, my world war nerves slicing and dicing my insides all over again. What is wrong with me? I’ve been fine all weekend.
“We’ve been informed that the press has turned your street back in the city into a campground this evening,” Smith replies. “Especially your apartment building.”
“Apparently, they anticipated your return,” Adrian replies. “We have men working with security at your building to clear our path.”
Grayson glances down at me, concern etched in his handsome face. “You’re ready for this?”
“I’m ready to have it over with,” I say, my arms instinctively folding in front of me, a protective gesture I can’t seem to avoid. “All of it.”
He studies me with those keen, intelligent eyes before he seems to accept my reply and glances at Smith. “What about the airport? Are they waiting there, too?”
Smith starts talking and I don’t hear a word. I don’t know what happens, but suddenly in my mind’s eye I’m back in the stairwell where Ri attacked me, and I’m running down the stairs, trying to get away from him. My heart begins to race and my palms are clammy. I think I might throw up. “I need to go to the bathroom,” I announce, twisting away from Grayson and I don’t look at him or anyone. I just need to go now.
Hurrying away, I know where I’m going and I dart left and down a hallway, struggling to open the door that should be easily opened. Finally, I’m inside the single-occupancy bathroom, and I grab the counter, forcing myself to suck in air, or trying to. The desire to throw up is muted, but my need to breathe is insistent. I’m hyperventilating, I think. I can’t be sure. I’ve never actually hyperventilated before. My God. Why is this happening? I try to breathe in again and fail.
“Stop,” I order myself and just the act of speaking the word seems to pull air into my lungs. “Stop now.” I inhale harshly and this time, I make it happen: I fully fill my lungs, but I don’t know how I got to this point. I was fine all weekend long. How am I not fine right now? Because I’m not. This is what Grayson feared: me suddenly losing it. I swore I wouldn’t. I almost died but I didn’t. So did he. I squeeze my eyes shut, and I’m back in the stairwell with Ri beside me and Grayson in front of me, willing to take a bullet for me. He could have died. My God, he could have died.
There’s a knock on the door and I hear, “Mia?”
I jolt with Grayson’s voice and straighten, willing myself to calm. Death and that man have a bad history. He doesn’t need me melting down on him. Hurrying forward, I reach for the handle and my hand frustratingly trembles. I open the door and Grayson is standing there—right there, in front of me—so close I can feel the heat of his perfect body.
“Hi,” I say, and just that quickly, his hand is at my waist, and he’s stepping into me.
“Hi,” he says, his head low, intimately near mine. “You okay, baby?”
“I’m good,” I say, and it’s not a lie. Now that he is here, with me, touching me, I really am remarkably, incredibly good. My hand finds his face, fingers curling on his jaw. “Let’s go home.”
“Let’s stay a couple of more nights, just you and me, baby. In our own little world.”
I want what he suggests, I want it badly, just me and this man and no one else, but going back to the city isn’t just about me. It’s about him. He has a company under attack because of my stupid mistakes with Ri. “Let’s go home,” I repeat. “And come back next weekend, knowing that we’ve faced our dragons, and we’re the ones that set the fire.”
For a moment, he hesitates, searching my face again, that worry in his eyes etching his brow, but he doesn’t push. He laces the fingers of one of his hands with mine and kisses my knuckles. “Let’s go home.” We walk down the hallway toward the lobby again and a few minutes later we’re belted into the chopper.
We’re going home. That’s what matters.
We’re together. That’s what matters.
And we’re going to claim our happily ever after. I won’t let it be any other way.
CHAPTER NINE
Grayson
In life, there are defining moments. Moments that create us. Moments that break us. Losing Mia all but broke me. Finding her again healed me. The moment I stood in that stairwell and looked into Ri’s eyes, I’d seen evil. I’d seen the end of Mia and that would have been the end of me. The ultimate moment that would break me again, but forever. She survived. I survived. But I didn’t believe for one moment that she didn’t shatter inside.
