“Together.” I smiled before he kissed me. His lips moved across mine with sweet pressure, lingering as I breathed in. “I love you too, Grey.”
“If it’s too much, you tell me. You don’t have to do any of it. I’m not asking you to work with Mason.”
“I know you aren’t, but I don’t know how I feel about letting someone else run the office. I kind of love it.” The thought of handing over all of the books to someone else was nauseating. I didn’t know the first thing about running a condo association, but I could learn. I would learn.
He laughed. “I know what you mean. It’s a pain in the ass, but it’s home.”
“Exactly.”
He had said the words that I had been defining ever since I drove that truck over the Padre bridge. “Grey?” I looked into his piercing eyes.
“Yeah, baby.” He tugged me closer, his thumbs hooking through my belt loops.
“This is home. I want you to know I’m never leaving here.”
He lifted me around his waist, and I wrapped myself around him, letting my ankles lock against his lower back. His lips met mine and I kissed him soft and slowly, reveling in how we were meant to fit this way. This is what together meant. We had moved past spring break, past the awkward adjustments, past injuries, past the jealousies, past the doubts, past the questions. All I knew as Grey’s kisses took me under with heat and passion was that all my tomorrows were going to be his tomorrows. Grey was home.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
(On Safe Sex)
The author would like to note that the characters in this book are extremely responsible and practice safe sex measures: condoms, birth control, and annual physicals. In the interest of maintaining the appropriate pace of the storyline, some of these details are left to the assumption of the reader. All characters would like you to know they are responsible and promote the safest of sex ;-)
Power. Money. Control. Love.
He has all but one.
When movie star, Evan Carlson, discovers his girlfriend’s picture with another man splashed on the cover of gossip magazines, he decides he’s had enough of his fishbowl life and attempts to outrun the media frenzy his relationships have become. Driving until the road stops, he ends up on the remote and quaint Perry Island, where a heartthrob can blend in like the locals and be a beach bum as long as he wants. All that changes when Evan meets Haven Owen, aspiring songwriter and the girl he just can’t get enough of. A summer romance turns into something much deeper and Evan gets tangled in his own web of lies to keep Haven in his life. But when his ex tracks him down, Evan learns there are some things you just can’t outrun.
Is the cost of love, losing all control?
Sullen’s Grove. It was only one exit ahead. The burning sensation had crept to both eyes. Eight hours of driving had that effect. There had only been one stop since Evan set off this morning, and he had made that as quickly as possible—enough time to stretch his legs and convince himself heading north was the right direction.
Evan rubbed his tired eyes before reaching for his cell phone.
There were ten missed calls and too many texts to count. He gripped the phone in his fist. The tightening in his chest wrapped under his ribs and pressed against his sternum, forcing the clamped breath he was holding to escape through his mouth.
When he saw the city’s name splayed across the sign in front of him, his hand relaxed its hold on the phone. Ivy wouldn’t expect his call much less expect him to be only miles from her hometown. She always talked about Sullen’s Grove as if it was the most idyllic place in the world to grow up and live. There were oak-lined streets, artsy shops, even a downtown waterfront where you could buy ice cream and stroll along the boardwalk. The whole time they dated, he had never visited. Maybe that was part of the problem. She had tried; she had invited him. So why, after all these months, was Sullen’s Grove the one place he thought he could find safe harbor?
Pausing before making the call, he debated again whether dragging Ivy into this was such a good idea. She would help, she would want to help, but she didn’t deserve this mess. He tossed the phone into the open passenger’s seat, and twisted the knob on the radio. Ivy would forgive him. Hell, she might not ever know he had driven by without stopping.