The Decoy Bride
Page 29
“Wow,” Bree murmured, unsure what to say.
“And I realized some things. About us.”
“Cross…”
“Bree.” He took another step toward her and she stumbled, falling back until they were standing on opposite sides of her raised hatchback. “I want you back.”
She shook her head, looking anywhere but him—the pavement, the gallery behind him, the art in the back of the Honda. “I rushed in with you. I’m always rushing into things, but it was a mistake. I overinvested and everything happened too fast—”
“I like fast. You’re impulsive. I love that about you.”
Something deep inside her went still at his words—not quite the ones she wanted to hear, but so damn close…
“My mom said something, about wanting me to be happy, and I thought maybe I should give that a try, but I don’t know how to do it without you.”
She raised her gaze to his, but wasn’t able to form words as he stepped forward and took her hands.
“You are the first person who saw me and made me feel like I didn’t have to do any more or be any more than I already was. I could just be with you—and yeah, that scared the shit out of me and so I put up walls, but you got inside them anyway. You make me feel alive, but this isn’t just about me. I want to be what you need too. I want to make you happy. Do you think you could give me another chance to try?”
The still part deep inside of her wanted to say yes, wanted to believe he meant it, but the hard outer shell had her shaking her head. If she opened herself up to him and he ghosted on her again…
“I can’t—”
“I love you,” he blurted.
She yanked her hands free. “You said you didn’t know what love was.”
“I didn’t. I thought it was my mother’s Greek tragedy or some kind of part you had to play. You were the first person who made me see that it’s this.”
“What ‘this’?” she demanded, needing the words and almost angry at him for daring to say them.
“Caring about someone like this, where I want you to be happy above all else, and I want to be with you, even when you make me crazy, because any second with you is better than it could ever be without you because all I do is miss you like a piece of my heart has been carved out of my chest when you aren’t around. Like a piece of me is missing right here.” He tapped his chest.
She shook her head, scared to let the words in, scared to believe them.
“I got married last time because I felt like I should. It was just another way to do what I was supposed to, but with you…I know you don’t care what anyone says you should do and you probably shouldn’t marry me, but I want to marry you, Bree—”
“Cross.” When the hell did they get to marriage? Five seconds ago she was trying to decide whether she was ready to date him again.
“Not because I should, but because I want everyone to know that I love you. I want you to know it.”
“Are you proposing?”
“Yes? No. I don’t know.” He shook his head. “I’m going to. I’m going to do it right. I don’t have a ring—”
She laughed. “You think I need a ring?”
“I feel like I’m screwing this up. I don’t know why I’m talking about marriage—I mean, I want to marry you, but this probably isn’t the best time—”
“And you always have to be the best,” she teased.
At the quirk of her lips, something hopeful lit in his eyes. “You deserve the best,” he murmured.
She felt her smile start to spread, something warm unlocking inside her, something she hadn’t been able to evict from her heart, no matter how she might have wanted to. Something she’d pressed down and ignored, throwing herself into her work, until it bloomed again, as bright and vibrant as ever. “Maybe I don’t want the best,” she said softly. “Maybe I just want you. Maybe I like it when you get it wrong.”
“Yeah?”
“Maybe I’m stupidly in love with you too.”
He closed the distance between them, threading his hands into her hair. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
And that quiet, still place inside her became a heartbeat, strong and sure, as he bent his head to whisper, “Thank God,” against her lips. She clutched his shirt, kissing him until that beat spread light all the way to her fingertips and toes, until she felt like she was made of joy and any second she would float right off the ground.
A throat cleared behind Cross, a dry feminine voice interrupting. “Ms. Davies? Are you ready to show me those pieces?”
EPILOGUE
One year later…
The Hwang Gallery was overflowing on the night the Bree Davies Collection was to be unveiled to the public for the first time. The paparazzi swarmed the street outside—thanks, in large part to the presence of Maggie Tate, close personal friend of the artist.
Elite Protection had provided security for the event, ensuring that Maggie and the other Hollywood power players who had chosen to attend the event would all be unmolested by the press. Cross had handled all the details personally.
He was rarely in the field anymore, since he’d become Max’s second-in-command and begun taking on more and more of Elite Protection’s administrative tasks in the year since Max and Parvati’s daughter had been born. Fewer personal protection jobs meant more reliable hours that got him home to Bree at a reasonable hour—though half the time she didn’t notice what time he arrived because she was so engrossed in her work.
Olivia Hwang had taken one look at her new pieces last year and declared that Bree needed more for a full show—and so she’d thrown herself into her work with single-minded focus for the last year, creating a collection she could be proud of.
And God, he was proud of her.
Of all the successes of his life, he’d never felt such triumph as he did now, watching her smiling as she accepted compliments on her work.
She’d moved into his house when her lease expired last July, commandeering the rooms with the best light and spreading her chaos into every inch of the once pristine, expressionless space—and he loved every bit of it.
He still had a tendency to work too hard—but so did Bree and he knew how to play hard now too. Luckily neither of them had any desire to have children, because their offspring would undoubtedly starve before their first birthday with both parents off obsessing about something—though Cecil Two always managed to get fed. He was even getting a little fat—often conning both of them into giving him dinner.
Bree’s solution to his tubbiness was to arrange extra playdates with the original Cecil and Candy’s dog Wicket. Which meant more time with her friends, Andi often joining them.
Bree had marveled to him the other night how full of people her life had become.
She had no filters, telling him everything as it crossed through her brain—about how she’d never felt like she had many people who accepted her as she was, but now she was surrounded by friends who knew her and loved her just the same. Even her relationship with her parents had improved.
They’d flown in from Minnesota for the opening and were currently telling everyone who would listen that they were the parents of the artist. Simply proud, with no qualifications. No urging her to move back to Minnesota, no talk of a fall back plan. Just pride.
Thankfully they didn’t seem to mind that she’d been living in sin with Cross for the last year.
His half-sister was here somewhere, with his adorable baby niece, whom his mother couldn’t seem to stop cooing over—though thankfully she seemed to have accepted he and Bree didn’t have any plans in that direction. Though she still dropped frequent hints about the wedding.
They’d been engaged for nearly a year now, but at this rate he was going to have to whisk her away to a private island to get her to stop working long enough to marry him. He’d heard worse ideas. A little honeymoon at the villa…
Bree bounded over to him, with Cecil Two in her arms. “Why didn’t you tell me Candy’s husband wa
s the son of Lorenzo Tate?”
“Why didn’t Candy tell you? You talk to her as much as I do.”
“He wants to buy the Candy portrait and I told him he couldn’t afford it—which apparently was extremely wrong. Are all of your friends stupid rich? Because really that’s just elitist.”
“Says the woman who is best friends with a movie star.”
“Maggie is dying, by the way—she named herself Tate after his father. She couldn’t believe she’d been guarded by Lorenzo Tate’s son and she had no idea because everyone calls him Pretty Boy. You really shouldn’t have kept that from me.”
He snorted. “I promise the next time I learn one of my coworkers has a famous parent I will be sure to call you immediately to tell you.”
“Thank you. Speaking of Maggie, she wants to know if you’re going to feel emasculated if I’m suddenly richer than you are.”
“If you’re richer than I am, does that mean you’re finally going to trade in the Honda?”
“Bite your tongue. That car is my baby. Oh! There’s Andi and Ty!”
She rushed away to greet her friends and Cross grinned after her. The show was a success. She was a success. And this, this was what success felt like. Finally.
Yes, sometimes she forgot he existed and fell into her work for days at a time, but when she came out, she always came straight to him. Falling against him on the couch, pressing her ear to his chest. Covered in paint and paste and exhaustion. He would put his arms around her as she listened to his heart and they would sit together and just be.
Happy.
About the Author
Born and raised in Alaska, contemporary romance author Lizzie Shane has traveled the world, but keeps coming back to the frozen north where she uses the long winter months to cook up more happily-ever-afters (and indulge her addiction to books and movies). A Golden Heart® winner and three-time finalist for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA® Award, she also writes paranormal romance under the pen name Vivi Andrews. Learn more about Lizzie and her books at her website or follow her on Facebook.
And don’t miss the rest of the series…
OTHER BOOKS BY LIZZIE SHANE:
Reality Romance
Marrying Mister Perfect (RR#1)
Romancing Miss Right (RR#2)
Falling for Mister Wrong (RR#3)
Planning on Prince Charming (RR#4)
Home for Christmas (Holiday Novella)
Courting Trouble (RR#5)
The Bouquet Catchers
Always a Bridesmaid
Little White Lies
Dirty Little Secrets
All He Wants for Christmas
The Decoy Bride
Always a Bridesmaid
(The Bouquet Catchers, Book 1)
She’s all heart. He’s all business.
Parvati Jai knows better than to pin any romantic hopes on Max Dewitt. She may have had a crush on her best friend’s older brother since she figured out what boys were good for, but she’s looking for Mister Forever—not a workaholic entrepreneur with a romantic attention span that tops out at two weeks. Yet with her business failing, her newly-engaged best friend vanishing into a love bubble, and even her teenage niece announcing she’s getting married, Max becomes the one person she can rely on—and the idea of a little fling with him becomes even more tempting.
Max knows his little sister’s best friend is off-limits…until Parvati confesses she once had a crush on him and he can’t help seeing her in a new—and very intriguing—light. He’s never been good at letting people past his charming facade, but something about Parvati makes him want to let down his defenses.
But even if he lets himself fall for her, how can he convince a woman who knows all about his love-‘em-and-leave-‘em ways that he finally wants forever?
READ MORE.
*
Little White Lies
(The Bouquet Catchers, Book 2)
It all started with one harmless little fib…
Fifteen years ago Candy Raines moved to California to get far away from her high profile political family—and all the baggage that comes with them. She’s built a damn fine life for herself in Tinseltown as the resident tech specialist for Elite Protection, complete with the perfect no-strings relationship. If she had to invent a husband to get her Machiavellian mother off her back, that lie is just the price of her freedom. But now her sister is getting married in a splashy society wedding and Candy has to make an appearance—with her husband.
Ren “Pretty Boy” Xiao has plenty of secrets of his own—secrets Candy has helped him hide—so when the woman who never asks for help tells him she needs him to pose as her husband for a week, he can’t refuse. Especially when it gives him a chance to see behind Candy’s many masks and reignites his hope that he might finally convince her to take their relationship beyond friends-with-benefits.
But when they arrive at the wedding, they realize the secrets run deeper than they could have imagined—and nothing is darker than Little White Lies.
READ MORE.
*
Dirty Little Secrets
(The Bouquet Catchers, Book 3)
Widowed father of twin girls and descendant of a political dynasty, Aiden Raines has been going through the motions since he lost his wife, throwing himself into work and focusing on taking care of others. He might work a few too many hours, but he’s getting by and he isn’t interested in rocking the boat—or getting involved in another relationship. Until he finds himself growing keenly aware of the woman who’s been right under his nose for years…
Samira Esfahani moved to DC and took the job as a live-in nanny when she was running away from a failed marriage. After learning how wrong she’d been about her ex-husband, she isn’t ready to trust her romantic instincts again, but if she were to decide she wanted a man, Aiden Raines would be the prototype for the perfect one. Unfortunately, he’s also her boss, and off limits in more ways than one…until one kiss changes everything.
As much as Samira wants to be with him, she’s leery of trusting her heart—especially if being with Aiden would thrust her into the political spotlight, or worse, leave her hiding in the shadows as his DIRTY LITTLE SECRET.
READ MORE.
*
All He Wants For Christmas
Be careful what you wish for…
Heartthrob Ty Walker always gets what he wants. So when he announces on a press tour that he’s ready to give up his playboy ways and start a family, he’s confident the universe will provide him with the fairy tale future he’s envisioned—and completely unprepared to come home a week before Christmas to find an eleven-year-old girl sitting on his doorstep with a note claiming she’s his daughter.
Ty has never been on close terms with responsibility, but even his oh-so-capable assistant can’t wave her magic wand and fix this one for him—not when she’s about to fly home for the holidays for a family wedding.
Taking her movie star boss and his potential daughter home for Christmas isn’t on any of Andi Cooper’s carefully crafted agendas. She knows Ty is nothing more than an overgrown child who uses his heart-melting smile to get away with murder and she’s immune to that smile…until she sees it on the face of a vulnerable little girl.
Clement, Minnesota, here they come.
But when they arrive in her small town, Andi begins to see a different side of her boss. Could there be more to the playboy than she thought? Could he actually become a good father? And could a movie star really be interested in his glamour-less assistant?
Could they actually become the family he was wishing for all along?
READ MORE.
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