“Thank you, but you didn’t have to.”
He nods. A few seconds pass in silence before he speaks. “I’ll go.” He reaches for the doorknob.
“No, don’t go.” I take a step closer and rest my hand on his arm. So warm, impenetrable. The memory of how those arms once felt around me hits me like a shockwave. “Stay. Please.”
The intensity in his eyes nearly brings me to my knees. My grasp falls away, only for our hands to find one another, weave together and draw us closer to each other. I rest my back against the door and he’s right there, the heat of his body only a hair’s breadth away.
Slowly he pins both wrists above me. When he adds pressure, his hold transforms into something dominant, something painfully arousing. I’m pulsing with it. I weaken against him, intoxicated by his touch and his presence. The second his lips brush against my neck, I whimper and bow against him.
“Zane.” My breaths come fast. I’m slipping. A year has gone by, but nothing’s changed. I’m still his… So completely his.
“I can’t keep torturing myself like this.” He runs his nose along the column of my neck. “I see you on the street and I ache to touch you this way. I don’t know how to stop wanting you. Tell me to disappear forever. Tell me you hate me. Tell me you’ve fallen in love with someone else. God, Charlotte, break the rest of my heart and save us both.”
I swallow over the knot in my throat. “I can’t. I still love you. Nothing will ever change that.”
The paintings that hang outside these walls prove that, evidence of what he still means to me, my heart—raw and bleeding—on display. Red is my submission, splashed onto dozens of canvases of moody grays, brush strokes of Zane and his memory creating the backdrop of every day. This was my year of obsession disguised as healing. If he only knew… If only we could find a way to be together.
“I want to be with you, Zane. But I can’t ask you to risk everything for me. It’s not fair after everything you’ve been through.”
He lifts his head to stare into my eyes. “I’ve got nothing to lose.”
I wince. “What do you mean? Your job…”
“I left. I wasn’t about to spend my life at the service of your family after they took you away from me.” He releases his hold on me and takes a step back. “I moved to New York six months ago. I joined a private security company. The hours are better, and I don’t have to answer to anyone but the partners.”
I gasp. “You’ve been in New York all this time? Why didn’t you reach out to me?”
He shrugs. “I wanted to give you your space. You told me to stay away, so I did. I shouldn’t have come tonight. If your father finds out—”
“I don’t care what my father thinks. The day I left DC was the day I started living my life again. That’s what this show was about. A fresh start. Something that was truly and unapologetically me. Why do you think they didn’t come?”
Sadness softens his features. “They didn’t come?”
I shake my head. “My mother said the pieces were shameful. Tasteless.” The echo of her words hurts, but not enough to cast a shadow on this incredible night. “I’m glad they didn’t come, because nothing’s going to stop me from living my life the way I want to now.”
He’s silent, his eyes searching, every muscle taut like he’s standing on the edge of a dangerous cliff, unable to step away. “What are you saying, Charlotte?”
I take in a deep breath and straighten as I close the small space between us. “I’m saying that you are what I want. And I’m not going to hide or apologize for it.”
“They’ll be furious.”
“So what?”
“They’ll want to keep us apart at any cost.”
I smile. “I’m America’s sweetheart, Zane. People want to see me happy and in love. If I walk out of this gallery with you by my side, that’s the beginning of a love story that even my parents won’t be able to make disappear.”
He shakes his head slightly. “I’ve never met anyone like you.”
I laugh. “Oh really? And why is that?”
“You’re as beautiful as you are stubborn. You’re passionate and willful. You’ve been a total handful ever since the day I met you.”
I wind my arms around his neck and bring my chest to his. “Thankfully, I know just the man to get me under control.”
For the first time in a year, I see Zane smile, and it’s the most incredible moment of my night. Knowing I still have his love, believing we have a future where it seemed impossible before.
He brushes his lips tenderly over mine. “Oh, I’ll get you under control, beautiful girl.”
His words disappear into our kiss—raw and real and filled with a year’s worth of missed opportunities. I know there’s so much more to come, and we’ll have all the time in the world for it.
Want More Misadventures?
Click here to stay in the know!
Continue the Misadventures Series with
Misadventures on the Night Shift
Available November 7, 2017
Keep reading for an excerpt!
Did you enjoy
Misadventures of the First Daughter?
Leave a review on
Amazon
Chapter One
“Holy shit,” Danica whispers, staring at something on her phone at the other end of the check-in counter. “Abby, you’ve got to see this.”
I don’t look up from my textbook, as usual. No offense to my darling Danica Reynolds and her never-ending search for porny distractions at work, but I don’t have time to gawk at man meat right now, especially not when we’ve finally reached The Dead Zone portion of our shift, the much-appreciated two- to three-hour window when nothing ever happens and I can finally study without interruption.
“Abby,” Danica persists. “You’ve got to see this.”
“Babe, I’ve got to get through this reading assignment before starting on the checkout folios.”
“Bah, studying can wait. I’m looking at Lucas Ford over here.”
My head jerks up from my textbook like a golden retriever whose owner just threw a stick. If there’s one man on the planet who could lure me away from studying about wrongful termination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it’s the sexiest rock star on the planet. The man whose face decorated my teenage walls ten years ago. Lucas Ford.
But, no, I really shouldn’t take a peek.
I look back down at my book.
Being able to get some solid studying done at work was the sole reason I agreed to be assigned to the God-awful night shift at this hotel in the first place, and I can’t afford to waste optimal study time gawking at men, even if the man in question happens to be my teenage fantasy. Okay, yeah, my fifteen-year-old self is punching me in the proverbial balls right now for not taking a peek at the photo on Danica’s phone, but the stressed-out twenty-four-year-old I’ve become has bigger fish to fry than giving my inner teenager a lady-boner. “I’ve got to study,” I mutter, continuing to look down at my textbook.
“You’re such a prude.” Danica chastises me, but her tone is affectionate. “Live a little for once, Abby. Take a walk on the wild side.”
I smirk to myself. Oh, Danica. I love her and I know she loves me. But she only knows the version of me who’s worked here for the past two years. If she’d known me five years ago when I was a human grenade, she’d never in a million years dream of telling me to walk on the wild side.
“Lucas Ford is playing tomorrow night at the arena,” Danica says, still staring at her phone. “The show’s sold out but I bet you could score tickets online. He’s one of your favorites, right?”
“Yeah. I’d love to go, but I’m working tomorrow night. Aren’t you off tomorrow night? You should go.”
“No, I picked up an extra shift from Tammy. I’m still trying to save up to help my mom.” She sighs. “I’m bummed. I’ve never seen Lucas Ford in concert. It’s definitely on my bucket list.”
“Oh, he’s phenomenal. I saw him ni
ne or ten years ago, right when ‘Shattered Hearts’ first came out, and he absolutely slayed it. The minute he started playing the opening guitar riff, I burst into tears, even before he started singing.”
“Ha! I would have done exactly the same thing back then. Actually, I’d probably burst into tears today. That’s still my all-time favorite song.”
“Mine, too.”
Continue Reading Misadventures on the Night Shift
More Misadventures
Misadventures of a City Girl
Misadventures of a Good Wife
Misadventures with a Super Hero
Misadventures of a Backup Bride
Misadventures of a First Daughter
Misadventures on the Night Shift
Misadventures of a Valedictorian
Misadventures of a College Girl
Misadventures of a Time Traveler
Misadventures with My Roommate
Misadventures of a Rookie
Misadventures with the Boss
Misadventures with a Rockstar
Visit Misadventures.com For More Information!
About Meredith Wild
Meredith Wild is a #1 New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of romance. Living on Florida’s Gulf Coast with her husband and three children, she refers to herself as a techie, whiskey-appreciator, and hopeless romantic. She has been featured on CBS This Morning, The Today Show, the New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Publishers Weekly, and The Examiner. When she isn’t living in the fantasy world of her characters, she can usually be found at www.facebook.com/meredithwild.
Visit her at MeredithWild.com!
About Mia Michelle
Mia Michelle fell in love with the world of books the very first time she stepped inside of her small hometown library. Growing up, she loved to spend time losing herself in the world of make believe by creating her own imaginative stories. The gift of a leather journal for her eighth birthday inspired her dream of one day becoming a writer. Though Mia kept most of her writing private over the years, a childhood best friend read the first draft of Rose of Thorne and encouraged her to take the leap of faith to bring her dream to life.
Mia fully admits to having a hopeless infatuation with her Kindle and suffers from a one-click book addiction. (No intervention required.) When she isn’t shuttling her two kids between cheerleading and football practice, or folding a massive pile of laundry, she can be found curled up in her favorite cozy chair with a pen in one hand and an adult beverage in the other.
Mia currently resides in a quaint little southern town in Tennessee with her husband, two children, and fur baby.
Visit her at www.MiaMichelleAuthor.com
Misadventures of the First Daughter (Misadventures Book 5) Page 17