Wherever You Are

by Elle Wright

  “And I—” Avery looked up from the podium and her eyes widened at the sight of El standing in the back of the room. Her gaze dropped for a second, so she could regain her composure, and when she looked back up he was gone.

  Taking a deep breath, she smiled at her mother who was standing with tears in her eyes in front her. She scanned the expectant faces of her guests, swallowed and continued. “I want to thank you for supporting me, but more importantly, for supporting our future. Thank you.”

  Okay, so that’s not how she’d planned on ending her speech. But the sooner she could get down from the stage, the sooner she could find El. As she left the podium she was greeted by several people, but all she wanted to do was tell them to give her a minute. But that would be rude, and she couldn’t be rude to people who were donating to her foundation.

  Jess was at her side a moment later. “You did an amazing job, Avery. I’m so proud of you. But that wasn’t the end to your speech.”

  “El,” Avery said simply.

  Her friend’s head whirled around as if looking for him. “He’s here?”

  “I saw him in the back of the room during my speech.”

  Avery hurried through the crowd, peering up at random men’s faces. No El. Finally, after about twenty minutes of looking, she figured he’d left and decided to try to enjoy the rest of her evening.

  Closing her eyes, she took several deep breaths. No, Avery, you can’t cry. This is not the time to look like a raccoon. You’ll ruin a perfectly good smoky eye.

  “There’s no crying at events where people are giving you money.”

  Avery froze and her eyes popped open. “El,” she breathed. “Are you really here? Or are you a figment of my imagination?”

  “I’m here.” He stepped closer, traced his thumb under her right eye. “Remember what I said. No crying, Avie.”

  “You just made that up,” she said with a nervous laugh.

  “I’m pretty sure you’d scare most of the donors if you wound up with dark, wet eyes.”

  “Well, maybe you should put me out of my misery?”

  * * *

  El gazed into Avery’s topaz eyes. She was a vision in cobalt blue. He’d been unable to keep his eyes off her since he’d arrived a half hour ago. Drake and Love had egged him on, urging him to reveal himself to her, but he’d hung back. He wanted to wait until she was done with her speech. Well, that’s what he’d told himself. Really, he just wanted a chance to look at her, gaze at her soft skin and expressive eyes. He wanted to listen to her articulate why the Avery Montgomery Foundation was so important to her. He’d been silently cheering her on during her speech, surprised when she’d revealed so much about her personal journey. He was proud.

  The last couple of weeks without her had been torture for him. And according to Drake and Love, it had been preventable torture. Avery had been right. Her going back to work wasn’t the same as her leaving him. Work was work. But they were El and Avery. She was his Avery, and he couldn’t let her live another day without letting her know that.

  “I’m sorry,” he mouthed.

  “You’re sorry?”

  He nodded. “I guess I was more scared than I wanted to admit. But not just of you moving away. I’d almost lost you, and I was terrified that you would slip right back into your old habits and, perhaps, have another stroke. I was worried, and I handled it the wrong way.”

  “But, I—”

  “Wait. I need to say this. I want you to know that I forgive you. I know you need to hear the words, and I never said them.”

  “El,” she whispered. “You’re going to make me cry and you said crying wasn’t allowed.”

  He chuckled. “I did say that, didn’t I?” Leaning his forehead against hers. She smelled of daisies and a hint of champagne.

  Avery searched his eyes. “I’ve been calling you.”

  El had received Avery’s messages. Although he knew it was wrong to ignore her, he couldn’t bring himself to answer. He’d needed to center himself, gain some control over his emotions before he talked to her. “I’m sorry I didn’t pick up.”

  “I forgive you.”

  Unable to resist her mouth, El touched his lips to hers in a soft kiss, drawing a moan from her throat.

  “I love you, El,” she said when he pulled away. “I negotiated my contract to allow me to spend more time here. I bought land, and I’m building a house. We can make it work. I can fly here on the weekends during shooting. And when we’re not shooting, I’ll be here working on the foundation. I promised myself that if you let me love you again, if you opened your heart to me again, that I wouldn’t take it for granted. I don’t want to waste any more time. My life only works with you in it. So please—”

  El interrupted Avery’s words with a searing kiss, claiming her with such an intensity he surprised himself. The heat of her body against his, the scent of her, made him want to carry her out of there and worship her all night.

  She tasted like warmth and comfort, like everything he’d ever need for the rest of his life. She was as essential to him as air, and he would do anything to keep her with him.

  When he pulled back, Avery mouthed, “Wow.”

  The smile that bloomed across her face then was like a lit match against his skin, setting his body on fire. “Wow is right,” he agreed, nuzzling his nose against her cheek.

  “I take it you believe me.”

  He chuckled. “I do.”

  “So you’ll stay with me?”

  “I’m not going anywhere. I promise.” He placed a lingering kiss against her lips again, before nipping her bottom lip gently. “Avie?” When she opened her beautiful eyes and smiled at him, he grinned. “I love you, too.”

  Epilogue

  Avery stood at the entrance to the park, her fingers nestled in the crook of her father’s arm.

  He patted her hand tenderly. “Ready?”

  Through wet lashes, she nodded. “I’m ready.”

  The music started, and Phil Montgomery led Avery down the aisle. As Avery approached her El, she couldn’t help the wide grin that formed across her lips. She was finally marrying the love of her life. As she scanned the few guests, she couldn’t believe the day had finally come.

  El had proposed the night of the gala, presenting her with a beautiful princess-cut solitaire. And Avery had lost her composure, crying so hard, everyone stopped what they were doing to watch the show. But she hadn’t hesitated and shouted “Yes” before jumping into El’s arms.

  Of course, after the proposal, Jess had whisked her away to the bathroom to fix those raccoon eyes. But Avery hadn’t cared how she looked because she had everything she wanted in that moment.

  Unfortunately, the public cared, and a picture of her sobbing and looking a hot mess ended up on Instagram in a matter of seconds. She’d been the subject of quite a few blog posts and tweets.

  The headlines had been a source of entertainment for El. She recalled his laughter when one blog had suggested that El and Avery had a secret child. Then, there was the one that implied that Blair Wallace was planning to interrupt the wedding and steal her away.

  As she neared El, she noted the tears standing in his eyes and her heart soared. They’d chosen to marry at the Sleeping Bear Dunes. It sounded simple, but it was anything but. There were permits to be pulled, security to hire, tents to set up, money to spend. In short, Jess was a raving lunatic because she’d decided to plan the wedding.

  Yet as Avery looked at her best friend, standing to her left, bawling her eyes out, it was hard to believe just a few hours earlier she’d been cursing out everyone within earshot.

  Drake stood to El’s right as his best man.

  They’d decided on a short, traditional ceremony—no personalized vows, no long drawn out songs. Just pledges to love each other in sickness and health, for richer or poorer. But Avery had d
rawn the line at “obey.” Instead, she said that she would obey his request to not sing in the shower or burn dinner because she was too busy to remember to turn the oven off. At that last part, El had tilted his head toward the sun and laughed.

  They were pronounced husband and wife in front of fifty of their closest friends and family members. Then El had lifted her up in her Vera Wang gown and carried her down the aisle to the waiting limo.

  Inside the limo, on their way to the same Italian restaurant where she’d begged him to forgive her and admitted her undying love for him again, he’d asked the driver to take the scenic route and made love to her right on the floor of the limo.

  Now, as they pulled up to the intimate reception, he pulled her into his side and kissed her brow. “Avery Jackson.”

  “Avery Montgomery-Jackson,” she corrected.

  El squeezed her tight, and she giggled. “Avery Jackson,” he repeated. “I love you more today than I did yesterday. I’ll love you more tomorrow than I did today.”

  She smiled at his use of her own words. “You could’ve made up your own declaration of love, you know.”

  The rumble of laughter in his chest made Avery feel like the luckiest woman in the world.

  “How about this? The end.”

  “I like the sound of that. I love you, Dr. Elwood Jackson.”

  “And I love you, Mrs. Avery Jackson.”

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from When I’m with You by Donna Hill.

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  When I’m with You

  by Donna Hill

  Chapter 1

  “Your sisters are planning our wedding,” Avery said as she loaded the dishwasher.

  Rafe handed her the glasses from the table. “Yeah, they can be a bit enthusiastic,” he said chuckling. He came up behind her, bent over her body and grabbed her waist. “The main thing is we’re going to be legal, official, permanent.”

  Avery straightened and turned to face him, leaned against the dishwasher. She looked into his eyes, and as always a flood of heat flowed through her. Being in the same air space with Rafe always did that to her, made her hungry for him, weak to his will. But this was her wedding, her day. She splayed her hands against his chest. “Look, babe, I know it’s your family, and I don’t want to cause any rifts, but...I need some space.”

  Rafe’s simmering gaze slowly moved over her face, the way it did whenever he was trying to see beneath the surface of her words. She shifted her weight under his close scrutiny.

  “I’ll talk to them, okay,” he said softly.

  Avery pressed her lips together and nodded her head.

  “Come ’ere.” He pulled her tight against him. “All I want is for you to be happy. Just tell me what you want and I’ll make it happen.”

  Avery rested her head against his chest, soothed by the steady beat of his heart. Her temple suddenly pounded and a flash of sharp pain shot across her eyes. Her body tensed.

  Rafe eased back and looked down at her taut expression. “You okay? Another headache?” He stroked her cheek.

  Avery let out a slow breath. “A little. It’ll pass.”

  Since the explosion in Paris and the concussion she sustained when she’d rescued Rafe’s father, she’d intermittently suffered from mild to severe headaches. The doctors assured her that they would lessen and then eventually disappear with time.

  “Maybe we need to get the doctor to run some more tests.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “It’s only been a little over two months.”

  “Yes, but you go back to work next week. The doctor has to clear you. You have to be on your A-game, darlin’. You said so yourself.”

  She leaned up and kissed his lips. “And I will be.” There was no way she would see any doctors and tell them what was really going on with her. They’d never clear her to return to duty. And if so it would be desk duty. She did not work her way up the ranks of the Secret Service to sit behind a desk. Plus, she was up for promotion. No way would she blow it. Two Advil. End of story. “I’m fine.” She turned the dial on the dishwasher and it hummed to life. Another morning of domesticity.

  After leaving Paris, Rafe took Avery to the Lawson compound to recuperate from her injuries before returning to Avery’s place in Washington, DC. Rafe easily made her townhouse his second home. Their pseudo “living together” arrangement was easier than she’d imagined.

  They were a natural fit with each other, as if living under the same roof was something they’d always done. Rafe was attentive, but gave her space. He possessed chef-like skills in the kitchen, a penchant for neatness—she never had to step over discarded clothing, or clean up after a meal—and above all he was a master in the bedroom who made her see heaven on a regular basis. This man was going to be her husband. Sometimes when she looked at him or held him tight between her thighs, she couldn’t believe that Rafe Lawson was hers. What she wanted was just the two of them, but marrying Rafe was marrying his large, controlling family.

  “You sure you’ll be okay until I get back from ’Nawlins?” He wiped off the countertop with a damp cloth.

  She shimmied onto the barstool at the island counter and extended her hands to Rafe. He took two long steps and was in front of her. He raised her hands to his lips and kissed the insides of her palms.

  “I’ll be fine, and right here when you get back.” She leaned in to kiss him.

  “Hmm, I can change my plans,” he said against her cheek, “and stay here, which is what I’d rather do.” He caressed her hips.

  Avery giggled. “Me, too, but you’ve been gone long enough. Take care of your business.”

  He stepped deep between her legs. “Business can wait.” He threaded his fingers through the hair at the nape of her neck, dipped his head and kissed her collarbone.

  Avery sucked in a breath of desire and instinctively tightened her legs around him. “You’re going to be late,” she whispered.

  He brushed his lips along her neck, nibbled the lobe of her ear. “Privilege is the perk of owning your own plane. Can’t leave without me.” He covered her lips with his and drew her tongue into his mouth.

  Avery untied the belt on her robe and then looped her arms around his neck. “Thank you for perks,” she said, as Rafe lifted her from the stool. She wrapped her legs around his waist while he walked them into her bedroom.

  Rafe eased her down on the bed and
braced his weight above her. “Say the word, darlin’,” he whispered in her ear while he stroked her hip and then lifted her left thigh and draped it over his arm, “and I’ll stay.” He nuzzled her neck, dipped his head down to suckle the peaks of her breasts.

  Her heart raced. “Rafe...” she moaned.

  “Tell me what you want.” He slid his hands beneath her and pushed deep inside.

  “Ahhh...” She clung to him. “You...only you.”

  “You got me. Always,” he said from between his teeth and let his body prove it.

  * * *

  “I can drive you to the airport,” Avery dreamily offered as she stretched her naked body beneath the twisted pale blue sheets.

  Rafe glanced over his shoulder, lifted the sheet and peeked underneath. “Naw, darlin’, this is how I want to remember you while I’m gone.” He lightly swatted her lush bottom and pushed up off the bed. “Gonna shower and dress. Want anything while I’m up?”

  “Hmm,” she moaned. “Nope.” She tugged the sheet up to her chin and closed her eyes.

  Rafe chuckled and padded off to the bathroom.

  Avery distantly heard the rush of shower water, soon followed by Rafe’s rendition of The Temptations’ “My Girl.” She smiled and burrowed into the overstuffed pillow. How would she manage without Rafe? They spent their days talking, debating, laughing, investing in each other’s happiness, and their nights consummating their love. This would be the first time they’d be apart...since Paris...

  The scent of smoke filled her nostrils. Her heart raced. Blackness. Screams. Pain. Sirens. The sheets clung to her damp body. Sinking. She was sinking. Falling. Had to get out.

  “Avery!” Rafe gently clasped her shoulder and sat next to her on the bed. “Cher...”

  Her eyes flew open. Her body trembled.

  Rafe gathered her up in his arms. “Sssh, just a dream, cher.” He rocked and held her until the shaking stopped.