by Fall, Lucy
Chapter 12
5:04. Time to go.
I pushed back my office chair, stretched the slung my purse over my shoulder. As I stepped out of my cubicle, I glanced in the conference room where a group of some of the smartest advertising agents in the firm gathered around the large oval table.
And I interned for them. Opening the glass door, I said, “I’m out guys. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Get some sleep, Eliza,” Ian McCalister, the man who was now my boss, who’d taken a chance on me, said. “We’re working on the Blush account tomorrow. We need fresh brains.”
“I’ll be ready to go.” I edged out of the room then headed to the door.
I loved my new job. The Blush account would be a huge win for the accounting firm. Not that they needed the new client. They already had a long list of respectable ones, but they always needed more.
I stepped out onto the sidewalk in Manhattan. Fall crisp air blew past me, I tilted my head, enjoying the breeze. Moving to Manhattan had been a very un-like Eliza thing, but I hadn’t regretted the decision.
Two days after Hunter and I broke up, after sitting alone in my apartment crying non-stop, I’d gotten myself together and actually took a long, hard look at my life. I stared at my small, empty apartment, thought about the town that had turned on me, and I had the most overwhelming need to escape.
Not from my life, but to my life.
Hunter had been right. I was too terrified to leave the small town. Too afraid of failing, of being alone, of living for me and me alone.
So I made a call to a distant cousin who lived in New York and asked if she could help me find a job. Two days later, I had flown out to New York, and I’d been here ever since.
If there was one positive that came from my breakup with Hunter, it was that he’d forced me out of my complacent life. I was thankful for that.
But six weeks later, I still missed him horribly. I thought it would ease some, but no, I missed him now as much as I did the day we broke up. Everything about the city reminded me of the time I’d spent with Hunter here.
I rounded the corner and saw a familiar figure standing outside my apartment building. The sight of him caused me to stumble to a halt, my stomach jumped into my throat. Unable to process what I was seeing, I spun and backtracked around the corner. I stared forward, mind racing. The guy had dark hair. Same build. Height. But there was a lot of men in this huge city who looked like that. My mind had to be playing tricks on me, because there was no way Hunter was in New York City.
I peeked around the corner. Nope, that was definitely him. I devoured him with my eyes. God, he looked so sexy in jeans and a gray Mets hoodie. But why was he here?
Nerves attacked my stomach, and there was a huge part of me that wanted to leave and go somewhere else until he gave up. I was trying to get over this man and seeing him now, here, was going to open wounds that were hardly even closed yet.
But the other part of me couldn’t do that. I had to know why he was here.
Curiosity killed the cat, Eliza. Curiosity was why I was single now.
I took a second to center myself before I strode around the corner with my head held high. As I approached, Hunter froze. I stopped in front of him.
“What do you want, Hunter?” I had to keep control of this so I could control my emotions. Every part of me wanted to jump into his arms, but I reminded myself of how the things had ended between us. What he’d said.
He thrust his hand through his hair. “I was hoping we could talk.”
That wasn’t what I was hoping he’d say. An apology, maybe or I can’t live life without you, but talk?
“I think we’ve said everything we need to.”
I stepped around him and he grasped my arm, stopping me. I stared ahead, refusing to look up at him.
“Eliza,” he whispered, voice husky. “Please.”
I felt my restraint crumbling like it always did when it came to him. “Not here.”
I couldn’t let him in my apartment, couldn’t have him in there, have his imprint in my home. When he left again I wouldn’t be able to get over it. Not this time.
“Empire State building at dusk.”
My throat squeezed tightly, and I couldn’t get a word out, so I nodded my agreement. I couldn’t read too much into the location he’d picked.
* * *
As I stepped off the elevator, I wrapped my shawl tighter around me as a gust of wind blew my hair into my face. I wasn’t sure where Hunter was waiting, or if he was even here yet. I walked around the corner. A bittersweet ache formed deep my chest as Hunter stood at the place he’d held me so sweetly weeks ago. The place where I realized I was falling for this man.
He scanned the crowd, then his eyes locked on me and I swore I saw relief ease the exhausted lines on his face.
As I slowly walked up to him, he held my gaze. I stopped in front of him.
“Do you remember?” was all he said.
“A romantic moment like that is hard to forget.”
One corner of his mouth quirked up. Silence descended as he turned with me to look at the view. We were standing shoulder to shoulder.
“Why are you here, Hunter?” I whispered, having a hard time keeping the emotions out of my voice.
“To get you.”
I stilled, not sure if I’d heard him correctly or not. “Get me?”
“You were right. I needed help. I didn’t realize how badly until I hurt you. I wanted to go after you that day, but I couldn’t. I needed to heal.”
Turning to face him, I studied him closely. He did look less haunted, his eyes brighter. “Explain,” I rasped.
“I went to therapy, I’m still in therapy. I’ve spent a lot of time talking in a veterans group. It’s helped me. It helped me to do this.”
My gaze dropped to a leather bound book. His journal. Why was he trying to give me the item that had helped break us up?
“Open it.”
I hesitantly took it. Up close, I realized it wasn’t the same journal, the color was darker. I opened it. A gasp swept past my lips and I looked up at him with tears in my eyes.
“Hunter—”
“I rewrote it in first person.” He took a deep inhale. “And I sent the manuscript to a publishing house. I’ve never seen something move so fast, I had an offer from the house within days. Six figure deal and an auction for the movie rights is already in process.”
My chest tightened. “I’m so happy for you, Hunter.”
His eyes burned into mine with the fierceness of his emotion, his earnestness. “It’s only because of you that it happened. If you hadn’t slapped me in the face with the truth, I’d still be in the fucking dark.”
I smiled, but it felt strained, a knot forming in my stomach. “So what is this, a thank you?”
Grasping my shoulders, his eyes intense, he bent down until we were eye-to-eye. “I needed to start fixing what had been broken while I was in hell. I may never fully recover from it, but I am working damn hard to learn to live with what happened to me. And I needed to be better for you. I want to be with you. I need you. I love you, Eliza.”
The tears fell down my cheeks. “You love me?”
“More than you will ever know. You kept me alive during the darkest moments of my life with those words you wrote and you kept me from tumbling back into the darkness with the way you loved me.”
I cupped his cheek, rubbing my thumb over the stubble on his jaw. “I lusted after you for years, then I loved you. It has always been you Hunter.”
The cords in his throat worked before he yanked me into his arms and kissed me passionately. Tears pricked at the back of my eyes. I never thought I’d feel those lips against mine or be in his arms again. I’d missed him so badly.
Without saying anything, I took his hand and led him to the elevator. Hunter didn’t say anything as we rode down and hailed a cab. He knew where we going. We didn’t need words.
Twenty minutes later, I closed my apartment door b
ehind me. We fell into each other’s arms, kissing and tugging at each other’s clothes. As we stumbled our way back to my bedroom, we discarded clothes where they landed. My blouse. His hoodie. My slacks. His pants. Lace panties. Black boxer briefs.
Naked, we fell onto the bed. Hunter slowed our kisses then pulled back to stare down at me. I caressed his cheek and he turned his face and kissed my palm. This was a face I would never get tired of looking at. Eyes that I would never tire of looking back at me.
“I love you so much,” I whispered.
Hunter reclaimed my lips as ran his hand over my belly. Every touch was soft and slow as if he was relearning every inch of me again. I didn’t mind, I wanted him to take his time, so we could make up on all the loving we’d missed out on the past six weeks.
I couldn’t get enough of touching him either. His back, his chest, his shoulders, reminding me that he was really here and he was mine.
Hunter rolled me underneath him, his mouth exploring mine. I cradled him between my legs and in one strong thrust he filled me. I gasped, having missed the way he stretched and filled me.
Hunter lifted his head. Our eyes locked. We began to rock together.
I loved the connection we had. Neither of us shied away for the others stare. We rocked, slow and even. Pressure started to build. I bit my bottom lip, moaning. Hunter picked up the pace, his breathing heavy. Moments later, we came apart together.
Hunter shifted so he was beside me. He brushed my hair back. “I’m so glad you waited for me to come home.”
A happy gasp shot out of my mouth. The last line of my letter.
“Me too.”
Epilogue
Life had the most amazing way of working out, I decided.
Not six months ago, I was alone in this big city, trying to put my life back together after Hunter and I broke up.
Today, I was no longer an intern, but had been given a well-paid full-time position after my ad idea helped win the firm a new account. Hunter had moved in with me. His book released one week ago and skyrocketed to the NYT best sellers list. Everyone was fascinated with his story and wanted to read it.
Not that I was surprised by his book’s success. The original journal entries had been raw and gripping, the finished product, the one that was coming from him, had been mind blowing.
After I gathered my stuff together, I hurried out of the agency. The first thing I saw was the blonde hair of the lady standing right outside my building.
My mouth popped open as I realized who it was. “Sophie?”
I never imagined I’d see her or anyone from my hometown again. Hunter and I had no reason to go back. Our lives were here now.
A strained smile came on the other woman’s lips. “Eliza.” She paused, inhaled deep, then released it in a rushed gust. “I’m glad I was able to catch you.”
“I’m not going to lie. I’m surprised to see you.”
“I know.” Sophie looked down. “I read Hunter’s book. I owe you and him an apology. I had no idea. I don’t think anyone really did.”
Never did I believe Sophie Stedman would apologize to me. But here she stood doing exactly that. I was struggling to find words.
She continued on. “Your letter saved him and I made a mockery of it because of my own hurt feelings, and I am ashamed of myself. I’m not expecting forgiveness, Eliza, but I wanted you to hear my apology. I owed you that, at least.”
I studied the woman who had become my unlikely friend. I had always enjoyed Sophie’s company, loved the way she had always looked out for me in that big sister way.
“I wasn’t completely innocent in what happened, Sophie. I did hurt you by doing all that behind your back, and I understand how that made you lash out.” I tried to give her a smile. “Granted, you went nuclear, but you were entitled to be furious. I wasn’t being a good friend either.”
“So what are you saying?”
“I don’t think our hurt feelings will heal overnight, but I’m willing to put the past behind us and move forward. Or at least try to.”
A huge smile brightened Sophie’s face. “Me too.” She gave me an awkward hug. “I really am happy for you and Hunter.”
I patted her on the shoulder. “Thank you, Sophie.”
She pulled back. “I’m going to be in town for a few days on business.”
“Why don’t we get together for lunch before you leave?”
“I’d really like that.”
“Just give me a call and we’ll set it up.”
As Sophie and I parted ways, I felt a lot lighter than I had just minutes before. I hated the way that Sophie and I had ended things, but I had saw no reason to try and reach out to her after everything we’d been through.
Sure, she had been awful to me at the end, but I hadn’t been kind to her either. I wanted to try and put the past in the past and not hold onto the anger.
It was a relief to know that we might still be able to work this out, salvage our friendship.
Ten minutes later, I opened the door to our apartment. I went to place my keys on the table by the door, but folded blue paper caught my attention. My stationary.
I opened it.
Meet me at the conservation deck right after work.
I smiled. The Empire State Building had become “our” place. At least once a month we went to stand in our spot with him holding me exactly as he had that night so long ago. The night I know knew we’d both fallen in love.
After locking the apartment back up, I waved down a cab. Twenty minutes later, I was riding up the elevator of our building—the one where we became truly us. When the doors opened, I didn’t hesitate, my feet instantly steered me toward our spot.
I rounded the corner and there he was, still taking my breath away. I walked up to him, “Hello, lover.”
Wrapping his arms around me, he pulled me close. “Hello.” His voice was deep, husky.
“What brings us up here today?” I smiled up at him. With each passing day, Hunter healed a little more. The nightmares were becoming less frequent and violent.
Hunter let me go, stepped back and reached into his jean pocket. The velvet box in his hand had me slapping my hands to my mouth. When he went down on one knee and opened the box, displaying a white gold solitaire diamond, I whispered, “Oh my God.”
“Eliza Garrett. You gave me a reason to fight through hell to live. You give me a reason every day to keeping fighting my demons. I spent a year of my life believing that I was destined for a dark, painful future. My future, because of you, is bright. I love you more than words can express. Would you do me the honor of being my wife?”
“Yes,” I whispered, not caring that tears streaked down my eyes. “Oh, Hunter, yes. I love you so much.”
He slipped the ring on then shot up, taking me in arms. He hugged me tight, kissing my lips. The sound of clapping startled me and I pulled back. A huge group of people had gathered around us. I’d honestly forgotten we weren’t up here alone.
Strangers offered us congratulations and wished us a long happy marriage. Hunter kept his arm around my waist, kissing me every second he had a chance, a grin stretching his lips.
I still couldn’t believe how far I’d come and how much my life had changed. I was living in a new city and getting married to the man I’d once only fantasized about.
My life was truly what dreams were made of.
I had been blown away by the love of my life. And nothing had ever felt so right.
THE END
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Bonus Content: Crash and Burn (Books 1-3) by Eva Grayson
Part I
Crash and Burn (Crash and Burn, Book One) by
Eva Grayson
Lauren
I’m smart. I’m savvy. I have the experience to pull this project off and make it amazing. I’m— Shit, I’m five minutes late to our morning meeting.
I grab my papers, fling my office door open, and dart across the floor toward the corner conference room, where everyone is already waiting for me. A tray of buttery pastries tempts me momentarily from the center of the table, but I rip my gaze away from them and offer an apologetic smile to my boss, Dane.
From his position at the head of the table, he cocks a dark brow. “Thank you for joining us, Lauren.” His voice is low and even as always, but I can hear the hint of irritation under the words.
My face burns. Dane is a fair boss but a bit of a hard ass, and he doesn’t like tardiness. “Sorry,” I say, shuffling to the empty seat near the end of the table. I don’t bother offering up an excuse for why I’m late. It doesn’t matter.
Emme, my assistant, gives me an apologetic smile. I shake my head and flash a quick grin at her in response. It’s not her fault I’m late—she knocked on my door ten minutes ago to remind me about the meeting, but I got caught up in finishing the last touches for the specs I’m working on. It has to be perfect.
We discuss old business for the first twenty minutes or so. Carl, as usual, won’t stop interrupting Dane with his opinion on everything, and I find my mind wandering as I gaze around the table. Dane’s new personal assistant, Carlita, clacks away on her tablet to take notes. She’s an older woman, a little on the quiet side, but I like her. She’s professional and no-nonsense, exactly what Dane needs. Not that Emme did a bad job or anything when she was working with him. She’s been a great assistant to me, a real help for this project. Sometimes I still find it hard to believe she and Dane are together. But I have to admit, he’s been a lot more laidback and friendly in the last few months since they became exclusive. She’s been a good influence on him.