Manhattan Cinderella

by Kate O'Keeffe

  Her face lights up. “Really? He wasn’t just saying that stuff to me?”

  “I heard him. He called his record label guy, told him about you; told him he had someone real special he needed to meet.”

  She wraps her hands around my neck and scatters kisses across my face, saying, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

  “All I did was get you the introduction. You did the rest.”

  “Do you know how hard it would be for a lowly band assistant to get to perform for the Rex Randall if it wasn’t for you?” She kisses me on the mouth, and suddenly I don’t want to talk about her audition anymore.

  Usually, I lead her into my bedroom, and we fall onto the bed. Not today. We don’t make it that far. We’re too busy frantically pulling each other’s clothes off in between kisses to make it across the room. We make it to the sofa—just—where we fall down together.

  “I want you so much,” she breathes, her hands all over me, stroking me, driving me crazy with need.

  “I can tell,” I say between kisses. “And you might have noticed the feeling’s more than mutual.”

  “Mmmm, yes.” She reaches down my body and takes things into her own hands, as it were, and I swear, I nearly explode with her touch. Which is definitely not the plan here. Instead, I get to work on her, relishing her body with all its curves and soft suppleness until we’re both in a state where there’s only one choice to make.

  “Condom,” I state simply. I get up and apply the required battle gear. And then I’m back on the sofa, and before long I’m deep inside her, and we’re tangled up together once more in the most incredible way. As our bodies move in perfect synchronicity, her on top where I can see and touch her, her beautiful breasts bouncing before my eyes, I’m overwhelmed by her scent, her taste, the feel of her incredible body she hides under those jeans and T.

  If there’s such a thing as Heaven on Earth, I’ve found it in Gabby Davis.

  As she reaches her moaning release, mine follows quickly. We lie together, both catching our breath, our bodies entwined, and I’m struck by an inescapable fact: Gabriella Davis is the one. I’ve never been surer of anything in my life. She’s the one I want to be with, the one who stirs such intense feelings in me, the strength of which I’ve not experienced before. I may have only known her for a week, but my God, what a week. I have fallen hard and fast for this woman.

  Despite our agreement to keep things casual, to have a no-strings fling just for fun, I am exactly where I want to be.

  “Is it me or is your AC on super low?” she asks.

  “You’re cold?” She nods. “Hold on.” I grab the comforter from the bed, and we snuggle up together beneath it on the sofa. I press my lips to the top of her head and breathe in her scent. It’s a mixture of freshly shampooed hair and sex—and it’s completely intoxicating. I cradle her in my arms, a sense that all is right with the world pervading me once more.

  “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Want some breakfast?” I murmur.

  She raises her head. “Pancakes?”

  “That sounds good. I’ll order us some.”

  “You’re the best, you know that?”

  I feign a caveman voice with, “My woman must be fed.” I extract myself to pick up the phone from the side table and order breakfast for us both.

  “Can I ask you something?” Gabby says as I get myself comfortable under the covers with her.

  “Sure.”

  “When did Rex decide you were singing that song as a duet? I thought you were just playing guitar. I mean, don’t get me wrong, you two sounded amazing together, and it totally works because you have such similar tone to your voices.”

  My neck instantly stiffens. I meet her questioning gaze for a beat or two and know what I’ve got to do. I’ve got to tell her the truth. She deserves to hear it—and I cannot stomach lying to her again. The news Rex is my dad was like an incendiary device going off in my life, but through the healing power of this woman, I find I want to take that next step.

  I want her to know.

  “Rex is the reason I’m in Manhattan, and not simply to play that song with him at the concert. That’s a bonus, I guess. I needed to meet him.” She nods, encouraging me to go on. This is the first time I’ve told anyone this story, and I thought I’d be nervous. But it feels natural to tell her. “I told you growing up, I never knew who my dad was. All my mom told me was that he didn’t want anything to do with us and we were better off without him.”

  Gabby goes very still. “Yeah, you said that.”

  “Rex is my dad.”

  “Rex is your dad?” she repeats, confusion written across her face. “But-but you said you’d never met him.”

  “I know I did. I couldn’t tell you before because it was all new and messed up in my head. I guess I was trying to work it out first before I told anyone, and—.”

  She kisses me, silencing my words with her mouth. It’s a soft, tender kiss, one that melts my insides and washes my worries away. “Cole, it’s okay. Really, it is.”

  My belly flutters with hope. “I wasn’t honest when I should have been.”

  “We’ve all got things in our lives we’re trying to work out. Things we’re not happy about, things we want to change. This is big for you. Huge. So, what? You didn’t tell me before. Big deal. We barely knew one another. I’m just glad you told me now.”

  “Finding out my mom lied to me all my life, honesty has become, well, it’s become a really important thing to me.”

  “It was a lie to give yourself space to figure things out. Nothing more. I’m not going to judge you for that. Are you crazy?”

  My heart feels like it might burst with bliss. “You’re amazing, you know that? I tell you I lied to you about something big and you kiss me and tell me it’s okay.”

  She shrugs, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “What can I say? I’m a saint.”

  “A saint, you say? I’m not sure a saint does what you just did to me on this sofa.”

  “Play your cards right and I’ll do it again.”

  As our gazes lock, I feel such a rush of emotion for her that I blurt out, “I think I’m falling for you.”

  I regret the words almost as quickly as they spill out of my mouth. I know it’s crazy to feel the way I do about her. We’ve only known each other a short time, and we agreed up-front to no strings. But Rex’s words ring in my head, telling me I’ve found her, telling me she’s the one. I guess you can’t help who you fall in love with or when it happens.

  I found her. Even if my world has felt like it’s been imploding around me, I found her.

  And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let her go.

  A smile creeps across her face and I know she feels it too. “What happened to this just being no strings fun?”

  “Oh, this is definitely fun.” I pull her on top of me and she gives an excited yelp. If not for the fact that someone knocks on the door a moment later, I’m certain we were destined for a repeat performance of the sexy acrobatics she and I are so good at performing together.

  “That’ll be breakfast. Why don’t you take the comforter and I’ll meet you in bed?”

  “Now that’s an offer I will never refuse from you, Tennessee.” She plants a kiss on my lips before she collects the comforter and pads across the carpeted floor into the bedroom.

  We devour our meals and drink our coffee sitting side by side in bed. After Gabby collects the last morsel off her plate and slips it into her mouth, she lets out a contented sigh.

  “I love to watch you eat,” I say.

  “You do?”

  “Damn straight. You make these little noises, like you’re a rabbit or a guinea pig or something.”

  She slaps me playfully on my arm. “No, I don’t.”

  “Yeah, ya do. And it’s adorable.”

  She shakes her head, but I can tell she likes it. “Are you telling me I remind you of the farm, Tennessee?”

  I push her playfully on the arm. “When ar
e you going to drop that whole farm thing? One horse, that’s it.”

  “It’s too easy.” Her expression turns serious. “Can you tell me how you learned Rex was your dad?”

  I swallow my bite of bacon and place my utensils on my plate. “I didn’t know anything about him until last week. Well, not that the famous pop star Rex Randall was my dad, anyway. I found out the day before I met you, actually.”

  “How?”

  “You know I told you my granny died? At her funeral, my grandpop was acting weird. At first, I thought it was him feeling sad, you know? He’d lost his wife of forty-nine years; I didn’t expect him to be doing cartwheels. But when he asked to speak to me, told me he had something important to say, I knew it had to be serious. So, we left all the guests at Granny’s wake and went out in the yard, down by this big old oak they have by the back fence. And that’s when he told me.”

  “Wow. Total mind fuck,” Gabby says. “He just came out with it, just like that?”

  “My grandpop is a straight up kinda guy. No beating about the bush. He told me that he knew who my father was and that he didn’t want to take the secret to his grave the way Granny had. I think, in the end, the guilt was too much for him.”

  “It must be huge, to hold a secret like that for so long.”

  “Yeah, I know. Rex and my mom had been high school sweethearts when she got pregnant. She must have known Grandpop was going to tell me because she found us at the bottom of the garden, all worried. So, I asked her point blank if Rex was my father.” White-hot anger rises inside me. “She finally admitted to it, after all this time, she admitted she’d lied to me. If it wasn’t for my grandpop, I wouldn’t know squat about any of this.”

  “Did your mom say why?”

  “Some bullshit about wanting to protect me. Whatever her reasons, she lied to me about my father. I can never forgive her that.”

  “Maybe she thought Rex wasn’t capable of being a dad to you? Famous pop stars don’t exactly have a ‘happy family and white picket fence’ reputation, do they?”

  My anger flares. “So what? He could have been the worst dad in town. She never gave me the choice.”

  She cradles my face in her hands. “It’s okay. I know you’re in pain, but you’ve found him now. And mothers . . . mothers deserve to be held onto, to be loved.”

  There’s such empathy, such depth of understanding coming from her that I feel my anger dissipate. As I look at her, concern written across her face, it hits me. “Here I am, all torn up about my mom, and yours is gone.” I pull her into me. “I’m sorry, Gabby, I shouldn’t have gotten myself worked up about this.”

  “No, it’s good you told me, and I can totally see why you’d be upset. Only, maybe you could be a little less hard on your mom? If she was trying to protect you from Rex, she could have had good reason. Or at least, she thought she did?”

  “Yeah, maybe.”

  I only say it so that we can move on from talking about it. My mom’s lie has driven a massive wedge the size of the Empire State between us. If she was trying to protect me, I’m not ready to admit that. Maybe, some time I’ll consider that possibility, but right now, all I want to do is stay here with Gabby, locked away from the world. Happy, safe, free.

  Chapter 17

  Gabriella

  Standing at The Garden, my gaze is pulled in different directions. I’m in awe of the arena, with its rows of turquoise and blue seats and a massive stage and monitors set up where the basketball court is usually located. Although I’ve been here for a handful of basketball games with Dad over the years—Go Knicks!—I’ve never seen it like this: eerily devoid of the crowds, only a handful of people working at setting the equipment up on the stage—and the spawn about to take center stage.

  By the back row with Sylvia, Britney, and Kylie, here for their sound check and final rehearsal before the big concert tonight, I look around and try not to grin like a Looney Tunes. Of course, I fail spectacularly. This place is magical, and I can only dream that one day it could be me up on that stage, me performing for thousands, me with the burgeoning music career.

  “Oh, look, girls. There’s Rex.” Sylvia points at a small figure on the stage below.

  Kylie squints. “How can you tell it’s him from this far up? Geez, you wouldn’t want your seat to be up here.”

  “They’re not called the ‘cheap seats’ for nothing, you know,” Britney adds, her tone typically snarky.

  Sylvia ignores her daughters’ comments as she lets out a soft sigh. “I can tell it’s him because there’s a certain something about a successful man. An air, a way of holding himself, a certain je ne sais quoi. I can spot it at a thousand paces, you know. It’s a gift.”

  I do an internal eye roll. A gift my ass. It’s a load of BS, that’s what it is.

  I focus back on Rex and the man now standing at his side: Cole. The sight of him makes my heart rocket in my chest, and a goofy grin spreads across my face.

  Since we met, my head has been full of Cole. The way a smile teases at the edges of his mouth when he’s amused but doesn’t want to let on; the way he always seems to know what to say to make me feel good; the way he makes me laugh with his gentle humor. And the way he touches me. Oh, my, the way he touches me.

  And you know what? As crazy as it sounds, being with him seems inevitable, like we both knew from the moment we met we would end up together. Crazy, right? Certifiable. I mean, until last week, we didn’t even know one another, and now, here we are, Gabby and Cole, Cole and Gabby. We’re a “thing,” as inescapable as the sun rising each day, as inescapable as the August heat in the city. Being with him feels good, it feels right.

  It feels like home.

  “Let’s get down there, girls.” Sylvia pops my happiness bubble by bringing me back to earth. “We don’t want to miss Rex. You could get some photos with him to put on social media. Hashtag super stars, because that’s what you’re destined to be, girls.”

  The spawn titter as I trudge behind them. We make our way through the halls to the backstage area, Sylvia hustling her daughters to speed up lest they miss their all-important selfie op with Rex. It’s all about the Instagram followers, don’t you know?

  I, on the other hand, have nerves and excitement zinging around my body in equal measure. As wonderful as it is to see Cole again today, the last thing I want is for Sylvia to notice there’s something between us. That’s the kind of information she could use against me, and I have zero interest in giving that particular troll something juicy to chomp on. What’s more, Rex may say something about my ambitions at the record label in front of Sylvia and the girls.

  All said, I’m as nervous as a kid on her first day at school by the time we reach the entrance to backstage. We flash the “All Access” passes we have dangling around our necks at the security guard, who waves us through. Despite my mounting anxiety, as we walk out into the arena, I’m struck by a renewed sense of awe. From down here, the rows upon rows of colored seats seem to ascend right up to the clouds. They surround us on all sides, like we’re a group of ants at the bottom of a giant cup.

  Sylvia and the girls approach Rex and Cole, who are still standing on the raised black stage, deep in conversation. I hang back. It’s a wise move to fly below the radar, even if I want nothing more than to feel Cole’s arms around me.

  “Rex, how lovely to see you again.” Sylvia greets him like a long-lost relative, and not the man she’s met less than a handful of times.

  “It’s great to have you here,” he says into her perfectly coifed Anna Wintour-bob as she kisses both his cheeks to show she’s a cultured European type—and not the ugly truth, that she’s from Jersey, right across the Hudson.

  “Hi, girls,” Rex says to Britney and Kylie, who titter and preen for his benefit. “It’s going to be an awesome concert tonight. Right?”

  “Yes,” they reply in unison.

  “Personally, I cannot wait to hear you perform again after so long, Rex. You were truly an inspiration in
your day,” Sylvia clumsily flatters him.

  “Well, I’m hoping this concert will make now my day once more,” he replies smoothly.

  Realizing her blunder, Sylvia adds, “Oh, I’m certain it will. A man of your caliber and talent? You’ll have all of New York eating out of your hand.”

  I’ve got to admire her. Sylvia Tremaine is many things—nasty, vindictive things—but she can schmooze pretty much anyone she wants, and Rex Randall definitely falls into that schmoozable category for her right now.

  “Well, let’s start with getting the audience at The Garden eating out of my hand, and take it from there, shall we?” Rex replies.

  From the shadows, I steal a glance at Cole. Despite hanging back, he’s noticed I’m here, and as his eyes flash warmth at me, happiness spreads through my belly and down my limbs. He raises his eyebrows briefly and I slink back to where I was before.

  “Have you met Cole Grant, ladies?” Rex puts his hand on Cole’s bicep.

  “Oh, yes. Cole, it’s good to see you again,” Sylvia replies with as much sincerity as someone with no heart can manage. Read: no sincerity whatsoever.

  “Cole’s an incredible musician. We’re performing a duet together tonight,” Rex says.

  “A duet? Is that so?” Sylvia sizes Cole up in a new light.

  “I hope you get to hear it. I think it’s going to be something special. We recorded it this week.” Rex smiles at Cole, and I’m struck once more by their similarity. Their height, their build, the shape of their jaws. Only now do I truly see the connection between father and son.

  “You’re very lucky to be chosen for such an honor,” Sylvia comments to Cole.

  “I sure am,” Cole replies, and only Rex and I can fully appreciate the full sentiment behind his words.

  “Are you all set for tonight?” Rex asks the spawn.

  “Oh, yes. We’ve got some amazing choreography, and the production is awesome,” Kylie says, her excitement obvious. “It’s going to be epic.”

  “Thank you so much for choosing us to open for you. It is such a privilege,” Britney adds.