by K. M. Scott
Killian shook his head. “You look beautiful. I’ve missed you so much. I thought about calling you every day, but I didn’t know where you were. Your father said to give you time, but I want you to know I never gave up on us. You ran, and I wanted to chase but I didn’t know where to chase after you. But I never gave up.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t call you after I found out that whole mess was a lie. I convinced myself we were too different, and you’d be happier living in the spotlight with someone else. But I realized as I watched you today that I don’t care about us being different. I love you.”
A slow smile spread across his face and lit up those beautiful green eyes of his. “I’ve waited to hear those words, Tressa. And I have a confession. I thought I loved being famous, but when I lost you, I realized I loved you more than being loved by fans and having my picture taken by the press. When that’s all I had, it felt like I had nothing because I didn’t have you.”
I stood on my toes to kiss him, pressing my lips to his in a kiss I’d longed for since that night I told him goodbye. Like always, he took my breath away, and once more I fell in love with him all over again.
Pressing his forehead to mine, he whispered those words that never failed to make me the happiest woman in the world. “I love you, Tressa.”
“I love you, Killian.”
He stepped back and nodded in a resolute way that confused me. “I know you’d probably prefer me to do this in private, but I don’t think there are any cameras around, so here goes.”
Then he took a small black velvet box out of his pocket and knelt down on one knee in front of me. Looking up, he took a deep breath and opened the box to reveal a diamond ring more beautiful than any I’d ever seen. “I’ve had this for a while now. You know me. Always confident. So, Tressa Stone, will you marry me?”
My mouth dropped open in shock, but I knew my answer. I’d known it since the moment I realized I loved Killian all those months before.
“Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you, Killian Brenton,” I answered as my emotions overwhelmed me and I began to cry.
He slipped the engagement ring on my finger and stood to take me in his arms. In my ear, he whispered, “You run, and I chase. Forever.”
Forever.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Killian
Tressa curled up against me on the couch in my living room as we got ready to watch SportsCenter. Although she’d been scared to death to do an interview, she agreed to do her first by my side after we announced our engagement on the network of my choice, so of course, I chose a sports show. I had a feeling that would be easier on her since the reporter would probably spend more time on my career than on gossipy topics like other shows did.
Grabbing my hand, she squeezed it tightly. “God, I’m so nervous. How do you do this all the time?”
I smiled and shook my head at how someone so incredible could be so insecure about this one thing. She’d been spectacular that day as we sat across from the reporter at the television studio. Full of doubt, she held my hand so tightly in the minutes before the interview began that I thought she might hurt herself, but when it came time to answer questions, she was the Tressa I knew and loved. Professional and sweet at the same time, she looked like a natural.
Not that she believed that for a second. Since then, she’d worried about how she looked and if she’d sounded too bossy or too strident. No matter how much I tried to convince her that she’d been perfect, I knew it would take actually watching the interview for her to see she’d done great.
“I told you that day you were perfect. I keep telling you. All these reporters have interviewed me so many times they’re going to be knocking down the door to talk to you now. You’re the new big thing.”
She rolled her eyes at my teasing. “Don’t be ridiculous. I just hope my hair looked okay. They did a great job with makeup, but my hair felt a little big. Like country-western star big. Oh, God. Was it big?”
I pulled her close and kissed her to stop her from talking. “It was perfect. You were perfect. I think maybe this needs to be the last interview you do because it’s making you go crazy.”
A sigh escaped her lips, and her body instantly relaxed. With a smile, she said, “That’s the best thing I’ve heard this week.”
I heard the familiar SportsCenter intro music and knew the show was starting. “It’s coming on now.”
Her hand clamped down on my arm as we watched the host introduce the show and then move into the segment that included our interview. “Oh, God. This is so nerve wracking!”
She had nothing to worry about. Although she didn’t believe it, Tressa was a natural in front of the camera.
We watched in silence, and every so often she squeezed my arm when she answered a question or the interviewer asked me about our relationship. Then it came time for my favorite question and answer, so I pulled her close and said, “Listen. I love this part.”
“So Killian, I hear you proposed right after the big game. Did you plan it, or was it a spur of the moment thing?”
I watched myself smile and look at Tressa seated next to me before I answered, “I had it planned, but I have to say it went even better than I thought it would.”
The interviewer laughed. “Well, she said yes, so that tells me it went great.”
Nodding, I smiled. “She said yes and that’s all I kept repeating to myself as I hugged her after she agreed to marry me. ‘She said yes.’”
A minute later, the interview ended, and Tressa kissed me before letting out a sigh of relief. “That wasn’t too bad. I looked okay, and I didn’t embarrass either one of us.”
“Of course, you didn’t.”
She pressed my hand against her cheek and leaned into it. “Did you really keep repeating that to yourself after I said I’d marry you?”
I smiled and nodded at her question. “Yep.”
Opening her eyes wide in surprise, she asked, “Did you think I’d say no?”
“I wasn’t sure, to be honest.”
Tressa sat up and looked at me like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “What happened to all that confidence you always have about everything?”
“Well, you had told me you never wanted to see me again and then avoided me for over two months. Confidence can only go so far.”
My answer made her smile, and she cuddled up next to me again. “That’s true. But you never had any reason to doubt I’d say yes, to be honest.”
“That’s good to know,” I said with a chuckle. “Makes all those nerves I had when I asked you seem stupid now.”
Hugging me, she sighed. “I run.”
I finished her sentence for her. “And I chase.”
After a moment, I added, “But if we’re being truthful, you technically came to me in Tampa, so you chased when it counted.”
Tressa tilted her head back to look at me and smiled. “Okay, then. I chased, and you chased. And in the end, we caught one another.”
Pulling her to me, I closed my eyes and let that new reality settle in. I’d caught the elusive Tressa Stone for my own, and one day soon, I’d make her my wife.
That was a future I looked forward to.
The next generation of the Heart of Stone series continues with Silent As A Stone, a STANDALONE featuring Diana and Cole’s story!
Innocent. Sweet. Diana Stone, the last of Tristan and Nina’s triplets, struggled from the day she was born. Never as confident as her brother or as strong as her sister, she was the brainy Stone child with her eye on one day sitting on the highest court in the land.
Until a horrible accident left her broken and trapped by her fears.
Cole Knight has known Diana for what seems like forever. Her brother’s best friend, he’s been told by Ethan that Diana is off limits since junior high. But he’s been drawn to that forbidden fruit for years.
Once, Diana gave him her heart at a time when he needed it the most. Now, as he looks at her as a man and not a boy anymore, can he give her
what she needs most so they can find happiness forever this time?
COMING SEPTEMBER 5, 2019! PREORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!
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About the Author
K.M. Scott writes contemporary romance stories of sexy, intense, and unforgettable love. A New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, she’s been in love with romance since reading her first romance novel in junior high (she was a very curious girl!). Under her Gabrielle Bisset name, she writes paranormal and historical romance. She lives in Pennsylvania with a herd of animals and when she’s not writing can be found reading or feeding her TV addiction.
Be sure to visit K.M.’s Facebook page at facebook.com/kmscottauthor for all the latest on her books, along with giveaways and other goodies! And to hear all the news on K.M. Scott books first, sign up for her newsletter today and be sure to visit her website at www.kmscottbooks.com
Books by K.M. Scott:
Crash Into Me (Heart of Stone #1)
Fall Into Me (Heart of Stone #2)
Give In To Me (Heart of Stone #3)
Heart of Stone Volume One Box Set
Ever After (Heart of Stone #4)
A Heart of Stone Christmas (Heart of Stone #5)
Return To Me (Heart of Stone #6)
Forever With Me (Heart of Stone #7)
Heart of Stone Volume Two Box Set
Hard As Stone (Heart of Stone #8)
Set In Stone (Heart of Stone #9)
Silent As A Stone (Heart of Stone #10)
Temptation (Club X #1)
Surrender (Club X #2)
Possession (Club X #3)
Satisfaction (Club X #4)
Acceptance (Club X #5)
The Complete Club X Series Box Set
If I Dream (Corrupted Love #1)
If You Fight (Corrupted Love #2)
If We Fall (Corrupted Love #3)
The Corrupted Love Trilogy Box Set
Crave (Addicted To You #1)
Adore (Addicted To You #2)
Shatter (Addicted To You #3)
Claim (Addicted To You #4)
The Addicted To You Box Set
In The Darkness (Project Artemis #1)
After The Storm (Project Artemis #2)
Behind The Scenes (Project Artemis #3)
The Project Artemis Box Set
Hard Work (Standalone)
K.M.’S BOOKS ARE IN AUDIOBOOK TOO!
Books by K.M. Scott writing as Gabrielle Bisset:
Vampire Dreams Revamped (A Sons of Navarus Prequel)
Blood Avenged (Sons of Navarus #1)
Blood Betrayed (Sons of Navarus #2)
Longing (A Sons of Navarus Short Story)
Blood Spirit (Sons of Navarus #3)
The Deepest Cut (A Sons of Navarus Short Story)
Blood Prophecy (Sons of Navarus #4)
Blood Craving (Sons of Navarus #5)
Blood Eclipse (Sons of Navarus #6)
The Sons of Navarus Box Set #1
The Sons of Navarus Box Set #2
Stolen Destiny (Destined Ones Duet #1)
Destiny Redeemed (Destined Ones Duet #2)
Love’s Master
Masquerade
The Victorian Erotic Romance Trilogy
