by Paige Tyler
As the crowd cheers again, a smiling Laura gestures toward the microphone and I step closer.
Hesitating just for a moment, I take a deep breath even though my knees are trembling. I’m used to being in front of the camera, where I can carefully pick and choose my words, but speaking live to a crowd still makes me nervous no matter how many people tune in to our YouTube channel every day. Even when we do live sessions on social media, there’s still a camera between us and our audience. Here, I can feel every pair of eyes directed my way.
“Hi, everyone!” I start slowly. My voice shakes a little and I clear my throat before continuing. “I’ve enjoyed every moment of working with Fostering Tomorrow because it’s a cause near and dear to my own heart. As a foster child myself, I often found myself wondering where my future would lead. I got lucky with my scholarship, but Fostering Tomorrow is going to open so many more doors for so many more young people. I can’t wait to get to know you all and meet every one of you, so let’s jump right into these games!”
As the crowd claps, several staff members immediately start herding the crowd of kids in different directions. Sutton and Liv wave at me from across the stadium, where they’ve been posted at the raffle table. I wave back just as Laura puts a hand on my shoulder.
“I’ve found your partner for the water balloon toss,” Laura whispers in my ear.
I turn around to smile and greet whoever it is I’m paired up with—only to stare. My partner is none other than Grayson Hill.
His expression is unreadable, but he seems as stunned as I am. The second our gazes collide, I swear my heart drops from my chest to my feet. I blink, expecting him to vanish like a mirage, but that hunky lawyer isn’t going anywhere.
I don’t know if I’m relieved he’s really standing here in front of me or not.
“Kali, this is Grayson Hill,” Laura says, introducing us. “He’s an attorney who’s been doing some pro bono legal work for us. Something tells me the two of you will be great together.”
Oh, Laura. If only you knew how wrong you are about that.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Children’s laughter fills the stadium as Grayson and I stand awkwardly at the front of the water balloon toss station.
So far, we haven’t said more than an awkward hello.
He busies himself with finishing filling some of the balloons while I make small talk with the kiddos eagerly waiting to start the game.
The last thing I’d expected today was to see the man who’d been haunting my dreams practically every night for the past four weeks, much less be buddied up with him. I’d tried to nonchalantly suggest to Laura that maybe she could give me a new partner, but she’d apologetically said she couldn’t shuffle staff members around so close to the games starting.
Being this close to Grayson now brought back a surge of memories and emotions that I wasn’t prepared to deal with. The scent of his cologne, the sound of his voice, the sight of him in jeans and the lime green tee that fit his wide shoulders and broad chest so perfectly was almost too much to bear. The worst part is that Sutton and Liv are trapped over by the raffle table and can’t come to my rescue. When I texted them and told them Grayson was my partner for today’s festivities, they were both shocked and sympathetic. Since then, they’d been sending horrified looks my way, but that was all they could do to support me at the moment.
I’m on my own.
Taking a deep breath, I put on my best smile.
“Who’s ready for a water balloon toss?” I ask loudly, clapping my hands to get the kids’ attention. They jump up and down and cheer and I point them toward the gigantic buckets of balloons we have set out. “Partner up and let’s start tossing! Each team only gets one balloon so be gentle with it. You don’t want it to pop.”
The kids quickly and excitedly grab their balloons and I direct them to take their places at the middle of the station where a line of duct tape is placed on the floor. The kids stand on either side of it across from their teammate and begin carefully tossing their balloons back and forth while slowly creeping backward after every five tosses.
I try to pretend to focus only on how the game is going instead of the feeling of Grayson standing next to me, but after another tense few moments go by, he gently puts his hand on my bare arm. His hand is warm on my skin and I bite my lip hard, wincing as every inch of my body starts to vibrate in response to his touch. My throat is tight and my tongue is heavy behind my lips.
How can he still get this kind of a reaction from me? It isn’t fair.
“Kali…” he says quietly, so the kids won’t overhear us. I can’t help but notice that he stumbles over my name a little bit. Like it’s almost too painful for him to say. “I had no idea that you would be a part of this fundraiser. Fostering Tomorrow never mentioned you or your friends by name. They just kept saying G&G whenever we talked. To be honest, I thought it was some kind of punk rock band that I’d never heard of—”
I take a step to the side, needing to put a little space between us as I gently tug away from his grasp.
“It’s not that big of a deal. Right?” I try to smile, but can’t quite manage it. “I mean, we can be professional about this, can’t we?”
“Of course,” he murmurs.
A wayward water balloon suddenly bursts against the wall above our heads. I have to step closer to him or otherwise I’ll get doused. Some of the water splashes down on us, but luckily, we avoided most of it.
“That was close,” I say.
Shaking my head, I turn back to the kids to see them eyeing us like they’re plotting something. That’s when I knew we were in trouble. They stare at the popped balloon on the floor by our feet and the water on the floor for a minute before mischievous grins start spreading across their faces.
“Oh, no,” Grayson groans. “It’s about to get all Lord of the Flies in here, isn’t it?”
Apparently, while I’d been distracted with Grayson, the kids decided to go from a water balloon toss to a water balloon hurl. Within seconds, it’s a full-on water balloon fight. Balloons start flinging from end to end of the station, even bursting on some unlucky attendees and staff members who make the unfortunate mistake of walking by at the wrong time.
This is getting way out of control way too fast.
“Hey, now!” I shout, clapping my hands together again, hard and fast. “This is supposed to be a friendly game! Let’s calm down, okay?”
Unfortunately for me—and Grayson, too, I suppose—the kids have gotten a taste of water balloon war and they’re not going to back down easily.
When I whirl around to stop the kids who are even now grabbing more balloons out of the buckets, a stray balloon launches right at me. Before it can smack me in the face, Grayson dives in front of me. The balloon explodes, absolutely drenching him. He slips on the water, ending up on the floor of the stadium, then looks up at me helplessly. I hold out my hand to try to help him up, but I end up slipping and falling down next to him.
Regardless of how awkward being with him again is, sitting there soaking wet on the floor beside him, I can’t help but laugh.
Grayson chuckles. “The things I do for you.”
“They’re down!” a boy cried.
“Get them!” the other kids shout in unison, mobilizing against us.
The children squeal and laugh, and the sound is music to my ears, even if we’re being bombarded with water balloons.
Grayson takes my hand, helping me to my feet and together, we run and duck behind the water balloon buckets. Laughing, we scoop up balloon bombs and chuck them right back at the giggling kids.
By the time Laura realizes what’s going on and has rushed over to us, whistle blaring, we’re both soaked and my sides ache from laughing so hard even as I notice how amazing Grayson looks with that wet tee clinging to his muscles.
I barely drag my gaze away from all that hotness to see Laura surveying the wet floor, the wet kids, and the two wet adults who were supposed to be supervising them. She clicks her ton
gue disapprovingly.
“Maybe you two don’t make as good of a pair as I thought.” She sighs. “Can you clean up this mess, please?”
Grayson and I sheepishly grin at each other, trying not to laugh as we nod.
“We’ll get right on it,” he tells Laura.
Grayson and I grab the mops already leaning against the wall for just such an occurrence and quickly begin to soak up the water while Laura and another person from the charity usher the kids to the next station. Our laughter has died down and awkward silence again reigns between Grayson and me as we clean up.
For just a moment, in the heat of a water balloon war, things felt so normal between us again. I steal glances at Grayson, trying to read what’s going through his head, but he’s avoiding looking at me. The way he’s frowning makes me think he’s deep in thought, but he’s probably simply thinking about how much of a mess we made.
“Um, excuse me?” a young voice says nervously.
I turn around to see one of the girls who’d been involved in our little water balloon skirmish standing there. She’s surprisingly dry, but fidgety, and she shifts anxiously from foot to foot as she wrings her hands. Blond with blue eyes and a smattering of freckles across her nose, she’s older than some of the other kids, maybe fifteen or sixteen.
I smile at her as I wring out the hem of my sopping shirt that came untucked during the melee. “Don’t tell me you’re looking for round two? I think Laura put the kibosh on any more water balloon fights.”
Face coloring, she laughs and shakes her head. She opens her mouth and then shuts it again, looking a lot like a goldfish out of water. I’m not sure if she’s worried she’s going to get in trouble for the water balloon fight, or if she’s upset about something else. Either way, I recognize the anxious flightiness of a kid with something to say but no idea how to say it.
“What’s your name?” I ask with another smile, hoping to calm her down.
“Jennifer,” she says in a faltering voice. “Um, Miss Kali—”
“It’s just Kali,” I correct her gently, finally earning a small smile from the teenager.
“Um…Kali.” The girl reached up to tuck some of the hair that had come loose from her ponytail behind her ear. “I actually wanted to talk to you about going to USC for art. I’m applying next year but I live with my aunt and I’m not sure she can pay for it if I don’t get a scholarship. I guess I just wanted to know how you got your scholarship and how you felt when you did.”
My heart instantly warms in my chest. I can vividly recall my own nervousness when I was applying to USC, and how life-changing it was when I got in. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be where I am today. And I definitely wouldn’t be able to help kids like Jennifer.
“First of all, it’s completely normal to be nervous about such a big opportunity,” I say to her. “It’s very exciting and very scary, I get that. Fortunately, we have Fostering Tomorrow to help you get a scholarship and I’ll send you some information about the particular scholarship I ended up getting, too, if you’d like. Plus, I have a friend or two that work at USC in the art department. Why don’t you email your portfolio to me and I’ll have them take a peek? You can find my addy on our website.”
Jennifer’s eyes go wide and her jaw drops. “Seriously? You would do that?”
I grin and nod, knowing how very much it would have meant to me if someone had helped me like this all those years ago. Any time I can lend a hand, I do it.
“Thank you!” she says, throwing her arms around me. “Thank you so much!”
She clings to me tightly for a few moments, then steps back to beam at me before darting back toward her friends.
I watch her go, smiling to myself, before reaching to grab my mop again. A few feet away, Grayson has gone completely still, his chocolate gaze locked on me. His brow is knotted, his mouth tight, his eyes hooded.
Worry clenches in my stomach.
“Is something wrong?” I ask hesitantly.
Grayson nods. “Yeah. Pretty much everything.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
I look at him in confusion. “What do you mean, everything is wrong?”
I look around quickly, noting that Laura still has a disproving, if slightly amused, expression on her face as she directs the staff and kids around.
Nothing seems off, though. The children are having the time of their life and, from what I can tell, we’ve earned tons of cash so far today.
I bite my lip and look back at him with a frown. “I mean, I will admit the lime green shirts are a little much but…”
Grayson laughs softly and shakes his head. He rakes a hand through his wet hair and takes a shallow, short breath. He moves one step closer to me and then another, as if he was being pulled by a magnet.
I can only stand there, watching him approach, my heart slowly beginning to thunder against my ribs.
What is he doing?
More importantly, why is he looking at me like that?
His eyes are narrowed on me as if I’m the only person in the ginormous room and he’s completely forgotten about why we’re here or the horde of foster kids all around us. Each step that disappears between us leaves me more breathless.
“Kali, what I’m trying to say is that I was wrong.” Grayson is standing a mere foot or so away from me now. He reaches out as if to take my hands before shaking his head and dropping his arms back to his sides. “I was wrong.”
“Wrong about what?” I whisper.
Is he trying to say what I think he’s trying to say?
I can’t let him break my heart again.
I won’t.
He drops his head to stare down at the floor for so long that I wonder if he’s ever going to say anything else when he finally lifts it again, meeting my gaze.
“You terrify me, Kali,” he admits. “Everything about you is terrifying. You’re the type of woman a man could go crazy over. You’re kind and smart and ambitious. You understand me without even trying. It’s like you can read my mind sometimes. I’ve never met anyone like that, and when I learned that you’re famous and adored by millions of people already, I panicked. When I said we couldn’t see each other anymore, it wasn’t because I was worried about the public eye. Not really. It was because I didn’t know how I could compete with the other people who love you. I mean, how I could I possible stand out?”
Heart racing, I take a faltering step forward. We’re so close now that one really deep breath and my breasts would touch his chest.
“But you wouldn’t be competing with anyone,” I tell him earnestly. “I never wanted you to feel that way.”
Grayson shakes his head. “That’s the thing. I get that now.” He offers me a small smile. “I see what you do with your platform and your brand. I see how the Kali in the YouTube video is the same Kali in person. I should know because I watched every one of them. You might force a smile or two when you feel you have to, but your heart is still in everything you do. Instead of working up the courage to try and witness that myself, I bailed. Believe me when I say I’ve regretted leaving you every second since.”
Can he hear my heart hammering away against my ribs?
“Every second?” I echo in a whisper.
He smiles again, wider this time. “Yeah. You’re a force of nature, Kali. You’re like a tornado in the best sense of the word. You lift people up and spin them around so that they can find their way in the world. You have this unique ability to make everyone around you feel good. Including me. I want to be with you, Kali. I want to prove to you how much I care. I want to be a safe haven for you where you can tell me how you really feel whether you’re happy or sad, frustrated or mad. If you let me, I’ll show you how serious I am about you. I’ll protect your heart so that it’s never hurt again.”
I swallow hard, almost afraid to speak. “But what about your job—”
He gently takes my hands between both of his large ones and presses them to his chest. Through the tee, I can feel his heart beating steadily
beneath my palms. “My job is to know the law and to use it to defend those who require my services, and I’ll continue to do that. But I need you beside me, Kali. I’ve never felt anything like how I feel for you. When people Google me, I hope they see my name attached to yours because of what you’re doing with your fame, not because you are famous. I would be the luckiest man in the world if I was with you.”
Tears fill my eyes, but this time they’re not tears of sadness, but of happiness. I smile up at him. “When I’m with you, Grayson, nothing else matters. I don’t care about my fame or the pressure I face to be perfect all the time. I feel like I can just be myself.” I take a deep, nervous breath. “Do you really want to give us a try?”
He nods, his gaze searching mine. “More than anything. These past weeks have been hell without you. I’ve never met someone who makes me feel like I’m home when I’m with them until I met you.”
The tears in my eyes spill onto my cheeks and he pulls me against his strong chest to brush them away. I cling to him, feeling his heart beating like a battering ram against his ribs now. In his embrace, I feel safe and secure and cherished. He made a mistake when he walked away from me the same way I made one when I didn’t tell him who I really am. But I won’t ever repeat that mistake again and something tells me that he won’t, either. I know I can trust him never to hurt me or break my heart again. I feel it in my soul.
“I want to be with you, too,” I say softly into his ear. “When I met you, you made me feel like I was simply an ordinary girl again. You looked at me and just saw Kali, the woman, someone you shared burgers and fries with that night we went out.. That means more to me than I can ever put into words.”
He cups my face, brushing my hair back, and gazes into my eyes. “I’ll look at you like that forever because to me, you are the woman I shared burgers and fries with that night, my beautiful Kali.”
“Grayson…” I whisper, my eyes fluttering closed as he bends his head to kiss me.
When our mouths finally meet, an explosion of fireworks and butterflies and dynamite burst inside of me all at once. His lips are velvety smooth and warm, and I melt against him with a sigh. He crushes me to his chest, his strong arms circling me tight. My fingers find their way into his silky hair as his tongue dances with mine.
