I just hope you know that I never meant to say goodbye.
I want to hold you and tell you that I was wrong.
I want to show you that I did it for us.
I want you to know that I will always love you.
Even if it means leaving you forever.
The minute he stops singing the crowds quiets, before a deafening roar fills the room, but he doesn’t smile. They don’t realize that this isn’t just another song. It’s our song. Our story put to paper and music. His heart and soul bared to the world, and only I know the true meaning.
“Thank you,” he mutters into the mic. “Just wish she was here to hear it.”
This is my chance, my choice, and my decision. I can call out to him, or I can leave without him even knowing I was here. The decision is easy. I didn’t come all this way to chicken out now.
“I am here!” I scream out over the crowd. Alex brings his hand to his eyes, cupping the stage lights from his sight. “Iz?” He calls out.
“I’m here!” I scream again, as I push through the people in front of me. Their faces full of shock. “Alex!”
“Let her through,” he asks the crowd, handing off his guitar to one of his stage guys. A security guard meets me in the middle of the group, helping me get the rest of the way to the stage. Alex reaches down, and I take his hand, as he pulls me up on stage.
“You’re really here,” he smiles.
“I tried to call you, but you didn’t answer. You’re a hard guy to find, Alex McCloud.” My voice echoes around the room thanks to the microphone still being on, but I don’t care. Not when he is right here.
“I may have broken my phone…” he trails off.
Oh, thank God. Maybe, I can be spared embarrassment, if he can’t listen to those voicemails after all.
“I’m so sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean any of it.”
He presses his finger to my lips, hushing me. “All that matters, is right here in front of me.”
“Are you sure about that? After yesterday, are you sure you want this,” I say, gesturing up and down, “in your life full-time?”
“I’ll take you any way I can get you. Crazy and all.”
“Just shut up and kiss me, McCloud, before I change my mind.”
I pull him into a kiss, like we’re the only two people in the world. Not two people in a crowd of a hundred fans and cameras flashing the longer we kiss. Alex pulls away and blinks a few times.
“There goes anonymity,” he laughs, as the crowd oohs and cheers with claps in-between catcalls. “You’re going to be the famous one now. Think you can handle that?”
“I love you, Alex. Together, we can handle anything.”
“About time you said it,” he smiles down at me.
“Maybe next time, you don’t wait four years to make a move.”
He kisses me again, and we lose ourselves in the moment. This is our story. It’s imperfect. It’s sad, but what counts the most, is it’s ours.
Just a boy and a girl in a country song.
Epilogue
“Good lord, Iz. What’s taking you so long?” Alex calls out from the other side of the bathroom door. “Your parents are expecting us. We’re going to be late, and I swear if you cost me that sugar cream pie, no more Mr. Pig for you.”
I storm from the bathroom, hands on my hips, and toothbrush still in my mouth. “I can take away more than Mr. Pig from you, McCloud,” I mumble, taking the toothbrush out of my mouth and pointing it at him, still sudsy from the toothpaste. “Don’t test me.”
He wraps his arms around my waist and kisses me without a care that my face is still covered with toothpaste and spit. “Mmm,” he moans. “Minty fresh.” I shove away from him, stalking back to the bathroom and finish rinsing.
“You’re weird. You know that right,” I yell from still inside the bathroom.
“Is that why you agreed to marry me then?” Leaving the bathroom, I find him sitting on the edge of the bed with a smile on his face, knowing precisely what fight he’s about to start again.
“You asked me in front of a stadium of forty thousand people. What would you have done, if I had said no?”
“Ask you again, until you did,” he answers confidently, shoving off the bed and coming right back over to me, planting another kiss on my lips. “You can’t resist this.”
And he isn’t wrong. This man is mad in the best way. After being on tour the last year in four countries and eighty cities, we are finally home for a few weeks. Home being Alex’s parents’ old house that we had renovated, adding in a recording studio for Alex and a few updates to make it more ours than his family home. The night I had gone to Nashville from him, we had made an agreement. When he didn’t need to be in Nashville, we’d be here. His parents have even visited a few times, while we were gone to check up on the progress of the house and visit with my family to see the new operation. It’s our new home base for the entire family.
Surprisingly, I loved the tour life more than I could have imagined. Seeing places that I could never have dreamed of seeing, all from Alex’s point of view, made me realize why he had to be on that stage, singing nearly every single night. It’s a part of his soul. It makes him who he is, and now, it’s a part of me. The only thing that trumps it was being there the day that Alex and his friends announced the start of his charitable organization, Brady’s Song, named after Brady. He beamed with pride, knowing just how much he could help kids like Brady, who lost his battle to cancer a few months, after I got to meet him. Alex went so far as to cancel a tour date to attend his funeral. He may have never said it out loud, but he loved Brady. It’s a void that will always be there for both of us.
Turns out, taking Connor’s deal, despite my issues with his wife, has done more for my family than we could have ever imagined. With their business, people started coming more and more, until it came to the point that Dad had to start turning business away. Life is good on the Moulton Dairy Farm for the first time in decades. Facetiming with Mom and Dad, as we traveled, I could see it clear on both of their faces. They are happy and safe for the first time in our lives.
“You ready?” Alex whisperers against my lips.
“Are you?” I tease him, and he gives me a cocky smile in return.
“Keep on smiling, McCloud. We’ll see if you have that same expression, when you explain to my dad that not only did you not ask permission to marry his only daughter before proposing, but that she’s pregnant to boot.”
Alex peers down at the small bump on my lower abdomen, rubbing my belly gently with his open hands. Pride clear across his happy face. Our pregnancy came as a bit of surprise, but not an unwelcomed one. The life growing inside of me will be loved no matter if we’d done things a little out of order. I just hope he has that same smile, when I tell him at dinner tonight that our bundle of joy is actually two bundles of joy. At my last appointment with my obstetrician, she had dropped the news on me, and while it’s eating at me to tell him, I thought it might be better to surprise him, when we surprise my parent’s tonight with our news.
“Maybe we should wait to tell him that second part,” he teases. “You know, until the baby’s here, and they’re already in love with being grandparents.” Chicken shit.
“Oh, no,” I laugh, stepping away from his grasp. “This one is all you, Alex. I’ll make sure, when he sics Pete on you that I won’t spit out that sugar cream pie at your expense.” Dad might pull him in for one of his famous talks about how you’re supposed to do things, but he’ll be happy none the less. I just didn’t warn Alex about the second part. It’s too fun to watch him squirm at finally being on the other end of Dad’s lectures, instead of being the subject of one. I might have also hinted to Mom that we have some big news, as a forewarning. She probably already suspects, since our engagement has been plastered all over the papers, just like everything else we do.
The press coverage is worse than Alex had expected, after our on-stage reunion last year. It’s to the point that
he had to hire private security just for me. The final straw broke, when I found a group of reporters, following me to my first doctor’s appointment and nearly running me off the road, trying to snap exclusive photos of me. Alex’s legal team moved quickly, issuing a statement that continually harassing me would result in lawsuits being filed within hours of any photog stalking me. They have apparently taken it to heart, because outside of a few persistent ones, they’ve left us alone. Not that we haven’t taken better precautions and scheduled private off-hours appointments to avoid them breaking the news of our pregnancy, before we can tell our family.
“You wouldn’t!” He feigns exasperation, grasping his heart like I had shot an arrow through it. “Not the pie. Anything, but the pie.”
“Should have thought about it, before you got me pregnant,” I tease back.
“Seems to me, it takes two to tango, Iz.” Alex takes a few steps forward, wrapping his hand around mine. “And we do like to tango often and vigorously.” He winks back at me. This man is absolutely off his rocker. “Speaking of tango.”
“The things that come out of your mouth amazes me sometimes, and the answer to the second part is no. I’m making us late, remember?”
“You haven’t complained about the other things this amazing mouth can do,” he says with a wink, while I roll my eyes. “But you’re right. That’ll have to wait, until after dinner,” he tugs my hand. “Maybe, I can sneak a bite of that pie, before your dad kills me.”
I keep it together, until we make it out of the house and off the porch, before I can’t stop myself from laughing.
“Dead man walking!” I yell to his dismay. The sound, echoing off the house and barn.
“And you think I’m weird.”
“Meh,” I say with a shrug of my shoulders. “Better to be weird together than the alternative.”
A loud moo comes from the fence row near the driveway, and it’s one I recognize instantly. “Dinner might be on hold. Pretty sure, that’s Mooella.” Her black and white head pops through the thicket and over the fence, bellowing a hello at us both.
“Want me to call your dad?”
“Why? She likes you remember. Best you go round her up, cow whisperer. Might help your case with Dad.”
With a quick kiss to his cheek on my tip toes, I steal his keys from his pocket and climb into my truck that will soon have my name on the title, since Dad finally agreed to let me buy her, when I came home.
“This isn’t funny, Iz. Get back here,” he growls with his hands digging into his hips. “Just call your dad.”
“Of course, it is!” I call from the open window of Big Red. “Just stay out of the mud, and we’ll both be fine.” Payback really is sweet.
* * *
The End
About the Author
Avelyn Paige is a born and raised Indiana internationally best-selling romance author who writes stories about dirty alpha males and the brave women who love them. She resides in a sleepy little town in Indiana with her husband and three fuzzy kids, Jezebel, Cleo, and Asa. Avelyn spends her days working as a cancer research scientist and her nights sipping moonshine while writing. You can often find her curled up with a good book surrounded by her pets or watching one of her favorite superhero movies for the billionth time.
Read More from Avelyn Paige
http://www.authoravelynpaige.com
Deep End
Michelle Iannarelli
Deep End
Copyright 2019 © by Michelle Iannarelli
* * *
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the above author of this book. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. This book contains sexually explicit material and is for a mature audience. The author acknowledges the trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with or sponsored by the trademark owners.
Created with Vellum
Deep End
Can a love found in the darkness survive the light?
* * *
Grady O'Malley, gold medal swimmer with a killer smile and no fear…until one night that forever changed his life.
* * *
Cassidy Scott spends her days helping others combat their demons while avoiding her own.
* * *
After surviving a deadly plane crash, Grady is diagnosed with Conversion Disorder which has left him blind.
* * *
Cassidy is rendered speechless to learn that her newest patient is Grady, a man she's been fascinated with since his claim to fame as America's Golden Boy.
* * *
At first, Grady doesn’t want anything to do with Cassidy but once he gives in, he soon learns that he can’t get enough of her. Every step Grady takes forward, Cassidy takes two back. She needs to guard her heart, for she knows that once Grady regains his sight, she can never see him again.
1
Grady hadn't fully reached the surface, but he could hear the cheers, and, in that moment, he knew that he had won another gold medal. He emerged from the water, a wide smile on his gorgeous face and a fist pump in the air.
Weston surfaced and shook his head. “Greedy Grady!”
“Wild West!” Grady high fived his buddy.
“Do you think that maybe one day you could let me win?” Weston laughed.
Grady shook his head. “I don’t bust my ass training so that I can lose; even if it is to my best friend.”
“Duly noted.”
“West, you’re good…I’m just about two seconds better.” Grady winked.
Cassidy sat on the edge of the couch watching and waiting to see who would win the gold.
“Jeez, Cass, exhale! You’re about to turn blue.” Jess laughed.
Cassidy glanced up at her friend who was smirking at her. “You know how much I love…sports.”
“Sports? Umm hmm. Last, I checked Grady O’Malley was hot enough to make that water boil and I know darn well he is the only reason that you are watching sports right now.” Jess plopped down onto the couch and grabbed the popcorn from Cassidy’s lap.
“He’s just so tall and gorgeous.” Cassidy smiled at the screen.
“Yeah, but I bet he’s stuck up.”
"He can be a bit full of himself.”
“Sooo, he isn’t perfect. Can we watch the movie now before we eat all the popcorn?”
“I guess.” Cassidy handed Jess the remote.
Grady stood on the podium and watched as the flags rose and then ducked down to have the medal placed around his neck. No matter how many times he won, the feeling never got old. As the ceremony ended Grady turned to the bronze medalist and shook his hand and then he shook Weston’s. “Congrats, West!”
“Thanks, Buddy.”
“Time to pack up and get home.”
“You’re not going to stay and party?”
“I’ll party after I take the gold at the Olympics.”
“All work and no play…”
“Makes for a silver medalist.” Grady turned and walked away.
Weston shook his head. “You’re a dick, Grady!”
“That movie scared the crap out of me.” Jess got up to refill the popcorn bowl.
“How about a comedy or action film this time?”
“I don’t care as long as it isn’t something that is going to make me have to sleep with a bat in my bed like the last one.” Jess laughed.
Cassidy giggled. She waited for Jess to go into the kitchen before she crept up behind her. “BOO!”
“AHHHHHHHH!” Jess tossed the bag of popcorn into the air.
C
assidy was laughing so hard she could barely catch her breath.
“I can’t believe you! You know how much that movie freaked me out!”
“I’m sorry. Go sit down and I’ll clean this up.”
“When you’re finished cleaning you can make me a milkshake.” Jess threw a handful of popcorn at Cassidy before she left the kitchen.
Grady boarded the small plane, took his seat, and closed his eyes.
“Can I get you something to drink, Mr. O’Malley?”
Grady opened his eyes and looked up at the attendant. “Water, please, with some lemon if you have it. Thank you.”
“I will be right back with that.”
Grady looked over at the two men across from him. One was already on his second drink and the other was tapping away on his laptop.
A voice came over the loudspeaker. “Hello, this is your Captain. We’ve been cleared for take-off. Please fasten your seat belts. We will be arriving in New York in approximately three hours.”
“Your water, Mr. O’Malley.”
Grady took his water. “Thank you.”
The attendant sat down, buckled up and within a few minutes they were in the air.
Cassidy was putting the finishing touches on Jess’ milkshake when Jess started yelling from the living room.
“Cass, come quick!”
Cassidy grabbed the milkshake and headed for the living room. “You can’t rush perfection!” Cassidy handed the milkshake to Jess.
Sweetest Obsessions - Anthology Page 271
