by Cassie Mae
I click to the bookmarked page, hit play, and close my eyes. If this alone doesn’t tell me how deeply Paige has changed my life, then I am not sure if anything will.
I sit at my usual table in the coffee shop, sipping on my iced coffee and feeling sorry for myself. Even though I stood up to Kevin, there’s still this emptiness inside of me, and I know the source is a certain gray-eyed CEO. Jimmy keeps coming over and checking on me every time there’s a lull in customers.
I look up at the TV hanging just on the other side of the counter. Breaking Entertainment News flashes on the screen, and I go to look away, not caring about anything other than my own misery, when I see Ethan’s face appear on screen. I rip my earbuds out and stand up.
“Jimmy, where’s the remote?” I yell across the coffee shop. He’s with a customer, but I see Ethan’s lips move, and I don’t want to miss it. “Jimmy! Remote. Now!”
He glances up at me with pure attitude until I point at the screen. “Oh crap, one second,” he says to the customer and jumps over the counter with the remote, raising the volume as he walks.
“What’s this about?” he asks, and I shush him. We both sit down at the table and glue our eyes onto the TV.
Ethan adjusts his tie before looking out to the sea of people.
“Thank you all for coming today,” he starts, and I swallow down the fear I feel for him standing up there and facing his problems head on. “As most of you know there has been some allegations over my ability to run this company, and I’m here to set the record straight.”
“Does anybody work here?” A woman asks, and Jimmy and I both turn to shush her, and I’m amazed at the small crowd that has formed behind us who joined our collective shush. Apparently the scandal that is Broken Records is popular among the masses.
I turn my attention back to Ethan and let the rest of the world fade away as I focus solely on him and his words.
“I was trying to be someone my father would be proud of. Trying to live up to his expectations and do things the way he would have done them, but it is impossible. And not because I’m not capable, but because even though I carry his name, there will only ever be one Mr. Davis. See, my father was truly one of a kind. He knew music better than anybody, and he sacrificed so much for his passion. People trusted him and respected him. Took his word at face value. I have big shoes to fill, so big in fact it is impossible.
“I am not my father, and I never will be, but that doesn’t mean I’m not willing to put the time, effort, and hard work into this label. I might not do things the way he did them, and while it took me some time to realize it’s okay to have a fresh approach, I am one hundred and ten percent sure that I’m capable of bringing this label to the next level. And I’m sure in time you’ll all come to realize that as well. If you don’t believe me, just wait. I love proving people wrong, and for all you doubters out there, it’s going to be my pleasure to do so. I’m not selling. This is my company and my father’s legacy.”
I smile at Ethan’s words. His strength and courage to stand in front of all those reporters and finally open his heart. Tell them exactly what they need to hear. Show them that no matter what they say it’s not going to stop him.
“And another thing,” he says, and I bring my eyes back to the TV. “I don’t discuss my personal life because… well, it’s personal, but I feel the need to clear something up. The media has accused me of having an affair with one of my interns. I want to clear the air right now. I don’t know what your definition of an affair is, but what Paige Teller and I have is far from my definition, and I won’t let any of you downgrade it.”
My eyes widen at his words, and my hand rests against my heart as a smile breaks at the corner of his lips. He looks directly into the camera, and I stand from my chair, feeling as if he’s talking to me.
“What we have has nothing to do with her trying to find a shortcut up the ladder in this industry, and it disgusts me that people would even suggest it. Paige Teller is a beautiful, hard-working, intelligent, passionate woman who will be a household name in this industry one day, regardless of my relationship with her. Write her name down because pretty soon she’ll be making news on her own. Mark my words on that.”
“So, you’re admitting to a relationship with Paige Teller?” a reporter calls out.
Ethan smirks, and it’s a smirk I know well. He looks back into the camera, a pleading look in his eyes. “I hope so, because I’m so in love with her.”
The crowd erupts into a frantic mix of gasps and questions.
I grab my bag and spin to Jimmy. “I have to go!”
“I’ve been trying to figure out what you’re still doing here.”
I jump up to kiss his cheek and then run out the door. All those days of going up and down stairs have built up my stamina, and I’m grateful for it. It’s as if those times were preparing me for this moment.
Ethan’s outside the office giving the interview, which means he’s only a few blocks away. I pick up my speed, hoping that by the time I arrive, he’s still there.
I think I hear my name as I run down the street, but I don’t look back. Not anymore. The only way I’m looking is forward. I dodge an elderly woman with a walker, then a toddler who got loose from his mother’s grip.
I run faster than I’ve ever run in my life.
He’s in love with me. He loves me. The thoughts are almost too much for me to believe. I need to see him. Need to feel his hands on me, his lips pressed against mine, and to look into those beautiful gray eyes. I need to tell him how much I love him, too.
“Paige!” I hear my name again, and then a black SUV pulls up on the side of the road, and the passenger door swings out to me.
“Reg! What are you doing here?”
“Get in! I’ll explain on the way.”
“I need to get to Ethan.”
“I know, but there’s a wall of people going down the block. I’ll drive you in the back entrance through the private garage.”
I jump in the Bentley, and Reg pulls away from the curb. “You heard his speech?” I ask, and Reg responds with a nod.
“How did you know where to find me?”
“Almost every time I’ve seen you, you’ve had an iced coffee in your hand. I took a chance and it paid off, but you ran away before I could get to you.”
“That was you calling me back there?”
“It was.”
“You called me Paige. That’s probably why I didn’t realize it was you,” I say with a laugh.
Reg swerves in and out of traffic, and within minutes we’re pulling into the back parking lot of Broken Records. “That door will bring you to the lobby,” he says.
I turn to him with so much gratitude and no idea how to express any of it. I lean over and kiss his cheek. “Thank you.”
He gives a slight nod. “Go get your boy and take your time. I’ll be here when you’re both ready.”
“You’re a good man, Reg.”
I shut the door and head for the lobby at full speed. I haven’t given much thought into what I’m going to say to Ethan when I see him, but I don’t care. I just need to see him. Even if it’s in front of the entire world, he needs to know how I feel.
There isn’t a single person in the lobby, everyone outside listening to the press conference. I run across the tiled floor and come to a skidding halt. The front door opens, and Ethan sneaks inside.
He looks like a weight has been lifted off of his shoulders. He tugs at his tie and shoves it into his pocket. I can’t help the laugh that comes out of me as he does this. His head snaps up, and he catches my eyes across the way.
“Paige?” he says like he doesn’t trust his own eyes.
I smile, then we both run toward each other. As soon as I get to him, he pulls me into his arms, wrapping me in the fresh crispness of the ocean air. I inhale the intoxicating scent and relish in it before he pulls away.
“How much did you hear?”
“Enough.” I take his face into my hands
, needing to touch him, to feel his skin beneath mine, to feel his warmth mixing with my own. “You love me?”
He nods. “I do, and I’m sorry for how I treated you, for how I acted. It was stupid and—”
“Ethan,” I interrupt him and press my finger to his lips. “Stop talking.”
His eyes bore into mine, and if they’re the only eyes I ever look into for the rest of my life, I’ll die a happy girl. I can see our future in them, and I can’t wait to start it. I smile in an attempt to cover the overwhelming joy that’s bringing tears to my eyes. “I love you, too.”
Ethan crushes his lips to mine, and everything bad in our lives disappears for that moment, and I know no matter what, as long as we are together, we can weather any media storm. Any doubts and any naysayers. We have our dreams, and we have each other, and in the end that is all that matters.
His hands fall to my waist and pull me tight against him, exactly where I belong.
“Let me take you home,” he says against my lips.
I think of my couch and my four roommates. How I have no privacy and all I want right now is Ethan all to myself. “I don’t want to go home.”
“Why not?”
“Because I want you and I can’t have that at my place with my roommates roaming in and out.”
“Your couch, you mean?” Ethan tucks a blonde strand behind my ear. “No girl of mine is sleeping on a couch. Not anymore or ever.”
“But Ethan—”
He presses his finger to my lips and smiles. “Stop talking.” I cock an eyebrow at him, and he places a kiss just above it. “You really think I can go a single night without you?” He lets out a laugh. “I barely made it through this week.”
Tears prick the back of my eyes at his words. After I caught Kevin with Rebecca, I thought I was worthless. That there was something wrong with me, and that’s why Kevin didn’t want me. I thought no one would ever want me again, but this complicated, beautiful man in front of me does.
So many emotions clog my throat, and I swallow them down, managing words around it. “We can go slow, you know. I’m okay with slow as long as we’re together.”
He looks at me with those gorgeous gray eyes, and I know he can see right through me, down to the insecure girl that tries so hard to be strong. “I’m not him, and I won’t hurt you.”
Once upon a time I thought Ethan and Kevin were the same person, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Ethan works for what he wants without manipulation and schemes. He’s kind-hearted, which he sees as a fault, but I see as a godsend. He’s smart and passionate, and most of all, he believes in me. I take a deep breath. “I know you’re not him. At least that’s what my heart tells me, but I’m little scared.”
He takes my face in his hands, and I close my eyes, too ashamed to look into his.
“Open your eyes, Paige.”
I let out a puff of air and pop my eyes open to his.
“If you’re scared, I’ll hold you in my arms and assure you there’s nothing to be scared of. When you have doubts, I will hold your hand and listen to them. When you feel like you want to give up, I won’t let you. I’ll be your punching bag and venting board, whatever you need because I can’t imagine you not being in my life.”
A happy laugh slips from my lips, and he brushes my hair behind my ear, before continuing.
“You challenge me and make me strive to be a better person. Before you I was floating through life and then you showed up in my elevator giving me lip and turned my entire world upside down. You evoked so many emotions in me that I had suppressed for so long. I was a shell of a human being and you breathed life back into me.”
Tears stream down my face, and there are so many things I want to say, but I can’t get the words out. So instead, I show him by wrapping my arms around his neck and pressing my lips to his. Slow and sensual and then fast and frantic.
Ethan pulls away and rests his forehead against mine. “So what do you say? Let me take you home?”
“Reg is waiting for us out back. I wouldn’t want to disappoint him,” I joke, and Ethan laughs.
“You’re horrible for my ego.”
“Good, someone has to keep you in check.”
He scoops me off my feet, and I let out a startled scream before wrapping my arms around his neck and nestling into his warmth. He carries me through the lobby to the parking garage where Reg is waiting, kissing me the entire way, and any doubts I had are left behind us where they belong.
A few months later…
“Don’t make me do it.” Paige’s eyes are fireballs as she stares at the thick folder I slap on top of the piano in front of her.
“You don’t trust me yet?” I tease, leaning into her ear and dropping my voice. “Because you sure as hell did last night.”
She shakes her head, playfully narrowing her eyes at me as her blonde hair tickles the skin by my elbow. But in the adorably frustrated expression, I can see a rush of arousal swirling in her dark green irises.
“Not fair,” she says, her voice heavy as she sets a hand on my chest and pushes me back a step. I smirk, enjoying the fact that I can wreak havoc on her thoughts just as much as she can on mine. “You can’t use your position just to get your way with everything.”
“CEO doesn’t mean anything anymore, does it?” I joke. She rolls her eyes.
“I meant your position as my boyfriend.” Her head goes down to the piano keys, and the thud of the notes rings through the sitting room scares Pepper awake from his spot in the corner. “How many more contracts do I have to read?”
A chuckle rises up from my gut, and I settle in next to her, putting my fingers on the keys and playing a mindless tune for our background music.
“Just one more for you,” I tell her, grinning when she plucks her head up and stares at me with hopeful eyes. I could watch that look on her face all damn day.
“Really?” she straightens and slaps a hand on the thick folder. “Tell me where to sign, and I’ll do it just so I don’t have to look at another one of these again.”
I put my other hand on the piano and start playing one of the songs she wrote just the other week that I can’t get out of my head. “It’s all tabbed for you.”
She’s quiet as she flips through the pages, and I wait, holding back a grin and trying to act innocent, even though my heart is beating out of my chest, and my fingers are starting to shake against the keys. I don’t think she’ll say no… I’m ninety-nine percent sure. But that one percent? Damn, that one percent of uncertainty is eating me alive.
“Ethan…” she says slowly, and I try to hum under my breath like I don’t know what she’s about to ask. “This isn’t a recording contract.”
“Nope.”
“This is the deed to your house.”
“That it is.”
The piano bench creaks as she swivels, and a loud flat note rings around us as she bats my hands away from the keys and shakes the papers at me.
“Why am I co-signing a deed?”
I let out a laugh, hoping it hides the nerves running through my gut. “I want you to live with me.”
“I practically do already.”
My forehead leans up against hers. “I want to make it official.”
Her playful eyes narrow, but there is a speck of excitement dancing in the edges of her green irises. “Didn’t want to ask?” she teases. “Just assumed I’d sign anything you stuck in front of me?”
God, this woman. I put my hands on her cheeks, look deep into her eyes, and say, “Move in with me, damn it.”
“No.”
I tap a kiss to her nose. “Yes.”
She slowly shakes her head. “Mmm-mm.”
My grin tilts up, and I watch her fight slowly start to dissolve as I move my lips to the underside of her jaw.
“Please?” I whisper against her soft and warm skin, goosebumps jumping up under my lips. Her eyes roll backward, and head tilts until the ends of her long blonde hair tickle my knuckles as I palm the small of
her back.
“Not fair,” she lilts in her gorgeous voice. “Taking advantage of your position again.”
“I can use another position if you want,” I say with a laugh against her collarbone.
“I want,” she answers, her voice half tease, half drowned in pleasure. My brain short-circuits right then and there, and I push the papers to the floor and hoist her up on the piano.
“Move in with me?” I ask again before making love to her mouth then down to the curve of her neck. She breathes hard under my touch, her chest heaving up into mine with a fluttering heat.
“Can I… bring my couch?” she asks, still refusing to say yes, probably just to mess with my head.
“Why the hell do you want to bring that thing?”
“Don’t go hatin’ on my couch,” she says, her legs wrapping around my waist as she playfully hits me in the arm.
“I can feel the springs get real friendly with my ass every time I sit down.”
She stiffens in my arms, putting a halt in our foreplay just to give me a piercing glare.
“It comes with me.”
A slow smile curls onto my lips. “So that’s a yes. You’re saying yes.”
Her shoulders slump as if she’s realized that she agreed without meaning to. “Yes, of course I’m saying yes.”
I laugh and pull her in for another deep kiss, too happy to care that she’s trying to tease me. And I make love to her right there on the piano I never did sell, knowing that my world will never be lonely or silent ever again.
Thank you for reading! If we gave you a good time, please feel free to leave a review for us. Tackle hugs and cyber kisses for all you wonderful readers!
Some first chapters of other stories from us below. Thank you again!
Click here for a look at Doing It for Love from Cassie Mae
Click here for a look at Home is Where You Are from Tessa Marie
