Page 107 of Drive Me Crazy
One minute: The first light goes on. I take a deep breath in and a deep breath out. I’m ready to go.
Forty-five seconds:Another light flicks on. The thought of Ella cheering me on makes me feel weightless.
Thirty seconds: Three lights.
Fifteen seconds:I hear the crowds chanting my name as the fourth light goes on. The steady sound of it fuels me.
Ten seconds:And just like that, the final light flicks on.
Zero seconds: All five lights extinguish. Let’s go get ourselves another World Championship title.
BONUS EPILOGUE
Ella
I FIND Blake on the mezzanine floor of London’s SoHo House creeping around like some sort of cat burglar. I shouldn’t be surprised that he’s hiding at his own book release party considering he fought Marion tooth and nail on having it in the first place. But here we are at the exclusive venue, surrounded by celebrities and journalists decked out in Gucci and Balmain. They’re all eager to get their hands on a signed copy of Blake’s book, but giving my boyfriend a Sharpie isn’t in their best interest. He’s more likely to stab them in the eye with it than sign a book. In his words, “Isn’t the fact that they have a whole bloody book about me enough? They want my signature now, too?”
The sound of clinking champagne glasses, laughter, and animated conversations mask the sound of my arrival, so I take a moment to drink Blake in. He looks drop-dead-gorgeous in his fitted black pants—that hug his ass like a well-worn baseball glove—and a charcoal dress shirt with the top few buttons undone. He’s tanned to perfection thanks to the impromptu trip we took to Fiji last week. Yep. That’s the kind of thing I can do now that I’m dating Blake and working for myself.
Making my way toward the man of the hour, I slip myarms around his waist, hugging him from behind. His tense muscles relax under my touch, and he settles his hands over where mine rest on his abs.
“Hey, love,” he greets me in that rumbling British accent I can’t get enough of.
“Hi.” I press a brief kiss against his back, knowing there’s no risk of lipstick getting on him since that wore off about fiftyhellosago. “You do know the party’s down there, right? And that you can’t use the excuse you were looking for the bath-room since there’s one on the first floor?”
He turns around in my arms with a smirk on his face. “Exactly why I’m up here.”
“Well, it wasn’t very nice to leave me all alone down there. Especially because my brother accidentally introduced Finn to the wordfuckwadand your sister isn’t pleased.”
“I figured it wouldn’t take you long to come and find me.” He tucks a stray piece of hair behind my ear. “And I’d hardly call it all alone. Our families plus two hundred other people are down there. Intimate my arse.”
I bite back a smile at his grumbling. Now is definitely not the time to tell him that he looks absolutely adorable when he gets all grumpy. “Considering Marion wanted this party to be about triple the size, I’d call this intimate.”
Hehmphsbefore eyeing the crowd like they’re zombies out for blood a week into an apocalypse. I could live without the paparazzi and press maneuvering through the crowd taking photos, but other than that, the party’s been great. The canapés being passed around by the waitstaff are delicious and the live jazz band even has my dad—who has two left feet—dancing.
“There’s no reason to be nervous,” I remind Blake, running my hands up his chest. “They’re here to celebrate you, babe. And if anyone asks you a question you don’t want to answer, just tell them to read the book and find out. Easy.”
Thecorners of his lips twitch up. “They should be here to celebrateyou. You’re the one who wrote the damn thing. All I did was answer your questions.”
“All you did was answer my questions?” I throw my head back and laugh at how casually he says it. “Blake Andrew Hollis. It took me weeks just to get you to answer a single one of my damn questions.”
He leans down and presses his forehead against mine. “I was worth the wait though, right?”
“Yeah, yeah. You were.”
He tucks me against his chest, holding me as he observes the crowd with discerning eyes. Even though Marion’s probably having heart palpitations not knowing where either of us are, I don’t push Blake to head back downstairs right away. He’s been anxious about the book launch all week, and if he needs to hang out here for a bit to take a deep breath, then so be it.
Blake breaks the silence by saying, “Theo’s finally here.”
I peer down and spot the blue-eyed Aussie slapping some soccer player on the back in greeting. “Surprised he didn’t hire a herald with trumpets to announce his arrival,” I tease.
Blake chuckles. “He’s probably trying to play it cool, calm, and collected for Josie.”
“You really think he’s going to pursue her?”
Blake lifts an eyebrow. “Josie’s finally single for the first time in forever. He’s one hundred percent going for it.”
“Hmm,” I muse. “Well, if there’s one person who can get him to settle down, it’s definitely her.”
