Page 139 of Cockpit
There is a cheer across the room, but I’m too stunned and more than a little confused to participate.
Something is going on.
The next few minutes are a blur—Braden gives a cute little speech, Rissa thanks everyone for their support and then tells them to stay tuned for the next contest coming soon. My mind spins as I try to figure out what the hell just happened. How did my go-to guy not win? How did the face of my contest not even place?
How is Grayson going to face Luke and tell him there is no vacation?
I look for Grayson in the crowd at the same time the crowd breaks out in a chant of his name.
“Gray-son. Gray-son. Gray-son.”
In much the same unassuming fashion he used the night of the other party at Hooligan’s, Grayson ambles to the stage, not wanting the attention but getting it nonetheless. When he steps up, our eyes meet, and he gives me that shy smile of his that curls up at one corner and makes every part of me need privacy. To talk to him. To tell him I’m here to stay. To beg him to choose me.
He waves a hand up to everyone and shouts out a thank you without bothering to take the microphone. And the whole time, all I can focus on is him. The scent of his cologne. The curl of his hair over the collar of his shirt. The strength in his hands. Simple things I’ve missed.
The crowd cheers, they take a drink to toast their hometown boy. How can they all look so relaxed while my confusion over the contest and my want to connect with him surmount everything?
“Speech. Speech. Speech.”
Oh my God. Leave him alone because I want him. I need him.
I don’t have to hide it anymore. He’s mine.
Rissa holds out the microphone again, and Grayson gives an exaggerated sigh before accepting it.
“You should’ve won!” I think it’s Grady who yells it, but all the patrons echo his sentiment.
“Nah. None of that,” Grayson says into the microphone. “Congratulations to all the men who were a part of this contest. It was so nice to be a part of something that paints fatherhood as sexy instead of the down-and-dirty job it can be most of the time.” He looks at his feet for a moment and twists his lips in a way that tells me
something is on his mind. He looks out into the crowd, and I’m thrown for an even bigger loop when I see him meet my father’s eyes and nod. My dad nods back before looking at me, smiling softly, and then stepping back into the crowd like he isn’t even here. I don’t have time to process his presence or his exchange with Grayson because when Grayson speaks, his words knock all thought process from my mind. “I didn’t place in the contest because I pulled myself from it this morning.”
“What?” My response is just as loud as the rest of the crowd’s.
“Yep.” He nods through the ocean of boos. “I did.”
“Why would you do that?” another person yells. I think it’s one of his crew from work, but I can’t tell.
“I did it because there’s this girl . . .” he says, and then laughs softly. The sound weaves its way into my body and wraps around my heart. “There’s this girl I met, who, uh . . . well, she blindsided me. Point blank. She walked her heels up to my front door a few months back to let me know I was one of the top twenty of this contest, and even though I slammed the door in her face, she persisted.”
He looks back at me, and the emotions swimming in his eyes unlock every single part of me that I didn’t know was still guarded. He reaches back and takes my hand, linking our fingers together and squeezing gently. It’s that gesture that tells me this is going to work.
I just know.
“I dropped out of the contest because I wanted this on my terms. I wanted her on my terms. We’ve tried to pretend like something wasn’t going on between us. We denied the ridiculous rumors in the Gazette. We did everything we could so no one would think she rigged the contest if I won . . . and even with all that, I went and fell in love with her. Love. Scary shit for me . . . but it’s true.” His nerves are more than adorable as my heart riots against my rib cage. He meets my eyes again. “I love her.”
The bar erupts in a symphony of cheers that I don’t hear because all that’s on repeat in my ears is: I love her.
His lips meet mine in the sweetest of ways, warming me all the way to my toes and back up. I’m so lost in the moment, so caught up in Grayson that when he ends the kiss, he’s all I see. He’s all I know.
“You chose me.” His words are barely audible but filled with wonderment as his eyes well with tears before he blinks them away.
I nod. “I chose you.”
“I’m sorry it took me so long to see.”
“See what?”
“That you’re worth the risk, Princess.”
