The One and Only: A Single Mom Second Chance Romance (Heart of Hope) by Ajme Williams (read any book txt) 📕

I took a deep breath. “I’ll keep planning the event. But this can’t happen again, all right? I need you to promise me this.”

Cade nodded. “I understand.”

We parked and he got out of the car, then leaned back in. “By the way, I already have plenty of suits that could work for the wedding, including a couple of tuxedos.”

He winked at me and then closed the door, jogging up to the house.

I rolled my eyes, even as I felt my cheeks heat up. So, he’d agreed to a tux fitting…to see me. That shouldn’t make me feel happy inside and yet…it did.

I was clearly getting in way over my head here.

13

Cade

It was my once-in-a-week night out with Gray, and I really needed it. I could use some help clearing my head and figuring out what to do about this whole Laura situation. I had given in to my temptation for her twice now, and one of those times I’d nearly had sex with her in a public place. I needed to get my head on straight, somehow.

Gray had found a local sports bar where we could relax, shoot the shit over a couple of beers and play some pool if we felt like it. It was the escape that I needed, the one place Mom or Dad wouldn’t try and muscle in on my time. They were always trying to be in my life, to guide me and put their opinions and plans on me. With the wedding, things were getting even more ramped up.

Gray let me rant about it for a bit, and then I let him talk about his work for a while to get my damn mind off of my own problems. Not that Gray had any problems. He was working with an activism campaign and was in Detroit helping them with their social media blitz, lending his name and image to the cause.

To be honest, I was surprised and impressed. Gray was a good guy, and he wasn’t as shallow as he led people to believe, but he did have a bit of a lazy, party boy lifestyle and he didn’t like the idea of working hard.

“That’s noble of you,” I pointed out.

Gray shrugged and took a sip of his beer, looking away. “It is what it is.”

Gray was never comfortable with praise. Probably because growing up handsome and rich and with such famous parents, he had no idea when people were being genuine about it and when they were saying whatever it took to get him to do something for them.

“Uh, wedding planning is more fun than I thought,” I said, trying to change the subject for his sake and wanting to confide in him about Laura.

“Oh?” Gray looked over at me, curious. “But you and Della aren’t….”

“It’s not about Della,” I admitted. “The wedding planner is my old flame.”

“You don’t have any old flames.”

I winced. “Actually….”

I told him everything about Laura, right up to the present day—meeting her again, kissing her, nearly fucking her in the dressing room. Gray was practically gaping at me by the time I was finished.

“Jesus! And this whole time I thought you were just not into that whole thing. You’re a tiger underneath it all!” Gray laughed. “Guess you just need the right prey to hunt, huh?”

“Very funny.”

Gray sobered up. “Seriously, man, how does it feel? Knowing that you’re going into a loveless, sexless marriage while trying to get into your wedding planner’s pants.”

“It’s disgusting,” I snapped. “You think I like the idea of cheating on my bride-to-be? I don’t want to do that to Della. And I don’t want Laura to be my mistress in the shadows. She deserves better, too.”

“That means you’re basically resigning yourself to celibacy.”

“I’m aware,” I said dryly. “It didn’t seem to be such an onerous thing before. There was nobody that I wanted, so there was nothing to miss. But then I came here and ran into Laura and now, she’s all I can think about. I want her so much it fucking aches, man. It’s like being a teenager all over again. Thinking about marrying Della and having to leave Laura behind…it sounds like the worst thing to do.”

Gray sighed. “Look, I know that it’s like to have everyone’s expectations on you. Trust me. Maybe you should take a page out of my book? Just go rogue. You can’t be forced to meet anyone’s expectations if no one has any expectations of you.”

“Right, because you don’t mind that you’re disappointing your parents.”

“That’s the thing!” Gray took a swig of beer. “I flit from thing to thing, place to place, and I never do what they want me to do, so now they’ve stopped expecting me to do anything. They’re happy to hear about me doing something like this campaign because their expectations for me have been exceeded. They’re not disappointed anymore. Disappointment means you had hopes in the first place.”

“I think it’s a little late for me to start down that path,” I pointed out.

Gray shook his head. “It’s never too late. Why do you feel like you have to do what your parents want, anyway?”

“Because…” I fumbled, feeling so unsure that it almost made me sick. “I don’t want to let them down. They have such high hopes for me, and it means so much to them. Besides, I’ve always done what they wanted. What kind of life would I have if I stopped doing that?”

“You’d have a life that was your own, and not theirs,” Gray replied. “It’s not your job to be who your parents want you to be or do everything they want you to do. It’s your life and you get to do what you want with it. I think you should get to be happy. And honestly, if you were truly happy, I think your parents would come around. I know they’re overbearing but they’ve just got a skewed view of things and you’ve gotta admit, man, you’ve enabled that skewed view