Welcoming the Bad Boy: A Hero's Welcome Novel (26 page)

Val slumped. “I did. They helped a little. So why did you have to be dragged here tonight?”

Allison looked around the room. “I’m not a fan of crowds, I guess.”

Val nodded, unable to help herself from scanning the room, too. And
damn it.
She was looking for Griffin.

Stop that!

Julie placed a margarita down in front of Val and sat. Beth did the same for Allison. “Bad news,” Julie said, placing her cellphone down on the table.

Val looked at it, then back up at Julie. “Already? The night just started.” And she couldn’t take any more bad news today.

“Lawson just called me looking for you,” Julie continued, lifting her Sex on the Beach to her mouth.

“Okayyy. Why is Lawson looking for me?” Val asked, straightening.

Julie averted her gaze. “Because Griffin called him wanting to know where you are.”

Val sucked in a breath. She wasn’t supposed to be thinking about Griffin tonight, much less talking about him. “Please tell me you told Lawson to tell Griffin to leave me alone.” Because Griffin had had every chance to do the opposite for the last few days.

Julie chewed her lower lip.

“Julieeee,” Val groaned.

“What? Lawson has ways of getting what he wants from me,” Julie said, glancing at the other girls.

Val let her forehead fall in her hands. “Maybe I should just go home. I can’t go rounds with Griffin tonight.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want to fight with you,” Allison said on the other side of her.

It didn’t matter what he wanted, though, because she knew what he didn’t want, and that was a relationship with her.

Val stood. “I’ve got to go. I’ll, uh, see you all later.”

“Val!” the girls called, but Val kept walking. Otherwise she was going to start crying all over again. She pushed past people in her way, breathing deeply. She’d just go home, put on her pajamas, and eat ice cream.

She bumped into someone and dropped her purse as she beelined for the door.

“I’m so sorry,” a guy said above her as she knelt down. Looking up, she noted he was tall with glasses. “Let me help you.” He started to bend down, then spilled his drink on the front of her dress.

She shrieked, on the verge of anger and tears. It wasn’t even one of those yummy-smelling drinks. Nope. This one smelled like pure alcohol. “You’re drunk. Just go sit down. I’ve got this. Really.”

“Sorry,” he said again, then stumbled off.

Val reached for her lipstick, which had rolled out of her purse. Collecting it, she stood and came face-to-face with the tall, dark, amazing man whom she’d fallen in love with this summer.

But who didn’t seem to love her back.

Fresh tears collected in the back of her throat.

“Hey,” he said, making the crowd disappear with one word.

She took a shuddery breath. “Why were you looking for me, Griffin?”

“Because I need to know something.” He took a step closer and her heart pounded in her chest. How did he have such a strong effect on her? He had since the moment they’d come together in the street at the start of the summer.

“Okay.” She blew out a breath. “What is it?” she asked, lifting her chin just slightly, very aware that she reeked of the drunk who’d spilled his drink on her a few minutes earlier.

Seemingly unaware, Griffin stepped closer. He didn’t smell like a drunk. He smelled like a ride through the country, like a cool summer’s night, like the man she loved.

She swallowed, waiting for his question.

“When are you going to stop being such a snob and talk to me again?
Really
talk to me.”

She lifted her gaze to meet his, narrowing her eyes. “What?”

“You heard me.” A grin stretched his sexy face. He was teasing her about the first time they’d met.

She started to push past him—he was just having fun with her and she was done having fun—but he grabbed her arm gently and waited for her to turn back.

“What I meant to say is that I’m sorry, Val. I don’t like being without you.”

She shrugged him off and continued walking out the front door. She didn’t care what he liked or what he wanted. At least she really didn’t want to care right now.

When she was outside, she stopped and waited, knowing he was following her. She heard the entry door to Heroes open and close, felt Griffin’s presence behind her. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she stood there with her back to him. “When I said we were just having fun in the video, it was because that’s all this was supposed to be. I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you.”

But she had. And
crap,
she’d just confessed as much.

She closed her eyes as he stepped up behind her and laid his hands on her shoulders. Then he slowly turned her to face him and waited for her to open her eyes.

“Val,” he whispered. “I love you, too. So, so much. I look at you and there’s no question in my mind that I was put on this earth to love you.” He wiped one of her tears away with his finger. “I fell for you hard and fast this summer, and there’s no going back now. I don’t want to go back. Do you?”

She cried as she shook her head. She wanted to hold on to her anger, but not as much as she wanted to wrap herself in Griffin’s arms in this moment. She’d been such a fool to ever think she could let go of him at summer’s end. “No.”

“Good. So, if it’s okay with you, I’m going to kiss you now. What do they call that in romance novels? Kiss and make up?”

She laughed and nodded. Then he slowly dipped, cupping his hands behind her head and kissing her softly then with more intensity.

“I love you, too,” she whispered between kisses, clutching his shirt and pulling him to her. She’d missed the feel of him in her arms.

“Then we shouldn’t waste any more time.” He pulled back to look at her. “If there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that you tell the people you love how you feel. I love you, Val,” he said. “And now that I’ve told you, I want to bring you back to my place and show you.” He reached for her hand. “I have to warn you, though. This isn’t just for tonight or the summer.”

Her heart skipped in her chest. “No?”

“No. This is for a lot longer than that. What we have is for forever, if that’s okay with you.”

She smiled, crying happy tears for the first time that day. “I like the sound of forever.”

Val looked out on the crowd of people collecting in the bookstore—all here to see her. Or rather Sophie Evans.

She sucked in a shaky breath, then another, trying and failing to remain calm. How was she going to read a few pages out of her new book to an audience without having a complete freak-out? People from her father’s church and the nursing home were here, as well as people from the school where Val had been a secretary until last week when she’d handed in her resignation. Against the wall stood Kat, Julie, and Allison Carmichael. The place was a full house.

Val glanced at the far exit. She could make a run for it if she wanted to. It was December and freezing cold outside. No one would follow her.

“You’re not running,” Griffin said, stepping up beside her and kissing her cheek.

She looked over. “Oh, yeah? Give me one good reason why not.”

He narrowed his gaze. “Because the Val I know is confident and headstrong. You don’t run from the things that scare you, you charge toward them.”

“I’m not scared,” she argued, even as her hands shook just a little. From the cold, she’d been telling herself. Lying to herself.

His eyebrow hooked upward.

“Okay. Maybe I’m a little terrified. But what if I start talking nonsense or throw up all over everyone?” She was laughing now, though. Those things were highly unlikely to happen. “I feel better now that you’re here. Thank you for coming.”

“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss watching the woman I love read from one of her books to an audience for the first time.”

“Well, technically I did my first book reading with the book club. They just didn’t know I was the author.” Val’s gaze went to the group of women dominating the first two rows of chairs. The group was short one person now that Alma was gone. Val’s heart ached at the memory of her lost friend. She smiled, though, as Helen waved at her from her front-row seat. Today was a good day for Helen.

And for Val.

“I can do this,” Val said.

“Yes, you can.” Griffin grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “And then we’ll go celebrate. Just you and me.”

Her heart fluttered around excitedly. “What kind of celebration do you have in mind?” she asked.

A wicked grin spread on his unshaven face. She had the urge to run her hand over the new growth of hair, over him. But first things first. Val looked out on the crowd as the clock ticked toward four
P.M.
Griffin gave her hand one more squeeze and then he went to sit in the empty seat beside his mother.

I can do this. I’m strong.

She’d had to be strong to make it this far. She’d thought she made it here alone, but she’d never been alone, she realized now, seeing the faces of so many of the people she loved dearly.

The door to the bookstore opened as Val started to read, and she nearly stumbled over her words. Her father walked in and stood for a long second, holding her gaze. A proud smile swept through his lips up into his cheeks and he offered a slight nod before continuing to walk into the room and sitting down. Maybe there was such a thing as Christmas miracles, because she never thought she’d see the day where her father approved of anything she did, much less writing romance. Or dating a tattooed, badass Marine.

Her heart slowed as she turned the page and kept reading. Her voice lost its initial shakiness as she settled in to the life she’d always dreamt about, which now included Griffin. When she was done reading, she set the book down and smiled at the applause filling the room. Then she sat behind a small table and signed books for the next hour, until her line disappeared, ending with Griffin.

He set one of her books on the table in front of her.

“You want me to sign it for you?” she asked.

“I want you to answer the question,” he said, leaning forward and bracing his body between his extended arms on the table.

“What question?” Val noticed the crowd of people trickling out into the cold winter afternoon. The bookstore was emptying, and it was just her and Griffin in the front room now.

“I have another fantasy I want to fulfill with you,” he said, voice low so that only she could hear.

Her skin heated. They’d enacted a lot of fantasies since the summer. “Oh. What exactly do you have in mind?”

Griffin leaned farther forward until his face was so close to hers that all she could think about was kissing him. “You, me, a white dress and a tux in a little Seaside church.” He tapped the book in her hands, which were shaking again but not because of fear or the cold. “All you have to do is answer the question, Val.”

Val looked down as tears blurred her eyes. She opened the book to the title page where Griffin had scrawled a message.

Val, I was made to love you.

After that message, he’d added one simple question.

Forever?

A tear slipped down her cheek as she looked up again.

“All you have to say is yes. I love you, Val, and I want to spend the rest of my life showing you exactly how much. Will you marry me?”

Val hurried around the table and buried herself in his arms. Going up on tiptoes, she kissed his mouth, long and deep, until her knees went weak. When they finally pulled away from the kiss, she smiled at him, loving him more than she ever knew was possible. “I can’t imagine you in a tux.”

He smoothed her hair back as he continued to hold her, laughing softly. “Is that a yes?”

She nodded, laughing and crying at the same time. “Yes. I was made to love you, too, Griffin.”

To Rachel. I’m so glad we’re on this writing adventure together!

As always, I am so grateful to my husband, Sonny, for his unending support and enthusiasm. You are my hero!

Thank you to my children, who inspire and motivate me. I hope your hearts grow dreams bigger than mine, and that you chase those dreams just as hard—even
harder
—than I did!

To my agent, Sarah Younger: my cheerleader, counselor, and voice of reason. And to my editor, Junessa Viloria—you make my work a thousand times better, and I am so lucky to have you in my corner! I owe a huge thanks to the entire Penguin Random House/Loveswept team. I couldn’t ask for a better team of professionals! It is a huge honor to work with each and every one of you!

Thank you to Lisa Filipe! You are a HUGE blessing to me! This writing life is so much easier, and a lot more fun, now that I have you!

To my critique partner and writing BFF, Rachel Lacey (to whom this book is also dedicated). I love seeing your books come to life as much as my own! I look forward to your successes as much as my own! Thanks a million to my #girlswritenight crew: Rachel Lacey, Sidney Halston, April Hunt, and Tif Marcelo. Ditto everything above. You ladies inspire me and I love you all!

Thank you to John and the rest of the K-9 team that allowed me to spend a few hours learning what you do and finding inspiration!

I also want to thank my READERS! This last year has been amazing! I’ve enjoyed reading your mail and thoughts on this series! It means so much to me that you’ve opened your hearts to the characters and stories in my books!

And, as always, I want to thank God for every person listed here, and for every day that I’m able to wake up and put my fingers on the keyboard!

Welcome to Forever

Welcome Home, Cowboy

Welcoming the Bad Boy

PHOTO: SARAH SAVAGE PHOTOGRAPHY

A
NNIE
R
AINS
is a contemporary romance author who bases her small-town love stories in fictional towns on the coast of North Carolina. Raised in one of America’s largest military communities, Annie often writes about heroes who fight for their country, while also fighting for a place to call home and a good woman to love. When she isn’t writing, she’s spending time with her husband and three children or reading a book by one of her favorite authors.

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@AnnieRains_

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