Grace (The Casanova Club Book 20) by Ali Parker

Author:Ali Parker [Parker, Ali]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BrixBaxter Publishing
Published: 2021-06-01T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Aaron

Grace made so much more sense to me now.

Well, as much sense as a woman could make to me anyway. My gut instinct had been right—she was running from something, and she had been keeping secrets. However, I never would have dreamed that she was running from people who’d dragged her into a life of crime.

What would happen if Marlo found out? What if the rest of the world, and all the fans who were waiting on this movie to come out, discovered who Grace had been before she landed the role of Penny Jenson? I hadn’t wanted to say it to her when she was pouring her heart out to me, but she was right. The truth of her past could ruin her career if it got out. I hated to think what the tabloids would do to her if they caught wind of it. They’d ruin her. Burn her to the ground in rumors and accusations until she had to flee Hollywood and perhaps the entire west coast altogether. She’d have to settle in some town in the middle of nowhere where nobody knew her name or recognized her face.

Grace Hallson was meant for so much more than that.

She sat curled up in my arms occasionally crying and wiping tears from her cheeks. The sobbing had stopped, praise all that was good, but she seemed weak and exhausted and entirely spent. How long had she been keeping her secret for? How many times had she ached to tell someone the truth but thought better of it? How much of her soul had been eaten up by this thing?

I rubbed her shoulder absently, rolling my thumb in figure-eight patterns, and rested my chin on top of her head.

Far too long, I thought.

She deserved to be set free. This life could do that for her.

I could do that for her if she’d let me.

She felt good in my arms—she felt like she fit there, like she and I had been cut for each other and the universe had put us out of reach of one another for years upon years, bating its breath for this moment where we’d come together.

Leave it to the writer to romanticize a weepy hug.

Grace drew a deep and shaky breath before settling more comfortably against my chest. I stretched out on the bench seat, which was really more of a full-sized sofa in her glamorous trailer, and she snuggled into my side. At first, I thought she just wanted to get comfortable, but as her breathing deepened and slowed, I realized with surprise that she had fallen asleep on me.

What was it about a woman letting her guard down and falling asleep that made me feel so whole?

I continued rolling my thumb over her shoulder and closed my eyes, too.

It had been a long day and an even longer afternoon. I didn’t know how much time had passed since I stepped into her trailer, but the grounds all around us were quiet save for the occasional conversation in the distance.

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