Persuaded (Jane Austen Diaries)

  Greg

  I have to leave now, but I will be back. I’ll follow you home if I have to. All I’ll have to do is look at you and then I’ll know if I’ll be here for Kylie’s party or not.

  “Amanda?”

  Startled, I looked up to see Collin staring down at me. I could see his mouth moving, but my heart was pounding too loud for me to hear what he was saying.

  “I’m sorry, what?”

  “I was wondering if you’d mind postponing this for a bit. I’m tired, I can’t think straight, and this verse isn’t working the way I had hoped.”

  “Verse?” I stared at him stupidly.

  Collin smiled. “Yeah, the verse for Kylie’s song.”

  “Oh yes. Sorry—I was somewhere else for a moment. Um . . .

  okay, sure. When do you want to meet again?”

  “Is tomorrow good?”

  “Yeah, maybe. Call me first, okay?” I might be here already. At least I hope so. “You have my cell number, right?”

  “I think so. If not, I’m sure I can get it.”

  “Okay.”

  “Thanks for your help. Sorry I can’t concentrate,” Collin said. “I’m going to head over to check on Kylie again before I go home. Maybe it’ll come to me then.”

  “Oh, maybe. Have a good night.”

  “Bye.”

  As soon as he left I reread Gregory’s wonderful email. It was so unbelievably romantic! I giggled and then read it again and again. I was extraordinarily happy in that moment—so much so that I don’t think anyone could’ve made me think of anything else.

  After my eyes were exhausted from reading the email so many times, I skipped over to the piano and poured my delight and joy into a melody that filled the room and whole house with my answer.

  Not long after that, I felt strong, warm arms wrap around my waist from behind and heard a deep voice whisper in my ear, “Can I hold you while you play?”

  My fingers stopped and I leaned back and laid my head gently on his shoulder.

  “No, don’t stop.” In an instant, Gregory slid next to me on the small bench.

  I smiled. “What do you want me to play?”

  “Hmm . . . that song just now—the happy one.”

  “This one?” I tried out a few chords and giggled as I felt his arm wrap around my shoulder. I snuggled closer.

  “Yes, that one. I love that one. I could listen to it all day.”

  I giggled again and willed my heart to find a steadier beat as we stayed like that for a moment. Of course, it had an even more difficult time beating steadily when he whispered, “I can’t believe you’re here. I half expected you to be gone.”

  “Are you kidding, after that email?” My hands stilled again, but this time Gregory didn’t seem to notice.

  “You liked that, did you?”

  His breath on my cheek caused a million tiny shivers to dance their way down my spine. I was having a hard time concentrating. “I . . . yes. I liked it very much.”

  “Andy, I’m not going to let you go. I can’t. I’ve already lost you twice. Once because of your stupid pride.” He touched my chin with his hand and turned me to see him. The look in his eyes nearly caused my chest to burst. “And once because of mine. I don’t think I could handle losing you a third time.”

  “You? Do you have any idea what I’ve been through, knowing I turned you away all those years ago when I loved you more than I’d ever loved anyone before?”

  He drew me closer to him. “I never, ever want to let you go. Let’s stay like this forever, okay?”

  I smiled. “Forever? Like this?”

  “Yeah, forever on a piano bench—just like this, listening to your music—sounds like heaven to me. Why? What’s wrong with it?”

  “What’s wrong with it?” I looked up at him and grinned playfully. “I couldn’t do this.” I looked at his mouth and leaned toward him.

  “Wait.” Gregory placed his hand on my lips. “I . . . just wait.”

  With two fingers, he tenderly caressed my lips, and my eyes unconsciously fluttered shut at the sweet sensation of his touch. Ever so slowly his fingers created a path to my jaw and then came round my neck to cup my head. It was then that I felt the palm of his other hand hold my face. That thumb leisurely traced my eyebrow and followed the curve of my cheek, skimming past my nose and lower lip to settle beneath my chin. “Andy?”

  “Hmm?” I grinned and opened my eyes. I was captured by a glow I had never seen before in his.

  “I love you, Andy.” Gregory gently kissed my forehead.

  The musky aroma of his cologne surrounded me, and I closed my eyes again.

  “I really, really love you. I always have.”

  I gasped softly as I felt his lips hovering above mine. And then he kissed one corner of my mouth and brushed lightly across it to kiss the other corner. It made me grin at first, until he did it again—kissed one corner and then brushed his lips across mine as he moved to the other side to plant a kiss there. And then he did it again! I thought I would go mad. Kiss me! Instinctively I tried to pull his head down to my own, but he remained firm. With my eyes still closed I whispered, “Gregory, I swear if you don’t k—” His lips captured mine in a soft, full, wonderfully heart-melting kiss.

  When he finally released me, he said, “Sorry. I’ve waited a long time to do that. I wanted to make sure it was done right.”

  I blushed and lowered my gaze to his T-shirt.

  He chuckled. “I like it when you’re shy. You’re cute, you know.” He kissed my forehead again and then gave my mouth a swift kiss, too.

  Ah! It was so dizzying to be this close to him, and then to have him kissing me, was—well, it was wonderful, but it made me so I couldn’t think straight. I wanted—needed—to know some things. “Gregory?”

  “What?”

  “Um, what did you think that day when . . . when—”

  “When you ripped my heart out and stomped on it? That day?”

  “Yes.” I winced and closed my eyes. Gregory took advantage and kissed each eyelid. “Will you stop?” I laughed up at him.

  “No.” He grinned.

  Have I died and gone to heaven, or what? “Well, I guess I could live with that,” I said, peeking up at him from under my eyelashes.

  He groaned and crushed me against his chest. “Dang, Andy! I told you to watch your flirting. I swear, it’s a good thing you’re mine right now, or I’d be going crazy watching you do that to someone else.” He paused a second. “You will promise me that you won’t look at anyone else like that, right?”

  Good grief! I smiled. “Gregory.” I pulled back a little from him. “No matter how I glance at someone else, whether intentional or not, my heart belongs to you. I’m not going anywhere. Besides, you’re distracting me from the main point. There’s something you need to know—something you need to understand.” All at once I was shy again, and I tucked my head back into the safety of his shoulder.

  “Okay.”

  His voice gave me courage, and I began, “I . . . after you left that day, well, I went to your house afterward. On that Sunday, and you were gone.”

  “Andy . . . I had no idea.”

  “I would’ve gone to you on Friday, but I—I didn’t. I thought it would be better to give you some time. I should’ve, Gregory. I should’ve. I’m so sorry. I’ve thought back on that day a million times and I take it all back. I take back everything I said to you. I was so horrible, Gregory. I was awful. I’m so sorry.”

  “Shh.”

  I shook my head against his shoulder. “I am. I am so sorry for what I did to you. I don’t deserve you. I know I don’t. But please understand that I love you. That I always loved you. And I knew it even then. Y–you were right. You were s–so right when you protested and argued with me.”

  “Hey, stop.” Gregory brought his hand up to my chin and slowly lifted my face toward his. “Oh, Andy, tears?” Gently he wiped one from the side of my face.

  “No, I don’t cry in front of
people. I look ugly w–when I cry.”

  He kissed the spot where the tear was. “You don’t cry? Ever?”

  I felt his fingers gingerly erase the tear from my other cheek, and my eyes fluttered closed when his soft lips kissed the spot. “Only when I hurt the people I love.” His lips made their way up to the spot between my eyes and then down to capture my mouth again. It was a gentle, moving, love-binding kiss. A kiss that promised that no matter the past, we were now in the present—and the present was good.

  My eyes flew open and I gasped as he pulled away.

  I felt a little better when I noticed Gregory was having just as hard a time breathing as I was. “Andy, uh, for the record.” He took a deep breath. “You’re forgiven. I don’t know if you caught that just now—but, yeah, no worries.” He took another deep breath. “Man! I feel like someone has just knocked me out.”

  “Uh, is that a good thing?”

  He shook his head slightly and smiled down at me. “Yeah, oh yeah. It’s a good thing.”

  “Oh, well in that case, I hope you feel like you’ve been knocked out all the time.”

  Twenty-Four: Sweet Persuasion

  Later that night, Gregory followed me to my house. We spent a lot of time talking and making up for the past three years. So many things had happened to each of us—so many things we wanted to share—that it was like catching up with a family member you hadn’t seen in forever. Eventually, we made our way back to the present, and for the first time I understood what he had been thinking during the past couple of months we had been friends again.

  “I can’t believe I almost lost you to Sean,” Gregory said. “I can barely think about it. I have never been more jealous of any human being in my life. Honestly, I wanted to do bodily damage to my own cousin.”

  I laughed and shook my head as I traced the fingers he had interlocked with mine while we snuggled on my family’s couch. Hmm . . . Gregory jealous. Why does it make me so happy? “You would’ve never lost me to Sean. I have always been yours and always will be.”

  Gregory let out a ragged sigh and rubbed the top of my head with his jaw. “That night at the symphony, seeing you two so close together, you have no idea what went through my mind. I have never walked out of anything like that in my life, but I couldn’t take another moment. I thought I would destroy something. Listening to those women talking about you two like it was already set in stone nearly crushed me. I figured if I left your side, I would be able to handle it and feel better about the whole thing.”

  “Did it work?”

  “Ha! I wish. No, leaving made it much worse. I couldn’t bear to be away from you. It was so hard, actually, that I thought about just heading back to Phoenix that night.”

  “What?” I sat up. “But couldn’t you—didn’t you see the way I felt about you? There was no one else I wanted to be near but you. You weren’t really thinking about leaving, were you?”

  He smiled ruefully at me and traced my cheekbone with his thumb. “Yeah, really. But by the next morning, I remembered all the things you’d said to me—especially the night before—and it gave me hope, so I stayed.

  I took a deep breath and wondered why I felt like smacking the guy. “Well, thank goodness something did! I’ve never been so unsure about anything as I was about how you felt towards me. It seemed like one minute you were crazy for me, and the next you would be flirting with someone else. Do you have any idea what you did to me? My poor heart couldn’t control itself.”

  Gregory chuckled and pulled me down to snuggle with him again. “It was that way for me, too. When I first moved here and saw you at the party, I froze. Everything I had planned and prepared to say when I met you again flew out of my head. I found I was angry, too—angry at you for, well, it all came back to me. I thought I had gotten over what you’d said three years ago, but I hadn’t. I found myself worried you would do it again.

  “So I decided to make you jealous by going out with any girl who looked at me twice. What I didn’t count on—what I didn’t prepare myself for—was how I would compare you to Sydney and then Kylie while I was with them. I couldn’t help wondering how you would react to the joke I had just told or the place we had just gone.”

  “Really? You really thought of me while you were with them? But I don’t get it. Sydney and Kylie are gorgeous. And not just any gorgeous either—they’re like model gorgeous.”

  “And?”

  “And, well, I’m—I’m . . .” Not wanting to finish the sentence out loud, I pulled away slightly and peered up at him.

  “Amanda Ellis, if you are trying to tell me that you have no idea how beautiful you are, I think I’m going to—well, I’ll kiss you, for one.” He smiled down at me and kissed me lightly on the lips, then looked at me seriously.

  Feeling very uncomfortable, I watched Gregory search my face.

  “What happened?” he asked. “Where did you go?”

  “Go?” I know, I know, I look different now. It’s okay, really, I’m okay with it.

  “Where is the girl who knew how beautiful she was? Who shyly lowered her eyes but blushed because she knew it was true, not because she was embarrassed to be noticed. What have they done to you?”

  “W–what?”

  “Wow, I should’ve never left you. Ever.” He shook his head and closed his eyes before focusing on me again. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see—I didn’t think this would happen. I should’ve thought of this. I should’ve realized.”

  “Realized what? Greg, what are you talking about?”

  “Your family!” he interrupted. “They’ve never told you, have they? They’ve only told Sydney. You’ve never had a chance.” He mumbled something under his breath and banged the back of the couch with his fist. “I should’ve never, ever left you alone with your family. Can you ever forgive me?”

  “Greg, you moved—your family moved. You couldn’t have—”

  “No.” He shook his head and wouldn’t listen to me. “I could’ve. I could’ve written you, called you, anything—anything but leave you alone with them.”

  I rolled my eyes and pulled farther away. “They’re not that bad. I’m fine, really. I don’t know what you’re—”

  Gregory quickly leaned forward. “There hasn’t been a day when your beauty hasn’t knocked me breathless. Don’t you know why I froze at that party? You were so beautiful—even more beautiful than before—and I barely recognized you. I couldn’t look away. That’s when I knew I didn’t deserve you. I figured you were more of a heartbreaker now than ever. All I wanted to do was to make you fall for me hard, and get away as fast as I could before you could burn me again.”

  “Are you kidding me?” I asked quietly.

  “You don’t believe me, do you? Come here. Listen to me.” He ran his hands through my hair and pulled me toward him. “They’ve lied to you. They’ve told you over and over how ugly you were until you believed them. It’s not true. You are the most beautiful girl in the whole world. You are! You always have been. And from now on, you’re going to hear it every day until you believe it again. You got that?”

  “I am?” Mesmerized by his dark eyes, there was nowhere else I would’ve rather been.

  Kylie’s engagement party was a hit. There were so many people at the Wentworths’ house, it was amazing. If I didn’t know better I’d say half of the city showed up for the event. Among some of the distinguished guests were the Andersons’ favorite son and his girlfriend, Chloe Hart. They had driven in from Arizona for the occasion. Taylor had to be the closest thing to a celebrity Farmington had. I was surprised to see him cross over the threshold, but what surprised me more was the loud shriek Madison gave at the sight of them. The whole party paused to watch her run across the room and fling her arms around Taylor’s girlfriend. Their animated chatter was the only sound for a couple of seconds until the general hum of the room began again.

  Gregory and I had already caused a stir by entering together. Most of the group had known about us, but many adults were
floored that one of the Ellis girls was able to snatch Gregory up so fast.

  When Sean had called a couple of days before to ask me out, he had seemed a little shaken by the news, but he’d recovered quickly. He even showed up at the party and came up and said hello to us. His sister Lilly was on his arm.

  “Well, Amanda, you look as pretty as ever.” Sean patted Gregory on the shoulder. “And I see you’ve let the best man win, eh?”

  “What? You knew I was after her?”

  “Not at first, but I would’ve been blind if I hadn’t seen what your feelings were halfway through dinner at that restaurant in Moab. I mean, I knew you saw her first and all, but I had to give you a run for your money.” He winked at me and grinned his handsome grin right at Gregory, before he leaned over and whispered near my ear, loud enough for Gregory to hear, “You let me know if anything changes between you two. I don’t think I could ever get over your adorable blushes.”

  I could feel my face turn bright red. I rolled my eyes as he walked away.

  “You know, it’s a real good thing that guy is my cousin, or I might be seriously tempted to strangle him,” Gregory said.

  “Stop!” I swatted him playfully on the arm.

  “Hey, if you saw the way he looked at you, you’d want to strangle him, too.”

  “Probably.” I chuckled.

  “Excuse me. You’re Gregory Wentworth, right?”

  I turned to blink up into Taylor Anderson’s smiling blue eyes. “And you’re Amanda Ellis, right?”

  “Yes.” I was surprised he remembered my name. “Gregory, this is Taylor Anderson. I’m sure you’ve heard a few people talk about him.”

  “So, you’re the guy the town has missed like crazy. Glad to meet you.”

  Taylor laughed. “What, are you kidding? All I’ve heard about for the last two months is Gregory Wentworth. You sounded like Zeus come to life, so I had to come and meet you myself. My girlfriend Chloe is coming over in just a sec—she’s gotten tied up with my mom at the moment.” He turned back toward me. “So, Amanda, I hear you’re the one responsible for saving Kylie’s life.”