Gray frowned, still unsure what she was trying to say. He decided to be uncharacteristically blunt. He was so used to playing mind games with people but it was different with Mandy. She wouldn’t stand for that so he had to be honest.

“I don’t understand. What exactly are you offering here?” he asked.

Mandy smiled at him in a way that made his heart flip in his chest. She placed a hand on the side of his face and gently caressed it. “Me. I’m offering me. You never did take me with you or even come back to visit but now that I found you again I have no intention of letting you go, Michael Gray.”

She leaned forward on her barstool and planted a gentle kiss on his lips.

I have no intention of letting you go…Gray wasn’t sure he had ever heard such a beautiful phrase in his entire life. His heart was racing but it was in a different way than when he had been turned on by a supermodel in the past. This woman—the one little girl in the foster system who had ever liked him—had made his heart race because she touched him with her words.

He pulled back from the kiss and placed his hands on her shoulders to be sure he wasn’t dreaming. The look in her eyes was questioning but not judging. She was wondering why he had stopped kissing her.

“You really want me?” Gray asked seriously.

Mandy smiled and shook her head at him indulgently. “Yes. I would have thought that was obvious. You’re mine from now on, got that?”

No one had ever dared to claim him as theirs before. The women he fooled around with as Graydon Meyer knew he wasn’t going to stick around and usually hadn’t even dared to call themselves his girlfriend. His reputation always preceded him.

But Mandy knew the truth about his darkness and had still staked her claim. She wanted him. He was hers. How could he possibly argue with that?

Gray hopped off of his stool and lifted her from hers, making her grunt in surprise.

“Uh, Mikey? What are you doing?” she asked.

“Well,” he said lightly. “If I’m yours then my things are yours too. We’re going back to my place. I think you’ll like it; Aaron refurbished it for me before I got out of prison.”

Mandy laughed, a hint of exasperation in her tone. “I get that but do you have to carry me? People are staring.”

“Who cares?”

He didn’t anymore. His public image had already been destroyed decades ago. It would be better to live quietly with someone who loved him than to care about decorum. Suddenly he understood his brother’s lifestyle a lot better.

Things felt different when someone truly wanted you around and understood you. Even if the rest of the world saw you a certain way, the right person would always see through to your soul.

That must be the reason Keeley fell in love with that ice block. She saw all the way through to his soul and liked what was there.

Gray had always wondered why those two loved each other. Over time as he saw how content Aaron was simply being near his wife he thought he understood a little. He thrived off of the warmth she provided him. But that never explained why she loved him back.

Now he was pretty sure he understood. There truly was someone for everyone; even people like him and Aaron.

When they made it back to his apartment, Mandy looked around in awe. “So this is what a millionaire’s apartment looks like? My place looks like a broom closet compared to yours. You’ve been living here by yourself all this time?”

Aside from a bunch of one-night stands and few-week-long flings, yes. It really was too much space for a single person. Gray had only bought it because it was befitting of his status as the most ideal man in New York City.

“You don’t even have a pet fish or a houseplant! This is too depressing, Mikey. We need to change that,” she continued as she made her way around the apartment.

It was a bachelor pad for sure; a two-story place done up in neutral tones with minimalist furniture and decorations. There were four bedrooms, an entertainment room, a hardly-used kitchen, and access to the roof.

Gray could practically see the wheels turning in her head on how to make this place more homey. Normally that sort of thing from a date would have grated on his nerves but this time it was different. Mandy was thinking long-term. She wanted to stay and he wasn’t about to stop her.

Or so he thought. He wanted to be sure they were both on the same page here. She might simply be a fan of  interior design.

“I’m open to your suggestions,” he said graciously. “But…in what capacity are you advising I make changes to my house?”

Mandy blinked at him innocently. “Well it has to look less depressing if I’m going to live here, doesn’t it? I told you. You aren’t alone anymore. Besides, getting out of my crappy apartment into a place like this is a dream come true. I’m sharing a two bedroom place with five girls in their twenties! Do you have any idea what that’s like?!”

Gray began to laugh at her honesty and once he started he couldn’t stop. This woman really was something else. He couldn’t think of anyone else who would admit that to someone else they hadn’t even officially started dating.

She pouted and began fiddling with her hair as she sulked. It was obvious he was laughing at her.

Once he finally got a hold of himself he grinned. Honestly, he couldn’t remember the last time he laughed like that. If he ever had. He pulled her closer to him and sweetly kissed her lips.

“Don’t be mad, you’re too cute to resist. It’s refreshing to be around someone who speaks their mind,” Gray wheedled.

Mandy scowled at him momentarily before placing a hand on his chest and returning the kiss. “I didn’t think you were the type to tease.”

“I’m not. I guess you brought out a side I didn’t know existed.”

Suddenly she preened overdramatically and flipped her hair. “Well I guess that makes me special, now doesn’t it?”

Heart pounding, Gray wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair. He had never once felt like this towards anyone. She certainly was special. Now that he knew what this was like, he never wanted to let her go.

He answered her question by kissing her more fervently. Mandy responded with enthusiasm, getting carried away right along with him.

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