“Where the hell’s
the end?” he demanded.
“Oh God,” Lena
said.
“How the hell does
it end?” Roddy said, standing up.
Chance’s voice could
be heard off camera, saying, “So it’s good, then?”
“What are you,
slow? Of course it’s good—it’s amazing. I need to know how it fucking
ends!”
Lena could
actually
hear
Chance smile with what
he said next. “I can get you in touch with the writer.”
“You see that?”
Chance said to her, happy as a puppy. “You see what he said? I told you!”
“Chance, what did
you do?”
“I showed up at
his house, made him coffee, and told him I wouldn’t leave until he read it. And
I told him I wanted an honest opinion.”
Do not cry.
Do not cry.
Do not…
“What?” he asked
her. “What’s wrong?”
Lena shook her
head, unable to deal with the unbearable sweetness of this man who she already
knew was too good for her. “That’s one of the nicest things anyone’s ever done
for me,” she said.
“This?” Chance
said, eyebrow up. “No way, that was nothing. Not a big deal. But I also got you
something else,” he said. “I’m not one hundred percent sure of the legalities,
but Ford’s fixing it. Upshot is, Lola and I got Paul Cigna on tape trying to
extort me and you and
whoever
else he could get at.
Dude is going to jail. The pictures are going into a shredder.”
Lena stared at
him.
“Or into the trash
bin, whatever you do with digital files. But gone. Destroyed. No more. You
never, ever have to worry about it, ever again,” he said, and his earnestness
killed her. He wasn’t asking for anything. He just wanted her to know it was
done.
“Thank you,” she
whispered.
Every single thing
Chance did
made
her feel loved and broke her heart all
at the same time. How could she ever live up to this? How could anyone?
“Chance,” she
said.
“I’m not done,” he
said. “Don’t get all doom and despair on me until you hear me out.”
Lena laughed. “I
am a little like droopy dog at the moment. Stop making me laugh, it’s not
fair.”
“I have never,
ever played fair,” he said, grinning. “Ok, now, for real, listen to me. Just be
quiet. Here it comes.”
He didn’t have to
tilt her head up this time to meet his eyes. She did it on her own. It was the
least she could do, to meet this beautiful, loving, ridiculous man on his own
terms.
“Ok,” she said.
“I have an idea
about what’s holding you back, Lena. Let me roll with it. I believe in you, and
I’m not wrong. You should believe in yourself, that good things
can
happen to you. I want to make that happen, I will work
my ass off to make that happen, but I know why you’re resistant.”
“I—”
“What did I say?”
he said, cocking his head.
She shut up.
“But don’t pretend
this makes sense, Lena, this is just about you being scared. You almost lost
Thea, and that reminded you how much you suck at needing people.”
Lena opened her
mouth to object, but hesitated. She couldn’t even argue the point anymore. He
was one hundred percent correct. She was actually waiting for Thea’s chorus of
agreement, and was kind of relieved to realize she probably couldn’t hear it.
“Did you conspire
with Thea?” she asked him.
“What? No. Why?”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t change the
subject,” he growled, and hooked his finger into the waist of her jeans,
pulling her in close. “I know you love me, Lena, and I know why you don’t trust
that. Why you don’t trust the world to work out, or people to be there for you.
I think you will trust me to be there, eventually. I’ll do everything I can to
make sure you can believe in me, in time. But right now, you need to know that
I need you
.”
Those last three
words hit Lena like a glass of ice water:
I
need you
. In all her pining, in all her tortured thinking, her
rationalizations, her internal debates about what to do about Chance, she had
never once considered the possibility that he needed her. She’d accepted that
he loved her, she’d accepted that she loved him, even that she needed him, but
the stumbling block was, once she got over that, how she would inevitably mess
it up. How her profound inability to trust in anyone or anything except maybe
after years and years would test any man to the limit, how he would get tired
of her, tired of dealing with it, tired of all of it, and it would eventually
destroy both of their lives.
She didn’t know
what to do with that. He needed her?
“Lena, look at
me,” Chance said. “I told you about all that shit in my past, all the times
I’ve been violent, all the times I’ve been scared of what I was. Look at this.”
He held up his
phone again. There was a picture of Richie Kerns. Lena jumped, and Chance
swiped to the next picture: Paul Cigna. Both of them were smiling.
“What? Why would
you show me that?” she asked.
“Look again,” he
said. “Anything you notice? Like how both men are in perfect health?”
It wasn’t
something you’d notice unless someone pointed it out, but yes, both of them
appeared to be in perfect health, if smiling a little strangely.
Almost…strained.
“I didn’t touch
them, even when provoked,” Chance said. “And Cigna tried to provoke me when I
went over there the last time, believe me, because he wanted the lawsuit. He
actually came after me. But because of you…it’s because you make me better.
Because you make it possible for me to be a better man.”
Lena was stunned.
She had no inkling, no understanding.
“Chance, I
don’t—”
“Not done,
sweetheart,” he said, putting one finger on her lips. “You don’t fix me, I’m
not saying that. But you make me want to be better, and you make it easier. I
don’t know if that’s good, but I do know I don’t give a shit anymore if it’s
not. It just
is
, and there’s nothing
anybody can do about it. I love you
now,
I’ll love you
for fucking ever. You’ve made me a better man, whether you like it or not, and
I fucking
need
you. Don’t take that
away from me because you’re afraid to need me, too.”
Lena had no words.
She was overcome. She was felled. She was utterly, utterly decimated by this
man. By the idea that the strongest man she’d ever known, the one who’d stood
up for her, who’d stood by her, who’d put so much work into helping her, just
because she’d asked—that he might need her.
“Chance, I don’t
know what to say,” she said.
“Say you’ll give
this a shot. A real shot. I believe in you more than anything else on this
planet. I know you’re brilliant, and kind, even when you try to be a smart ass,
and you’re right for me, and you’re the best woman I know, and if you can’t
believe that yet, I will for the both of us, until you can catch up.”
Then he leaned
down to whisper in her ear. “This is the one and only time I’m ever going to
beg you for anything, sweetheart,” he said. “But you better believe you’re
gonna
pay for it later.”
Lena tucked her
head into the hollow of his neck to hide her smile and her tears, and then on
impulse kissed him there. When she pulled back to look into those eyes once
more, they were shining.
“Yes,” she said.
From behind her
came a familiar voice. “Hallelujah!” Thea said.
epilogue
Lena took a big
lungful of ocean air and tried not to be worried for
Thea
.
This was, after all, a joyous kind of thing, right?
An
alternative wedding, of sorts?
No, definitely a happy occasion.
But Lena was still
Lena, and her adopted family was about to go
on
a
month long sailing trip down
the coast with her new, “technical” husband, as
Thea
put it. So she was worried.
John had insisted
that they get legally married, after
Thea
got out of
the hospital, and he’d made too many rational arguments, all of which Lena
happened to agree with—it was important for John to be able to get into
the hospital, for example, and it would help
Thea
to
be on his crazy amazing insurance. Also, if she were being honest, Lena was
totally happy to turn the tables and gang up on
Thea
about her man. They had made it a marriage of their own style, though—
Thea
valued her independence too much, and so did John.
She kept her house
,
he kept his houseboat
.
This trip was going to be interesting.
Which was how most
of
Volare
L.A. was gathered at Marina del Ray to see
the beaming, glowing, ridiculously happy couple off. It served as a kind of ad
hoc wedding celebration, reception, and general excuse to make
Thea
uncomfortable. Lena did love that.
And she also loved
how quickly
Volare
had embraced
Thea
.
She was vaguely concerned, for a while, that she’d have to keep these parts of
her life separate, but the second she’d confessed that concern to
Adra
,
Thea
had been brought into
the fold. Not the fold that consisted of subs being to tied to a St. Andrew’s
Cross on Friday nights kind of fold—thankfully, for Lena—but the
fold that included barbecues and private concerts and, apparently, going away
parties at Marina del Ray.
And of course,
there was Chance. Always Chance. The life of the party wherever he went, the
guy who made sure everyone was ok, her Chance. It still made Lena smile to
think that he was hers.
Hers
. Right
now she was watching him hold court at the other end of the covered outdoor
area adjacent to the boathouse, apparently trying to learn how to do a
fire-eating trick, with
Thea
clapping along happily.
Actually, on
second thought, maybe she
wouldn’t
watch that. If she looked over again in a second and he was still putting fire
anywhere near that beautiful face, she’d have something to say about it. It
would just be a bonus if she got disciplined for it later.
“Hey you,”
Adra
said, showing up by Lena’s side with a glass of
sparkling wine.
Adra
was another invaluable addition
to Lena’s life—she’d proved to be a true friend, taking Lena’s script and
going to freaking battle for it. She’d actually managed to sell it, and when
Adra
made the announcement, you could have knocked Lena
over with a feather. Which was just as well, because Chance had picked her up
and refused to put her down for the rest of the night.
“Hey!” Lena
smiled. “Have you seen Lola? I got her some Ghirardelli chocolates, assuming
she’s still into chocolate, and not, like…”
“Pickles?
Mayo on onions?
Some other unholy combination?”
Adra
laughed. “Yeah, she’s over there, behind Chance and
his crowd, but good luck getting anywhere near her without a security pass.
Roman is ridiculous.”
Roman’s
overprotectiveness had been the highlight of the couple’s visit.
Thea
had invited them personally, after she’d found out how
much Lola had helped out with Lena’s…difficulties…accepting Chance, and Lola
was definitely showing, and Roman had the curious look of a man determined to
protect his woman at all costs who was also completely and utterly dazed. Lena
would think he was all lost in thought, this dreamy look on his face while he
wondered about his unborn child, and then Lola would so much as wince at some
back pain and the man would jump into action.
It had almost
gotten to the point where it was fun to mess with him. Almost. Chance had an
eagle eye, and Lena wasn’t going to cross from
funishment
into punishment—too often, at least.
“Hey, who’s that?”
Lena asked.
She had spotted a
woman wearing what looked like a very restrictive, business-y sort of blouse, a
staid, conservative skirt, and terribly uncomfortable shoes, all of which kind
of made her stand out among the
Volare
L.A. crowd.
She also had a notebook, something that set off alarm bells for Lena. She still
wasn’t a fan of the press, though she was working on it.
But this
particularly woman, who really was very attractive under all that fuss, was
being given a hard time by what looked like college kids attached to another
boat down the dock. Lena frowned.
“And what the hell
are they doing to her?”
Adra
followed her gaze and muttered, “Damn. That’s the writer I hired
for Declan.”
“The what now?”
Adra
smiled. Her and Ford had been busily trying to help Declan
Donovan rehabilitate his image after what was collectively referred to as the
“Philadelphia Incident.” The press coverage had been awful, and it had only
cemented Declan’s reputation as a sex god womanizing boozehound. He’d gone
through rehab and come out sober, but lost some of his
bandmates
as a result—the man was definitely in transition. And there was clearly
something bigger underlying his fling with
self destruction
.
But he’d been one
of the nicest guys Lena had encountered,
ever,
totally
down to earth, and apparently oblivious to the effect he had on most women.
Volare
seemed like a good place for him, but a writer?
“We commissioned
her to write a biography,”
Adra
said, eyes narrowing
as the college kids grew
more bold
. In fact, they
looked kind of drunk. “Or memoir, whatever.
Something to get
Declan’s story out there.
Her writing is superb, but I didn’t think
she’d be so…”
“Fusty?”
“Formal, maybe? I
mean
,
it’s important that she and Declan get along.”
Lena and
Adra
watched as the woman deftly handled the drunken idiots
on her way to their group. Still, there was a limit to what any single woman
could do in that situation.
“We better go help
her,” Lena said.
Both women girded
themselves to go deal with some drunk boys intent on harassing any female
within shouting distance, knowing Ford and Chance would probably be at their
sides in about two seconds flat—especially Ford, who
Adra
claimed she wasn’t at all interested in, to everyone’s amusement—when
Declan crossed their paths, making a beeline for the writer in question.
“Oh, boy,”
Adra
said under her breath. “I can’t tell if this is really
good, or really bad.”
“It’s definitely
really something,” Lena agreed.
Declan had
descended on the drunk regatta-styled
fratboys
like a
nightmare. Really, any of the
Volare
members would
have done the same, but no one else would have brought quite the same tattooed,
hugely muscled rock god
badassness
to the venture.
The looks on the
drunk
boys’ faces were absolutely
priceless—they didn’t know whether to apologize or ask for an autograph.
Instead they just
scattered.
And yet, the look
the writer gave Declan was…pissed off? Flustered?
And yet
totally checking Declan out?
“
Whaaaat
is going on there,”
Adra
whispered.
Lena smiled. It
was sort of nice to see something like this from her perspective, having
finally yielded to Chance, and finding out that it made her happier than she’d
ever been. “I take it they have to spend some time together?” she asked
Adra
.
“Yup.”
“So this is going
to be fun?”
“That, or a
disaster. One of the two.”
“Like most
things,” Lena smiled.
Suddenly she felt
two strong arms sliding around her waist from behind, and Chance’s broad chest
at her back. Lena’s face erupted into huge smile, like it always did, and she
relaxed into him.
“What are you two
ladies planning?” he asked. Warm gravel again. Lena bit her lip.
“Global takeover,”
Lena said.
“We’ve decided to
become super villains,”
Adra
added.
Lena felt Chance
nuzzle her hair. She was having all sorts of responses that weren’t remotely
appropriate for a public marina.
“
Adra
, I think Ford might need your help with whatever’s
going on over there,” Chance said.
Adra
looked at Chance, looked at Ford talking to Declan and the
writer, then looked at Lena. It was apparent that Ford didn’t need any help at
all.
Adra
just smiled.
“Oh, of course,”
she said, winking at Lena. “I’ll talk to you later?”
“Always,” Lena
said. She turned in Chance’s arms to face him, wrapping her arms around his
neck.
“Why’d you scare
Adra
off?” she said. But she was already getting heated,
just touching him. Sometimes she wondered if this attraction would ever wear
off, but somehow she knew it wouldn’t—it wasn’t normal, what they had,
and she loved it.
And
those
eyes
.
“Did you say goodbye
to
Thea
?” he asked.
“I did not say
goodbye,” Lena said. “I said see you soon.”
“Good. I have
something to show you.”
Lena bounced on
her toes. “Did you find a house?”
Thea
had insisted that Lena keep her apartment, and Lena had been
grateful for the gesture, something that helped her with her initial anxieties.
But she hadn’t spent one night there. And Chance, meanwhile, had been looking
for a house he deemed worthy.
Chance grinned,
and his hands slipped down to her hips, his fingers resting lightly on her butt
in a way that he knew drove her wild.
“I did.
A few weeks ago.
But now it’s ready,” he said. “One room in
particular is ready.”
Lena’s heart
fluttered. “One room?”
“There’s a bench
that needs breaking in,” Chance said. “Immediately. Get your ass in the car.”
Lena inhaled,
wondering once again at how lucky she was. Then she jumped up, kissed her man,
fuzzed his head, and said, “Thank you, sir.”
THE END
Thank you!
I hope you
enjoyed Chance and Lena’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it. :) If you want
to know about my next book (Declan’s story!) as soon as it’s available, you can
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. And read on to find out how you can get a free advanced review
copy of Declan’s book by joining my review team!
Also? If you liked
this book, go ahead and lend it to a friend. There’s no DRM for just that
reason, so
g’head
, go nuts. :) It’s one of the best
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And,
if you have a moment, please help others enjoy this book too by
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and letting them know what you liked about
Taken by Chance
. I think it helps other
readers choose which books are right for them, and I learn something with every
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And
oh yeah, like I said, Declan’s story is next! I’ve always had a thing for
rockstars
, since basically forever. No joke, I had a denim
jacket with all my favorite bands’ names written on it in permanent marker in,
like, third grade. My mother was horrified, but it only got worse from there. So…this
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