Say It Strong (Say You Love Me Book 2) (30 page)
Read Say It Strong (Say You Love Me Book 2) Online
Authors: Virna Depaul
Abby
When Liam Collier—
the
Liam Collier—hands you the key to your new apartment off Riverside Boulevard on your way to your first live audition for the NY Philharmonic, you don’t question his sanity. Not when you’re so crazy in love with him and you can’t imagine that ever changing.
What you do is, you wave at the doorman, ring your arm through your boyfriend’s arm, smile as he escorts you out on a blustery autumn walk through New York’s Upper West Side, and count your blessings.
That’s what I did, anyway.
At the end of the North American leg of the
Feel the Burn
tour, the band returned to LA to rest awhile before deciding on revised dates for the rest of the world tour. Insisting he needed to spend some time with me, Liam had put the band’s tour on hold. He returned home for less than a week to record a few tracks for his friend Garrick Maze’s TV show,
Straitlaced
(yes,
the
Garrick Maze), and tie up some loose ends before flying here to NYC to pay the rent on the first few months of my apartment. He would have flat-out bought it, or flat-out paid an entire year if I’d let him, but I didn’t want him to. It was my place, and I needed to pay for it myself. Still, a booster first six months wouldn’t hurt. He was spending those months with me, making sure I was settled in, happy, fed, bedded, and generally well-taken care of. When he wasn’t doing those things, he was writing songs, visiting
The Tonight Show, The View,
Good Morning America
, and taking walks with me through Central Park.
Liam loved New York, being with me, putting on a big show for me and my mom with all the flowers he bought, groceries he fetched, cooking he did, and even neighbors’ dogs he walked, just for fun. The best, though, was when he popped open that pricey bottle of wine for us—the one he’d gifted me back in LA. I’d saved it for a special occasion. Well, this was it—the eve of my audition.
What more could a girl ask for?
When we turned left at West 66
th
Street on our way to Lincoln Center, it all hit me at once—the pure blessed luckiness of it. I stopped on the sidewalk to take it all in. Liam stopped, too, looking over my cello case perched on his shoulder. “What happened?”
I stared ahead, unblinking. “You gave up your dream to give me mine.”
He blinked a few times, then smiled and slowly shook his head. “Abby, we’ve been over this. Not really. I’ve reached some of my career goals, yeah, but there’s always gonna be new ones. Life is forever changing. For now,
my
goal is making sure
you
reach yours. After that, we can figure out a way for our careers to work together, okay? Now, let’s walk. This thing weighs a crap-ton.” He held out his hand for me to take.
“Lightweight.” I slipped my hand into his warm one.
“Oh, lightweight, huh? We’ll see about that. See who gives up first in bed tonight.”
“Won’t be me. You’re going down.”
“I’m going down all right.” He winked at me.
“In flames maybe.”
He chuckled. “Promises, promises.”
This just didn’t happen to anyone. I was acutely aware of that. It wasn’t every day that a girl like me found a man who was not only sexy and sweet, but also talented and understood just how much my music meant to me. A man who made me practice
Serenade
every night until bedtime and every morning before breakfast. A man who made my coffee for me, tucked me in bed, and put me first above everything else.
No, chances like this were few and far between. I’d already achieved something my mom never got to have, whether or not I ever made Principal Cello. I’d captured the love and dedication of a wonderful man. Ma was thrilled beyond words.
Now I had to capture the love and dedication of the Philharmonic’s Audition Committee.
“You’ve got this.” Liam led me up the steps of Avery Fisher Hall and handed me my cello. He kissed my cheek, patting me lightly on the butt. “Go easy on them, Ab.” He smiled that awesome, wide grin of his.
I captured the moment for my mental scrapbook. “I love you,” I told him.
“I love you more.”
Inside the hall, I followed signs along the tall, palatial windows to the stage door where auditions were taking place. The moment I walked in, I spotted Ibis Mandolin, Peter Curtis Bennett, and Victor Cho, whose online and program bios I’d read a thousand times. They were sitting at a long table in the orchestra pit. A single chair sat onstage with a music stand. I took the music stand and set it aside. I wouldn’t be using it. The piece was perfectly memorized in my head.
“Good morning.” Ibis smiled her elegant, older-woman smile.
“Good morning, Mrs. Mandolin.” I returned her smile with my own, confident one. “My name is Abigail Chan, and I am auditioning today for the part of cello.” My nerves rose into my throat, but I swallowed to make them go away.
Deep breaths, Abby. Deep breaths.
“Wonderful, Miss Chan,” Peter Curtis Bennett said with a nod. “Your résumé and transcripts are quite impressive. A Juilliard graduate student…master of music.” He slid my papers over to Victor Cho, who took one quick glance and apparently saw all he needed to see, judging from his approving nod. “I understand you also played on tour this summer?”
“Yes, as solo cellist with the rock band Point Break.”
All three gave easy, impressed smiles. “Wonderful. We’re delighted to have you here,” Victor Cho said. “What will you be playing for us today?”
“A composition of my own entitled
Serenade
. I hope you enjoy it.” I bowed.
I set up, positioned my cello, reviewed five seconds of the intro in my head, then took a long, cleansing breath. Whatever happened here today, I had already won. I had my whole life ahead of me to make this dream come true, and it already seemed like they liked me.
Here goes nothing…
I pressed the bow across the strings and pulled out the first note, a burst of rosin cloud rising into the air. As the first measures of the opening allegro melody echoed throughout the hall, I closed my eyes and imagined my first audience already there, my mom in the middle, Liam at her side.
His voice rang in my head.
It’s in the bag, love.
And indeed it was.
—The End—
Thank you for reading
Say It Strong
.
If you enjoyed spending time with these characters, be sure to check out Tuck’s story in
Say It Slow, Book Three in the Say You Love Me Series
.
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BOOKS BY VIRNA DEPAUL
Book 1:
Say It Sexy
(Garrick) Book 2:
Say It Strong
(Liam) Coming next:
Book 3:
Say It Slow
(Tucker) Book 4:
Say It Sweet
(Shane) Book 5:
Say It Sultry
(Corbin) Book 6:
Say It Soft
(Tyler) Book 7:
Say It Smooth
(Wes) *Titles and order are subject to change
THE BEDDING THE BACHELORS SERIES (Book blurbs below)
Book 1:
Bedding The Wrong Brother
(Rhys) Book 2:
Bedding The Bad Boy
(Max) Book 3:
Bedding The Billionaire
(Jamie) Book 4:
Bedding The Best Friend
(Ryan) Book 5:
Bedding The Biker Next Door
(Cole) Coming next:
Book 6:
Bedding The Bodyguard
(Luke) Book 7:
Bedding The Best Man
(Gabe) Book 8:
Bedding The Boss
(Eric)
(Say You Love Me Book 1)
Book 1 in the Say You Love Me series, starring a group of male friends--hot young Hollywood heroes and hard-partying rock band bad boys--each on the verge of meeting the girl of his dreams.
This life I'm relishing--the women, booze, and parties--won't last forever. But while it does, I'll take it all in with no regrets. Pleasure stands paramount. When I party, I forget all the trash that's happened in the past. It's the same when I'm acting, when I become someone else, someone not afraid to feel or make others feel. It's what I live for: The next party. The next role. The next girl.
That's my life. That's the way I want it to be.
Except now I've met Gwen...
Garrick Maze, young Hollywood's hottest bad boy, just landed the male lead in a new network television series. Known for indulging in wild parties, casual hook-ups, and fast cars, he spends his days on set and his nights on the town. Love's the last thing on his mind, especially when it comes to his ice queen female lead.
Gwendolyn Vickers intends to be America's next celebrity sweetheart and that means keeping her public image pristine. The last thing she needs is to be linked to trouble-making heartthrob Garrick Maze. But he's shamelessly flirty and sexy as sin. Her body craves him. Soon, so does her heart.
When secrets from the past clash with the bright lights of fame, Gwen realizes there's more to Garrick than washboard abs and sex appeal. He'll prove that when it comes to mixing mind-blowing pleasure with true love, he's not about to let her down.
New Adult Contemporary Romance with a HEA
**First of a series, but each book will be a standalone**
(Bedding the Bachelors Book 1)
Determined to find her inner sex diva, Melina Parker enlists her childhood friend, Max Dalton, to tutor her after hours. Instead, she ends up in the wrong bed and gets a lesson in passion from Max’s twin brother, Rhys Dalton, a man Melina’s always secretly wanted but never thought she could have.
This #1 Bestselling Contemporary Romance is rated HHH ("Heat, Heart & HEA") and involves a bed mix-up, hot identical twins, sex lessons, naughty word games, light restraint, a shy sex bomb who's afraid she's boring and a playboy hero determined to prove she's got everything he'll ever need.
(Bedding the Bachelors Book 2)
This bad boy is ready to work some magic...
Identical twin and Las Vegas performer Max Dalton has always been the number one bad boy in his family, and he's appreciated the women and fame that comes along with his reputation.
Grace Sinclair is on a mission when she comes to Vegas, one that involves asking Max, her best friend's brother-in-law, to give her the pleasure no man's ever been able to. She suspects Max has more layers than he lets people see, but she's determined to keep her heart safe even as she offers him her body.