Billionaire Romance Boxed Set (9 Book Bundle) (49 page)

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I
shouldn’t have run.”

“I’ll just make sure to keep an
eye on you.”

My gaze wandered over the room.
The candlelight reflected on the windowpane, but I could almost make out the
stars in the sky outside.

“I can’t believe I’m here in
Hungary. Finally. After all these years.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through
so much to get here. I know it’s been hard.”

“That’s the understatement of
the century. But I’m here now,” I said, turning my gaze to him. “With my
prince. It’s a Cinderella story after all.”

“Your life hasn’t exactly been a
fairy tale.”

My hand reached out to his
cheek, my fingers tracing the line of his scar. I looked deep into his eyes and
saw in them the same longing for peace that was in my heart.

“Neither has yours.”

I
visited my mother
’s grave again that weekend. Springtime
had arrived in full force, and the trees around me blossomed with white
flowers. When the wind blew, the flower petals fell like snow onto the warm
ground. Sitting there, I felt like every atom in the wind moved exactly the way
it should. Life would move on with or without me, and I didn’t need to change
myself in order to be beautiful, or happy, or worthy of love. I already was.

Forget the castle, the crown,
all of the gilded trappings of royalty that shone brightly but meant nothing.
Forget the glass slipper, the horse-drawn carriage. None of that mattered now.
Eliot wasn
’t a prince, and I wasn’t a princess. We were
just two broken people, half-mended, struggling to make sense of the world as
best we could.

I once thought that happily
ever after was only true in books. Now, I’m beginning to see how the future
might play out if my dreams continue to pale before reality. Every sentence I
could think of has already been said a hundred times over, by people whose
words come out perfect and beautifully formed, where mine die on the tongue or
straggle out onto the page, mangled and imperfect. But my story isn’t perfect,
because I’m not perfect. Nothing is perfect except maybe in math, in the line
that extends forever in both directions. Math is beautiful, I have always known
that, but so is life. And I have grown to accept imperfection.

I am living my own fairytale
to which nobody, not even me, knows the ending. But I can imagine my life
written down, all of my past and future tragedy and triumph and yes, even
romance, and the book does not always end in sorrow. For the first time in my
life, I can imagine the reader turning to the end, the pages already lighter
for being finished, and reading the final few words that an unknown author had
scrawled across the last page:

“And they lived happily ever
after.”

- The End
-

About the
Author

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Aubrey Rose lives in
sunny San Diego, where she likes to lay around in a hammock reading her
favorite romances. When she’s not writing steamy stories, she can be found
dancing naked in front of the mirror to Abba while her cat watches
disdainfully.

Check
out my author page!

Sign up for my newsletter!

If you liked this story, check out the sequel!

Blind Wolf

The sequel to this novella, Perfect Mate, is available now on Amazon!

A brand new novella from New York Times Bestseller Aubrey Rose!

Julia has never been on a date in her life. She’s a curvy girl with no
money, no education, and no way out of the town she works in as a library
assistant… until Damien shows up. He’s just like the prince charming Julia
always imagined would sweep her off of her feet. There are just a few things
standing in the way of true happiness: he’s blind, he’s dating someone, and
he’s WAY out of her league.

Oh, and he’s a werewolf.

Damien lost his eyes two years ago in a wolf battle. Ever since then,
the straggler pack of disabled wolves he leads has been searching for a place
to call home. One house seems like the perfect choice, but Damien realizes too
late that the person who lives there is the girl he met at the library. The
human girl. Damien is torn between loyalty to his pack and raw lusting desire
for the girl who haunts his dreams day and night.

She’s a human. How could she be his true mate?

Big Girl Backstage Pass - Book One in the Big Girl series

Available free on Amazon!
http://amzn.to/XwMwZc

She’s
just a college girl who can’t help but dream.

Shannon
Locklear just won backstage passes to the hottest concert in LA,
Wilder
Side
. She’s thrilled to be able to meet the band backstage, and when the
guitarist takes her aside, the sparks that fly between them could light a
bonfire…

He’s
a lead guitarist who can’t shake his inner demons.

Julian
Bremmer is a musician struggling with alcohol and his band’s newfound success.
Girls throw themselves at him because he’s a rock star, but all of the
attention doesn’t stop him from feeling empty inside. When he meets Shannon, he
can’t help but wonder if she’s just the next girl who wants him for his fame…

Fate
has thrown them together, but will the world pull them apart?

You can also get all
five Big Girl stories in one bundle!

Get it now for only .99!

NO REGRETS

By Liliana Rhodes

Chapter One

Deborah

The
sun beat down barely giving any escape. Even under the trees there was no
relief. Walking past the old brick campus buildings I had my classes in, I
wondered why I never felt so much heat radiating off the bricks before. Up
ahead in the clearing students and school administrators milled about waiting.
Just beyond them were rows of white wooden chairs facing a long stage.

As
I approached the small crowd of people in their caps and gowns, I wished I
thought to bring my sunglasses. Squinting as I looked around, I slipped the
black silky material of my graduation gown on like a coat over the tan jeans
and cotton button shirt I wore, grateful to not have to mess my chin length bob.

I
hoped to look casual like I didn’t care about graduation, but the truth was I
cared much more than I cared to admit. Zipping the gown up the front and then
draping the red honors sash over my shoulders, I looked like all the other
Canyon Cove University graduates. Except maybe a little rounder and definitely
shorter.

My
weight had been a sensitive issue since my neighbor Patty asked me why I was so
fat. I was four at the time and at chubbiest. I didn’t know what fat was, but
by the tone of her voice I knew it was a bad thing. I ran home crying and told
my grandmother what happened.

Of
course Grandma tried to make me feel better by saying we all come in different
shapes and sizes, but it didn’t matter. The damage had been done. Since then I
was always aware of how much larger I was compared to others. I knew sometimes
it was all in my head, but I couldn’t help it. It was like Patty had
permanently taken up residence in my head.

Luckily
for me, the older I got the less I cared about what others thought. Sometime in
high school when I really began caring about clothes, I realized how unfair it
was that big girls couldn’t dress cute.

It
was around that time that I would go shopping with my girlfriends at the mall
and while they had endless stores to choose from, I was lucky to have one.
Usually that one store only carried conservative old lady clothes that I was
far from wearing as a teen. I was a young girl, I didn’t want to dress like my
grandma. That was when I started making my own clothes.

As
I walked around, I looked at the faces of the other graduates hoping to find
someone familiar, but didn’t recognize anyone. Between working a couple of jobs
and school I didn’t have much of a social life, but watching them hug and smile
at each other I felt really out of place and like I missed out on something. It
didn’t help that at twenty-five they were younger than me by a few years.
Shit,
why am I here?!

“Deborah!
Deborah Hansen!”

Recognizing
Ashley Boone’s voice, I turned around breathing a sigh of relief that I wasn’t
completely alone, but thinking it odd to see her. Ashley had been my boss at
the Winslow Museum for Motion Pictures and was the sweetest person ever. She
even offered me her job when she decided to become a stay at home mom. I was
happy to call Ashley my friend.

“Ashley!
What are you doing here?” I asked as I walked towards her. Looking
beautiful as usual with her long dark hair, pouty lips and an orange print sun
dress that hugged her curves, Ashley held her infant son Jacob and I was
reminded of paintings of the Madonna and child. “Wait, that didn’t come
out right,” I said laughing. “I’m glad to see you, but how did you
know? I didn’t tell you about this.”

She
laughed as she hugged me. “I know you better than you think,” she
said as she grinned at me. “You mentioned graduating this semester so I
looked up the date. I knew you wouldn’t miss walking.”

“You’re
right, but I really don’t know why I’m here. This is stupid. I don’t even know
anyone here and I don’t have anyone here either. Well, I didn’t until you
came.”

“You
should be happy Deborah. You’re finally graduating! You should walk, be proud!
You’ll never get another chance to do this.”

“I
know, that’s the only reason I’m here. I don’t want to look back and regret the
things I didn’t do. There have been so many things in my life… I almost
didn’t finish school, but I knew I’d regret that too. Before my grandma died,
she said life was too short to regret the things you didn’t do. She had so many
regrets. She made me promise I’d follow my heart and never regret
anything.”

“She
sounds like she was a wise, wonderful woman.”

“She
was something else, that’s for sure,” I said laughing as I remembered her
spunkiness. “I miss her. You know, she raised me. I couldn’t ask for a
better life growing up even though we had no money. Speaking of money, where’s
Mr. Billionaire?”

“He’ll
be here later to pick up the baby for his nap. Then you and I are going to
Joyeux.
Joshua feels awful about not calling you and demanded I bring you by his
shop so he could finally meet you in person.”

“That
sounds great!”

“Graduates,”
a woman’s voice called out over the crowd. “Please line up. Procession
will begin shortly.”

“I’ll
meet you back here when it’s over,” Ashley said. “Go line up! Make
your grandma even prouder than I’m sure she is.”

Ashley
gave me a big hug, careful to not disturb Jacob who was sleeping. Smiling
sheepishly at her I felt tears fill my eyes and quickly blinked trying to stop
them from falling. It was useless though so I blotted the corners of my eyes
with my fingertips trying to save my makeup.

“Dammit
Ash, you made me cry! I’ll look like a raccoon accepting my diploma,” I
joked, hoping to make my tears stop. “Please, go so you can get a seat.
I’d feel awful if you had to stand in this heat the entire time.”

As
Ashley left, I found my spot in line with the other H’s. Looking around at my
fellow graduates, I straightened my honors sash and looked up through the tall
trees at the cloudless sky.

This
is for you Grandma
, I
thought.
I really hope you’re up there watching
. I looked down at the
ground.
Or watching from down there where you always said you’d be.

As
I laughed to myself, Pomp and Circumstance played and the long procession
walked under the famed wrought iron arch of the university and towards the
stage set up in the grassy campus plaza. I continued to think about my grandma
as I walked, remembering her wicked sense of humor and all the things she
taught me about life.

As
I sat on a wooden folding chair surrounded by a sea full of strangers, the heat
of the black graduation cap and gown started to get to me. What I wouldn’t do
for a breeze or even a little rain. I knew I should’ve stayed home.

Suddenly
the bright sun slipped behind a small dark cloud and it began to rain. Some
people ran for cover. Most of the graduates stayed in their seats, grateful for
the break in the heat. I laughed and looked back up at the sky.
Ah-ha! I
knew you’d be up there! Thanks Grandma.