Authors: Trisha Grace
She laughed softly and licked her lips. “Me, too.” She cast a glance over to Eric Staton’s table. “What’s the occasion?”
“He’s proposing.”
“Oh.” She grinned and nodded. “Is he proposing after dinner?”
“That was his plan, but he thought … he’d move it up, in case she recognizes me.”
She nodded.
He didn’t want to focus on what he had to do next and wonder if he would be able to sing. “Let’s order something … for you to eat.” He picked up the menu, trying to distract himself.
“I don’t want anything; I’m not hungry.”
“But … the only thing you’ve eaten all day is the sandwich we shared this … afternoon. You must be starving.”
“I’m fine.” Chloe stole another glimpse of Eric Staton’s table. “I think that’s your cue.”
“Oh! Christopher Hunter!” Jane Clarke’s excitement was obvious, and everyone in the restaurant turned to their table.
He inhaled deeply through his nose and grinned.
“You have an amazing voice,” Chloe said softly.
He gave Chloe’s hand a squeeze, picked up the microphone, and stood. “Hi, Jane.”
Jane Clarke pressed her hands over her lips, seemingly trying to keep another squeal in. When the restaurant’s lights dimmed, she gasped and turned to Eric Staton, mumbling something.
My heart melts each time I hear you sing.
He looked over at Chloe, who was smiling sweetly at him, as she always did whenever he looked out at her from stage.
He wanted more than just to avoid her disappointment; he wanted to make her happy, to keep her smiling.
His eyes flickered over to the musicians. The entire band was looking at him, their hands ready on the various music instruments.
Closing his eyes, he took another deep breath.
He could hear the melody of
If
running in his head, and he knew the lyrics to the song.
He opened his eyes and nodded at the musicians. He had to try.
As soon as the music started, his mind went blank.
He couldn’t find his voice, and the lyrics disappeared from his mind. He could see the anticipation and hope on Jane’s face, but he couldn’t do it.
He clenched his jaws and took a deep breath. “I love this song.” His eyes met Chloe’s. “I actually sang this song at prom for a girl I was head over heels in love with.” It took him a moment to remember why he was holding the microphone. He looked right at Jane Clarke. “Just as Eric is in love with you.”
He took a peek of Chloe and closed his eyes again.
He imagined holding Chloe in his arms, just as he did when they were at prom, just as he did when they were on the square.
All he could think about was how beautiful Chloe looked when she smiled, then he caught the melody, the lyrics came back to him, and he opened his mouth and sang.
He almost couldn’t believe it when he heard himself, and he didn’t dare open his eyes.
When he finally did, he immediately searched for Chloe.
Only when he spotted her brilliant grin was he certain he wasn’t dreaming.
Look at her, Chloe mouthed and jerked her thumb toward Eric Staton’s table.
Right.
He willed himself to shift his focus back to Jane.
When the song came to an end, Jane was beaming at him. She seemed ready to run over and give him a hug, but that day wasn’t about him.
“Jane, you’re the luckiest … girl I know. Because you have … a boyfriend who’s willing to do … anything to see you smile.”
Jane turned to Eric with a most blissful smile, just as Eric stood and took her hand.
Christopher couldn’t hear what Eric was saying, but after a moment, Eric got down on one knee and opened the box in his hands.
“Yes!” Jane wiped her tears away and threw her hands over Eric’s shoulders.
Christopher returned to his seat, and Chloe reached over to grab his hand.
“You were amazing. I knew you could do it.”
He brought her fingers to his lips. “It—”
“Hi, I’m sorry, Mr. Hunter.”
Christopher looked up at Jane and smiled politely. “Congratulations.”
“I’m such a huge fan. I knew the gossips weren’t real. Thanks for doing this. Thank you. I can’t believe Eric convinced you to do this for me.”
Eric was right beside her, his hand around her waist. “Join us for dinner.”
“No,” he said. “Tonight is about the … two of you. We should go.”
“But you haven’t had your dinner,” Eric said.
“I’m sure there’s another … restaurant that can serve us.”
Jane finally looked over at Chloe. “Oh, it’s true.” Jane took a step toward Chloe. “I don’t care how you guys got together; I knew the two of you were meant for each other when I saw how he looked at you during the competition.”
How you guys got together?
“What do you mean?” Christopher asked.
“You don’t know?”
Christopher looked over at Chloe, who simply shrugged.
“There’s a rumor that you cheated on your boyfriend to be with Christopher,” Jane said.
“I’m just glad I met you here.” Eric stretched his hand forward, and Christopher took it. “Thanks.”
“Can we take a photo?” Jane asked.
“I’ll take it for you,” Chloe said and stood, reaching for the phone in Jane’s hand.
“No, no. I want you in the photo, too.” Jane waved a waiter over.
“And Chris, I’ve spoken to my assistant about the problem you and your girlfriend are facing. She’ll help you guys with it.” Eric handed him a name card. “That’s Kelly’s number, and this is mine.”
“I’ve already ordered my birth certificate,” Chloe said as Christopher took his card. “I’ll head down to Milan tomorrow to start the process to get my passport.”
“You lost your passport?” Jane asked. “Kelly is a miracle worker. Scary, but amazing.”
Chloe frowned, staring at the name card. “Scary?”
“She’s the no-nonsense sort,” Eric said. “But she gets things done. She’s a fan of yours as well, so I’m sure she’ll be extra helpful. Call her.”
They put their conversation on hold and took a few more photos.
After another round of thanks and a hug from Jane, Christopher and Chloe left.
“You made her day,” Chloe said as they stepped out of the restaurant.
Christopher took her hand, his fingers intertwined hers. He should be thrilled with getting his voice back. He should be shouting for joy that he could sing again, but he found himself fixated with the joy from Chloe’s face.
There was only one thought on his mind; to kiss her again.
“I knew your voice never left you.”
He stopped and took her other hand. “I was singing for you. All the love songs … I’ve ever sung, they were all for you.” He leaned in and grazed his lips against hers. “And they’ll always be about you.”
She grinned and gave him a peck. He cupped his hand against her face and deepened his kiss.
Christopher sat on the chair and leaned forward on the desk in the hotel room while Chloe showered. Chloe settled the billing with the hotel manager while he called Eric’s assistant, Kelly.
Kelly already knew what had happened. She asked him a few questions, which he thought was rather irrelevant, but he answered her anyway.
Now that they were back in the hotel room, he wanted to check out the rumor Jane had told them about.
He entered Chloe’s password into her laptop and ran a search, using a combination of both their names on Google.
Right on the front page, on the very first link,
Songwriter Cheated On Boyfriend To Be With Christopher Hunter.
He clicked on the link and scanned through the article.
The article itself didn’t put Chloe down. It merely stated her supposed cheating as a choice. She chose him over Jason, but when he continued down to the comments, his jaws clenched at all the derogatory comments about Chloe.
None of these people knew her, knew what had actually happened, but all of them were jumping on her.
He clicked on the comment link and started typing a defend for Chloe.
“What are you doing?”
He looked up and found Chloe staring at the laptop screen. He was so engrossed in typing his comment that he hadn’t realized Chloe was out of the bathroom.
“That’s sweet of you.” She reached over and closed her laptop. “But unnecessary. There isn’t a need to engage in a war of words. Nobody’s going to believe that the real Christopher Hunter is the one who typed the comment anyway.”
“I don’t like what they’re saying.”
“Remember what I said about ignoring all the media nonsense?”
“But they’re not talking about me; they’re talking about you.”
She smiled and sat on the bed. “It doesn’t matter who they’re talking about. I think you shouldn’t look at them at all. People are mean on the Internet. They think they can say whatever they want because they’re hiding behind a username. Just ignore them. You can’t please everyone.”
He took her hand and ran his thumb across her knuckles.
What Chloe said was reasonable, but he still wasn’t ready to back down.
He didn’t like seeing what those people wrote about her. The article lied, and she shouldn’t have to take the fall for what happened.
He couldn’t stand the idea of her being blamed, being put down, especially knowing what she used to go through with her parents every day.
“I’m fine.” She gave him a smile and squeezed his hand.
She always seemed to know what he was thinking without him having to voice his thoughts.
“I assure you that I don’t have any intention of reading the comments, so those words won’t hurt me in any way.” She kissed him on his cheek and went back into the bathroom to hang her towel. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask them to change the room. I’m exhausted, and the idea of having to move again was such a turn-off. And I feel bad about charging another room to Eric’s card.”
“I’m fine with it.”
They had sleepovers and fallen asleep on the same couch before. But that was him. “I can sleep on the floor if you want.”
“Don’t be silly. I always sleep at the edge of the bed. There’ll be more than three-quarters of a bed for you to toss around in.”
“I don’t toss around.”
She shrugged. “Then we’ll be all right. Do you mind if I head to bed first?”
“Go ahead.”
She got into bed, then looked up at him. “Promise you won’t think about that article or the comments anymore.”
He sighed softly, then went over and kissed her lightly on the lips. “Goodnight.”
Her brows drew closer.
“All right, I promise I’ll let that go.”
“Goodnight.” She tipped her head back and kissed him.
“Goodnight,” he mumbled before prying himself from her and entering the bathroom.
“Mr. Morgan, Miss Grant is waiting in your office.”
Jason groaned and hurried ahead.
When he opened the door, Rebecca was just settling back into her seat.
He would have to let his new secretary know that she should never allow Rebecca to wait in his office. “Hi, Rebecca, what can I do for you today? Not here for more information about Chloe’s cheating, are you?”
“I wasn’t the one behind that. I’ll never do anything to hurt Christopher’s reputation.”
He took a glance at the files on his table. There didn’t seem to be anything too important that were meant for his eyes only.
He shrugged and settled into his seat. “Then you won’t care that I’ll be making a statement to confess that I was the one who cheated, which led to our breakup.”
She arched her brow.
For once, Jason thought Rebecca looked sincerely curious. “My grandfather loves her. He’s demanding that I make that statement. I’m the idiotic grandson who cheated, so I should be the one taking the fall. That’s how he sees it anyway.”
And as selfish as he was, he did like Chloe. She had always been nice to him, and she’d always helped when he got into trouble with his grandfather.
“Good, I was going to ask you to do that anyway.”
“You really do care about Christopher, don’t you?” He leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. “Rumor has it that they’re an item now.”
Rebecca closed her eyes for a moment. “Christopher is singing again,” she said and rearranged her features into a polite smile.
“He is?”
She took out her phone, tapped on the screen several times, then slid the phone toward him.
“What’s this?”
“Eric Staton’s proposal.”
He sighed softly as he saw the way Christopher was looking at Chloe, and most important, how Chloe was looking at him.
He got together with Chloe because he knew how fond his grandfather was of her, and she had been a great girlfriend. She wasn’t clingy, she didn’t check on his movements, and she was fine if he forgot about their anniversary.
Besides, she had always been there for him, and he’d grown rather fond of her as well.
His thoughts returned to the video when Christopher started singing.
“He has the voice of an angel,” Rebecca said.
He rolled his eyes and straightened. “So you want me to promote his next album.”
“Song. I need you to express your interest to the record company.”
“I see. They want to drop him, but you’re making sure that it doesn’t happen.”
She picked up her bag. “I hope you’ll make your interest known to the record label as soon as possible.”
“I’ll make the call now.” He would do whatever he had to just so he could get her to leave, but he had something to add. “Leave Chloe out of whatever you’re planning.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I don’t know what you’re up to, but don’t pull Chloe into your mess.”
A corner of Rebecca’s eye twitched. “What makes you think you’re in the position to speak to me like this?”
Jason exhaled silently through his nose and displayed his most pretentious smile. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“That’s better.” Rebecca grabbed her bag and stood. “Not for now.”
“Wow, is this real?” Chloe ran her hand across the cover of her new passport. Her overnight courier hadn’t even arrived, and Kelly already managed to get her passport.
Chloe looked up at the middle-aged woman. Kelly’s dark brown hair was tied back in a low ponytail. The collars of her white shirt rested neatly over her black well-fitted blazer.