Dropping The Ball - A New Year’s Billionaire Romance - Weston Parker Page 0,87

will be bursting at the seams by the time you’re done.”

My brother made a gagging sound, but Jules just laughed again and gave them a shrug. “What? It’s true. You didn’t see him in my office that day, and this is a thousand times more impressive. Let’s go, sunshine. I ain’t got all day.”

I heard Carter’s deep, smooth voice rumbling through the space between us. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Instead of shielding my eyes again so I could look at him and pour my heart out right from this stage, I gave them the performance they all wanted to see. It was their way of showing me that they supported me, that they were checking in on me and were here for me, and I wanted to show them that I still deserved that support. I still had this in me, even if I was still a little scared of falling flat on my face again.

When I got to “I’m Not That Girl,” I remembered singing it to Carter in bed that night. I remembered how I’d felt and how worried I’d been. I also remembered thinking that sometimes, no one would really mourn the wicked.

Maybe it was selfish of me—wicked even—but now I couldn’t help wondering if perhaps I was that girl. If what Billy had been saying was true—and I had no reason to doubt him—Carter had been mourning for me and for us just as much as I had been.

If I was really lucky, maybe I could be that girl for him. Just for him. Forever.

“Hands touch, eyes meet.” I started the iconic song, my eyes on the spot where I’d seen him just a minute before. The lights were in my eyes again, but I knew he would still be there. “Sudden silence, sudden heat. Hearts leap in a giddy whirl. He could be that boy. But I’m not that girl.”

“Don’t dream too far,” I went on, a pang in my heart when I thought back to how firmly I’d believed these words when I’d sung them to him the first time. “Don’t dream too far. Don’t lose sight of who you are. Don’t remember that rush of joy. He could be that boy. I’m not that girl.”

I didn’t think I’d ever be able to forget the rush of joy when he’d first kissed me back, though. When he’d first looked at me like I was the only person he could see.

A montage of memories of us, from now and from then, played through my mind while I finished the song. By the time I sang the last note, my eyes were wet but my heart was happy.

Carter and I could survive this, and we would. If not even a decade apart could keep us from being nothing to each other, this wouldn’t do it either.

When I got to the last song of the first act, “Defying Gravity,” I was all in. My doubts, worries, and fears weren’t forgotten, but I wouldn’t let them hold me back anymore.

I sang the words straight at him, even though I still couldn’t see him. “Something has changed within me. Something is not the same. I’m through with playing by the rules of someone else’s game. Too late for second-guessing. Too late to go back to sleep. It’s time to trust my instincts. Close my eyes and leap!”

“It’s time to try defying gravity. I think I’ll try defying gravity.”

That’s enough. I needed to sort this thing between us out now. No more waiting. I thought back to the promise we’d made one another so many nights ago.

After setting the microphone back in its stand at the end of the song, I made a run for the stairs at the side of the stage. I’d hardly reached them when strong arms enveloped me.

My eyes were still blinded by the lights but I didn’t need to see him to know it was Carter. My body knew his so well I could pick him while blindfolded, drunk, and even if a hundred others were wearing his cologne.

I wrapped myself around him, twining my fingers into his hair and almost cheering when he lifted me up, holding me like I was the most precious thing in the world to him. My breath caught before I could say anything, and I decided to bury my face in the crook of his neck for just a little while longer.

Billy and Jules cheered so loudly that I doubted he’d have been able to hear me anyway. When their