“All right, you ready to meet her?”

“Dad! Come on! Let’s go!”

I smiled at Knox and Harlow as they slipped out of the door, and then just stood there, frozen as I watched my wife holding our new daughter, singing softly to her.

I didn’t need to be able to hear the words to know what she was singing, because it was a song I knew well. It was ours.

There were those damn emotions again.

And there was that word. Love.

Yeah . . . used it all the time now.

I cleared my throat and kept my hands on Keith’s shoulders to keep him from jumping onto the bed like I knew he wanted to as we walked closer, and then I helped him climb up next to Charlie and Brianna.

“Hi, Storm!” Keith whispered as he leaned over to get a look at his new sister.

My brow pinched, and I looked up at Charlie just in time to see her force back a laugh.

“Storm? Is that who she is?” I asked as I sat down by Charlie’s feet.

Keith looked like he was studying Brianna really hard for a minute, then he nodded. “Yeah, don’t you think so?” Without waiting for my reply, he dove right into a hushed, one-sided conversation about ladybugs and how they could steal your powers from you if you weren’t careful. “But I know how to keep them away,” he whispered, as if he were telling her a secret.

“I was wrong,” I said low enough that I wouldn’t interrupt Keith, and looked into Charlie’s eyes as she let her soft voice trail off. “I would lose sleep for the rest of my life to listen to this. To look at this. The three of you together. Our son talking to our daughter. You singing our song. All of it.”

Charlie’s face softened; her head shook slowly as her mouth curved up into a smile. “There you go sweeping me off my feet again, Stranger.”

Author’s Note

LISTEN TO CHARLIE & Deacon’s song—“With My Eyes Closed,” by Chelsea Stepp—on my website: mollysmcadams/show-me-how

Check out Chelsea’s website: chelseastepp

Acknowledgments

THE BIGGEST THANK-YOU to Chelsea Stepp for allowing me to use her lyrics! I love her, and I absolutely love this song. As if that wasn’t already obvious. Go check her out on iTunes, Spotify, or Google Play!

As always, thank you to my husband for helping me with so many things while I dive into my characters’ lives. I love you so, so much!

Amy, thank you for being there every step of the way for this story! I honestly don’t know if I wouldn’t have been able to finish it if it weren’t for you. Love you!

My Sef, thank you for always being there for me through everything, and thank you for not only introducing me to Chelsea Stepp, but for the amazing conversation that led to so many great things in this story! I love you!

Kevan, thank you for everything you do for me! You’re such a rock star, I don’t know what I would do without you.

Tessa, I just adore you. But I’m pretty sure after nearly four years you know that by now. A huge thank you for helping me trash that one story we do not speak of so that this one was possible!

Don’t miss Molly’s next novel!

I SEE YOU

Coming November 2016!

Read on for a sneak peek . . .

Preorder it here!

Part I

That Night . . .

MY EYES FOUND his again, as they had often in the two hours I had been here, and I curled my fingers against the back of his neck. Urging, pleading for him to take me away from the crowd of people. Somewhere I could study him and listen to him speak, and not worry about what his touches and teasing mouth were about to make me do.

His full lips made a pass across the line of my jaw until they were at my ear, and his arms tightened around me as he said, “Let’s go.”

Turning me so he could pull me close to his side, he led us through the packed house and up two flights of stairs. His eyes kept darting down to mine as we walked, but he didn’t say a word as we made our way to a locked door and he took out a key. I hadn’t taken him for a frat guy, but I wasn’t going to question him.

Because I didn’t want to know. I wanted tonight with him . . . I didn’t want his life.

Or, at least, that was what I was trying to remind myself.

The energy and awareness that swirled between us made it hard to remember what this night was for. Made it hard to remember that it could only be one night.

I’d seen him immediately upon entering the house earlier with three of my closest friends. We came up to Duke because we’d heard about this house’s parties, and we were looking for a night to be the girls we usually weren’t before our senior years began.

For one night, we didn’t want to be the good girls everyone knew us to be. For one night, we wanted to let loose, and not have to worry about the consequences tomorrow. Everything we’d avoided the past three years, which was why a party at Duke was so perfect. And I’d found the guy I wanted to remember for years to come.

His presence had filled the room packed with people even though he’d been in the far corner when we walked in, watching the crowd silently by himself. He didn’t seem to be looking for anyone—just watching. Studying. Everything about him screamed trouble. The way he stood: tall with hard, lean muscles, and sure of himself. The look on his face, a calm so unnerving, it was like the calm before the storm. All of it paired with dark, sinful eyes that kept finding me until I finally found myself pressed close to him as we danced to the music that poured through the house.

A gasp tore from my chest when we entered the room and the guy quickly pushed me up against the now-closed door. But all coherent thoughts left me when my back settled against the door and I looked up into dark eyes.

He placed his hands on either side of my head and leaned forward until his mouth was at my ear. “Tell me what you want.”

My lips parted with a quick exhale even though I tried to keep my composure. But his voice . . . his voice. It fit. The image, the eyes . . . it all fit. Now that we weren’t in the middle of a sea of loud people and music that made it nearly impossible to hear anything, I could appreciate the sound of it. It was deep and hoarse. And in those few words, I knew that the sound of his voice would haunt my mind for years to come.

1

One Year Ago

Aurora