Excepting his brothers and Avery and his sisters, Grayson Hawthorne had never allowed himself to get close to anyone. He couldn’t afford another Eve or another Emily.

Do not associate. Be cold. You have the power. Family first. This was his mindset before, well, you.

He tried to push you away, he really did. But maybe his heart wasn’t fully in it or you were just freakishly stubborn, because he was not able to remove you from his life.

You were Avery’s friend Max’s friend, and you’d moved into Hawthorne House when Max did, since you were crashing at her place when she got kicked out. Since you’d got kicked out. It was a whole mess, but since Hawthorne House was enormous, Avery allowed you to stay. Because what else would she do? Leave you on the streets? Avery was much too nice for that.

When you first moved in, Grayson had kind of wished that she was less nice.

You’d taken quite an interest in Grayson. He was mysterious, icy, rich, hot, just your type. A tendency to like men who didn’t show interest in you.

Grayson had grown closer to you, over like, three years. And as Max liked to say, you’d bagged him.

He couldn’t imagine life without you now.

“Which one looks better? White or black?” You hold up a white dress in one hand and a black in the other. Grayson couldn’t focus. He was just fixated on the white dress in your left hand and wondering what you’d look like in a white dress. Then he shakes out of it. He shouldn’t be thinking about this. He didn’t even know if you wanted to marry him.

“Black,” he tells her decidedly. “Definitely.”