CHAPTER ONE
There was only one reason Collin Donovan would attend a fairy-tale ball. It had nothing to do with the fact that his boss, Maddux Wilder, and his siblings were hosting the lavish affair for their charity, Wilder Way, and everything to do with the evening’s entertainment, which had Collin completely riveted.
Raevynn Walsh, a stunningly gorgeous pop star, was currently up on the large stage in the ballroom, captivating guests with her angelic voice. Sitting on a wooden swing decorated in vines and flowers, she was dressed in a flowing, crystal-studded lilac gown that swirled around her as she seemingly floated through the air, while her beautiful, long blonde hair fell all the way down her back in soft waves. She was currently singing one of her most popular ballads, “Wishing For You,” and as Collin listened to the emotional lyrics, a part of him wanted to believe that she’d written that song for him. For them. For their short-lived romance that had ended in a painful heartbreak he’d never meant to inflict upon her. But at the time, he’d had very little choice.
While other guests mingled and enjoyed the night’s fairy-tale festivities, Collin stood off to the side of the stage in the shadows, watching her and remembering . . . everything. She’d literally been the sweet, wholesome girl next door to the house he’d grown up in and his younger sister’s best friend through elementary, middle, and high school until their junior year, when Raevynn had been cast on the singing competition show Encore, which had then changed her entire life once she’d won over all the other contestants.
Seven years had passed since that fateful day he’d broken her heart, and his own. In that time, she’d become a famous, successful songstress who’d collected dozens of Grammys, American Music Awards, and Billboard Music Awards—as a performer and as a writer. Collin was so damn proud of Raevynn, and despite the passage of time, he’d never stopped thinking about her and the regrets he harbored for the way he’d ended things between them. For not telling her the truth and instead letting her believe the worst.
“Enjoying the show?”
Startled out of his memories, Collin glanced at Tempest Wilder, the woman now standing beside him, who was dressed in a stunning red gown for the ball. She wore an amused smile as she stared at him, and he shifted on his feet, a bit embarrassed at being caught so engrossed in Raevynn and her song.
“Yes,” he replied, summoning a reciprocating smile for his boss’s sister before glancing back toward the stage. “Very much.”
Tempest followed his gaze back to Raevynn. “She’s pretty amazing, isn’t she?”
“She’s incredible,” he agreed, and took a sip from the bourbon in the glass he was holding, allowing himself to relax. “She’s come a long way.”
“You’re either a superfan . . . or you know her?” Tempest asked curiously.
He hesitated a moment before replying. “I knew her,” he said, keeping his reply past tense because, after seven years, there was so much about her life he didn’t know except for what was public knowledge. “We went to high school together. We dated . . . until she was cast on that singing show, Encore, and moved on to bigger and better things. But this is everything Rae has ever wanted and deserves, so I’m happy for her.”
“She’s a phenomenal singer, but I have to admit that I have total hair envy,” Tempest joked of Raevynn’s long and silky blonde locks that even Collin’s own sister had once wished for. “She has every girl’s dream hair.”
He chuckled as fond recollections flashed through his mind. “Yeah, I used to tease her and call her Rapunzel. When we were dating, I’d go over to her house late at night and call up to her second-story bedroom window and jokingly shout out, ‘Rapunzel, let down your hair.’” Even now, she reminded him of that fairy-tale princess. And growing up, it was as though her mother had tried to keep her locked up in an ivory tower, keeping Raevynn as untouchable as possible, which had forced the two of them to keep their romantic relationship quiet, private, and under the radar.
Tempest laughed. “Is that how you snuck into her bedroom?”
“No.” His mouth curved with humor at the thought. “That would have been a helluva lot of hair pulling.”
“You never know,” Tempest said with a teasing shrug. “Some girls like that kind of thing.”
He shook his head, his smile dissipating. “She was young. We were both young,” he added, since they’d been seventeen and eighteen respectively. “And unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time together to figure those things out.”
They’d only had sex once. After months of secretively making out and fooling around and Collin doing his best to keep Raevynn’s virginity intact, one afternoon, believing they had hours all to themselves, his sweet girl had begged him to make her his in every way. Her words had been so explicit they still had the ability to make him hard when he recalled that moment. Fuck me, Collin. Please. And unable to resist her, and wanting that just as much, he’d taken Raevynn’s innocence . . . burying himself so deep inside her tight body he knew he’d never be the same without her in his life always. That day, he’d fallen so deeply, irrevocably in love with Raevynn Walsh but never had the chance to tell her before they’d been torn apart.
And the truth was, no matter how many women he’d dated over the years to try and forget Rae, his heart still belonged to her. His g
reatest fear was that it always would and he’d never be able to move on with his life, as she’d seemingly done with hers. Not just her singing career that had her touring all over the world but the fact that she’d moved on from Collin with a three-year relationship with up-and-coming country singer Zane Bishop. The two of them might have broken up just a few months ago, but knowing that another man had touched what Collin still wanted to be his had ignited all kinds of jealousy inside him.