Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 145634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 728(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 728(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
That’s all it takes for me to reach across the seat and wrap her in my arms. Everything feels right again when she holds me back. Her cheek rests against my shoulder as I whisper to her, “I’ve made so many mistakes, but pushing you away was my greatest sin.”
I kiss her hair, her forehead, every inch of her that I can without letting her go.
“I love you, Hally, I always have. And I’ll tell you every day.” I run my hand over the back of my neck and throw my head back to mutter, “Twenty fucking times a day,” before looking back into her beautiful blue eyes. “Whatever it takes for you to believe it.”
She stares back at me without saying a word, just watching me spill every bit of truth to her that I have.
I whisper my greatest insecurity, “I can’t lose you again.”
Hally’s hesitation kills me, every second making me exceedingly more nervous that this is the end.
“I don’t think I’m cut out for this world,” she tells me. “I don’t want to risk my heart with you again. Not if it’s just going to be shattered.”
“Then we don’t go back,” I tell her quickly. Problem solved.
She stares at me with disbelief.
“We can go anywhere and do anything, Hally. You name it, and it’s yours.” It’s really that easy for me. I’ll live to make her happy. To keep her with me until the day we die.
“You really love me?” Hally asks me and I hate that she questions it.
“Of course I do. I mean it when I say I always have,” I tell her, pushing the hair from her face. “I love you, Hally. I’ll spend every day proving it to you if I have to.”
The tips of her fingers glide down my forearm as she looks me in the eyes and says, “I love you, too.” I already knew she did. What I don’t know though, is if it’s enough. If I’m enough.
“I just want you.” The words are raw and full of nothing but the truth. “Don’t leave me,” I beg her again.
She closes her eyes and rests her head on my shoulder. “I promise I won’t if you won’t,” she whispers.
“Then you’re mine forever.”
CHAPTER 24
Harlow
“Don’t forget to smile,” Nancy whispers as I prepare to head out of St. Gerard and back to normal life. Semi normal. As normal as it will ever be, I suppose.
All the footage is workable and unless Stevens calls us in for some extra shots, we should be able to take a nine-month break. At which point, we’ll either have a season two or not. I think I’ll be fine either way, but this isn’t something I can see myself doing all the time. I think being an extra or taking on small roles is way more my thing. It’s hard enough being attached to Nathan, the heartthrob of the big screen. I chuckle at my inward thought.
They can say whatever they want about him, but he’s mine. All mine, and I’m never giving him up.
“How could she not?” Nathan answers her, startling me and slinging one of my duffle bags over his shoulder.
“They could get those for you,” Nancy suggests, her eyes wide as she realizes Nathan’s carrying all of my bags and dragging his own suitcase behind him.
Nathan shrugs and says, “I’ve got them.”
“Remember you have the Casitas tonight; it’ll be a private interview in the back dining room,” Nancy says as we all walk out of the doors of St. Gerard. The bellman holds the door wide open and the warmth of summer along with the sounds of the hectic city streets hit us both at once.
“Is that for Hally alone, or …?”
“Both of you, of course. It’ll be extremely important to mention each other from here on out to help promote the show,” Nancy answers him and then licks her lips.
“Easy enough,” Nathan replies and then nods to someone I don’t see, slipping the bag off his shoulder and letting it sit on the cement.
“If anything changes,” Nancy starts to say as Nathan wraps his heavy arm around my shoulder, “If you two get into a ...” Nancy continues, but she doesn’t finish her uncomfortable sentence.
“It’s not going to happen,” Nathan says easily. There’s so much confidence in his voice and it echoes exactly what I feel. There’s nothing in this world that will tear me from him again.
A soft smile pulls at my lips as he looks down at me and then plants a small kiss on my nose.
A flash goes off behind me, and it makes me jump. I turn but don’t see anyone at all. It’s not until Nathan chuckles that I realize he must’ve set something up.
“Are you planting that one?” Nancy asks Nathan beneath her breath, a mischievous look on her face, but also something else—admiration, maybe?