Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 128260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
“I’m gonna save you from yourself here, buttercup.” I laughed. “You can stop now.”
Her eyes flew to mine and her cheeks flushed. We stared at each other in silence for several beats before she finally whispered, “I missed that. That nickname.”
“Yeah,” I breathed. “Me too.”
Her eyes softened. “Why do you call me buttercup, Carson?” she asked quietly.
I breathed out a smile. “Where’d I leave off?” I asked.
Her lips parted slightly, and she shifted her eyes to the side, away from me. Her fingers fluttered in the air momentarily as though she was looking for something to do with her hand. “Something about satiny skin from what I remember.” She reached for her beer, taking a quick sip.
What else do you remember, Grace? Do you re-live it in your head like I do? “Ah,” I said. “Right. Hmm.” I gave her a small smile. “Well, maybe it’s because you’re as pretty as a flower.”
She stared at me for a couple beats, opened her mouth as if to say something and then closed it again, grimacing slightly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be doing this…flirting this way. Carson, I’m engaged.”
I took a sip of my beer. “Yeah, Grace, I know that,” I said as I set it down.
She searched my face and then shook her head and looked down again. “I’m sorry, that sounded…bitchy or something. I didn’t mean to imply that you—”
“Grace,” I interrupted, “it’s okay. Really. I got you, all right? Let’s talk about something else. I’m having a good time with you.”
She nodded, but still looked troubled. “Okay, thank you.”
I took another big, sloppy bite of my hot dog, keeping eye contact as I did it. I was rewarded with a laugh before she too took a messy bite.
We finished our food and the waiter cleared the table. We chatted about living in Vegas for a few minutes as we each finished our beers. When the waiter delivered our bill, I paid and we started to put on our coats.
“This was fun,” Grace said.
“Yeah, it was. I’ve wondered for a lot of years how you were doing and it’s great to see you so happy.”
“I am,” she said. “And same here. It’s great to see you doing so well, looking so…well.”
Our gazes lingered on each other, but then she moved, breaking the spell.
“Do you want to walk past the Bellagio fountain?” I asked her as we exited the restaurant. “For old time’s sake?”
She gave a soft laugh. “Why not? I haven’t been there since…well, you know, since you.” She glanced up at me, her smile fading. We walked in silence for a few minutes before she said, “So, Carson, can I ask you something?”
“Of course,” I said, as we started across the street.
“It’s sort of personal.”
We were sort of personal…once. “Go for it,” I said.
“Did you do that film that you were scheduled to do the morning after you left Vegas?” she asked quietly.
That film. The one with Bambi/Rose. The one I’d bolted from. I glanced at her, and she lowered her eyes but kept looking straight ahead. I hesitated in answering as we made it past a small group of people, and then I took her hand and pulled her to an empty spot at the edge of the stone railing looking out to the lake at the Bellagio.
When we stopped, she pulled her hand back and waited for me to answer. “I showed up,” I said.
Her eyes darted away from mine but when I continued with, “But I didn’t follow through with the shoot. I left and I didn’t go back,” her eyes returned to my face and I thought I saw her shoulders relax.
“Oh,” she said. She let out a little huff of breath. “Is it wrong that that makes me glad?”
“For me or for you?”
“Both,” she said without hesitating.
I regarded her for a moment. “Did the thought of it cast a shadow over our weekend?” I asked.
She looked away, appearing to really consider that. “I hated the idea of you with someone else so soon after you’d been with me. But… did it cast a shadow over the weekend?” She shook her head. “No. No, I didn’t let it do that. That weekend was so special to me. I wouldn’t let anything cast a shadow over it.”
My heart gave a hard thump. “Thank you for that honesty. That weekend was so special to me too.” We didn’t break eye contact. God, I wanted to kiss her so badly.
She switched from one foot to the other, looking down and then peeking up at me. “I looked up your films,” she admitted after a moment.
I froze. What. The. Fuck?
She brought her hands up to her cheeks. “I’m sorry. That was highly inappropriate to say… I—”
“Why did you look up my films, Grace?” I hated knowing that she had seen those. I hated thinking of her sitting at her computer watching me fuck other women. It made me sick. I looked away, out to the water. “Goddamn, Grace, why’d you do that?” I muttered.