Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 70551 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70551 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
He’s leaving.
Today.
Not in a week.
Christian crosses to me and grips my shoulders before tipping his forehead to mine. “I’m so sorry, Jenna.”
“Hey, it’s your mom. Of course, you have to go.”
His face is covered in torment, so I wrap my arms around him and hug him tightly, trying to reassure him.
“She’s going to be okay.”
He presses his lips to my ear. “Are you going to be okay?”
“Of course.” I pull back and give him my best, bright smile because if I do anything else, I’ll break down into tears, and no one wants that. “I’m always okay, remember?”
“You’d better go pack,” Nina says.
Christian kisses me softly, then pulls away and hurries out the door, shutting it behind him.
“Did you really try to text him?” I ask, not turning around to look at Nina. I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something about all of this that I just don’t trust.
“Of course, not,” she says. “I hopped on the plane and came straight here to get him.”
“Why?”
I turn now and find her sitting on the couch, her legs crossed and arm resting along the back of the sofa.
“Because I wanted the opportunity to have a little girl-to-girl chat with you.”
I sit across from her. “Well, here we are.”
She smiles. Nina is a beautiful woman with dark features, light blue eyes, and a slender figure. Her smile is sweet, showing off a dimple in her right cheek.
But her eyes are shrewd.
“It seems that you and my brother have started a little romance,” she begins and looks down at her nails. “And don’t get me wrong, I’m as much of a romantic as the next girl. I think it’s sweet. But it can’t last.”
I don’t even move a muscle in my face. I won’t let her see anything that I’m thinking. I refuse to give her that.
“You don’t know him,” she continues, “you only know what you’ve seen over the past few weeks. But you don’t know what it’s really like to be attached to Christian. He’s bigger than life itself. His life is demanding, grueling. And he doesn’t have time to give to any kind of long-term relationship. Why do you think he’s never done it before? Because, trust me, there have been opportunities.”
“Maybe his sister sabotaged it.” I tilt my head to the side, considering her. “And is sabotaging it now.”
She narrows her eyes. “I love my brother very much, and I know what’s best for him, and it’s not some little snow bunny in BFE. What, did you think you’d get married and have a whole flock of babies?”
She laughs humorlessly and tucks her hair back again.
“Not gonna happen, sweetie. So, here’s what I suggest. You just file this all away in your memories from that time you got to roll around in bed with the hot guy you used to cut out of Teen Beat as a kid, and you move on with your life. Trust me, as soon as we get on that plane headed back to L.A., Christian will forget all about this and you. He did what he came here to do: learn to ski and fuck a willing girl.”
I blink rapidly, letting that settle in. Jesus, Nina is a first-class, grade-A bitch. I’m protective of my brothers, but even I wouldn’t take it this far.
However, she’s also not completely wrong. My life is completely different from Christian’s, and I never truly believed that we could mesh our worlds together.
I hoped, but we never talked about it, not really. There was wishful thinking because we were in our bubble together.
We just enjoyed the days we had together, and I expected to have a few more of them.
It’s just getting cut short, that’s all.
And, oh my, how it hurts.
“What it boils down to,” Nina continues, “is that Christian is a full-time job for everyone around him. You’re a businesswoman, Jenna. If you come to L.A. with him, you’ll have to give up a lot of your life here. Because you know he’s not going to give up his career for you. He simply can’t.”
Christian walks into the unit, and Nina immediately stands, smiling at him.
“I’ll meet you down at the car. We have to leave as soon as possible. Bye, Jenna.”
She leaves, shutting the door behind her, and Christian crosses to me, squats before me, and cups my face.
“I hate that I’m leaving, but we can make this work. You can come down to L.A. right after Christmas. I have to do a premiere appearance, and I’d love to take you as my date. I’ll have dresses brought in and—”
“No,” I interrupt him and kiss his palm, then pull it from my face. “Christian, I won’t be coming to L.A. We never talked about the future, and I always knew that we just had these few weeks together.”