Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 164705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
His brows shot up. “You mean like you and me?”
“I mean like your parents.”
“Right.” He ran his tongue along his upper teeth, settling into his chair. “And why can’t this marriage happen?”
I set the toast down, watching butter pool on my plate. “Because I have a life, friends, and a career – and they all happen to be in SoCal. And you have to stay here.”
“Welcome to the jet-setting life, baby.” He spread his arms wide. “You even have a private plane all to yourself.”
“I don’t want to fly in a private plane for ethical reasons, remember?”
“I do. All too well.” He pushed his plate in, huffing out an exaggerated sigh. “Why couldn’t I fall in love with someone like the Townsend sisters, who would single-handedly burn down an entire rainforest if it helped them plow their way into a designer sale?”
“They’d replant the trees,” I tried to protest, shocked by how much I’d grown to like them.
What’s another two people to miss?
He sent me a be-for-real look. “You can fly commercial.”
I shook my head. “We film weeks at a time, and it’s a hectic schedule. Often twenty-hour days.”
“That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen. I’ll help you file it. We’ll ride off into the sunset with the settlement, and you can use it to launch your own production company. Here. In Potomac. Next to me.”
“I’m not suing my employers, Oliver. And I’m not doing anything that will blacklist me from Hollywood forever.” I planted my elbows on the table. “This is my dream.”
A tiny, traitorous tear leaked out, crawling down my cheek. I swiped it away before he noticed. There would be no signs of weakness. No crack he could pry open to convince me to stay. For once, I needed to choose myself.
Ollie didn’t budge. “We can make it work.”
“If you’re not in LA, it’ll turn into a long-distance relationship.”
He waved a dismissive hand. “We’ll do long-distance, then.”
“Yeah.” I snorted. “That turned out so well last time, right?”
Oliver conceded with a nod. “Fine. Good point. I don’t want to be away from you anymore, too.” He emphasized too, yanking his plate back and slicing into his Canadian bacon. “I did it for fifteen years, and it was torture. I’ll move to Los Angeles with you, then.”
He rubbed his heart as if he was butthurt that I hadn’t extended the invite first. Except, my gut – and every brain cell that hadn’t died from the concussion – warned me that moving to SoCal together would only end in heartbreak. He didn’t have it in him to abandon his family. I would never ask him to.
“Oliver.” I met his eyes, tearing the toast in half and dunking it into egg yolk. “You can’t move. You have Seb.”
“He’ll come with us,” he blurted, clearly not thinking.
Sebastian would never agree to that. He wouldn’t even leave his wing, especially not after the fiasco at the surgeon’s office. In the days since, he’d banned visitors (including me), stopped rowing (even at night), and accepted his groceries through a cart (wheeled to the deck by Usain Colt and roped up to the balcony through a levy system).
I rose, striding over to him. “No, he won’t.”
We both knew this as an indisputable fact.
His neck corded with strained muscles, as if he could physically hold on to this relationship. “You’re seriously ending this?”
“It’s always been a game of who will blink first.” I let him yank me onto his lap and tipped his chin up, forcing him to meet my eyes. “Me. I’m blinking first. This is over, Oliver.”
“Wait.” He silenced me with a finger to my lips. “I lost you once because of Sebastian. I love my brother, but not enough to lose you again. You come first. No matter the outcome. It’s you, Briar. Not him.”
“This is bigger than us.” His finger muffled my words. I clasped his wrist, removing it from my face. “I have my own conscience to think about. I can’t let you desert him. And in a month of living in Los Angeles, you’ll realize the same thing. There’s no point in delaying the inevitable.”
“We can make this work.”
“We can’t.” I cupped his cheek, savoring the feel of his skin beneath mine. I’d miss touching him the most. “Because I know what your biggest secret is.”
“Yeah. Seb.” He pressed the back of his hand to my forehead, checking for a fever or any signs of lingering concussion damage. “I know you know.”
“No, Oliver.” I swatted his hand away, guiding it to my waist. “That’s not it. Your biggest secret is that you’re more beautiful inside than you are outside. And you are really freaking beautiful outside.”
“All the more reason to stay.”
“No.” I pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose, unable to stop myself. “Because the Oliver I know would never abandon his family. I wouldn’t fall in love with someone who would.”