Before the Sunset (Cottonwood Cove, #4)

by Laura Pavlov

My chest squeezed because the thought of her hurting, and me not being there, didn’t sit well with me. She’d always been my ride or die. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.

“You needed me,” I said, kissing the top of her head. “We made a deal years ago. I wasn’t about to break it now.” She tipped her head back to look at me. “You call. I come. And vice versa.”

I stroked her hair. Damn, it was good to see her. Reese was my girl in every sense of the word—minus the sex. She was the one I shared everything with and who I trusted with my deepest secrets. My best friend and my favorite person.

She smelled like violet and amber. It had always been my favorite scent. Reese Murphy had always smelled like home.

“Never. You’ve always been my girl. A little fake dating isn’t going to change that. I’m a professional actor, for God’s sake. Carl’s going to lose his shit when he sees me with my woman. You’re mine now,”

For a moment, I wondered what it would be like if she didn’t go back to Carl. And she stayed here with me. Forever.

Because for the first time in my life, I realized I wanted a woman who didn’t want me back.

I don’t fucking leave, Miney. I’m not the one trying to make you into someone you’re not. I’ve always known who you are.”

I wasn’t sure how I’d gotten so lucky to call Finn Reynolds my best friend. But there’d never been a day that I hadn’t known how lucky I was. Because even when I felt lost… he always felt like home.

Rule number two was already broken.

And I planned on breaking rule number one by the end of the week. I’d never cared much for rules.