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“Get in the car, Stella.” I got in the car.
LMAO
I didn’t like people touching what was mine.
If Stella was my weakness, Vivian was his.
“We remember what this is. A fake relationship. That means no catching feelings and no falling in love with each other.”
ive read enough of these boooks to know that this is foreshadowing
“I don’t believe in love.”
dont lie
He nodded at Stella. “Stella, it was lovely meeting you. I hope to see you again soon, and with a more agreeable date.” My hand flexed around my champagne glass. Over my dead fucking body.
I gave negative fucks about his family vacation, and his kids sounded annoying as shit.
After all, I’d always been good at lying to myself.
“Maybe Stella will be the one who’ll crack your I don’t believe in love shell. It’s always the unexpected ones.”
“Kage, I need you for an assignment…yes. Overnight.” Several beats passed before he spoke again, his voice hard. “I don’t give a fuck if you’re dining with the pope or having sex with Margot fucking Robbie. I want you on the tenth floor of the Mirage in twenty minutes.”
WHTA
My jaw tightened. I was tempted. So fucking tempted. That was the problem.
She was already a weak spot for me; I couldn’t afford for that spot to grow.
When he’d called her darlin’ and she’d smiled at him, I’d come close to losing my best employee at my own hands.
If anything had happened to Stella… Ice spread through my veins. I filled my glass with a heavier than usual pour. Sat. And waited for the first text from Kage.
I disliked comforting people almost as much as I disliked having them in my personal space, but considering everything she’d gone through, I could bend my rules this one time.
The sooner we find him, the sooner we can put the bastard behind bars.” Or six feet in the ground. “Trust me.” I rested a reassuring hand on her back even as my muscles coiled at the thought of anyone threatening her. “I won’t let anything happen to you.” Not even if I had to take a bullet myself.
“I can take care of myself, but your concern is duly noted.” My words lengthened into a drawl. “I didn’t realize you cared that much about my safety.” “I don’t care. I mean, I do, but I…you know what I mean.” “I’m not sure I do.” I held back a laugh at her adorable growl of frustration. “You’re insufferable.” “I’ve been called worse.”
The question was simple: Who would you rather cuddle with? Mr. Harper or Mr. Unicorn? “You’re losing, by the way,” Stella said. “Mr. Unicorn is beating you 53 to 47 percent.” I stared at her, sure I was hearing wrong and that she didn’t have the fucking audacity to pit me against a raggedy stuffed animal with a crooked eye in some absurd social media poll. I was also sure I couldn’t be losing to said stuffed animal.
IM WHEEZING
“I am not wilting. I am merely…hibernating.”
I wanted him, but I didn’t want to date him (or anyone else).
A caustic laugh singed my throat. Fate was a fucking bitch.
I bit out a low curse before I caved and fisted my cock. It was hard and swollen and already dripping pre-cum, and my movements were rough, almost angry as I worked myself toward a much-needed release.
Thou shalt not kill…unless your fake boyfriend was trying to crash a dinner with your overbearing family.
Besides, what I said was true. Even though you piss me off sometimes”—my mouth curved at her uncharacteristic but adorable use of the term piss me off—“you’re a good person beneath it all.”
“Get some rest. We have a long flight tomorrow,” he said. “And, Stella? Leave the unicorn.” “I wasn’t planning on taking him,” I grumbled at Christian’s departing back. After he left, I set Mr. Unicorn back on his perch near my bed. “We’ll visit Hawaii together another time,” I told him regretfully.
Part of me expected him to evade the request as usual, but to my surprise, he answered readily. “I don’t like dessert.” A horrified gasp rose in my throat. “All dessert?” “All dessert,” he confirmed. “Why?” “I don’t have a sweet tooth.” “There are nonsweet desserts.” “Yes, and I don’t like them.” He took a calm bite of his food while I stared at him in disbelief. “I take back what I said. Your soul is definitely suspect. It’s not normal for someone not to like dessert.” I searched for a plausible explanation. “Maybe you haven’t met the right dessert yet.”
But if there was one thing both sides agreed on, it was that she was mine. And now that she was in my life, there was no letting her go.
“I would’ve let it go like the gentleman I am.” A smile worked its way onto my mouth at the way her brows formed twin arches of skepticism. “You said you weren’t a gentleman.” “I didn’t. You did.” “And I was right.” My smile morphed into a soft laugh that promised all sorts of ways I could further prove her right. “Come here, Stella.”
there so cutesy
“You’re extraordinary.”
Whether in heaven or hell, in dreams or real life, Stella was mine. And I didn’t fucking share.
“Hmm, now that you mention it, there was someone in the boat with me,” she said. “Dark hair, tanned skin, a bit older than me but really good-looking…” A smug grin crept over my lips. Stella snapped her fingers. “I remember now. It was Ricardo!”
“I felt bad about you driving us everywhere, so I offered…stop laughing.” “I would never laugh at you,” he said with a grin. “I will also never get in a car with you behind the wheel again.” “I take back what I said.” I climbed onto the back of the bike and wrapped my arms around his waist with a disgruntled frown. “You’re not sexy at all.” “It’s okay.” His shoulders shook with laughter as we pulled away from our hotel. “I’m sure I can change your mind.” “I doubt it,” I muttered, but the wind swallowed my words as we sped down the island’s tree-lined roads.
“I want to make a few things clear.” Christian’s lips brushed mine with each word. “Touch another man, he dies. Let another man touch you, he dies. Tell me I can’t touch you…” His grip tightened on the back of my neck as his voice dropped. “And I will fucking die.”
IM SCREAMINGGG
I’d meant what I said. I would give Stella anything she wanted, even if it killed me in the process.
“Jules,” Ava said patiently. “What would I do with a bathtub of diamonds at my wedding?” “Roll around it like the rich bitch you are. And I mean that in the most affectionate way.” Jules’s eyes glinted with mischief. “
EPILOGUE STELLA Four years later “Take your summer Friday off,” I told my assistant. Christy and I stopped in front of my office. “I can survive an afternoon by myself.” “Are you sure? I can—” “Yes. Go.” I shooed her away. “Enjoy the weather. It’s gorgeous outside.”
I watched, appalled, as Sofia played with Alex’s hair. “Daddy! Braids!” She twisted the strands into something that did not resemble a braid in any way, shape, or form. “Look!”
Stella sat next to me, watching our conversation with amusement. She was used to my strange friendship with Rhys. Once, she tried to call it a bromance, which I shut down immediately.
Abso-fucking-lutely not. I was not a bromance kind of guy, and neither was Rhys, who appeared unfazed by my last comment.
The scene was so cheesy and cozy that the old, pre-Stella me would’ve despised it on principle. But that was the difference between then and now. Once upon a time, I hadn’t believed in love. Now, I realized that love was the last piece that’d been missing in the puzzle of my life. With it, I was finally whole.
