“What a dick,” I blurted before I could help it.
But John laughed. The sound was a balm to my sore heart.
I looked at my boots. “The whole book deal thing…” I shook my head, drawing my shoulders up.
“I made the wrong choices. I thought I needed to show him. But you...” He reached for my hand, his fingertips brushing mine, pulling me closer. “You woke me up. And I regret nothing more in life than having hurt you.”
I sniffed, wiping away a tear. I wouldn’t cry.
“You’re the Kathleen Kelly to my Joe Fox.”
Well, fuck, I thought. And then I cried.
“But I’ll leave you alone if that’s what you want.” He was so close now I could smell his cologne, and it was doing bad, dangerous things to my head. Unfair things. “Just say the words. And I’ll go.”
Curiosity won out. “What happens to the book now?”
He looked over my shoulder. “They didn’t tell you?”
I turned, and Jeremy gave me a small wave. “May and I signed the deal. John dropped out.”
I opened my mouth, but John’s words interrupted. “I have it on good authority that Haller & Mark have a proposition for you, too. If you want it.”
My mind spun. “I don’t know what I want. I don’t even know if this was the right thing for me from the start. But... I can’t...” I shook my head. “I can’t get your stupid face out of my stupid head. I can’t let go of you. Trust me I tried.” My voice cracked on the last words, and I surprised myself.
“Then don’t.” His eyes were unguarded now. Soft. Open. Waiting. “Please, don’t.”
The carefully constructed lies I had built crumbled. The carefully spoken affirmations turned to dust. I swallowed a lump in my throat. Let myself breathe. Maybe...
“I don’t want to hear any more lies. Just truths. Or I will cut off your balls.”
Someone choked on a laugh. I think it was Otis.
John’s face broke into a wavering grin. He raised a hand to my temple, gently tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear.
“What would you have said if I’d picked up one of your calls?”
I let him step closer, allowing my body to naturally drift into the space that smelled like him.
“That I love you, Nora. I tried so hard not to. But ever since I saw you flip that vampire off at comic con, I knew it was a lost cause. I tried to call off the bet, tried to tell you, but I was too late.” He brushed his thumb over my jaw. “And I would have told you that you make me furious, but when we’re together, I feel like I’m alive.”
I let myself fall into the depths of his eyes. “I love you too, you idiot.”
He let out a relieved laugh. Just then, I caught sight of something I hadn’t seen before—ink sprawling across his forearm. A bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils fromYou’ve Got Mail.
I gasped in excitement, shaking my head. “Welcome to the rebel club.”
The smile he gave me made my knees weak.
“So, what’s this book of yours about?” I asked into the space between us.
John bit back a sly grin. “It’s our story.”
The room seemed to blur as I asked, “Does it have a happy ending?”
He tugged my hair behind my ear. I let him. “I guess we get to decide that.”
This man. A born romance writer. It should be gross. Yet, it wasn’t.
