Her phone pinged again. She sat up, and Jamie followed.
“I couldn’t tell you last night because I was way too stressed out, but I’ve been expecting this email from my editor, Rich,” she said. Her throat bunched like a zip tie, making her voice shake.
“That’s why I freaked out at your show. He wanted to read a draft of the article because, frankly, not many people back home take me seriously either. I think he wrote to tell me he hates it.” She gripped her temples, shook her head. “If that happens, I have no plan. I’ll be screwed.”
Jamie’s usual carefree smile grew more solemn. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, which trembled under his weight. “Whatever it is, we’ll get through it together.”
She nodded and sucked in a deep breath, then retrieved her phone from her purse. Shit, she was right. There was a new email from Rich. Her hand shook as she tapped a few more times on the screen, opening the message.
She exhaled deeply, then read aloud: “‘Great fucking work. I knew you had it in you. We’ll run a teaser article online tomorrow, before the print issue drops next Friday. With your cover story.’”
She gasped. Her heart could have blasted through her chest. “I can’t—oh my God…”
Jamie pulled her tight against his body, his warmthbringing her back to Earth. “I knew you could do it. I swear, the article was perfect.”
“You read it?”
He nodded, grinning. “Last night. Congratulations, honey.”
She released a grateful breath. Unfortunately, there was more to Rich’s email. Still shaking, Brinton squeezed Jamie’s hand to anchor herself so she could keep reading. “‘I can’t lock this in without proof that Crawford is striking out on his own. Need something substantial for the fact-checking team ASAP. Send along with your coverage notes.’”
Somehow, Rich had found one last fucking hurdle to fling in her path. When would she ever beenough? Brinton dropped Jamie’s hand and buried her face in her own, her ragged, hot breaths dampening her palms.
“Fuck,” she croaked. “How am I supposed to do that without talking to your father? He’ll never agree. It’s impossible—this was a colossal waste of time.”
When she looked up, desperate for air, her eyes burned from the pressure of holding back tears, regret. Everything.
Inexplicably, Jamie was smiling.
“Brinton,” he breathed, his palm slowly circling her back. “The contract.”
“What?”
“This morning, my father agreed to cancel my new songwriting deal. It’ll be in writing. It’s proof.”
She grasped his shoulders. “What?” she exclaimed again.
“I got a copy at my place. You can send it to your editor,” he explained, sincerity emanating from his body like a shimmering aura. “Bee,you did it.”
“Thank you, Jamie,” she said. Burning hope spread across her cheeks and down her chest. She haddone it.
There wasn’t anything left to say, but she knew what to do. She flung her arms around his neck and pressed asearing kiss to his lips, euphoria stoking the flames. Her hands glided through his hair, and their tongues communed like a vow.
He caressed her jaw, barely touching her but making her feel both so cared for and hot, hot, hot all over. She angled her chest forward, showing him where she wanted his hands most. Instead, he moved his to her shoulders.
“Patience, Bee, we got all night,” he murmured against her lips, his curved into a devastating smile. He slid next to her, flicking his signet ring around his pinky. “I wanted to talk to you about something too.”
She watched his ring spin. He was nervous, which made her nervous. Was he breaking up with her, before they truly began?
“I know you’re leaving tomorrow, but I couldn’t let that happen without saying this.”
Brinton picked at her cuticles to distract herself from her mounting panic. Was it his father or Kendall or any number of telltale signs she must have missed, proving that Jamie had grown tired of keeping track of all her nagging, inconsolable needs?
He blew out a long breath. “My mom’s death ripped my family apart. It didn’t matter how much my father and I loved her, she was gone. So I decided I wasn’t ever gonna let myself feel that kind of pain again.”
Jamie laughed bitterly as sweat beaded the small of her back.
“I thought I didn’t wanna be vulnerable again, but the way I feel about you…I wanna give you all of me,” Jamie continued, taking her hand. “I want us to have a real future together, no more hiding.”
