Chapters (42)
- TITLE PAGE
- COPYRIGHT PAGE
- CONTENTS
- START READING
- PLAYLIST
- PROLOGUE
- PART 1
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- PART 2
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- EPILOGUE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- PREVIEW: PLAYING WITH FIRE
- PROLOGUE
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
“Ah, let me see . . .” I pretend to think. I’m glad to hear he sounds like he is chuckling. “Yeah. I guess that works for me.”
“And I have another condition.”
“Ballbuster.”
“Don’t promise to be a perfect girlfriend. Just promise to be yourself. Because I think I caught a glimpse of the real you tonight . . . and I want more of her.”
Hope blossoms in my chest. I feel grateful that I found Dom, that he found me, that he is so patient.
“Deal?” he asks.
“Deal.”
“Should we make it official?” he asks.
“Sure.”
We stand up at the same time, open the door at the same time, and fall into each other’s arms at the same time. It is the first time we’re in sync.
And it feels almost perfect.
It’s dawn. Dom sleeps like the dead, deep in slumber. I watch his chest rise and dip to the rhythm of his breaths. His face is flawless, save for the shadows under his eyes, which tell the tale of too much work and too little sleep.
I go down to the reception area and ask for Dana. I tell her that I would like to purchase the small ship on our nightstand. She tells me that it is not for sale, which I already know. She adds that a local artist commissioned for the inn specially made the ship. “I’m sure the interior designer who worked on the room wouldn’t appreciate it.”
“I’ll pay anything,” I say, and mean it. I care so deeply about Dom, and I want him to know that. It’s also deeper than that—I want to do good by someone. And since I don’t know where to start with my own family, Dom seems like a more reasonable goal to conquer.
Dana says she is sorry, but she can’t help me. I reduce myself to begging. I tell her the story Dom told me. About his brother, and their vacations here, and how this ship means more to him than it does to the next customer who’d see it. How Dom and Seph tried to steal it.
Finally, Dana sighs. “Fine. I don’t even know what to charge for this. Each piece is handcrafted, you know? How does five hundred sound?”
It sounds about four hundred bucks more than I am willing to pay, I want to retort, but instead, I reach to shake her hand. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”
TEN
TEN
It is Thanksgiving Eve, and—surprise, surprise—I’m all by myself.
Nora invited me to spend the day with her family. You know Colt is coming too, she said. Mom is a sucker for huge Thanksgivings. I gave her a half-assed excuse about a stomachache, and now I’m off the hook.