Page 55 of First Comes Forever

“Why?”

“They had no faith in him…or me. Maybe I took it as a challenge. For almost a year, I made it my sole mission to prove them wrong and make Chase Hollywood’s next prodigal son. I worked every angle, every strategy, traveled nonstop, schmoozing the most powerful Hollywood assholes, until we finally got our shot. Chase just needed a chance. His talent took him the rest of the way. His first real job came with an eight-figure contract. LMC shut the hell up then.”

“Then you left?”

Adam nods. “Chase needs me more as a manager than an agent. So it’s my job to keep LMC in line. Unfortunately for them, I still think like an agent and I can literally smell blood in the water right now. I’m going to the source. The casting director for that job they screwed us out of is in New York right now. She’s under an NDA, so I need to get the truth, off the record, face to face.”

“You’re really protective of Chase,” I offer, running my fingers against the scant brown hair on his forearm.

“I’m really protective of everyone I love,” he says simply. “Maybe overly.”

Little does Adam know, a jealous man turns me on. A protective man could easily make me fall in love. But I’m “summer girl” and he’s “summer guy,” so it’d be unwise to tell him that tingles surge through my body every time he touches me so tenderly like this.

“Have you ever been to New York?”

I shake my head. “Actually, no. At least not the city. I had a layover in Syracuse once.”

He shrugs. “Do you want to come? It’d be for a couple days because I have some other business I want to take care of while I’m there, but I could book a nice hotel. We can even check out Broadway. There’s lots of content you can film in New York City.”

The word “yes” is on the tip of my tongue. A knee-jerk reaction. Of course I want to go to New York with Adam. I imagine we’d play footsie under the tablecloth at a fancy restaurant. I’m sure he knows all the best places to eat. We’d hold hands as I watched my first Broadway play. After, we’d roll around all night in the sheets of a king-sized bed in the penthouse of a fancy hotel. It’d probably be one of the most memorable weekends of my life…with a man who most definitely doesn’t want a family with me.

Not to mention, after waking up in bed this morning, playing house and pretending like Adam and Carson were mine to keep, I’m getting a little worried I’m losing touch with reality. I don’t want to walk right into the dead end of guaranteed heartbreak.

“That sounds fun, but I have some stuff I have to figure out here.”

“You sure?” he asks. “I’d love a travel buddy. And I’ll fly you first class if that’s any incentive.”

I laugh as I rise into a sitting position. “Thank you, but it’s not. I need to get used to less luxury, I think.”

“Why?” He cocks his head slightly to the side, like I’m speaking in riddles. “I promise I won’t try to fix it. Just tell me what’s going on.”

I’m not in the mood to talk about my money problems. Especially because I’m learning that simply knowing I’m in a pickle makes Adam overreact. It’s very sweet, and I appreciate his help, but I don’t want to be saved. I want to save myself. “Don’t you have to get to the airport?”

“It would not be the first time my assistant, Staci, had to change a flight for me. Last-minute changes to my plans are basically her job security.” He pinches the space between his eyes. “Which reminds me, do you think you could help me with something?”

“What’s up?”

“If I got you a very generous gift card to Olive Garden for your birthday, would you be offended?”

I’m silent for a moment, hoping my deadpan stare and narrowed eyes convey my point. But he looks more confused than ever. “My birthday isn’t until November, so you have plenty of time to rethink that.”

“Point taken. Could you give me some ideas for my assistant’s birthday gift? Normally, I just give her a fat bonus, but it’s the third year she’s worked for me, so I wanted to do something more personal on top of it.”

“And you thought an Olive Garden gift card would accomplish that?”

He laughs. “It’s her favorite date night restaurant. Her boyfriend takes her the third Friday of every month. Believe me, I’ve suggested nicer restaurants, but I guess they love the endless breadsticks. I was trying to buy them a dinner date as a gesture. I was going to throw in a nice bottle of wine. Shit, I don’t know. It’s easier to impress women I’m not attached to, but when it comes to showing someone I really care, I suck at gift giving.”

“Come here, you,” I say, standing. I reach for his hands and try to pull him up, but Adam is too heavy. Hoisting himself up, he takes my hand and I lead him to the spacious master closet.

I collect a medium-sized pink box with a little golden latch from the farthest corner of the closet. Sitting on the carpet, I cross my legs as I jiggle the latch open.

Adam sits down in front of me, leaning backward against the closet wall. “Is that what you keep your diamonds and pearls in? Because I’d recommend something a little sturdier.”

“I have so much random shit in here. No diamonds…this stuff is far more valuable.” I hold up a billfold with a golden clasp with little initials engraved. “My dad’s. He gave it to my mom as a keepsake and she gave it to me when I was about ten years old. It’s real gold. But of course I’d never sell it.”

I put it back in the box and pull out a small beige carpet square. “This is from the apartment I shared with my four best friends in college. It’s basically a condemned building now, but we built something incredible there. An entire family.”

I feel him watching me again as I shuffle through my most sentimental items one by one, getting lost down memory lane. I hold up a clear little jar of sand from Cancun, the only mother-daughter vacation Mom and I took. “Mom and I were so broke when I was growing up, but somehow she scrambled up the cash to take me to Mexico as my high school graduation present. That was the trip where I learned my mom could drink me under the table.”

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