Page 45 of The Final Rose

“What do you propose?”

“Kiss me.” She says, lifting her chin.

I take a second to reply, but she’s already talking again. “And then we’ll know. If there’s anything here…” She takes a big breath and lets the rest of the sentence linger.

My lips still taste like Callie, and I want it to stay like that for a little longer. But Isla is asking for so little. She came looking for love, for the perfect connection, and if it was this that I was looking for, I’d kiss her without a thought.

I realize I can’t tell her no. This is the proof she wants for the connection, and for all it’s worth, I don’t have a good excuse to refuse, anyway.

I say nothing. Instead, I lower down, and Isla takes the hint and goes on her tiptoes. I don’t take her mouth in mine the way I did Callie. I don’t feel the warmth of her lips everywhere.

I kiss her gently, respectfully, sending a message. When we open our eyes to each other, I know Isla sees it. She looksdisappointed, but the look only takes a second on her face. She lifts her shoulder, almost as if she’s telling herself it’s alright.

I think of the cameras and how they are pointing at us, waiting for words to be the next episode’s tagline. Isla and I don’t give it to them. We watch each other in silent conversation. Coming to an agreement of sorts.

Isla’s eyes shine in the streetlights when she looks up at me, a green so vivid I’m not sure how I didn’t realize until now.

“I believe in love, Sebastian. I believe in right on your face, chemistry off the charts, romance novel kind of love.”

“Me too.”

We smile at each other like it’s the perfect ending to a date.

I eliminate Isla the next day.

12.

Callie

My fingers hover overthe keyboard, but my eyes never leave the screen.

Rewind.

“I believe in love, Sebastian. I believe in right on your face, chemistry off the charts, romance novel kind of love.”

I blink, Isla’s statement going through my skull like a sledgehammer. The girl is a fairy-looking thing. Even though we were of similar height, she has something delicate and undeniably cute about her.

I should think how annoying it’s going to be to pull all of Isla’s footage to make this change of storyline make sense. I know we can do it, but we need to sit down and redirect our team. I should have rolled my eyes to such a line, but instead…

Instead, I’m frozen in place. My fingers on the keyboard, rewinding, watching the kiss over and over again.

It’s a sweet type of kiss. Perfect for Prince Charming and his Princess.

Not the hot mess, tongues, and hands everywhere while an Uber driver witnesses it. Those kinds of kisses are for messy girls like me.

I squeeze my eyes shut. I can’t stand here and feel sorry for myself. I was drunk; he was drunk. We got caught up in the moment and I need to get my head back in the game. That was why I volunteered to arrive at the country house beforehand with part of the crew.

I ignore it’s his house I’m escaping to. His country, his domain.

As much as the house isn’t the warm home of childhood, I can’t stop myself from seeing him everywhere. And now, I can’t stop watching the footage of him kissing Isla.

On repeat. Again and again. Her hands went up his chest, his face bowing down to her. The beat that followed the kiss. Like goddamn wonder.

“Oh, have you seen this?”

A chuckle took me from my insanity, and I turned to find Dave, one of our tech guys, with a cigarette on the back of his ear.

“Yeah. Crazy stuff.” I say mildly, crossing my arms in front of my chest, hoping he wouldn’t see how much I was shaking.

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