Page 85 of Isabelle and the Beast

“I’m here foryou, Chase.”

Those words make him turn and look me in the eye.

“I love you,” I say, my throat catching with emotion. “I always have. I lost myself for a time, but you’ve shown me who I really am and that I belong here. With you.”

“You really mean it?” he asks. “You better not be yanking my chain, because I don’t think I can?—”

He doesn’t finish that sentence, because I grab his shirt from across the counter and pull him toward me, kissing him. Our lips are locked for a few seconds before I pull back and say, “I really mean it.”

“Good,” he replies. “Because I love you, too.”

We kiss again until the director calls, “Cut! Great job, you two! That was the best yet. We’ll take a break.”

I look back at my costar—the love of my life, Adam Stone—and ask, “Now why do you think that was the best yet?”

He smirks at me. “Probably because we’ve kissed a million times by now.”

I press a quick kiss to his lips. “A million and one.”

He comes around the counter and slips an arm around my waist. “Do you want a snack? Or a drink?”

“Let’s grab some food,” I reply. We head over to the craft services table and serve up a couple of plates. The production team was shocked at first when Adam was serving himself instead of demanding people get everything for him, but now they’re used to it. I think they were all afraid of him, but they’ve been pleasantly surprised by his change of heart. Every now and then, I have to remind him to take a deep breath to calm his frustration, but overall, he’s done the work himself.

“We need to go see Lily this weekend,” Adam says quietly. “Henry and Luna will be there, too.”

I nod in agreement. “Is he officially–”

Adam hums and nods, but we can’t say more here. Her video had a greater effect than we could have even anticipated. The entire public opinion of Tristan Jackson shifted, especially considering the proof she provided in her video. He’s disappeared completely, and there’s no word of him getting a role again in the future. That was good news at first, but there were rumors of Tristan taking legal action against her for defamation of character. So instead of letting her out of isolation, like they had anticipated doing by now, her family doubled down on her lockdown.

“I’ve been talking to Aunt Agatha, and we might have a solution.”

“Oh?”

He nods. “We’ll talk to Lily about it this weekend. How would you feel about taking a trip to the castle, as well?”

“My dad’s been wanting to see Brigette. Maybe we’ll all go together.”

Yes, that’s right. My dad and Brigette aredating. I’d be weirded out if I didn’t love Brigette so much. Dad has also lightened his workload, focusing only on managing me and Adam now. We still have moments of conflict as he navigates our dual-sided relationship, but we’re finding a better balance. I think he’s realizing how much his work took away from family life, and he wants to be part of the important things now.

“All right, let’s go again!” the director calls.

I look up at him. “You ready?”

“Ready.”

Together, instead of just watching a movie, we make one.

We’re drivingup the winding road to the castle again, but this time I actually get to enjoy the view. It turns out the drive is quite beautiful when I’m not the one driving the car. And when it’s not, you know, SNOWING. Since it’s August, it’s pretty warm at three in the afternoon, but it’s a dry heat so it’s fairly comfortable.

Adam laces his fingers through mine, and I smile at him. He gives me the half-grin I love so much, and my heart still flutters in my chest.

“How much longer is it?” Dad asks from the back seat.

Oh, yeah. Dad is with us, too.

“Just another mile and a half,” Adam replies. “We’re nearly there.”

Dad sits back in his seat and sighs. I guess he’s pretty anxious to see Brigette again. It’s weird to watch your dad date, but I’m genuinely happy for him. Especially after his whole speech to me about how love can be hard, it makes me feel goodto know that he’s found someone that might make the hard times worth it.

---