Page 45 of Stone Promises

Here’s the next best thing to actually being with me. Me—I’ll have to rely on the memory of your incredible smell and the picture I took of you last night. Counting the hours until tomorrow evening.

I curled up on the couch and watched as Lt. Jake Cross stole my heart almost as much as Chad Stone has. He’s a phenomenal actor. Truly gifted at his craft. It almost makes those years we spent apart worth it. If he hadn’t moved away, he never would have been discovered. And I’m convinced nobody could have played the part of Lt. Cross as well as he did. I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. That there is a butterfly effect and everything that happens influences what will happen next. Even my mom dying. I mean, what if she hadn’t been on the road at that very minute in that very spot? Instead, what if it were a young family, or a pregnant woman in labor being rushed to the hospital? Maybe that drunk driver running intohersaved other lives. And maybe one of those lives that was saved is someone who will go on to discover how to prevent cancer. Or global warming. Or nuclear war.

Maybe everything that’s happened in my life and in Chad’s has led us to this moment—the time when we can finally be together—the time we were alwaysmeantto be together.

The doorbell rings and my heart pounds. This is it. Our first official date. I’m going out with Chad Stone. I smooth my hands down my dress and open the door.

I watch the reaction on Chad’s face as his eyes rake over me. It’s everything I imagined and more. His mouth hangs slightly agape as his gaze travels from my hair, that I pinned up with loose tendrils framing my face, to my little black dress that fits well in all the right places, to my stocking-clad legs and then down to my heeled sandals. And then he slowly works his way back up again.

By the time he gets to my face, I feel like I’ve been thoroughly made love to yet he hasn’t touched me at all. My insides coil, my legs start to shake, my breathing comes quickly. Oh, Lord, how am I going to make it through an evening with this man?

“Holy shit, Mal,” he says, finding my eyes once again. “I’ve never seen anything as beautiful as you are right now.”

I don’t even know what to say. And I couldn’t say it even if I did. He’s rendered me speechless once again. I tug my lower lip into my mouth.

His eyes close briefly. “Oh, God. I was wrong.” He reaches over to touch my lips. “This is even better.” He shakes his head as if intentionally ridding it of wayward thoughts. He runs his hands through his hair as he backs up out of the doorway, putting him on the other side of the threshold. “We’d better leave now if I want to keep my gentlemanly status.”

I laugh, grabbing my coat. He helps me put it on after I lock the front door. I pull it tightly around me. It’s brisk tonight on this late-February evening.

As we walk down the sidewalk towards the waiting car, Chad nods at the basketball in the bushes. “I wonder what we could play HORSE for next?” Then his blue eyes take hold of my green ones.

Oh. My. God.Shivers run down my spine. And not because of the freezing temperature.

I’m going on a date with Chad Stone.

He opens the door for me and I slide over on the black leather seat to let him get in beside me. Before I can settle myself into the seat by the window, he captures my hand, keeping me in the middle seat as he entwines our fingers.

I’m holding hands with Chad Stone.

With his other hand, he reaches across me and pulls the seatbelt over my body, all the while I’m smelling him and it reminds me of his movie that I watched the other night. I open my eyes to see his face mere inches from mine as he clasps me in. The brilliant smile on his face tells me he knows exactly what he’s doing to me.

I’m being strapped in by Chad Stone.

I think he’s going to kiss me, but he doesn’t. He sits back in his seat and puts on his seatbelt one-handedly, all the while, the aforementioned smile still glued to his face as if he’s doing a toothpaste commercial.

“Hello again, Mallory,” Cole says from the front. “Nice to see you.”

“You too, Cole. Thanks for keeping the car warm.”

“Of course. Are you all set?”

“Ready,” Chad says.

“So where are you taking me?” I’m a bit nervous. We haven’t yet talked about what will happen if we’re seen out together. Am I supposed to go into the building while he signs autographs, like at Ethan’s? What happens if people ask who I am? What am I supposed to say? What if they take pictures of us together? Has he cleared this with his publicist? His manager? Does he even have to do that?

I realize there is still so much I don’t know about him and his lifestyle. I’m not sure I’m ready just yet to be thrown into it so unprepared.

“Relax,” Chad says, squeezing my hand. He senses my tension. “I’m not taking you to the Golden Globes or anything. Not yet anyway. We’re going on a picnic.”

I’m not sure which shocks me more, the fact that I may one day get to walk a red carpet with him or that it’s thirty degrees outside and he’s taking me on a picnic. I look down at my black dress—the one that barely covers my thighs. Even with my coat on, I’d still freeze to death. I scissor my stocking-covered legs to make a point. “Uh, I wish you had said something.”

He laughs. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. I’ve got it covered. Hey, how was your dinner with Charlie last night?”

Ethan’s wife, Charlie, accompanied me last night during my shift at Hope. Then we went to dinner. What happened there was surreal, but I gather it’s only a taste of what I’m in for if Chad and I stay together. “It was great. I really like Charlie a lot. We’ve already made plans to go shopping this weekend.”

He smiles again. He’s glad I’m making friends with his inner circle.

“Did you know what she was going to do?” I ask.

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