Page 59 of Stone Promises

I snatch the box out of his hands. “I would love to come visit you, Chad. And you aren’t selfish. You were actually very considerate to clear it with Melissa first.” I can’t help the smile that overtakes my face. “A whole week together?”

“Not just a week. Nine days,” he says. “You’re flying out right after school on Friday and I’m keeping you until the next Sunday night. It won’t be exactly like this weekend. I’ll have to work a little; we have pre-production meetings for theDefconsequel. But the rest of the time, I promise I’m all yours.”

“All mine?” I say, biting my lower lip. “I like the sound of that.”

He runs a finger across the lip I was biting. “Quit that or I’ll be riding to JFK with a painful hard-on.” He leans over to kiss me, but instead, I climb onto his lap, pressing my mouth to his as I grind against his growing erection.

“Good luck with that,” I say, giggling between kisses. Spring break is three weeks away. Three weeks of not being able to see him. Kiss him. Touch him. I need to remember what he tastes like. I need to remember everything about him. Two weeks without him was torture. Three will feel like forever.

“I am, you know,” he murmurs into my mouth.

“You are what?” I ask breathlessly.

“I’m yours, Mallory Kate,” he says, pulling back but keeping our lips only inches apart. He frames my face with his hands. “In a way, I always have been, I just didn’t know it. But now, after this weekend, I can’t imagine myself with anyone else. I’m yours—for as long as you’ll have me.”

Tears stream down my face as he holds my eyes with his. I’ve never seen more truth in them than I do right this second. “What if I say I want you forever?” I ask with a thick voice.

“I’d tell you I’m the luckiest son-of-a-bitch to ever walk the earth.” He pulls me to him, crashing our lips together one last time.

~ ~ ~

“How are you holding up?” Kyle asks after hugging me as we walk into Mitchell’s restaurant for dinner.

“I’m good,” I say. “You don’t have to babysit me, you know.”

He flashes me a look of annoyance. “I’m not babysitting you,” he says. “I’m catching up with an old friend.”

“Did he ask you to check up on me?”

“No,” he says, looking over to catch my questioning eyes. “Okay, yes, but I was going to call you anyway. I feel bad that we’ve lived so close and haven’t been in contact.”

“Me, too. I’ve missed you.” We get seated at our table and when the hostess leaves, I ask him, “Why did you ask how I’m holding up, Kyle?”

“Because if you’re even half as love-sick as my brother, you are miserable being so far away from him.”

I can’t help my smile. “He’s miserable?”

He laughs. “You don’t have to look so happy about it. But yes. He’s been away from you for two weeks and quite frankly, I’m surprised he hasn’t hopped on a plane back here to kidnap you and take you with him.”

Part of me would love that. But the logical half of me knows I have responsibilities here. My job. My volunteer work. My dad. Not to mention Mel and Julian. “He’s been really busy,” I say.

With the national release ofDefcon Onelast weekend, he’s been flying all over the country doing interviews. Between that and meeting with his manager, the studio, his lawyer, his publicist; not to mention preparations for the film he’s going to shoot this summer, he’s been booked solid. I’m surprised he finds time to call and text me every day. But he does, and it’s become the highlight of my existence. I’m pathetically love-sick. I’m counting down the hours until I get to see him on Friday.

Skylar Mitchell sees us and comes over to say hello. We’ve become good friends; she and her sisters have been very welcoming to me, making me a part of their close-knit family. I stand up to hug her around her baby bump. “How long is it now?” I ask.

“Eight more weeks.” She rubs her belly. “So, how’s our movie star doing? I saw him on the news last night,” she says, sympathy washing across her face.

She must have seen the story about him and Courtney. Once again, the buzz is that the two of them are still together. There was even video of them being ushered through the Miami airport, Courtney tugging Chad by his hand. Of course, the cameras zoomed in on their hands, not bothering to show how he pulled away from her. And even though I know the story is made up, it still hurts to see him with her. They’re always being thrown together and there is no end in sight. After all, she’s his leading lady in the sequel to be filmed this summer. “He’s fine,” I say. “Don’t believe everything you see on TV, Skylar.”

“I know,” she says. “Still, I know it’s hard for you. When Griffin is away on photo shoots with glamorous models, it’s hard for me not to feel jealous. But it’s part of the job. That man loves you, Mallory. Everyone can see that.”

“Not everyone,” I say, looking down at the table. I know it’s stupid to wish our relationship was public knowledge. I realize as soon as that happens, everything could change.

“Everyone who matters,” she says, before running off to deal with a kitchen crisis.

We order dinner, Kyle and I falling into comfortable conversation like no time has passed since we were kids. What is it about the Stone brothers that makes them able to charm their way into the hearts of all women?

“I really am sorry I never contacted you,” he says. “I guess I just didn’t know what to say to you back then after Chad just left you hanging. But there really wasn’t much to say. He was lost to drugs. He was in his own world and he wasn’t himself. We were all scared to death that we’d get a middle-of-the-night phone call saying he was dead. It was that bad, Mallory.”

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