Page 149 of The Heartbreaker
This was love.
And I’d never felt it deeper.
For just a second, my stare lowered, and it locked with Ridge’s gaze.
He wasn’t concentrating on the performance either, although that didn’t surprise me.
He was focused on me.
He ran his thumb under my eyes—a move that confused me at first until I realized Daisy wasn’t the only one crying. I was too. And once he dried the bottom of both eyelids, he pulled me against his side, and I clasped on to Daisy’s ankle, and I gripped Ridge’s waist.
“You’re myMiss Americana,” he said, referencing the name of the song Taylor was singing.
I laughed out loud at his expression and from the fact that he knew the song because Daisy wouldn’t let him listen to anything except Taylor.
“I’ll gladly take that title,” I told him. “But you better not be myHeartbreak Prince.”
EPILOGUE
Ridge
As I reached across the small bit of sand that was between our lounge chairs and dived my fingers into the back of Addison’s hair, I couldn’t stop staring at her. It wasn’t her bikini that captured my full attention—although, fuck, that certainly didn’t hurt. Her body was magnificent, and there were days when I still couldn’t believe it was mine. But what I really couldn’t stop gazing at was her expression. Since we’d arrived in Kauai, it covered her face every time she glanced at the ocean and when she ran to the water to dip her bare feet in the waves and as she gazed up at the sky. During those occasions, when her head tilted back and she looked up, her hand automatically went to her throat, circling her fingers around the sun that dangled beneath it, and I fucking loved that.
I saw every one of those moments because I couldn’t keep my eyes off her.
But what this trip made me realize was that her smile had very little to do with the ocean or the sand or the waves or the sky.
Her smile had everything to do with me.
She turned her head toward me, the grin already present, but it grew as our eyes connected. “Your phone doesn’t exactly make the best background music for the beach. It hasn’t stopped ringing since lunch. Is everything okay?”
My cell was lying on the chair next to me, and I picked it up and turned it on vibrate. “I should have muted it this morning. I’m sorry. I’m sick of hearing it blow up.”
“Are you sure it’s nothing important?”
“Shit no, it’s not important. Well, at least in my opinion. Rhett would disagree, and so would Brady. They’re filling in for me on the last-minute renovations at our Beverly Hills and Malibu hotels, and they’re calling because they have endless questions. I made it clear before we left for Hawaii that they’d just need to figure it out.” I shook my head. “And, obviously, they can’t.”
She took a long, deep breath. “That’s ballsy, don’t you think?”
“Because Rhett’s going to murder me?”
She exaggerated her nod. “Exactly that.”
“Probably.” I ran my hand over my head and looked up at the clouds. “I’m actually surprised he hasn’t flown here yet to choke my ass out.”
“The day isn’t over, there’s still plenty of time for that to happen.”
I laughed. “Truth.”
“I bet Rowan is ready to murder you too. You know Rhett is complaining to her about you, and the two of them are ganging up behind your back and planning your death.”
“I’m positive that’s happening as we speak.” I sighed. “Hell, Cooper’s probably dying for me to come back, too, so he can stop listening to her complain about me.”
Addison turned on her side, tucking her arm behind her head to use it as a pillow. “What about Macon? I know you mentionedhe and Brooklyn might be coming out here to join us, but they wouldn’t know until the last minute. Have you heard anything from him?”
“He texted me this morning and said he couldn’t make it work. He found a piece of land in Croatia that he wants to look at for a new hotel. He and Brooklyn are flying there instead.”
“I bet she’s bummed, not about Croatia—that’s amazing—but about missing an opportunity to come here and see her family. I know she loves spending every second she can with them.”
