Page 113 of The Love Lie
He spins around so fast the world wobbles off kilter. But he knows that voice. He hears it every night in his dreams. And there she is like some sort of mirage, sitting at the vanity in a black silk dress that looks like glorified lingerie with her red hair pulled up into a knot above her head and brilliant emerald jewels that have her sister’s name written all over them dangling from her ears. The look in her firelight eyes matches the whisper of her voice, steeped in love and longing and undeniable anguish.
He doesn’t think. Doesn’t hesitate. He marches across the room with so much conviction the Devil himself would be hard pressed to stop him.
Unfortunately, Nina Chen made a deal with that douchebag a long time ago.
The door slams open behind him.
The producer shouts for help.
Before he makes it halfway to Sam, two men grab him by the arms. Apparently, they do have security guards on this show, and yes, they’re more than willing to use them.
“Sam! Get the fuck off me. Sam!”
Fight as he might, Cooper can’t get loose. Inch by inch, he’s dragged backward, holding Sam’s gaze the entire time. And all he can think as the door shuts in his face is that she didn’t say a word, not a single goddamn word, to stop them.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
sam
“Are you kidding me, Nina?”Sam snaps the second the door closes, the pleading in Cooper’s brilliant eyes almost more than she can bear. “This isn’t the fucking CIA. What the hell was that?”
“Please.” Nina snorts. “The CIAwishesthey had me.”
That’s probably accurate.“You didn’t have to drag him out of here like that.”
“You promised me a finale to remember. That means no talking before we’re live.”
“I wasn’t going to—”
“Save it. You were about two seconds from mounting each other and we both know it. Now, I just got word from Trish.”
Sam’s heart lurches so hard she needs to steady herself against the vanity. Her throat suddenly runs dry. She has to swallow before she speaks. “And?”
“We’re a go.”
“Really?” The word comes out as an embarrassing squeal as her hope balloons so rapidly she almost can’t breathe. “They said yes?”
“They said yes.”
“You have it in writing?”
“I’ve got the updated contract right here.”
“Give me a pen.”
As any good businesswoman would, Sam takes a moment to review the changes from the last draft. They’re exactly as requested. Granted, she should probably have her friend from legal give it a final once-over, but there’s no time. She glances at the clock. The show starts any minute. If she wants to win Cooper back and secure her sister’s business, it’s now or never. So she flips to the last page and signs on the dotted line.
It’s happening.
It’s really happening.
Sam catches her reflection. The energetic buzz beneath her skin matches the rosy flush of her cheeks and the brilliant shine in her eyes. Behind her, the room is brighter, no longer a drab and dull gray but a vivacious and crisp white. It’s like looking through the window on those rare snow days from her youth, the world sparkling with a thousand possibilities as each hopeful flake falls. She feels like a kid again, full to the brim with the buoyant, naive idea that somehow everything’s going to be okay—a sense time and puberty and life ground out of her, now suddenly returned.
This must be what optimism feels like.
“Keith just went live,” Nina says, one hand pressed to her headphones while the other clutches her clipboard. She finds Sam’s eyes in the mirror. “They’re leading the guys out now. A clip reel is playing. You’ll be on in five. You ready?”
“To put Ethan, Chad, and every other fame-hungry asshole who played with my sister’s heart in their place while simultaneously getting everything I’ve ever wanted?” She spins around on the stool and straightens her shoulders with a defiant tilt of her chin. “I was born ready.”
