Page 198 of My Dark Prince
The half-baked scheme flickered through my mind like a lifeline. Surely, airport security wouldn’t check too hard if I faked a pregnancy. But alas, it would be cruel to kidnap Oliver’s dogs on top of dumping him.
And Iwouldend things.
Nothing had changed. My work on set began in two weeks, and Sebastian’s condition anchored Oliver here. Our lives didn’t fit. They never had. Turns out, love is a demanding bitch. It waits for no one but has the audacity to be worth the wait.
“We can’t be together,” I announced at the breakfast table over eggs and vegan sausage.
Oliver slapped theFinancial Timesonto his plate, glaring at me as if I’d ruined the perfect breakfast combo forever.Notthat he took me seriously.
I could read the defiance sizzling in his eyes. In fact, he’d spent the past twenty-four hours hovering over me, watching for signs of a pending breakdown over the news of Cooper’s death. He probably considered my words to be the tipping point.
“Yes, we can.” He closed the paper, wiped a hollandaise stain off the front page with the napkin on his lap, and casually resumed his meal. “But go ahead and tell me what you think is standing in our way.”
I buttered a slice of sourdough toast, imagining what he’d say to me if I hadn’t ruined breakfast with my announcement.
Probably something along the lines of –I love you. I truly do, but I don’t understand why you toasted bread that’s already hard. Are you not fond of your teeth?
“Ollie.” I sighed, sinking my teeth into bread that did, indeed, hurt to bite. “This fake engagement hoax was fun, but there are other people involved now that expect it to actually happen.”
His brows shot up. “You mean like you and me?”
“I mean like your parents.”
“Right.” He ran his tongue along his upper teeth, settling into his chair. “And why can’t this marriage happen?”
I set the toast down, watching butter pool on my plate. “Because I have a life, friends, and a career – and they all happen to be in SoCal. And you have to stay here.”
“Welcome to the jet-setting life, baby.” He spread his arms wide. “You even have a private plane all to yourself.”
“I don’twantto fly in a private plane for ethical reasons, remember?”
“I do. All too well.” He pushed his plate in, huffing out an exaggerated sigh. “Why couldn’t I fall in love with someone like the Townsend sisters, who would single-handedly burn down an entire rainforest if it helped them plow their way into a designer sale?”
“They’d replant the trees,” I tried to protest, shocked by how much I’d grown to like them.
What’s another two people to miss?
He sent me abe-for-reallook. “You can fly commercial.”
I shook my head. “We film weeks at a time, and it’s a hectic schedule. Often twenty-hour days.”
“That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen. I’ll help you file it. We’ll ride off into the sunset with the settlement, and you can use it to launch your own production company. Here. In Potomac. Next to me.”
“I’m not suing my employers, Oliver. And I’m not doinganything that will blacklist me from Hollywood forever.” I planted my elbows on the table. “This is my dream.”
A tiny, traitorous tear leaked out, crawling down my cheek. I swiped it away before he noticed. There would be no signs of weakness. No crack he could pry open to convince me to stay. For once, I needed to choose myself.
Ollie didn’t budge. “We can make it work.”
“If you’re not in LA, it’ll turn into a long-distance relationship.”
He waved a dismissive hand. “We’ll do long-distance, then.”
“Yeah.” I snorted. “That turned out so well last time, right?”
Oliver conceded with a nod. “Fine. Good point. I don’t want to be away from you anymore, too.” He emphasizedtoo, yanking his plate back and slicing into his Canadian bacon. “I did it for fifteen years, and it was torture. I’ll move to Los Angeles with you, then.”
He rubbed his heart as if he was butthurt that I hadn’t extended the invite first. Except, my gut – and every brain cell that hadn’t died from the concussion – warned me that moving to SoCal together would only end in heartbreak. He didn’t have it in him to abandon his family. I would never ask him to.
