Page 70 of Chasing Forever

She shimmied under the blanket and sighed. “Lots of times, I close my eyes and picture the scene in my mind. I try and conjure up the emotions that the characters would be feeling and go from there.”

“Well, you do a good job of it, because I’m feeling it right now!”

She was too, just from talking to him.

“I’m really sorry about what happened that night,” she blurted out. She hadn’t had the chance to apologize yet, and it had been eating her up inside. “I overreacted.”

“We’re both to blame. We were both keeping secrets,” Chase replied. He went on to explain what had happened after he’d left. “I’m sorry too. It was wrong of me to leave like that.”

“Let’s put it behind us and make a fresh start.”

“Great idea. Miranda’s leaving soon.”

“I know.”

“She asked if you’d like to hang out with us tomorrow. Maybe drive up the coast, have lunch, hit a few souvenir shops?”

“Sounds fun.”

“Good. Well, I should probably let you go…”

“One more thing.”

“Yeah?”

“Can I have your email address?”

“My email?”

“Um-hmm. I wondered if you’d like to read a few chapters of my new book.”

“I thought you said you don’t let anyone read your first draft.”

“I don’t usually, but if you don’t want to…”

“No. I mean yes. I’d like to read it.”

“I still have a lot of editing to do before it’s published.”

“In other words, it’s not perfect.”

“Right.”

“But it will be.”

“I hope so.”

“I know so.”

After that, he gave her his email address, which she wrote down on the notepad beside her bed.

“Good thing you always have a notepad handy,” he teased.

After they hung up, Callie realized she was smiling. She’d given it a lot of thought over the past few days and decided she wanted to share her writing with him. When she’d first started out, she’d taken great pains to hide it from him, but she was done hiding. She wanted him to know that he’d had a hand in the making of her story. Instead of just telling him, she wanted him to discover it for himself.

He was an intelligent man. It wouldn’t take long to figure out that he was the inspiration behind her male hero, especially when it came to his physical description. He’d probably also recognize snippets of conversations they’d had, though she hadn’t written them verbatim. The chapter she was most anxious for him to read, though, was the one where the characters made love for the first time.

If Chase felt all the feels from her other books, she imagined he’d feel them a hundred times over with that one. At least, she hoped so. Making love with him had been an eye-opening experience for her. It had happened after a long dry spell when she’d closed herself off to the possibilities of love and intimacy. Being with Chase had reminded her of all that was good in life and all that she still had to look forward to. Her future seemed brighter, but whether he would be a part of it remained to be seen.