Page 47 of The Final Draft

“It’s my mom’s name. I wanted a way to keep her alive.” Her gaze is sweet, wistful. The tender, sentimental pen name touches me deeply. It speaks volumes about her character. And I’m not surprised one bit. Family is everything to her.

I reach over and stroke her cheek, turning her head to look at me. Our eyes connect, and I think we’ll be okay. I hope we’ll be okay. “That’s beautiful.” With a gentle stroke of my thumb against her cheek, I watch as a blush slowly spreads, and she shyly lowers her eyes again. “You’re beautiful.” My desire to kiss her overwhelms me, but we need to talk first.

“How long have you known?” How much grace has she given me? How long did I think I was being stealthy when she already knew?

“I suspected pretty early on. Charlotte seemed, um, familiar.” She looks down shyly and shrugs. While she has every right to be smug or angry, she’s actually quite demure.

How many times did she ask me what she was to me? Fuck. A muse. In retrospect, I can’t help but chuckle at that conversation. Her feisty response was a leather skirt and a hot first kiss.

“Are you mad at me for not telling you?”

She gently shakes her head no. “It seemed important for you to stay anonymous. I was hopeful you would tell me eventually.” Her usual confident voice is timid, pensive, and my heart hurts hearing her this way. I can’t stand my sassy girl sounding down.

“I’m sorry I didn’t. It’s not that I don’t trust you. I do. Implicitly. And I would have. Told you, I mean. I, just.” I pause to allow my resolve to settle as I let her in. “I needed to sort my head out about my reasons for keeping this secret buried deep. I’m very protective of my business and my reputation. They’reintertwined in a way that’s making me rethink a lot of things in my life.”

“I get it.” Sadness surrounds her. And I caused this. It’s time to come totally clean. For us and for our book.

First, I need to know if she’s sparing my feelings or deep down, she’s angry, hurt even. Or disappointed. I give her a peck on her lips, and she doesn’t slap my face. Doing good so far, Julian. It’s time to keep going.

I sit up, shoulders back, ready to own this. “I’m glad you know. You’re the third person on this planet holding the secret intel that I’m JB Moore.” She knows how much this means to me, but I also want to stress I'm really serious about keeping my anonymity.

“Let me guess, Chance and Ashleigh?”

I chuckle at her logical choices. “Absolutely not. Chance can’t keep a secret to save his life, and I couldn’t take Ashleigh’s ribbing. No, my editor, Casey Samuels, and Professor Daniels, although I’m still stumped at how they got that information.” I’m awarded with another one of those surprised looks I crave. “And now you. It’s a pretty elite group. Are you prepared to take this secret to your grave?” I’m teasing, kind of.

“Why the national-security-level secret? Are you ashamed or embarrassed?”

“What? No. Well, not ashamed.” I put my face in my hands. Why is it so important that I keep this secret? “I don’t know. I enjoy having a secret identity. Maybe? People think they know me, but they don’t, not really. I’m an introvert going through life pretending to be an extrovert. And a closeted romance writer. But I’m my business, my brand. My agency is built on a perception, a reputation. Most of my athletes like the charming playboy image, so that’s what I give them.” I look at her to gauge her reaction. And she’s smiling. She reaches out and runs herfingers through my hair, her touch slowing my racing heart. No wonder Noodle likes it so much.

“I won’t tell a soul. I swear.” She bites her bottom lip and asks, “Truth or dare?”

“Truth.” I’ve revealed my darkest secret. I can’t imagine what else I can share at this point. I’m belly up, all my weak spots exposed.

“Are you really a playboy, Julian Decker?”

A wicked smile fills my face. “Depends how you define playboy. Not everything is how it appears.” I turn on my charm and hope it works.

“I don’t know. It appears like you want to kiss me.” Her mood has improved dramatically, and a sparkle has returned to her eyes.

“And then again, some things are exactly how they appear.”

I take her face in my hands and pull her to me, kissing her with everything I have. My mouth, my heart, my soul. My secret. It’s all hers.

CHAPTER

THIRTY-ONE

HARPER

That kiss, electrifying and passionate, was the most amazing of my life; fireworks exploding behind my eyelids. It’s all downhill from here because nothing, and I mean nothing, will ever top the way he caressed my face, teased my mouth with his tongue, and did things that made my heart flutter. Literally flutter. What kind of physical reaction is that? A holy fuck, this man is magical, I’ll never be able to write a book boyfriend half this sexy, incredible man is what that is.

We pull apart, and he rests his forehead on mine.

“So, where do we go from here?” I ask.

“My place?” he asks hopefully. Leaning in, his lips brush mine with a feather-light touch, a warmth spreading through me that sends shivers down my spine. Tempting. Oh, so tempting.

Noodle squirms off my lap and I stand up. Our connection breaks, and my head clears a little. I want to continue this, whatever it is, with Julian, but how will it work with our project? Does it complicate things? Or maybe we work closer, deeper, and it makes us better?

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