Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105665 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105665 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
He closed his menu and handed it to her. “The special it is.”
She took the menu, but he didn’t let go of it. “I’m leaving in two weeks, and you’re coming with me.”
Jersey gave him a death stare that lasted a full ten seconds before she jerked the menu from his hold.
Jersey took extra shifts the following week to avoid Ian at home, even if she couldn’t avoid him at the diner. She ignored his extended gazes in her direction when she climbed the stairs at night and took a sharp right into one of the guest bedrooms. It was equally laughable and angering that Ian seemed to forget she was a fighter with endless stamina.
He could make all the threats he wanted, but she wouldn’t quit her job and go on tour with him. She wasn’t a fan of that kind of love, and Jersey was done sacrificing herself for a man—even the one she loved.
“Someday, you’ll look back and wonder why you needed to be so combative. Someday, you’re going to see that we are a team,” Ian said when Jersey delivered his turkey on rye.
She had so much to say to him, but she’d come too far to give in and speak to him when he was being an ass about the tour. She wasn’t his trophy to parade around on buses and private jets. Jersey hated how stupid the girls at his concerts acted. She didn’t need to see bras and underwear land on the stage at his feet. She didn’t need to see hussies flash him their titties the second he stepped out of a vehicle.
“It’s just us, Jersey.” He sipped his water. “You know it. I know it. We’ve come too far to settle for anything less than everything.” He glanced around the diner. “This isn’t everything. It’s where you come to hide from me. It’s where you come to hide from your dreams—the dreams you’re too afraid to believe could come true.”
Jersey dumped Ian’s water onto his head and stepped to the table behind him to take the elderly couple’s order.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-NINE
BONUS CHAPTER
The morning of the tour …
“No.” Ian blocked the doorway to the guest bedroom when Jersey tried to head toward the stairs. She had the early shift that morning.
Jersey gave him a move-it-or-I-will-make-you-bleed look.
“Max has a suitcase packed for you.”
Jersey narrowed her eyes for a second before trying to wedge past him. He stepped toward her, stopping her with his body. She gritted her teeth and shoved him. He didn’t move.
She rammed her fist into his stomach, and Ian swallowed his grunt.
Whack!
She made his lip bleed.
Ian licked the blood, barely a flinch.
“Get the fuck out of my way, Coop.”
He smiled. It wasn’t a declaration of love but the first words she’d spoken to him in weeks.
“I’m glad we’re finally talking. We’ll pick this up again on the plane. Our ride’s out front.”
Jersey threw another fist at him, but he dodged it and rammed his shoulder into her stomach, heaving her onto it and straight out the door.
“Put me down, you fucking maniac!”
“Just go,” Ian said to the driver, knowing he couldn’t fasten his seat belt or hers since he had to keep her hugged to him so her arms were restrained.
The driver gave him a cautious glance in the rearview mirror before putting the SUV into Drive.
Jersey struggled the whole way to the airport, kicking the window and the seat while trying to wriggle free.
“Jersey,” Max said, opening the door when they arrived.
“I’M NOT GOING!”
Ian smiled at Max, and she bit back her amusement. He carried Jersey onto the plane. “Wheels up, people!” He knew they needed to get off the ground before he could release Jersey.
When Ian sat in a seat with Jersey’s backside, and arms hugged to him, Max loosened the seat belt and pulled it over both of them, then she closed the curtain to give Ian and Jersey privacy at the back of the plane, not that it did anything for the sound.
“FUCK YOU, IAN COOPER!”
Seconds later, they were wheels up, and Ian released Jersey.
She stumbled away from him. “We are over,” she gritted through her teeth.
Ian couldn’t help his slight grin.
Whack!
His recently clotted lip busted open into a sea of blood again, and Ian used his shirt to wipe it.
“Jersey, could you not leave so many visible marks on our rock star?” Max asked through the curtain.
“Shut up, Max.” Jersey plunked into the seat facing Ian’s. “The second we land, I’m out of here. For good.”
“I love you too, Jersey,” Ian said with his whole heart behind his words.
“This isn’t love. You might think you own everyone else on this plane, but you don’t own me. No one will ever own me. So fucking deal with it.”
He blotted his lip again with his shirt. “Well, Jersey, you own me. So even if you’re not mine … I am yours. So fucking deal with it.”