Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 86826 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86826 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
“TWO!”
Champagne sprays from a bottle being shaken behind me.
“ONE!”
Then Harper disappears into an open elevator with me a few steps behind. The doors slide shut directly in front of my face, and I’m unable to catch her.
“Happy New Year!” everyone in the Rainbow Room shouts as they’re lost in their own celebrations, completely unaware of the disaster spiraling in front of me. I can only stand there and stare at the closed elevator doors.
“Shit! Shit shit shit!” I yell. I slam the elevator button, willing a car to arrive.
Finally, another elevator dings open farther down the hall and I lunge for it and press the lobby button.
The ride down feels interminable. My pulse pounds.
What have I done? I can’t believe this happened. Because Harper is upset. Worse than upset. She’s hurt. Because of me.
The elevator finally opens into the Rockefeller Center lobby and I move, scanning the massive space until I spot her through the revolving doors ahead.
She’s halfway out onto Fifth Avenue already, having left her coat behind in the coat check.
I break into a full-out run and it’s not easy in this tuxedo. I’m sprinting past tourists and security and scattered New Year’s confetti blowing through the cold Manhattan air while fireworks echo faintly above the city.
“Harper!”
She doesn’t stop.
I catch up to her just past the skating rink, finally grabbing her wrist gently but firmly enough that she has to turn around.
And when she does—Christ. She looks devastated. She’s not crying. That would almost be easier. Instead, she looks confused. Hurt in that disoriented way people do when something they thought was a reality suddenly is pulled out from beneath their feet.
“What?” she says breathlessly. “What exactly was I supposed to think back there?”
“Harper—”
“No, seriously.” She shakes her head sharply. “You have a date with another woman and you just… forgot to mention it?”
Around us, New York pulses with New Year’s energy. People are shouting and kissing and laughing while remnants of midnight stick wetly to the snow-covered sidewalks. “Yes, I forgot about it,” I blurt, realizing how godawful lame that sounds.
“We never talked about exclusivity,” she says, her voice softer now but somehow worse because of it. “I know that. I know we didn’t. But Julian…” She laughs once in disbelief. “You brought me to the Bahamas for Christmas.”
“I know.”
“And then I find out at midnight that you have another date lined up with some insanely beautiful European socialite?”
“It isn’t like that.”
“Then what is it?”
I drag a hand through my hair, already furious with myself because the truth is she’s right—I should have told her. “Giselle invited me to some charity gala,” I explain quickly. “I agreed to attend months ago, back when I was in Milan for business. It got put on my calendar and I don’t even look at what’s coming up until the week before. I truly forgot.”
She stares at me.
“This happened before I met you,” I add. “She’s not someone I’m seeing, Harper.”
“But you were going to go?”
I look at Harper standing there beneath Rockefeller Center in her black gown and diamond earrings. I don’t want to see Giselle. I don’t want dinner with her or conversation with her or any version of the life I was still half existing in before Harper walked into it.
“No, of course not,” I say firmly.
Harper blinks. “Julian, just be honest with me.”
“I am. I’m not going. I have no desire to go. I’m going to tell her I can’t go to the gala.” I step closer toward her. “Harper, listen to me: I’m not going with Giselle. I have no interest in her. Was there a past with her? Yes. But that’s over and done with. I need you to know—”
“Julian,” she interrupts. “You don’t have to lie—”
“I’m not. I’m not lying, Harper. It was truly just another thing on my calendar that I had forgotten about,” I say. “There’s not another woman on this planet I want to spend time with or be with.”
New Year’s has already come and gone. She remains silent.
“Harper,” I say, taking both of her hands and squeezing them. “You’re right. We haven’t talked about exclusivity, but let’s talk about it now. I only want to be with you and no one else. I’m in this in a way I haven’t been in a relationship in… well, a very long time. Women like Giselle… that was casual and easily forgotten. But you’re the most unforgettable woman I know and I want to see where this goes.”
A smile teases her lips. “You do… really?”
“It’s the only thing I’m certain of,” I say. “That woman’s representative of how I lived my life in the past, and you’re representative of the current Julian. I’ll cancel it first thing in the morning… I promise.”
I look at Harper standing there, shivering, in the middle of midtown Manhattan and I can tell by the expression on her face she finally believes me.