“I love you, too.”
I eye Nathan, taking in his words, the same that he told me last night and this morning.
“Are you going to say it all the time now?” I ask him teasingly more than anything.
“Yes, every second I have the chance so you’ll never forget it.” I don’t know when he turned into this man, but I’m never letting him go.
Epilogue
Harlow
* * *
Page Six of the New York Post
* * *
A whirlwind romance on the set of Night Fire has lit more flames than anyone saw coming. The well-known bad boy, Nathan Hart, and the unknown darling, Harlow May, started a passionate affair that was more than obvious to director Blake Stevens. Capitalizing on the heat that sizzled between the two, the show itself was adapted to sneak in footage the famed director caught of the two while filming off set.
Reviewers and critics agree that the passion between the new couple is one for the big screen and can’t wait for the premiere this fall. Even former costar Julie Rays has stated publicly that she couldn’t be happier for the duo and hopes to be at their wedding where she jokingly promised not to steal the show.
More scandalous than the affair on set is a picture captured of the pair on an island getaway in the south of France. Sporting a small baby bump and a ring on her finger, Miss Harlow May is sure to be Mrs. Hart before the year is up! Friends and family close to the couple swear the two are inseparable and couldn’t be happier for the reclusive twosome.
Although the couple usually has no comment for the press, Mr. Hart responded to our request with a single line: “I lost her once, I won’t lose her again.”
* * *
“We’re still making headlines,” I tell Nathan from across the hotel suite’s kitchen as my hand slips to my belly. “And apparently, I’m pregnant.” The small smile that had graced my lips falls and I peer down below my bikini top. They can go get fucked, there’s no way I actually look pregnant. We’ve been vacationing for almost a month now and it’s time to get back to real life and everything that lies ahead for us, but I didn’t relax that much. I may have gained five pounds, maximum. I half wonder if Nancy told them I was pregnant. She has a bet going with Mark, I know she does. The papers are calling them the matchmakers and soon-to-be godparents.
I squint at the photo, completely oblivious to Nathan’s reaction.
“Are you serious?” he says and the disbelief makes me lower the computer screen. His dark eyes sparkle with a look I’ve never seen before, but it’s one that makes my heart stutter, as if it’s forgotten its natural rhythm simply because of the way he’s looking at me.
My lips part and that smile comes back. “No,” I tell him and turn my gaze back to the computer as the heat of a blush climbs up my chest. “I’m not pregnant.”
Nathan takes a drink from a water bottle, the thin plastic crinkling and the sound filling the tense air between us. It’s too soon. I keep telling him that and everyone else, the pain in my ass Lydia, especially. But watching his reaction stirs up something inside of me.
I watch the rough stubble on his jaw and throat move as he downs the water and then walks over to the recycling bin to toss the bottle.
“They didn’t congratulate me when they asked for a quote,” he says as the lid drops on the bin and he moves to the fridge for another water. “Those bastards,” he adds jokingly and makes me laugh hard enough that my shoulders shake.
First comes love, then comes marriage, I think as I look down at my ring finger. A three-carat, cushion cut platinum engagement ring shines back at me. I’m still trying to get used to it, let alone the idea of a little one. It’s just too fast. I pull my eyes away and look back to the article. But we’ve never been a couple who’ve done a single thing slowly.
My eyes flick from him to the words on the screen, not that I’m able to read another word. “Did you really tell them that?” I ask him.
I’ve never felt so loved in my life. I always knew I was meant for Nathan. I’ve never doubted it, even when he left.
He nods once and states, “I won’t lose you again, Hally.”
“You’re so dramatic,” I tell him half-jokingly, but we both know he’s serious. And so am I. I know what it’s like without him and I never want to feel it again.
I refuse to. He’s my everything. And I won’t settle on being anything less than his everything.