“Okay, we’ll get it all sorted. We’ll see you soon.”
As they turn to exit, I add, “Izzy, I’m really happy for you.”
“Thank you, Quinny.”
My nose scrunches up at my distaste for the nickname, and both Izzy and Trevor chuckle.
“Bye, Dizzy Izzy.” She’s always hated her nickname as much as I hated mine, and I’m not afraid to call her out as she leaves.
The scent of Trevor’s cologne fills the air around me as he steps closer. I watch in fascination as he reaches into his suit jacket pocket and reveals a folded piece of paper. My note.
He must see my alarm because he quickly says, “I haven’t read it. Even when you told me to, I couldn’t. I’m pretty sure I know what it’s going to say, and I wasn’t prepared to lose you yet. I’m still not ready to lose you. It’s been two months and I crave you as much now as I did when you stepped foot back in Dale City not too long ago. You were never just a casual hookup to me, Quinn. You had to have known that. I made a mistake when I made our deal. There was no way I could’ve kept my feelings from being involved. They’ve been involved since I was sixteen.”
He pauses for a second, looking into my eyes before he asks, “Do you… do you want me to read the note?”
I’m surprised at the casual way he confesses his feelings, but it’s just the way Trevor is—straight and to the point. And it’s then that I remember he asked about the note, the one wedged between his fingers. My heart lurches at the thought of what I put into that message while I was afraid and hurt. Words I can never take back and wish I had never put to paper to begin with.
“Please don’t read it.”
His head bobs as he reaches forward and grabs my hand, dragging me behind him out of the room and back toward the front of the church. Outside, the wind picks up, but I feel nothing but the warmth of Trevor’s touch on my skin. He guides us over to his Mustang parked in the back corner of the lot. Letting my hand go, he moves to the trunk and reaches inside. Finding what he needs, he makes his way back to me holding a metal plate and a lighter. The flame catches on the paper, and we watch in silence as the remnants of our past burn away into bits of ash and soot to be brushed away effortlessly on the breeze. Kind of like that stupid rule that kept us chained.
“I love you, Quinn,” Trevor admits as the last bit of parchment withers away into oblivion.
“I love you too. So much. I beg you to forgive me for running away.”
He puts the plate and lighter on the roof of his car and pulls me into his arms.
“There’s nothing to forgive, sweetheart. Everything happens for a reason. And like you said, you were filming, so you wouldn’t have been around as it is.”
“But I left with things such a mess. I left without telling you how I felt.”
“I always knew how you felt. Just like you knew about me. We had always said that we couldn’t develop feelings for each other, but you can’t keep from growing something that was there all along.”
“You’re right.”
“Now the question is how long do you plan to stay?”
“I don’t know. What do you think?” I wrap my arms around his neck and lean into his hold.
“Forever. I think you should stay forever.”
I pour myself into the kiss. Not just my body, but my heart and soul. I want Trevor to know that forever will never be long enough.
Epilogue
Trevor
THE CAR IDLES AS we sit in traffic, police cars corralling us toward a narrow opening in front of the Dolby Theater. Quinn sits beside me, cool as a cucumber, as she reapplies her lipstick from where I had smudged it off about ten minutes ago. Thank goodness for the emergency makeup wipes in her tiny bag.
The deep red on her lips stands out against her pale skin and the fuchsia of her dress. When I came out of the bathroom in the hotel and saw her standing in front of the mirror in the dress, I lost every brain cell in my body. I’d only seen her look as beautiful one other time, when she walked down the aisle toward me a few months back.
Of course, Quinn could wear a potato sack and she would be the most beautiful woman in the room. I love waking up to her each day with her hair mussed, face makeup free, and naked. Well, sometimes she wears one of my shirts to bed, but usually it’s gone by the morning.
“Are you nervous?” she asks me as we approach the drop-off area. Now we’re only three cars back.
“Naw, I’m not the center of attention so it doesn’t bother me. I just want to look good for you.”
Her eyes rake over me, and then she gets that hint of a twinkle in her irises that lets me know she’s turned on. “You look mighty good in that suit, Trevor.”
“Don’t give me that look, sweetheart. I’ll be tempted to ruin your lipstick again, and I can’t promise that your dress is going to remain intact.”
Her cute lower lip juts out as she pouts and crosses her arms over her chest.
“Aw, don’t be like that,” I whisper as I lean in closer and run my nose up the column of her sleek neck. Her small shudder doesn’t go unnoticed, and I press my lips to the spot where her neck meets her shoulder.
“Mmm,” she moans, and I close my eyes as I take her in.
The car moves again, and I force myself to pull away from Quinn and sit back in the seat, adjusting my erection so I don’t embarrass myself and her at the big event.
“How are you feeling?” I ask as we finally pull up to the red carpet.
“Excited. Very excited.”
The driver opens the door and I quickly scramble from the car, buttoning my suit jacket as I stand. This is the first time we’ll be together as a couple. Though we’ve been together for just over a year and married for two months, it’s been fairly secret since we live back in Dale City.
I assist Quinn as one of her strappy-sandaled feet exits the car. She stands with utter grace and beauty, striking me dumb for just a moment as she smiles warmly at the cameras flashing off in the distance.
How the hell did I get so lucky?
Quinn smiles over at me and presses a light kiss against my lips, causing a ruckus amongst the photographers on the other side of the fence.
“Looks like we’re official now,” she whispers against my lips.
“Well, the least we can do is give them something to talk about.”
The crowd roars as I bend Quinn over my arm and swoop down to claim her as mine in front of the world. Lipstick be damned.
*
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” she asks as she unpacks the last of our boxes while I sit lazily on the sofa, rewinding the recording from the Oscars a few nights ago.
In my defense, I just got off a fourteen-hour shift, and Quinn pushed me to the couch the moment I walked in the door with a plate of sandwiches in her hand to make sure I was properly fed. Well, after she let me spread her wide on our new bed, in our new master bedroom, and have my way with her. Not that she complained.
“Well, sweet wife of mine, I’m going to watch my amazing woman accept her first Oscar.”
“Again?” she asks as she places the last knickknack on the bookshelf and folds up the box.
“Come here,” I beckon and she complies willingly, letting me wrap my arms around her waist as she stands before me. “You are so fucking talented, and I am extremely proud of you. So yes, I’m going to watch it again.”
“All right, but I don’t need to be in here while you do that. I’m going to go finish unpacking our room.”
With the program still paused, I watch as Quinn hops up the stairs, her lean legs flexing under her cutoff shorts with each step. At her publicist’s insistence, we bought a new house in a gated community when talk of Quinn’s new life in Dale City became public knowledge. Security was key, and this house has it all. It also helped that Vic was able to sell his grandmother’s farmhouse, and Izzy used her trust fund to purchase the house down the street because the girls couldn’t be far apart since they’ve made amends. You’d never know that there ha
d been a two-month gap in their friendship.
We don’t ever mention the reason behind the “time we do not speak of” to Izzy, ever. Though she seems okay with it now, I know it’s still a sore subject. Not the fact that Quinn and I are together; she seems thrilled with it now that she has the sister she’s always wanted. It’s more that we did it behind her back and lied by omission. Hurting Izzy isn’t something I ever want to do again. When she hurts, I hurt.
Turning my attention back to the screen, I press the Play button and watch as the commercial ends and the intro back into the program begins. Last year’s winner for best actress stands at the podium and announces each of the nominees. On the screen, I smile like an idiot as Quinn’s name is announced and that adorable blush rises on her cheeks at the attention.
The woman goes through the tedious process of announcing the remainder of the nominees and then slides her finger through the black envelope.
“And the winner is… Quinn Miller,” the presenter announces dramatically.
The crowd around us stands but Quinn continues sitting, completely shell-shocked. I bent down beside her and whispered in her ear, telling her to get her cute butt up on the stage to get her award or I was dragging her up there over my shoulder. She had jumped up from her seat immediately and wrapped her arms around my neck before rushing toward the stage. How she didn’t trip on her dress is beyond me.
I continued to stand while she made her trek, and even as a few of the other audience members sat I still stood. I wanted my girl to know I was there for her, that she deserved every ounce of recognition she was receiving.
“Wow, thank you. I… I honestly didn’t think I was going to win this award tonight. I mean, I was nominated alongside actresses I look up to, who I aspire to be. And out of all these greats, you chose me. I’m completely humbled.
“I want to thank all of the amazing cast and crew on the movie. I want to thank Priscilla for being more than just my agent—you’re also one of my closest friends. And thank you to Izzy for being the best friend I could ever have asked for. Finally—” She chokes up. “Finally I want to thank my amazing husband, Trevor, for loving me even when I was lost. Thank you for showing me that it’s okay to break the rules. I love you.”
She blows me a kiss from the stage and the camera pans to me smiling like a loon with misty eyes. But my happiness isn’t just from the incredible speech or the fact that she acknowledged me as her husband to all of her colleagues—that secret was already out of the bag. No, my happiness is watching her left hand with that glowing diamond sparkling on her ring finger drape down to cover the baby bump beneath her dress. The little bump no one else will notice, but I know it’s there. We heard the tiniest of heartbeats just this past week at her four-month checkup.
Flicking the screen off, I hurriedly make my way up the stairs and find Quinn not unpacking the few remaining boxes in our room, but curled up on her side on the bed with her phone in her hand. I crawl up the end of the bed and over her body as she finishes typing out her text, and then I throw the phone to the opposite side of the bed onto a pillow.
My lips find their favorite spot on her neck just as she says, “The Cunninghams said they could deliver the infamous gazebo this afternoon.”
“Did they now?” I ask as I push her onto her back and settle my hips between her legs, making sure not to rest my weight on her stomach.
“Mmhmm. Are you all done watching your video?”
“Yep. Besides, I have something far more important take care of,” I admit as I lean in closer, filling my senses with her sweet lavender scent.
Weaving her hands through my hair, she asks, “What’s that?”
“You. Always you.”
*
RENEE HARLESS
If you enjoyed this book please consider leaving a review.
More Books by Renee Harless
The Stone Trilogy
Make me yours
Make you mine
Make us more
Welcome to Carson
Coming Alive
Coming Together
Coming Consumed
Coming Altered
Coming Innocent
Coming Unraveled
Coming Unplugged
Coming Home
Acknowledgements
Thank you to all of my amazing readers that have patiently waited to get this book into their hands. Between the Lines started off as just an idea I jotted down in my notebook of thoughts and then it persisted to cry out for the book to be written pretty much every day until it was completed. Trevor and Quinn are probably one of my favorite couples because I love a good best friend’s brother romance. I hope that you enjoy their story as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Renee, this book probably only made it thus far due to your constant nagging for it to be finished. This was your book after all. Thank you for pushing me and wanting me to be the best writer that I can. I wouldn’t be able to do this without you. You’re my best friend and I love you.
Colleen, Crystal, and Amanda – thank you for taking the time to painstakingly read through this book and others numerous times. You all always help me figure out how to make everything work and tie it up with a nice big bow. Your insights are invaluable and I love you all.
Thank you to Hot Tree Editing for allowing me to rush this book over to you and get it back with time to spare. You gave me just a few small days of sanity.
To the guy in the stock photo – thank you for having such dreamy eyes.
Jesse, aka Meander, aka my soulmate – I don’t have enough words in my vocabulary to tell you how thankful I am for you taking this journey with me. I love you more each day as you support me and watch me grow. It’s all about the sunglasses.
Kiddos – thank you for bringing Mommy snacks and giving her precious work time when you know that I’d rather be playing with you. I won’t ever get that time back with you but I’m going to make it worth it. You’re the best things that have ever happened to me and I love you both very much.
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