by Staci Hart
And it was a chance I wouldn’t waste.
31
A-fucking-plus
STELLA
At some point in the last forty-eight hours, time had ceased to exist.
Between jet lag and each other, Levi and I had spent the last two days in bed, leaving only to answer the door for room service and to shower. We’d slept a lot, talked much more, and the rest of the time was spent in each other’s arms—a place we preferred to stay.
I sighed at the thought, and Levi smiled down at me where I lay splayed on top of him, chin on the back of my hand, which rested over his heart.
“I think you’ve sighed twenty times in the last five minutes.” He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear, grazing my cheek with his knuckles on their retreat.
“I can’t help it. I don’t want you to leave today.”
“I don’t want to go either.”
Another sigh. “You really don’t know how long you’ll be gone? Not even a ballpark?”
“It all depends on the work I do and the budget.”
“Well, I hope they run out of money.”
I bounced with his chest when he chuckled.
“I don’t want to go back to New York.”
“You won’t have to worry about your parties getting busted, at least.”
“Yes, there’s that. I can’t believe what he’s done. I knew he was the devil, but I didn’t realize just how deep it went. All those girls …”
“Fucking pig,” Levi spat. “But Billy’s not wrong. I don’t think anything he did to the group was personal. He was just one head of the hydra—someone else is pulling the strings.”
Dread slithered through me. “Then we’ll have to find the other heads and cut them off.”
“We will. Just promise me you’ll wait until I get back. If you got in trouble while I was gone, or worse—if you got hurt …”
“I’ll leave it alone. I promise.”
The warmth in his smile sparked a fire in my heart.
“So let’s go over the plan,” I said, resurrecting my mental checklist.
One of his dark brows rose with his smile. “Again?”
“Yes, again. It makes me feel better to think about when I’ll talk to you, so just humor me, Hunt.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“So we’ll go to the airport together. Make out in front of your gate like a couple of pervs.”
A laugh.
“You’ll text me when you land in Damascus, and I’ll video call you when I land in New York. We’ll be seven hours apart, so I’ll text you every morning when I wake up.”
“At two in the afternoon your time?”
“Psh—I’ll wake up before seven if it means I get to see you for a minute.”
“That right there is true love.”
With a face-splitting smile, I climbed up him to give him a kiss in the hopes that it would ensure hearing that word from those lips a million times between now and when he came home.
When I broke away, he swept my hair over my bare shoulder.
“I already added you on WhatsApp,” I noted like he hadn’t watched me do it, “so that’s all set—no international fees for you. Hopefully, I can catch you at least once a day. And if I can’t, you owe me nudes.”
That earned me a full-blown laugh. “As soon as I have any idea whether we’re looking at days or months, I’ll let you know, and we can plan a trip to Dubai.”
“Which you can plan to see about as much of as you have Paris.”
“I mean, I can see the Eiffel Tower from right here,” he said with a nod to the French doors to the patio, where said tower rose from the city to the sky.
“Okay—expect to see less of Dubai, smartass.”
He gathered me up in his arms and rolled me over, pinning me with his body. “I’ll plan on it.” His eyes traced my face as if he was memorizing it, and his hand slid along the line of my jaw until it rested in his palm. “I’m going to miss you,” he said with unspeakable longing.
“Not as much as I’ll miss you,” I echoed softly. “I’m a little jealous that you’ll be so busy. I’ll just be stuck in New York, doing nothing.”
“Cecelia Beaton would never say her parties consisted of doing nothing.”
“Ugh, I’m going to have parties planned for the next three years just to keep myself occupied.”
“Hey, as long as you aren’t occupied with some other guy, I approve.” I heard the worry in his voice beneath the joke.
“Impossible. Why settle for ground chuck when I’ve got filet?”
“I dunno. Hamburgers are convenient.”
“I’ll wait for the steak, thank you.”
He let out a long breath, thumbing my cheek. “I wish I could ask you to promise you won’t.”
“You don’t have to ask—I’m yours. There’s no maybe about how I feel about you. There’s no if. Just you and me and the countdown to when I’ll see you again.”
“Think we’ll make it?”
I gave him a look. “Have you ever seen me not get something I want?”
“Nope.”
“Exactly. And I want you. So kiss me, Levi Hunt, and make me forget I’m about to miss you.”
“Only if you remind me again how much you love me.”
My heart swelled until it hurt. “You know the longing we all share? The searching we do for that piece of us that’s missing?”
He nodded.
“If you took my picture now, if you looked for my truth, you’d only find satisfaction. Because I found what I’d been longing for when I found you. I couldn’t let you go without cutting out a piece of my heart. And I don’t want to do without you again, not after a whole lifetime of searching. So kiss me and fly away so you can hurry back to me. I’ll be waiting.” My lips curled in a smile. “How was that?”
“A-fucking-plus,” he said with a smile of his own before kissing away every thought but the promise of our future.
I’d bet every penny on that future.
And I'd be right.
Epilogue
STELLA
Six Months Later
Everything in the room glittered.
It felt like standing inside a disco ball, from the mirrored ceiling and walls to the sparkle and shine of every person at the Galaxy party.
Stars were everywhere, from constellations to the celebrity variety, and as I scanned the crowd with a smile on my lips, I found the happy faces of all the people I loved. Betty in a minidress composed strictly of glimmering silver beaded fringe. Joss in a ballroom gown made of silver taffeta, stars in her finger waves and a diamond necklace of constellations around her neck. Z in white chiffon threaded with LED lights, a celestial headdress dotted with dangling stars. Ash in a silver suit and even Tag in a custom suit of faintly glinting gold as he tried and failed to dance with my cousin Sadie, who’d just moved in with us from Texas.
Yes, everyone I loved was here, everyone except the one I loved most.
I sighed, my happy smile fading to that longing one I hated so much. Not longing for something unknown, just the simple longing of a woman who missed her man.
It had been six months since Levi and I’d said goodbye in Paris and two months since I’d seen him in Dubai last, which basically meant an unbearable eternity I’d spent without him. We hadn’t gone a day without talking except twice when he was so deeply entrenched in a war zone, he couldn’t risk compromising his position.
Those were the days I got zero sleep and spent every waking hour scouring the news for anything that would make me feel better, which, unsurprisingly, was always fruitless. But we videoed at least three times a week, and just the shortest glimpse of his smile was enough to power me through any time spent without him. And though I’d told myself it was going to be impossibly hard to be without him, I found waiting for him easy. Not that I didn’t miss him—I did, and with a desperation that had worn my friends to the bone. But that I never once faltered. Never found myself frustrated, never even consider
ed that it wasn’t going to work.
I’d wait a lifetime for him, if that was what it took.
But we’d finally gotten word that he was coming home, his bosses calling him back to New York to cover the mayoral election, which had heated up to Fahrenheit 451 proportions. That, and Warren’s trial was about to begin, and since Levi had broken the story for Vagabond, Marcella had tapped him to cover the trial too. Honestly, I couldn’t give a shit why he was coming home and could have kissed Marcella on the mouth for giving him a reason to stay. Because he was, and I’d been counting the seconds until he was home.
I had big ideas for a blowout party to welcome him home, and just as soon as I knew when his flight would be, Genie was ready to book the whole thing. Parties had been back on since Warren’s arrest, and we’d been blissfully left alone—until a month ago. The mayor had appointed a new commissioner who looked like a bulldog in a uniform and made a habit of barking publicly at us whenever the opportunity arose. And when the raids started again, our suspicions were confirmed.
Warren was nothing more than a mini-boss, and someone was still out for us.
And as soon as Levi came home, we’d pick up the chase where we left off.
I slid my hands into the pockets of my dress—a champagne affair with a corseted top and mid-length layers of tulle, the whole thing covered in shimmering rose-gold glitter and stars of all sizes. I looked like a chic version of Glinda the Good Witch and was low-key obsessed with myself tonight.
I just wished Levi were here to see me.
Z swished toward me, her cheekbones—dusted with glitter and stars—high with her smile. Betty giggled from her arm, hooking my elbow when she approached. Z split off to sandwich me between them, and we stood on a platform in the back of the venue, surveying our domain with the pride of a trio of queens.
“Why aren’t you dancing?” Betty asked.
“Just wanted to watch for a minute, that’s all.”
“This dress deserves to be twirled,” Z noted. “If you need someone to twirl you, I volunteer as tribute.”
I chuckled. Then sighed.
“You miss him?” Betty asked.
“Don’t I always?”
“You are such a puppy,” Z said. “A mopey little basset hound puppy who keeps tripping over her ears.”
“I can’t help it, especially now that I know he’s coming home. I feel like I could crawl out of my skin waiting. I’ve never been a patient woman.”
“You’re like Veruca Salt without the attitude,” Betty said. “The Oompa-Loompas would stamp you a good egg even if you do want it all now.”
“What’s the first thing you’ll do when you see him?” Z asked with a curious smile on her face.
“After wrapping myself around him like an octopus?”
“Yes, after that.”
“Take him to bed for a week. I have six months of canoodling to make up for. I just want to … I don’t know. Reconnect. But is it weird that I’m nervous too?”
“Not at all,” Betty answered. “It’s been a minute since you were in the same place for more than a week, and when you were, it was basically a train wreck.”
“It really was,” I said on a laugh.
“What are you nervous for?” Z asked. “It’s not like he’s a stranger.”
“No, it’s not that, I don’t think. Well, maybe a little. It’s been so long since we were in New York together, and what if … what if it’s weird? Or what if …” I shook my head. “Never mind.”
“What?” Betty bumped my hip, but I shook my head again.
Z pinched my ass hard enough to elicit a squeal and a jump. “Spill.”
I sighed. “What if he realizes he doesn’t want me anymore?”
Betty and Z shared a look before busting out laughing.
“You are a crazy person, Stella Spencer,” Betty assured me.
I made a face. “Am not. That’s a valid concern.”
“No, it’s not,” Z said, her eyes flicking behind me and a smile rising on her face. “That boy is so gone for you, if he doesn’t propose within a year, I’ll eat Charlise.”
I gasped in mock surprise. “Your favorite wig?”
“That’s how sure I am. And if you don’t believe me, how about you ask him yourself?”
My face quirked, but before I had a chance to ask, Z grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me around.
Levi stood a few feet before me in a suit of cobalt velvet, his hair a little long and his eyes a little tired but his smile bright enough to power a solar system.
I didn’t know if he moved or I moved, but in a breath, I was in his arms, our lips a seam and my dress flying as he spun me around.
And my heart beat the words, he’s home, he’s home, he’s home.
I broke away to gape at his smug, beautiful face in shock. “You’re home!” I said stupidly, my heart sighing. “You didn’t tell me!”
“Yara got my ticket yesterday, and I wanted to surprise you. Did it work?”
“I am so fucking surprised, I can’t close my eyelids. You might disappear.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Stell. I’m home for good.”
“Until you get another foreign job.”
He shrugged one shoulder, his smile tilted and his eyes sparkling. “I’m home for a good long while, at least until Warren’s trial and the mayoral election is over.”
“Well, then I’ll have to enjoy you while I have you.”
“I learned a lot over there, about life, humanity, the world. I learned a lot about myself too, about the things I want and the things I love.” He held my face, looked down at me as if he were dreaming. “I have new plans. Big plans.”
“How big?”
“So big, I can’t tell you yet.”
I pouted. “That is such a cruel tease, Levi Hunt. You know I’ll lose sleep over it.”
“I’ll give you a hint. You know how I wanted a taste?”
“And you got the bottle?”
“I’m planning to call the whole vineyard mine.”
I stilled, my eyes widening. A flush warmed my cheeks in a tingling rush.
“Not just yet—don’t freak out. But when the time is right, I’m putting in an offer, Stella Spencer.”
“But what if … what if we settle in and I’m … I’m not what you want? You shouldn’t have told me, Levi, not until you’d put up with me for enough time to know you could stand it.”
He watched me for a beat. “Is that how you feel about me? Do you need to make sure you still want me?”
“Not even for a second.”
“Then, we’re on the same page. You waited all this time for me. And if we survived that, I think we can do just about anything. Don’t you?”
Smiling, I shook my head in disbelief. “Did you just ask me to ma—”
He descended for a kiss, a possessive promise on his lips, branding me with his name. “Don’t say it. That’s not how this is going to happen. But one day, it’s going to happen. So heads up.”
“Well, one day, I’m going to say yes.”
It was him who flushed, but before I could tell him I loved him, he kissed me again.
And I wished upon a star for the future we’d have.
Turns out, wishes do come true.
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The French Revolution party, and the reappearance of Roman, Z’s ex >>
Hidden Gem Sneak Peek
Bright Young Things, Book 2
Sadie
I gawked up at the shining, New York City building like the hick I was.
Coming from El Paso, I figured there was no way off the plane without a healthy sense of displacement. The largest metropolitan area I’d ever been to was Dallas, which by New York standards was probably what they’d call quaint. If New Yorkers even used words like quaint.
A cutting winter gust blew through me, sendin
g a shiver down my back. Pulling my sorry excuse for a coat tighter was useless, so I snatched the handle of my suitcase and beelined for the front door.
A plume of warmth greeted me when I opened the door, nearly sucking me into the lobby, which was fancy as all hell. Terrazzo floors and subway tiles on the walls with touches of raw, industrial elements, like patches of exposed brick and the winding white-painted pipes and vents overhead. Everything was pristine and white, the lobby furniture simple and a little bohemian and looked like it’d never been sat on before.
Behind the front desk sat a security guard who smiled like he knew who I was. “Miss Flynn?”
I blinked, pausing for a second before heading toward him. “Yes, that’s me.”
“Miss Spencer told me you’d be coming today and asked I send you up. She’s on the twelfth floor, number three. Gave you your own code: 4875.” He waited for me to answer. When I didn’t—my tongue was inconveniently fat and useless in my mouth—he added, “She’s out for a little bit, hoped she wouldn’t miss you.
“Oh. Of course, that’s no problem. I’ll head up then.”
“If you need anything, just come on back down and I’ll set you right. But I’m sure somebody’s up there. That place has more comings and goings than a soup kitchen.”
He’d said it fondly, but it still made me wonder. I knew Stella had roommates, but this guy—Frank, per his rectangular name tag—made it sound like she was running her own sort of soup kitchen. Even with her taking me in.
I thanked Frank and headed for the elevator, pressing the button with the golden twelve on its face. And when the doors closed, my heart ticked up a beat.
I hadn’t seen Stella in so many years, I could barely remember her. All I had were ghosts of memories that sparked a feeling, a sense of joy and familiarity. I remember playing in a house I didn’t recognize in memory, me and Stella and pile of Barbie dolls, a sliver of sharing a bed with her and staying up too late with a flashlight under the covers. I remembered her laugh. It was weird, I realize. But from what I knew of her, Stella made an impression everywhere she went.
