To Love Jason Thorn (20 page)

His gaze dropped to my neck. He lifted his
hand and his fingertips touched the arch of my neck. I stopped breathing and
swallowed. His gaze jumped up to mine as if the motion startled him. Then his
fingertips trailed up and around my neck and tangled in my hair, his gentle,
unexpected touch causing my body to tremble.

My eyes fell closed and I breathed in his
scent.

He was standing so close to me.

To my heart.

His thumb caressed my cheekbones and I
tilted my head into his touch.

“Olive,” he whispered.

That voice…

I shivered, got wet… My body did all kinds
of things that always happen in romance novels.

He was going to freaking kiss me!

If it happens, don’t freak out, Olive.

You’re a calm waterfall, a purring fucking
cat.

At first, he rested his forehead against
mine and we just stood like that for a moment, breathing each other in.

Gently. Slowly.

His nose touched mine.

Then, nothing. Absolutely NOTHING! His
phone started ringing and his hands stiffened against my suddenly heated skin.
For a moment there, it had felt like he was right there with me and there was
no one else in the world other than us—but then, nothing.

His damn phone was a cock blocker after
all.

His eyes still focused on me, he took a few
steps back, answered his phone, and only then broke the eye contact. Had his
eyes darkened? Was I starting to see things?

I lifted my fingers to touch my lips. How
could I feel like his lips had caressed mine even though he hadn’t even touched
me?

I walked back inside to where I had left my
clutch and picked it up.

When Jason came inside, I was ready to leave
before I did something stupid.

I was going crazy.

The moment I was in my apartment, I walked
straight into Lucy’s room. My hands were already covering my eyes when I said,
“For the love of all the cute puppies out in the whole world, if there are any
penises dangling, tuck them away.”

I heard Lucy’s laugh. “I’m alone, you
dork.”

Dropping my hands down, I closed her door
and leaned back against it. Lucy straightened up in her bed and put down her
laptop. “What happened? You never answered my texts.”

I took a deep breath and then slowly let it
go.

“Jason asked me if I would like to marry
him.”

Lucy stared at me unblinkingly.

Lifting my hand, I looked at it and then up
to Lucy again. “My hands are shaking.”

“Excuse me?”

“My hands are shaking,” I repeated.

“Not that. Could you repeat what you said
before that? I don’t think I got that.”

“He asked me if I would marry him.”

“Okay. Am I dreaming or are you really in my
room, telling me that Jason Thorn proposed to you?”

I covered my face with my hands and
groaned.

“Could you come here for a second?” Lucy
asked calmly.

After a few steps, I was sitting right
beside her. Reaching out, she pinched my leg.

“I already tried that on my way over. Not a
dream.”

“Holy shit!” she breathed out, covering her
mouth with her hands. “Holy shit, woman! Did you put a spell on him or
something? Damn but you’re fast.”

“Lucy, I need you to listen to me very
closely, can you do that for me?”

“Sure, I believe I’m capable of hearing
what you are about to say. By the way, I’m very impressed and equally shocked
right now, if you couldn’t tell.”

“Yeah, I don’t think you’ll be that
impressed after you hear the whole story.”

Hugging her pillow to her stomach, she
motioned for me to go on.

“Apparently the alley—”

“No, wait!” She pressed her finger against
my lips and jumped down from her bed. “I’m gonna get the tequila I hid in the
kitchen. We need shots to celebrate.”

“We are not celebrating anything, Lucy!” I
hissed behind her back, but she was already gone.

When she came back she was holding two shot
glasses and a half full tequila bottle. She handed me the shot glasses and
poured the tequila.

“We’re not celebrating,” I said again.

“Fine. Bottoms up anyway. I need alcohol in
my system to listen to this. Humor me.”

We took the shots and she took her seat,
the tequila bottle clutched tightly in her hands.

I started again, “Apparently the alley video
did more damage than we had thought.”

“How come?”

“No questions,” I warned.

She opened her mouth, but I closed my hand
over it before she could ask anything else. “I need to tell it all at once,
okay? I’m having a hard time staying calm right now as it is. I’m letting you
go, but no questions.”

She nodded, so I pulled my hand back.

“Ok, here goes nothing. Like I said,
apparently the video messed things up big time for him. Because of that, his
publicist and agent want him to marry someone.” Her eyes grew huge, but instead
of speaking, she took a mouthful from the bottle, grimacing when it burned down
her throat. “You know, become a family man or whatever the hell they are
thinking. So they have been showing him headshots. Freaking headshots, can you
believe that?”

Keeping silent, she nodded
enthusiastically.

“Well, I can’t. Anyway. Long story short,
he didn’t like any of the potential brides they were showing him. Enter me.
When our photos went public and everyone seemed to think we were blissfully in
love, his publicist suggested that I would be the perfect bride-to-be because
of our past together. He said no one would think it was a publicity stunt to
clear the negative press around him. He must agree with their brilliant idea
because he asked me if I would like to marry him and become his roommate.”

“Can I talk now?”

“Yes, please.”

“Good. Okay, just a second.” She took
another swig from the bottle and offered it to me. I took two big sips.

“So, you said yes, right?” she asked as I
was wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. “Tell me you didn’t say no.
Because if you did, I might have to punch you in the eye and I doubt that would
look good on the cover of those tabloids.”

“I freaked out and left.”

“Clearly you’ve lost your mind.”

Pushing me away, she got up from the bed
and placed the back of her hand on my forehead.

“You don’t seem to have a fever.”

 I slapped her hand away.

“What am I gonna do, Lucy?”

She leaned down so we were eye to eye and
emphatically said, “You’re going to marry Jason
freaking
Thorn of course.”

I fell back on her bed. “I don’t think
that’s a good idea Luce.”

“Why the hell not?”

“It’s not going to be a real marriage. What
if he br—”

“No.” She shoved her finger in my face.
“You’re not gonna start with all the what if this happens, what if that happens
crap.”

“Did you hear something?” I asked, rising
up from the bed.

Tilting her head, she looked back at her
door and listened. “I’m not hearing anything.”

“Sounded like someone opened a door. Who’s
home? I’m not supposed to talk to anyone about this. I got my warning right
before he dropped me off.”

“Marcus isn’t in and Char is not feeling
well. Last I checked she was sleeping.”

I relaxed. “Still, let’s keep it down.”

“This fake marriage, this is your
opportunity, Olive. This is your chance to make him fall in love with you.”

“I’m not sure if we are still talking about
the same thing here.”

“Look,” she started in her, ‘I’m a very
patient person’ tone. “You’re still in love with him, aren’t you? Always have
been, and I believe, always will be. I saw those photos, Olive. He is into you.
You can’t fake that kind of chemistry. Okay, maybe he is not in love, at least
not yet. I’ll give you that much. But you have to give yourself a chance. You
said you’ll be living with him for crying out loud. What more do you want?”

My reluctance already dissolving, I turned
my hopeful eyes up to Lucy. “You’re right. I know you are right. I want to
marry the fuck out of him. But he is also
the
fucking Jason Thorn, Lucy.
If he was a normal guy, just working a normal job, I wouldn’t even think twice
about it. But he is Jason Thorn. I mean, he could do much better than me.”

She smiled. “But he chose you, didn’t he?
And what the hell, let’s say it didn’t work out. What do you have to lose? Your
next ten books are already bestsellers if you marry the guy.”

“Why are you the second person to say that
to me tonight?” Falling back on her bed, I released a long breath. “I want to
marry him so bad, Lucy.”

Lucy climbed up and lay down next to me.

“What’s holding you back?”

“I think I’m scared. To be that close to
him, to fall in deeper. He already broke my heart once when I was just a kid,
and he didn’t even know he was breaking it. This time around he’ll ruin me.” I
closed my eyes and took a deep breath to clear my mind. “I came this close to
jumping on him and holding on for dear life.” I lifted my hand and gestured how
much with two of my fingers.

Turning on my side, I looked at Lucy. “Did
I ever tell you that I asked him to marry me? The first day I saw him at our
house? When I was eight years old.”

She propped herself up on one elbow and
studied my face. “Nope. Tell me now.”

I recounted everything I could remember
from that day. “Even I had forgotten about that, but apparently he still
remembers.”

There was a moment of silence.

“I think I’m going to say yes.”

“Damn right you are!”

“Should I text him or something?”

She chuckled and whacked a pillow on my
face. “No dumbass. Let him think about you until he hears back. You’ll tell him
tomorrow.”

I pushed the pillow away from my face. “So,
what am I supposed to do now?”

“Go to sleep?”

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s happening any time
soon.”

“Do you want to make a plan?” Her eyes were
twinkling with mischief.

“A plan for what?”

“A plan for how to make Jason Thorn fall in
love with you.”

“I’ll pass.”

“But it’ll be fun!”

“I have no doubt about that, but I already
have a plan.” Scooting down from the bed, I backed away toward the door. “I’ll
just love him right to his face.”

“That’s my girl! Show ’em how it’s done.”

“If it all blows up in my face, you’ll help
me pick up the bits and pieces of my heart, right?”

She jumped down from the bed and gave me a
big hug.

“Hoes over bros. Always.”

“Great to hear. I’ll just go and try to
calm down in my room.”

“I’m still gonna make a list of what you
can do to him. Just in case you need it. There is this thing I do to Jameson
that makes him extra, extra horn—”

“Okay, love you. Have a great night.”

Leaving Lucy’s room as quietly as possible,
I lay down on my bed and watched the ceiling for hours before I finally fell
asleep with a small smile etched on my face.

The
mystery beauty is not a mystery anymore!

Ahhh, sorry ladies, looks like our very own sex god
Jason Thorn is out of the sex pool for now.

You remember the mystery beauty he was caught
with recently? She is not a mystery any more. We’ve learned that the strawberry
blonde is Olive Taylor, a childhood friend of Jason who is also the author of
the new New York Times Best Seller that is being adapted for the silver screen.
Can you guess who the leading actor is? You guessed right! Jason Thorn will be
taking on the role of Isaac, a troubled actor who reconnects with his first and
only love who he left behind years before. Do you think Miss Taylor wrote the
book to get her old friend’s attention? If so, it definitely seems to be
working for her. After claiming the number one spot on every bestseller list,
is she laying claim to our bad boy, too?

The couple, who have been the talk of the town
this last week, were spotted at the exclusive hotspot, Soho House. According to
our source, the pair had a lovely dinner together in the main dining area. “They
were talking to each other with their eyes, and they were absolutely beaming
with happiness. They were definitely on a date,” the source adds. “There is no
way they are just friends. Their interaction was intense.”

The hunky star left Miss Taylor’s side only
once, and that was to greet a group of business associates who were having
dinner just a few tables away from them. The romantic outing ended early when
Jason decided he couldn’t wait to finish his dinner, grabbed the bestselling
author by her hand, and ran for the exit.

“It was the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen
in my life. One minute they were smiling at each other, sipping their
cocktails, the next minute they were hand in hand running for the exit,”
another onlooker said.

You think Jason is in love with his childhood
friend? The people who watched their every move on the hot date seem to think
so.

Do you think he’ll keep her? Will she be the pop
to his sexy corn?