To Love Jason Thorn, page 16
“Yes, this will help me get everyone off of my back so I can get back to doing what I love doing without all this media crap, but it can also be a good thing for your career, too. Your next book is pretty much guaranteed to be another bestseller before you even finish writing it.”
I didn’t like hearing that. Not at all. I didn’t want people to read my words just because I was married to their favorite movie star. I wanted to make my own path, not walk in Jason’s shadow.
“The truth is, Olive, I’d take marrying you over marrying some girl I don’t know any day, some girl who is just looking to get a piggyback ride by marrying me.”
Lucky, lucky me.
Wasn’t that the marriage proposal every girl dreamed they would get from the love of their life?
“We are friends, right?” he asked when I kept silent.
Still shell-shocked, I was trying very hard to keep up with him. I nodded. I guessed we could be called friends. “It might be fun living together again. You’ll have your own room right across from mine, just like the old days, except this time there is no Dylan to bother you. I’ll mostly be gone, filming.” He looked around his heavenly backyard—if that expansive space could even be called a backyard, that is—and gave my hands a squeeze. “You can have this place all to yourself, Olive. It would be easier to write here instead of in a house filled with roommates, right?” His eyes came back to me.
“I’m not even writing,” I said stupidly.
“What?”
“I think I’m fresh out of creativity. Nothing new is coming, so that might have been my first and only book.”
He tilted his head and showed me his hypnotizing dimple.
“Maybe when you move here I can help with your creativity issues.”
My eyes got stuck on his mouth.
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
I forced my eyes away from his lips. I was dreaming of an alternate world where we were kissing. When the love of your life asks you to freaking marry him, you laugh with joy, maybe even shed a few happy tears, and eventually kiss, right? But this wasn’t my childhood dream coming true, was it? No, this would just be living in the same house with Jason Thorn, acting like we were in love only when were out in public, maybe holding his hand, kissing him on the cheek.
Could my heart survive Jason Thorn?
“So, what do you think?”
“About?”
“Marrying me…”
Did he really not see how I felt about him? Not even a little?
“I’m not sure if I’m capable of thinking right now, Jason,” I admitted.
“You’ll be saving me, Olive.”
But what would happen to me in the process? That was the real question. My heart was willing to go along with what he was proposing; after all, there was no way I could attend his wedding knowing it could’ve been me up there standing right next to him—even if it was a lie. But my mind wasn’t thinking any of that; it was giving out all kinds of warning signs.
“Can I think about it?”
“Of course,” he said, letting my hands go.
I was cold. Very cold.
Not knowing what to do with myself, I hugged my elbows and looked down at my feet.
His finger tilted my chin up and he ducked low to capture my eyes, so I gave them to him. He was smiling then, his eyes kind. “It’s okay if you don’t want to say yes. It’s not something I thought I would do this year either.”
Was he getting closer to me? Involuntarily—yeah, no, it was very much voluntarily—I took a step forward to close the distance between us. His eyes were my beacon.
What did he see in my eyes?
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.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN OLIVE
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?
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN JASON
“The damn bastards are quick,” I said after reading the article they had on us. I put the tablet on the table, next to my empty lunch plate. “The thing is, I have no idea who these onlookers are who watched yesterday. The way they are describing things…the only true thing on there is that I only left her side once. The rest is complete bullshit. We barely said a word to each other the entire meal.” I shook my head and reached for the French fries on Tom’s plate.
“The way they are telling the story works for you so I’d say stop complaining.”
Licking the salt on my thumb, I kept silent. I had made a fool of myself in front of Olive the night before. I’d thought I would breach the subject while we were having dinner, but for some reason it seemed wrong to ask Olive to marry me as if we were out on a business meeting. In the end I’d still fucked it all up, but at least we’d been alone when it happened. It wasn’t like it would have made a difference if I’d gotten down on one knee and asked her to marry me to save my career. There was no good way to ask someone to marry you so they could help you get out of the grave you’d dug yourself into.
Speaking of that, I still hadn’t heard back from Olive.
