Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
My chest stretched tight, and emotion raced my throat.
My North Star.
I touched his face, and he took my hand and kissed across my knuckles before he stepped back.
It would have been close to a smirk tweaking the edge of his mouth if it weren’t for the nerves that carved his features in severity. The way his breaths were harsh clips of oxygen.
Fueled by intensity.
“One more gift tonight, Aster. But you should know it’s a gift for me.” That time, it was an affected smirk, so sweet my stomach twisted.
He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small box before he knelt on a knee.
“Logan.” A shocked whisper got free, and my attention darted between the urgency in his gaze and what he held in his hand.
“I’ve had this for seven years, Aster.”
Seven years.
Emotion rushed. A tidal wave that came from the depths and rose to the surface. It crashed over me in an inundating swell. Tears blurred my eyes, and my hand covered my mouth.
“Logan,” I whispered it again.
Taken.
Overcome.
Unable to stand.
I slipped to my knees in front of him.
He set the ring beside him and took me by both sides of my face. He stared me down, his expression carved in fervency.
“When I came to you that night, Aster, I came with this ring and the promise that I was going to do whatever it took to convince your father you belonged with me. This ring? It was a promise of what I felt for you. I was going to tell him I was going to marry you, and we were going to have a family, and I was going to take you away from that place because you deserved so much better than the life he had planned for you. But I didn’t fight for you like I should have.”
His hold intensified, his big fingers digging into my hair and his thumbs running the angle of my jaw. We were so close our noses touched, our eyes wide and feeling, sucking every ounce of devotion in.
“I let anger and pride take me over, instead. I let your words impale me rather than recognize the torment that was in your eyes. That’s what I chose to see, the hatred and the bitterness, rather than to see you were hurt. That I’d hurt you, too. But that promise I came to make you that night? It still burns bright inside me.”
His eyes glassed over as they searched my expression. “Little Star…marry me because I’m tired of looking at the sky without you in it.”
I threw myself at him, my arms around his neck. “Yes.”
I knew we had to deal with Jarek. Finally put it in the past. But we would, and it would be us. Forever.
“It was always yes.”
A groan of relief vibrated through him, and he rose up high on his knees, taking me with him as he hugged me against the raging thunder in his chest.
He was grinning when he eased back and took out the ring.
My hand was shaking like crazy as he slipped it onto my finger. Tears streamed free.
But these tears?
They shouted of forever.
Joy squeezed me tight when I lifted my hand to admire it. It was dainty and delicate, the band rose gold with a floral filigree, the diamond small and perfect and represented everything I’d ever dreamed.
“I’ll replace the stone.” His jaw flexed.
I choked out a laugh and held my hand protectively against my chest. “Don’t you dare, Logan Lawson.”
His expression turned tender. As if he saw something in me that he’d once thought missing.
And looking at him?
I saw what I’d once believed of him.
My beautiful, sweet man.
Fierce.
Loyal.
Right and good and kind.
My everything.
My North Star.
THIRTY-FIVE
LOGAN
LOS ANGELES, NINETEEN YEARS OLD
Logan rubbed the star-shaped note between his fingers as he slipped out the back door of the office and into the night. The second he stepped outside, his heart rate spiked.
Anticipation.
Need.
A sticky, heavy dread.
Because he could feel it catching up to them.
He felt her presence emanating from behind the outbuilding, her sweet spirit stretching out in a slow build of seduction.
His Little Star that shined so bright.
“Why are you hiding?” he muttered.
Intensity flashed, and she peeked out from around the corner. “Because I have to.”
“Are you going to get into trouble?” It was purely a tease.
They were already in so much trouble.
So much trouble.
“No. I’m going to get you into trouble.”
He couldn’t help but smirk at their little game. “Do I look like the type of guy who really minds?”
Besides, there would be no more hiding soon.
“I’m afraid you will.”
“I’ll do anything for you.”
He moved forward, through the dense foliage to where she waited. Her chest heaved, making the necklace he’d given her twinkle in the bare light. He touched her belly that had barely begun to swell, felt the joy spring up from the places he’d believed he’d never feel.