Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“I’ve been there,” North assured me as he guided Aria toward the door. “We’ll be back soon.”
“Thank you.”
Once they left, Jared rubbed my shoulder. “How are you really?”
I sighed heavily. “I don’t know how to feel. It was like some awful nightmare and it’s like I’m here, but I’m not.”
He nodded in understanding. “It’s the shock and the exhaustion. Why don’t I grab you a coffee?”
A coffee sounded pretty good. “I think there’s a machine on this ward somewhere.”
Jared squeezed my shoulder before he left the room to hunt down some caffeine.
“I need all the caffeine,” I told Theo quietly as I sat back down beside him and took his hand. “But mostly I just need you to wake up.”
As if on cue, Theo’s eyelashes fluttered, and his fingers twitched in mine.
Excitement thrummed through me. “Theo? Theo, it’s me.”
Like weights were holding them down, it took a few more seconds for Theo to force his eyes open. He flinched against the light, blinking a few times as his gaze moved down his body before coming to me. Recognition filled his eyes. “Sarah? Sarah … what …?” His voice was raspy and dry. “Fuck, I hurt.”
I laughed, tears streaming down my face.
He groaned. “Are you laughing at my pain, sadistic woman?”
“No, I’m just relieved you’re awake.”
Suddenly, Theo’s eyes widened. “Sarah … Gray …oh, fuck.”
“It’s okay.” I pressed a kiss to his hand, stroking a soothing palm over his chest. “You’re okay. I’m going to let the nurse know you’re awake. But first, I can’t let another second pass without telling you that I love you. I am so in love with you, Theo Cavendish.”
He cracked a weary smile, still handsome, even with dark circles under his eyes and a pale complexion. “Well then … I think that was worth getting stabbed for.”
It was such a Theo retort, my laughter spilled from my lips even as tears slipped down my cheeks.
His expression turned strained. “Come here, my love. I’m all right. Come here.”
Gently, I kissed him and then rested my head on his chest. “You’re s-stuck w-with m-me now, you y-you realize,” I stuttered through my tears.
“Good.” Theo caressed my hair. “I wouldn’t want it any other way. Probably because I love you rather a lot.”
I smiled against his chest, holding him a little tighter. “I love you rather a lot too.”
Thirty-Eight
THEO
SIX MONTHS LATER
Elstree Studios, London
“And cut!” I called, waiting a beat before crossing into the paths of the cameras. Olivia and North turned to me on the soundstage, and I ignored the grotesquely realistic dummy corpse lying on a prop morgue table. “I think we need to try it without North’s last line. There was this expectant pause between you before that moment, and it was perfect just like that. Try it again?”
“Agreed.” North nodded congenially. “Liv?”
“Yes, that works for me.” She nodded but turned to look out toward the soundstage. “I feel some sweat on my upper lip. Do I need a touch-up? I don’t want to be shiny on camera.”
“Makeup!” I called, striding out of shot to a waiting Sarah. “We’ll start rolling in five!”
Even though filming for the Juno McLeod TV series had started a week ago, it apparently wasn’t losing its excitement for Sarah. She was practically bouncing on her toes as I approached her.
“Their chemistry is perfect,” Sarah whispered. “Maybe we need to make some changes from the books.”
“You mean North and Olivia’s? I think so too.” Our shoulders brushed as we leaned conspiratorially into each other. While North didn’t want to be typecast as a serial killer, especially after we all found ourselves splashed across the news for a few months again after Gray’s attack and capture, he did want a part in the show. After a screen test with Olivia, I thought him perfect for playing her younger male partner at work. In the books, Sarah had written an antagonistic relationship that started with a power struggle between them. Over time, North’s character grows to admire her. Sarah’s writing also hinted that perhaps he had romantic feelings for Juno that were never returned. Never even crossed her mind.
“I think it might work to hint at a mutual attraction as the show goes on.”
I pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “You took the thought right out of my head.”
Sarah grinned giddily. She was bloody adorable.
Chuckling, I left her side to approach our first cameraman, Jim. “Move in a little more on their faces toward the last half of the scene. I don’t want the corpse distracting the audience as they talk.”
Jim nodded. “Got it.”
I stepped away as Olivia’s makeup artist hurried off set. “Rolling in five, four, three …,” I trailed off, mouthing two and one as I counted down with my fingers in the air.
Sarah’s right, I thought as Olivia and North delivered their lines with such ease and tension, even I forgot for a moment it wasn’t real. And that’s when you knew you had magic in your hands.