Page 231 of The Hopelessly Bromantic Duet
My agent escorts the publicist out of my place. The fake boyfriend game is officially over.
I shut the door with a satisfying click, then turn around, ready to haul Jude into my arms...
But he’s already come to me. He’s a foot away, and he grabs my face to hold me tight. “I love you. I love you so much. I am utterly, absolutely in love with you, TJ.”
Joy floods every cell in my body. He took the words right out of my heart.
The only thing I’ve loved more than writing is this man. “I love you too, Jude.” I press a kiss to his lips. “I just love you.”
We stop talking and kiss like it’s the answer to every problem.
Fine, this kiss doesn’t erase Rikki’s story. It doesn’t clean up the mess. And it doesn’t solve our career issues.
But it does one thing spectacularly well. It reminds me that all of that will be fine. Whatever happens, I’ll be fine as long as Jude is here with me.
And I do. I have the man I love in my arms.
When we break the kiss, Jude looks elated. “You are such a sneaky fucker,” he says, grinning wickedly.
I shrug playfully. “No idea what you mean.”
“You’ve been leading a double life. You never said a word to me about yourinspiration.”
I roam my hands down his arms, enjoying every second of this. I got the guy. I’m riding off into the sunset with him. “I didn’tnotsay a word either.”
“You didn’t tell me! How could you not tell me?”
“Dude. If you had just read it . . .”
“You told me not to read it,” he insists.
“You don’t always listen to me,” I say, but we’re both laughing, we’re both giddy, and neither one of us is talking about Malcolm or Rikki or the paps or a fake romance.
Because we’re real. Definitely real.
Just like all those feelings in my book came from this real love, the first time around. When I wrote that romance, Jude was the guy who got away. At the time, I was gambling that he’d read it and like it, think it was clever and fun. But, I’m so glad he read it today.
Jude runs his thumb along my face, tracing my jaw. His smile widens, and his voice softens. “You wrote me a love letter in your book.”
My heart hammers. “I did. I remember the day at the river when you asked me to write a story about you.” I take a beat, enjoying this moment more than anyone has a right to enjoy anything. “You’ve been all my inspiration since I left London. I’ve been longing for you the whole time, and I put that in every book I wrote. You’re every love story. You’re every romance I write.”
He threads his fingers through my hair. “I fell in love with you in London. And then again in Los Angeles. And then once more over the last few weeks.”
“I can’t seem to stop falling in love with you either,” I say.
“Don’t stop. I won’t either,” he says.
Nothing else matters. I need him. “Kiss me again.”
Jude obliges with a long, deep, passionate kiss that has me pulling him to the bedroom and tugging him onto the bed on top of me.
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SEX MAGICIAN
TJ
Someone read a ton of articles.