Chapter 23
“Does it matter?” Kristen asked, not quite able to meet his gaze as she reached over and cut the deck again, revealing the jack of clubs.
“You tell me,” Garrett said as he reached over and cut the deck as soon as she placed the cards back, revealing the six of hearts.
“How did you steal my dog?” she demanded, making his lips twitch.
“You haven’t answered my question yet,” he pointed out, finishing his burger while he watched her beautiful blue eyes narrow on him and-
“Skip.”
-told him everything that he needed to know.
“You already know the answer to that,” Garrett said, at her questioning look, he added, “You researched it for a book when we were ten.”
He watched her frown as she thought that over and-
“German,” Kristen said, shaking her head in disbelief as she finished off her milkshake. “And his name?”
“He’s obsessed with blankets,” Garrett said, watching as she absently nodded as she thought that over.
“I had noticed that,” she said, looking lost in thought as she nibbled on a french fry.
“What happened at the end?” he asked, watching her frown in confusion only to go still when he added, “I didn’t get a chance to read the original ending.”
“There was only one ending,” Kristen said as she reached for the cards.
“I see,” Garrett murmured as he watched her reveal the queen of clubs. Never taking his eyes off her, he popped a fry in his mouth before he cut the deck, revealing the king of spades.
“What happened in the original ending?” Garrett asked, placing the cards back on the deck and-
“Skip.”
“What happened to Tristan at the end of the book in the first draft?” Garrett asked, watching as Kristen reached for the cards.
“You already asked your question,” she said, cutting the deck to reveal the seven of spades.
“And you already set the precedent for follow-up questions,” Garrett pointed out, waiting for her to put the cards back before he took his turn, revealing the king of hearts.
“I have a theory,” Garrett said, absently drumming his fingertips against the table while he watched her.
“I’m sure you do, but that isn’t a question,” Kristen said, stealing his Coke.
“Do you want to hear it?” Garrett asked, praying like hell that he didn’t fuck this up.
If he did...
Christ, he didn’t want to think what that would mean, especially after he’d spent the past week struggling to come to terms with everything that he’d lost. Six years of having her in his arms, in his bed, and knowing that she was his.
He’d lost six fucking years and he refused to lose one more fucking day.
“Not really, no,” Kristen said as she focused on her fries.
“How about this? If I’m wrong, I’ll forfeit the game and we’ll amend the agreement to your terms,” Garrett said, watching as she thought that over.
“And if you’re right?” she asked after a slight hesitation.
“We play a different game,” Garrett drawled softly.
“I’m listening,” Kristen said, gesturing with a french fry for him to get on with it.
“In the original ending, Emily ends up with Tristan, but after I fucked up, you changed the ending,” Garrett said, watching her closely.
“Then, why didn’t I just kill Tristan off?” Kristen asked, meeting his gaze.
“Because you’re a hopeless romantic,” Garrett said, reaching over to cover her hand with his.
“Meaning?” Kristen asked, watching him curiously.
“That you wanted to give Tristan and Emily the ending that we never got,” he said, gently caressing the back of her hand with his thumb.
“And why would I do that?”
“Because you’re in love with me,” Garrett said, watching Kristen slowly nod as she pulled her hand away and-
“Looks like you just lost.”
He knew.
She just...
She needed to put some space between them so that she could think straight, which meant that she no longer had a choice in the matter.
She was going to have to look into assassin training.
But first, she was going to have to put her house up for sale, figure out a way to lure Blanket back, and fake her own death so that he couldn’t find her.
She didn’t want to do it, but really, what choice did she have?
None as far as she could tell, Kristen thought, risking a glance at the large man that hadn’t said a word since she’d ended their game to find him staring straight ahead as he pulled into his driveway and-
“You’re a bad liar,” Garrett said, throwing his truck in park as she somehow managed to bite back a wince.
“I never took you for a sore loser,” Kristen said with a pitying look, and just to make sure that he was buying it, a heartfelt sigh as she reached for the door handle and-
“I still have the original copy,” Garrett said, taking her by surprise.
“What?” Kristen asked, feeling numb as she sat there, telling herself that he was lying.
He had to be.
“When I plucked the iPad out of your hand, the first thing I did was send the file to myself just in case you managed to steal it back before I had a chance to finish reading it,” Garrett explained while she sat there, struggling to remember how to breathe.
“You’re lying,” she whispered hollowly.
“After we got back from camping, I read your first book again, trying to figure out how I’d missed it only to realize something important,” Garrett began as he reached for the door handle.
“What’s that?” Kristen asked, forcing the words out of her mouth.
“You changed chapter three,” he said, making her swallow hard as he opened his door and climbed out, leaving her struggling not to panic while she watched him make his way around the front of the truck, their gazes locked as she tried to tell herself that this wasn’t happening.
Not now.
Not after all this time.
She-
“I wasn’t sure at first, so I searched through my email and after a few hours, I managed to find it,” Garrett said as he opened her door and reached for her. “I spent the past week reading it and comparing it to the book you published.”
“And what did you find?” Kristen asked as he pulled her into his arms, making her swallow hard as the move brought their faces inches apart. She watched his gaze flicker to her lips as she was slowly lowered to the ground.
“You rewrote Tristan’s character, turning him into a brooding asshole that was once Emily’s entire world until he betrayed her,” Garrett said softly as he reached up and ran his fingertips along her jaw before he dropped his hand away.
“To match the man that he was based on,” Kristen said, watching the way that Garrett’s lips twitched as he took her hand in his and entwined their fingers together.
“And you changed the ending, instead of Emily telling Tristan that she was in love with him, she told him to go to hell,” Garrett said, absently caressing the back of her hand with his thumb, the move sending goosebumps racing up her arm.
“The same words that you said to me,” Kristen drawled as he gave her hand a gentle tug that had her following him as he made his way down his driveway towards the road.
“The very same,” Garrett murmured absently, sounding lost in thought.
“You were trying to tell me that you loved me, but instead, I thought you were making sure that I knew just how much you hated me,” he said, making her frown as she racked her brain, trying to figure out what he was talking about.
She opened her mouth to ask him what the hell he was talking about only...
“Oh, my God,” Kristen said hollowly as the realization slammed into her.
“You thought you were Greg,” she said hollowly as what that really meant finally hit after all these years.
“And you hate Greg,” Garrett said as they crossed the street.
“More than anything,” Kristen said, wondering why she didn’t see this before.
“Who’s Greg?” Garrett asked, glancing at her as they made their way to her front door.
“Everyone, Kelly, her gofers, the boys at school, my mother and stepfather, everyone who went out of their way to make my life a living hell, which brings up an interesting question,” Kristen said, pulling her hand away when they reached her front step so that she could look at him as she asked, “Why did you think that you were Greg?”
“Besides the fact that you wrote him as your best friend?” Garrett said, reaching up to push a strand of her hair back behind her ear. “Because he was in love with you.”
“Writing 101, make the bad guy the character that readers least suspect so that they never see it coming,” Kristen said, swallowing hard as his fingertips brushed against her skin. “I still don’t trust you.”
“I know,” Garrett said as he leaned down and kissed her forehead.
“I’ve thought about kissing you a thousand times,” Garrett said softly against her skin as he gently cupped her face in his hands.
“What are you doing?” Kristen asked, watching as he pulled back just far enough so that he could look into her eyes.
“Finding out what it’s like to kiss you,” he whispered as he pressed his forehead against hers and-
“What if I don’t want to be kissed?” Kristen asked, reaching up and placed her hands over his as she slowly took a step back, taking him with her as the move caused her to move onto the first step.
“Then, I go back to wondering,” Garrett said, following her as she moved onto the next step.
“Maybe that’s for the best,” Kristen whispered as she thought of all those times that she’d imagined what it would be like to kiss him. She’d thought about it so many times, imagined it in a thousand different ways, and narrowed it down to the perfect first kiss.
It was the one and only thing that she didn’t write about, the one thing that she didn’t want to share with her readers, and the one thing that she wouldn’t be able to resist finding out what it would be like to be kissed by the only man that she’d ever loved.
“Maybe it is,” Garrett said softly, his fingertips caressing her jaw as he turned his head and-
Tore a soft moan from her when the move caused his lips to brush over hers in a barely-there caress. The next brush of his lips had her breath catching in her throat and the third...
It had her lips parting, allowing him to deepen the kiss as he dropped his hands away so that he could wrap his arms around her.
He pulled her closer as he took his time, alternating between brushing his lips against hers and moving his lips against hers as she reached up and cupped his face in her hands.
The incredibly sexy groan that he released when she did that had her parting her lips again and-
Moaned softly when his tongue found hers as he pulled her tightly against him.
She lost herself in that kiss, forgetting about the past six years, their deal, everything, as she kissed him back. She’d never been kissed like this before, like he was savoring every brush of their lips, teasing of their tongues, leaving her desperate for more.
“What’s the plan?” Kristen asked, breaking off the kiss only to moan softly when he brushed his lips against hers one last time and-
“To make you fall in love with me.”