Page 34 of Promise Not to Fall for the Rich & Famous

Desperate, Gage called on his maker once more.Please, Lord. Let her open up to me. Help her know she can trust me.

CHAPTER 12

“Iwrote you a poem.”

Carly squinted against the sun to better see Gage. He was floating on a giant cloud, which was a good indication she was dreaming. She went with it anyway, wanting to hear just what kind of poem Gage might write her.

“Let’s hear it.” Carly lay back on her surfboard. She figured it was floating on the water until she realized that she, too, was up in the clouds.

Gage cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair. “Don’t make fun of it, okay?”

. “Never.” She shook her head, heart breaking the tiniest bit; she loved this vulnerable side of him

The sun grazed his gorgeous face, accenting his strong, chiseled jaw. “Okay, here it goes. It’s called Wishes, by Gage the surf-boy poet.”

Carly tried to ignore how close toJimmy the cowboy poetthat sounded and simply focus on the poem. Each word became bubble letters in the sky as he spoke them.

“My mind is ever filled with wishes of loving. Loving her.

I love her, but I can’t have her.

I can’t have her because I’ll be gone.

I’ll become a Hollywood star and leave her pining after me, the way Jimmy did.

Maybe. Maybe just one day I’ll come back for her.

Maybe that day will never come.”

The puffy, cloud-like letters hung in the sky, white against the blue, as a cannon-sized hole formed in Carly’s heart.

“How do you like my poem?” Gage’s brown eyes, so innocent and kind, stared at her expectantly. “Do you like it?”

Suddenly, Carly noticed a giant magnifying glass centered right over her heart. The sun’s bright beam shone hard on the beveled glass. Carly straightened and looked down at the smoldering black hole in her chest.

Another look at the magnifying glass said that Jimmy held it, a clown-sized frown on his face as he burned the hole deep and wide.

“Stop it, Jimmy,” she cried. “I’m done with you.”

Gage came up behind, tapped Jimmy on the shoulder and snatched the magnifying glass from him. “You heard her,” he snapped. “She’s done with you.”

With that, Gage glanced up at the sun, held out the magnifier, and hovered it over Carly’s heart once more.

A deep gasp tore from Carly’s throat as she shot up in bed. Her hands went straight to her chest, patting at the area to ensure she was whole, that it had just been a terrible dream.

“Thank heavens,” she muttered, and flopped back onto the bed. A quick glance at the nightstand said it was just past two in the morning. The sight grounded her back in reality once more; she was at home, in bed, not up in the clouds of that horrific nightmare.

Heart pounding, face sweating, Carly shifted onto her side and stared into the darkness. The horrible poem played out in her mind once more, all to the heart-breaking sight of Gage’s wickedly handsome face.

She curled into a ball and willed herself to forget it. Forget the nightmare, forget the poem, and forget the deep sense of foreboding that left her entire core aching even still.

A new image shot to her mind then: Gage standing before her, hands clasping hers, admitting that he was falling in love with her. A fresh ache ripped through her. She regretted not returning the sentiment, especially since she was falling in love with him in return. But saying it aloud? The idea had nearly paralyzed her.

It was like taking every one of her precious hopes and sinking them into one basket. And as attractive as that basket might seem, Carly wasn’t sure she could trust it with hopes so fragile and new.

She snatched her phone off the side table, anxious to see if Gage had texted her after she’d gone to bed. He hadn’t, but someone else had. Jimmy. Her stomach clenched as she tapped on the screen to read it.

Can’t stop thinking of you. I know I let you down by not coming out, but I wrote something new for you.