Page 120 of The Jaded Notes

“We’re not leaving it behind.” I stride to stand beside her at the window, looking out over the city that brought us together. “We’re taking the best parts with us and building something new.”

She leans against me. I wrap my arms around her shoulders and pull her close. For the first time since that call from my team, I can breathe again.

“Jax?”

“Yes?”

“What we have—this dynamic between us, the scenes, all of it—that doesn’t change just because we’re crossing an ocean, does it?”

I press a kiss to her lips. “Not unless you want it to.”

“Okay then, it doesn’t. I'm just starting to understand who I am when I let go with you. I’m not ready to give that up.”

“You won’t have to.”

She turns in my arms, peering up at me with those blue eyes that have been my undoing since the moment I faced my desire for her.

“Jax, I care about you so much. More than anyone I ever have.”

The words hit me hard, stealing my breath. We’ve never said anything like that before, never dared to come close to naming what this is between us.

I know she had a serious boyfriend, one that she loved until he destroyed her heart. She’s spent the last year and a half trying to break down the walls he helped her build, and maybe she’s finally there.

But even though she didn’t say I love you, I have a feeling that’s what she’s trying to tell me. Seeing the fear and hope warring in her expression, I know there’s only one response.

“Mon trésor, I care for you more than anyone. More than I thought I was capable of.”

She rises on her toes to kiss me, soft and sweet, a promise sealed between us. When she pulls back, tears are resting on her lashes, but they’re not sad ones.

“So we’re really doing this? Moving across the world together?”

“Yes, Livianna. We’re really doing this.”

“Then I guess we’d better start packing.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

LIVIANNA/LILY

Eight Months Before Now

Lipstick Lies & Champagne Armor

Sometimes survival looks like red lips and pretending nothing hurts.

“Livianna Grace, if you don’t get down here this instant, you’re going to be late for the most important meeting of your career.” Mom’s voice carries up the staircase like a melody wrapped in urgency, slicing through the heaviness of my childhood bedroom.

I press my palms against the cream vanity where I used to sit for hours as a kid, staring at my reflection and practicing lines for roles that never quite fit. I used to wonder if I’d ever be enough for anyone, including myself.

My phone buzzes against the delicate surface. There’s another notification lighting up the screen like a beacon of my success and my terror rolled into one devastating package.

Lehlani Rose Designs has exploded beyond anything I ever imagined possible. And sometimes I feel like I’m drowning in the very dream I fought so hardto make real.

Jax and I are both busy. It makes it hard to make time for one another, but when we do, fireworks go off all night.

“I’m coming, Mom.” The words tear past my throat as I grab my leather portfolio and the sexy blazer draped over the antique chair that’s been in here since I was twelve years old.

The room still feels like a shrine to the childhood I never really had, all soft pinks and carefully curated innocence.