Total pages in book: 215
Estimated words: 199344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 997(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 997(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
She smiles but it’s only a small one, the exhaustion of her day already shining through. “I’m sorry,” she says, her gaze eating me up as she checks me out in my suit. “You got all dressed up for me, but I don’t think I’m going to make it. I’m just . . . I’m tired.”
“It’s okay,” I whisper. “Seeing the way the moonlight sparkles off you in this dress is more than enough for me. I just want you to have a good night.”
She shakes her head with sadness in her eyes. “You went through all that trouble getting Principal Daniels to let me go,” she says, her voice breaking. “All I wanted was to dance with you at prom. Anything else would have been a bonus.”
Releasing the chains, I brush my fingers down the side of her face and watch as she leans into my touch. “Who said you still can’t dance with me at prom?”
Her brows furrow. “I . . . What?”
I grin, standing up and offering her my hand and getting the sweetest satisfaction as she delicately places her hand in mine. Closing my fingers around hers, I help her up from the swing, placing my other hand at her waist as her feet press into the sand.
I move us back to where the ground isn’t so bumpy before lifting our joined hands over her head and gently spinning her before pulling her right in against my chest. “Just because we’re not in some stale school gym with shitty decorations and a bunch of teenagers trying to get laid doesn’t mean we can’t have our own prom right here,” I tell her. “Pick your favorite song and let me dance with you.”
Her cheeks flush, and when the overwhelming happiness reaches her eyes, I could crumble right here in her arms. “You’re going to dance with me right here in the middle of the park?” she asks, pulling her phone out of the hidden pocket at the side of her silver gown.
“There’s not a damn thing I wouldn’t do for you, Zoey James. And if you want to dance with me on your prom night, then we’ll do that until our feet can’t move a second longer.”
Zoey tips her head up to me, pushing up on her tippy toes and brushing the softest kiss over my lips. “You need to warn a girl before you make her swoon like that.”
“Never,” I tease, my hand curling around her back and pulling her in even closer. “I’m a live on the edge kind of guy.”
Zoey grins wide, rolling her eyes before finally hitting play on a song and carefully tossing her phone into the grass to free up her other hand. A cover of “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” by Jasmine Thompson starts playing through her phone speaker and my chest starts to ache as she folds back into me.
I avoid listening to songs with deep lyrics that force me to face reality, but if this is what she wants to dance to, then I’ll suck it up and be the man she needs me to be, even as the words eat me alive.
Zoey and I move so perfectly together that it’s clear we were made for one another. Her hand rests against my chest as we dance in the moonlight, my hand low on her back. “Tell me you didn’t walk here,” I say, my lips moving against her temple.
I hear the smile in her tone. “I can barely walk across my living room. I’m not stupid enough to try and walk all the way here,” she tells me, gently lifting her head and meeting my gaze. “I stole Hazel’s hoverboard and rolled my ass here.”
I grin down at her, picturing this beautiful goddess in her silver gown flying down the street on a hoverboard. “You know, I would have paid to see that, right?”
“If you’re lucky, I might just let you see it for free.”
I can’t help but laugh as I drop my lips to hers and kiss her as we dance through the park with the starry Arizona sky as the perfect backdrop.
When she pulls back and rests her head against my chest again, she lets out a heavy sigh, clearly deep in thought. “What’s wrong?” I ask, my hand moving up and down her back.
“Nothing’s wrong,” she whispers in a small tone as if still considering whether she’s going to say anything. “I was just thinking about you and me, and what I’ll be leaving behind.”
“Zo—”
“No,” she says, cutting me off, gazing up at me with such a deep love in her eyes that it almost brings me to my knees. “It’s just . . . After I’m gone, when you think about us and how we were together, I want you to remember us this way. Not the pain of losing me or the long days in that treatment center. I want you to remember these moments that were so unbelievably perfect that you took my breath away and left me feeling so overwhelmingly in love with you.” She holds my gaze, pausing for just a moment. “Promise me, Noah. Promise me you’ll remember us this way.”