Dropping The Ball - A New Year’s Billionaire Romance - Weston Parker Page 0,51
for a couple of months. It’s a completely different thing to have to accept that it’s going to be that way for the foreseeable future.”
“I get that, but it’s not our choice to make, babe. It’s his. You’re worried about it, fine, but have you talked to him about your worries?”
“No, not yet, but I will. There are a lot of things we need to talk about.” At this stage, all I knew for sure was my feelings for him were growing on a daily basis. I didn’t know what we were to each other, why being together felt inevitable, or even really what was keeping us from it.
It felt like there were a million hurdles between us when I looked into his eyes sometimes, and I didn’t understand why. Except for the rules, of course, but that hardly felt like an insurmountable obstacle to me.
The things I worried about were more about the realities of being in a relationship with me rather than the reasons why we couldn’t have one. But it felt like Carter didn’t see it the same way, as if he could see or knew something I didn’t.
Tani brought me back to our conversation by snapping her fingers in front of my face. She smiled when I looked at her. “I know you drifted off to think about all those things you need to talk to him about, but you should’ve seen the look on your face. I think you’re falling, my dear friend. Even if you might not know it yet.”
“Oh, I know it all right,” I mumbled under my breath. “I just don’t really know what to do with it.”
“How about telling him?” she suggested, the corners of her eyes still crinkled and her irises sparkling. “You have to tell him, but you also need to let me help you plan how you’re going to do it. I love all love, but your love? I’m all about that.”
“What about your own love?” I knew Carter had warned me about Bart, but I couldn’t help holding on to a sliver of hope that the two of them meeting each other today would turn into something more.
She just shook her head at me. “We’re not talking about me. You were still telling me about your worries, remember?”
“Right.” I rolled my head from side to side, my hand on my neck as I prepared to voice my greatest fear. “What about my MS? Living with a famous person is difficult enough, but a sick famous person? A sick person whose disease can show up again at any time and ruin everything? That’s a next level kind of commitment to expect from anyone.”
Her expression grew serious. “Have you told him about it?”
I nodded. “After rehearsal the other day. He complimented me on my performance and we ended up on why I took a break.”
“What did he do when you told him? How did he react?”
He brought me home and made love to me for the first time. “It didn’t change the way he looked at me.”
Tani knew exactly why I’d said that and what I meant by it. Another slow smile spread across her face. “There you have it, then. You always said that if you find a man who doesn’t treat you differently or pitied you after he found out, you’d marry him. I’d say it’s time for us to go ring shopping.”
“I’ve only known him a few weeks. I’m not proposing to him.”
She shrugged, waving her left hand at me. “Put a ring on it, gorgeous. If you know, you know, and I’m pretty sure you know.”
“Pretty sure isn’t sure, sure,” I said, but I couldn’t help flashing back to how I’d felt the other night before he’d taken me to bed, and every day since.
What we had between us was undeniable, and it sure felt like the real thing. Unless the MS flared up now that I was going back to performing most nights a week. “Hells bells. Maybe I shouldn’t get back on stage. If I don’t, both of the things I’m worried about the most are far less likely to cause any problems.”
“Nope, not happening,” she said firmly. “Just because you’re worried about those things doesn’t mean you should give up your career because of it. You want to be back onstage, so you’re going back onstage. It’s as simple as that.”
“And as complicated as that.” I held the back of my neck and lifted my head to look at the ceiling. “It’s