Headlines (Prime Time #3) - Ella Frank Page 0,51
he felt the same way. That meant the people in my life—and his—needed to get on board with it, because it wasn’t about to be over anytime soon.
But for the first time ever, Bailey and Sean had swapped roles. All throughout our lives, Sean had always been the stubborn, hardheaded one, who blustered through the difficult moments of life with more attitude than caution. But this time around it was Bailey. He was being stubborn to the end, and I could only hope that tonight hadn’t been that end.
“I thought I might find you out here.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the sound of Sean’s voice. He stepped outside and shut the doors behind him.
“I just needed a moment to myself, that’s all.”
“Yeah, I get it.” Sean braced his hands on the thick stone railing that surrounded the terrace. “The last of the guests just left, said to tell you they had an amazing night.”
I aimed my best smile in his direction, but I clearly didn’t do a great job of it, because Sean’s lips pulled into a thin line.
“It wasn’t so amazing for you, though, was it?”
I shrugged and looked back out to the buildings surrounding us. “It went pretty much how I expected it to.”
Sean nodded and turned around to lean back against the rail. “Hey.”
I looked at him.
“I didn’t want to get into it all right after it went down, but I wanted to thank you for what you said to Bailey tonight.”
I frowned at him, wondering what he meant.
“I know it couldn’t have been easy. Especially with how upset he was.” Sean reached out to run his thumb over the furrow in my brow. “It meant a lot to me. No one’s ever been in my corner that way before.”
I pushed off the railing, turned, and placed a hand on his arm. “I love you. I want to be with you. And while I know that’s a hard thing for Bailey to hear right now, it doesn’t change the facts. I’m not ashamed of this, Sean. Not you, me, or what we have together, and I’m done lying to him.”
“Me too.” Sean let out a sigh and put his hand over the top of mine. “Your mom’s worried about you. She came in on the tail end of the whole thing and saw Bailey leaving. I told her you’d fill her in when you felt up to it. But for now, her and your dad have headed off to bed for the night.”
“Thanks for that,” I said, turning back to face the twinkling lights. “I just… I can’t go over it all again right now.”
“Totally understood.” Sean moved behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. “You miss this place?”
I looked down to the cars on the street and the buildings rising from the concrete below, then I listened to the sounds echoing throughout the busy metropolis.
“I miss parts of it.” I looked back at him. “But not as much as I expected.”
Sean’s eyes widened. “Wow. I thought for sure you’d be chomping at the bit to move back in after being here tonight. All week I’ve been trying to think of creative ways to change your mind.”
As a warm breeze ruffled Sean’s hair, I thought he’d never looked more handsome. “Nothing creative is needed.”
“No?” Sean chuckled, and the sound was like music to my ears. “Your revolving rotunda tells a different story.”
How he could make me grin after such a disastrous night, I had no clue. But that was one of the things I loved best about Sean. He knew the exact right thing to say to distract me.
“Oh, I don’t know. I’ve discovered I’m more easily pleased these days.” I thought about that for a second and then added, “Or maybe I no longer need all of this fancy stuff because I finally found something real that makes me happy.”
Sean nuzzled in against my ear. “You better be talking about me right now.”
I tipped my head back to look up into the sky. There were a handful of stars twinkling overhead tonight, and the sight made me smile.
“I’m talking about the man who took me out into the middle of nowhere and showed me there’s plenty of glitter beyond the city. You just have to look up. I used to love this apartment, everything about it. I never felt anything other than happy when I was here. But this isn’t my place anymore.”
Sean turned me around so I was looking him in the