Sweet Love - Mia Kayla Page 0,77

the rest of his life with. He kissed me like this was real, like we weren’t playing a part, but this was our own happy ending.

And I reveled in it, pretended that just for a moment, he wasn’t leaving, and this was us—our own happily ever after.

Chapter 25

Charlie

Filming was over, and a rush of butterflies filled my stomach as it had on the beach. I carried the bag of greasy fries while Connor held our burgers.

We entered his apartment, and I took his bag and placed it on his glass kitchen table.

“I’m so hungry.” I rubbed my belly, needing to fill it with all the greasy goodness. I made my way to his cupboard as though this were my own house and grabbed some plates and napkins. After the weeks we’d been together, I knew this apartment inside and out.

He had been quiet the whole way home, and though I’d wondered what he was thinking, I had also known not to ask because I was thinking the very same thing.

There was a ticking bomb on our relationship, and the bomb would explode on the day he moved back to Manhattan. And every time I thought about it, I wanted to cry, but I had known this. Right? I’d made an adult decision to enter into this relationship with Connor, knowing he was going to leave. But the stakes were different now, weren’t they? Because he’d asked me to move with him, and I hadn’t predicted that I would fall in love with him.

I bit the inside of my cheek and focused on unpacking our burgers and fries and placing them on the plates on the table.

Connor’s eyes burned through me. I knew he was watching my every move even though I wasn’t looking at him.

I moved back to the cupboards to get some glasses. After pouring water, I sat down but still didn’t meet his eyes.

Why does this have to be so hard?

I stood. “I should change before I get grease on this beautiful dress.”

When I stood, he reached for my wrist and tugged me until I fell into his lap.

“Don’t. Leave it on.” His voice was quiet, almost sad.

“Okay …” I fisted the edges of the silk that clung to my body. “What are we going to do with this dress? It’s thousands of dollars, and we can’t return it. I’ll have to look up where we can donate it.”

His fingers gripped me tighter, and he rested his forehead against my shoulder and sighed.

“Go to New York with me …” His words were uttered in a dying plea. When I didn’t answer, he lifted his head and guided my chin to face him. “Charlie …”

I held his face within my palms. “Why such the sad face?” I squeezed his cheeks together until he formed a fish face. Then, I pecked his lips.

Didn’t we decide we’d take it a day at a time?

His eyebrows scrunched, and then he sighed. “I want you to move in with me. I need you with me, Charlie. I love you.”

I stared deeply in his eyes, saw his sincerity behind his words. “And I love you.”

I clenched my teeth together in a tight smile. I wouldn’t cry, not when he was here. When he left, I knew I’d cry a million tears, but until then … I’d be happy and enjoy his presence, just like I’d promised myself in the office closet, just like I’d promised him earlier.

I extracted myself from his hold and sat on my own chair, lifting the bun from the hamburger and taking out the tomatoes. “You can’t say things like that and expect everything to be okay between us. You know I can’t go with you.”

“We’ll come back here to visit every weekend.”

He knew I still had my mom here, but that wasn’t the reason that I didn’t want to go. I had just upped and left my life in Wisconsin to move to Illinois, and now, I had a job I didn’t mind and friends who I loved. I wasn’t even considering moving to Manhattan. Simply, he might be the right guy, but now was not the right time.

I picked up my burger and then placed it down on the plate, my appetite now gone when, a minute ago, I could have sworn my stomach was eating its own lining.

“Why does this have to be so hard?” The words slipped out before I could stop them.

In the next second, Connor was beside me. He pulled me to stand and