Page 121 of Drive

“Reid—”

His jaw ticked. “He’s going to ask you to marry him, if he’s smart. Don’t say yes.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Worse.”

“What is worse?”

“In love.” He dipped to kiss me, and I moved my lips away. He cursed and bit his lip, staring down at me, his frustration palpable. Exasperated, he took a step back. “Fine, I’ll play fair, but I’m playing. I want you back. I want you in my life.”

“You’re about to tour the world, Crowne. Just how do you propose to make that happen?”

Reid looked at me stunned, as if he’d just remembered he was about to play on five other continents. “Fuck!”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, there is that smallrock ’n’ rollthing.”

“Come with me,” he said softly. “Stella, I’ll give anything for seven more minutes. But I want all of them. You said I could have them all.”

“This was your plan? To drag me into an interview and then lure me into your life with an I love you?”

“It’s been three years and you haven’t chosen him.”

“I have,” I said with a leaden voice.

“No, you want to, but youcan’t. There’s a reason, Stella, and it’sme.”

“We have a life together. I’m happy with Nate.”

“But something’s missing,” he said, forcing me to look his way. “You wonder what it would be like if we were together, if we had gone further. You still want the fairytale, but it’s mine to give you, and I can’t give it to you if you’re with thewrong fucking prince.”

“I’m not,” I said breathlessly.

“Stella, we aren’t finished and you know it. You’ve always known it.”

“Why are you doing this? We don’t know each other anymore.”

“I know you aren’t yourself, not the version you want to be. This housewives shit is only going to take you so far, and then what?”

“I grew up, my dreams changed.”

“To match his,” he retorted confidently. “Don’t marry him, Stella. You don’t belong to him. I scare you and that’s good. Do it scared, remember? You were always so quick to believe in me without reason. I’ll give you as many as you need. I’m right here, Stella.”

His words struck deep as I gasped out his name. “Please, don’t.”

“I love you,” he said, releasing me before he slid his thumb across my bottom lip. “I think about you every time I play. Every single day, I take you with me wherever I go.”

Anger and hurt surged through me as I shook my head. “You don’t get to do this. You don’t get to come here after years—”

“I couldn’t make promises then, Stella. I hadnothing—less than nothing—and inside I felt like I was constantly on the spin cycle. I couldn’t stop spiraling. I couldn’t tell you this then. You were scared enough just starting out, and I was so damn desperate.”

It was the truth. He had been in no position to offer me anything but the day we lived in. He had been hanging on by a thread then. It was one of the reasons I could never fully hate him for leaving. Probably one of the reasons why I never stopped loving him.

“I remember.”

He leaned in on a whisper. “That first night you came over and washed my hair? Do you remember that?”

“Yes,” I said as hot tears streaked my cheeks.