Page 96 of One Night with Number Nineteen

“It won’t,” Luna says.

“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”

“I do.” Her expression is gentle. “What if it all goes wrong?”

My heart convulses—then doesn’t stop.

“What if he hurts me?” Faye asks.

“What if I give him my heart…and he throws it away?” Harper murmurs.

“What if I’m not enough?” Kailey says.

“What if I give in and it all goes bad?” Veronica asks.

“And what if, after it all goes wrong, I end up alone anyway?” Vi finishes softly.

Quiet falls over the table and after a moment, the sounds of the bakery begin to drift back in—the steam from the espresso machine, the bell above the door, the soft rumble of conversations, the clunks of the trains colliding in the corner.

I close my eyes, my mind clearing, the words slipping off my tongue and drifting out into the world.

“What if I become her again?”

Faye’s expression gentles. Luna leans close and takes my hand. Kailey touches my shoulder. Veronica smiles softly, and Harper’s eyes are full of compassion.

But it’s Vi who speaks the truth.

“You won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“Because we won’t let you.”

I suck in a breath.

“But, more importantly, you won’t let you.”

“Great,” Luna says. “Now that that’s out of the way, tell us about that insanely hot phone sex.”

Twenty-Nine

Sawyer

“What do you think?” my agent, Ally, asks a few days later.

I scrub at my forehead with a towel, wiping away the sweat that’s stinging my eyes, and ignore the buzz of post-practice activity in the hall.

Practice has finished, and I need to hit the showers.

But I need to deal with this first.

“I’m not sure,” I tell her. “What do you think I should do?”

“Take it,” she says without missing a beat. “Sure it’ll involve some upfront legwork, what with the photoshoots and all, but this kind of opportunity doesn’t come around all that often for hockey players. Take the pictures, make the commercials, do the social media campaign, and put that cash in your retirement fund.”

“All right,” I tell her. “Let’s do it. But get me the dates as soon as possible, yeah? I need to get them on the calendar.”

“Wicked!” she exclaims. “I’ll get working on finalizing everything. Keep an eye on your inbox, we’ll send it over for an e-signature.”