Flipping His Script: A Loathing to Love Romance

by Sabrina Stark

  Good.

  Because I wasn't going to let her go.

  She was mine.

  When her eyelids fluttered open, I whispered, "You're adorable when you sleep, you know that?"

  She gave me a drowsy smile. "Liar."

  "No lie here," I said. "I took pictures. You wanna see?"

  With a gasp, she bolted upright in the bed. "You didn't."

  I laughed. "You're right. And you wanna know why?"

  "Why?"

  "Because I don't want pictures. I want the real thing." I pulled her into my arms. "And I don't mean for just one night."

  Laughing, she gave me a mock push, even as I held her tight against me. She said, "You're horrid. You know that?"

  "Hell yeah. And you love it."

  She pulled back and gave me a dazzling smile. "I love something."

  Her smile was contagious, and I replied, "Tell me."

  "Actually, it's not a some thing, but a some one." She leaned her forehead against mine and softly said, "You."

  The single word warmed my stone-cold heart. I cradled her close and said into her hair. "Oh yeah?"

  She nodded against me. "Definitely, even if you are impossible." She hesitated. "But wait, you never said… Last night, about Jack, why'd he leave so suddenly?"

  I recalled the look on Jack's face when he'd told me that he was leaving early. "He didn't say. But he wasn't happy, I can tell you that."

  "Why?" she asked.

  "When I find out, I'll let you know." Assuming that I ever did find out. One thing about Jack, he had more than his share of secrets. But I couldn’t think about that now. My head was too filled with thoughts of the girl in my arms.

  Nuzzling closer, she said, "Speaking of letting me know, I'm just curious…When did you realize it was something more?"

  "Between us? Not soon enough." To think, if I hadn't pulled my head out of my ass when I did, I might've lost her forever.

  It was a sobering thought.

  "But seriously," she persisted, "was it something you just realized last night?"

  "What do you think?"

  "Actually, I'm not sure. I mean, you never said anything."

  "I know," I said. "I wanted to show you first."

  "Show me what?"

  I brushed my lips across the top of her head. "That I wasn't always an asshole."

  She laughed. "Oh come on. You weren't that bad."

  Now it was my turn to say it. "Liar." I caressed her naked back. "You want the truth? I'd have told you last night regardless."

  "Told me what?"

  "One – that I love you."

  She pulled back and smiled so sweetly, it took my breath away. "I love you, too."

  "Damn straight."

  She was still smiling. "Oh, so that's how it is?"

  "Oh yeah." I gave her a meaningful look. "And two – the deal's off."

  Her smile faded. "What do you mean?"

  "From now on, I don’t want to pretend. And I don't want you to pretend either."

  Her smile turned sheepish. "Why? Because I’m so terrible at it?"

  "No." I gazed deep into her eyes. "Because I want the real deal."

  Her eyes grew a shade warmer. "Really?"

  I nodded. "But in case it wasn't clear, I'm still gonna pay up."

  She shook her head. "You don't have to."

  "Wanna bet?" I said. "A deal's a deal."

  "But—"

  "And I want it to be over, so we can start fresh."

  She bit her lip. "But now I'd feel strange taking it, the money, I mean."

  Whether she realized it or not, I knew how badly she needed it. If I had my way, she'd never need it again. But that was a conversation for another time.

  "Too bad," I said, "because I never back out of a deal." I paused. "But I am gonna ask you for a favor."

  "What?"

  "Come with me."

  "Where?"

  "I didn't want to mention it earlier," I said. "But the publicity stuff, it starts next week."

  "It does?" she said with obvious surprise. "Why didn't you say so?"

  "You want the truth?"

  She nodded. "Definitely."

  "I didn't want to put you through that."

  "Through what?"

  "The hassle, the questions, the lies. I knew you'd hate it."

  She laughed. "Since when is that a factor?"

  "From now on."

  "But wait, isn't that what you were paying me for in the first place?"

  "Forget that deal," I said. "It's done. Remember?" A sudden recollection made me pause. "But hang on. I got you something."

  "You did? When?"

  "The day we ran into Mackenzie."

  "Oh, so that's where you went? When you ran that errand?"

  With a nod, I got out of bed and rummaged on the floor for the pants I'd been wearing last night. I'd brought the item along with me, intending to give it to her at the restaurant.

  But with everything else, it had slipped my mind. With my back to Anna, I reached into the pocket and pulled out the thing I was looking for.

  I looked over my shoulder and said, "Close your eyes."

  "Why?"

  "Because it's a surprise."

  She gave a dramatic groan. "Oh, no."

  I had to smile. "What's that about?"

  "Well, every time I've surprised you, it's been awful."

  I knew what she meant. The waffles.

  Funny she should mention that.

  I tried to glower. "You know, your eyes are still open."

  When she finally shut them, I returned to the bed and reached for her wrist. I secured the bracelet around it and said, "All right. You can open them now."

  She looked to her wrist and burst out laughing. "Oh, my God. It's so…"

  I smiled. "Disturbing?"

  "Wonderful," she breathed. As she spoke, she lifted her wrist, making the platinum charm bracelet catch the morning light. With a huge smile, she asked, "Where'd you get this?"

  "I had it custom-made."

  "I can believe that," she said. And then, one by one, she examined each of the charms. There were ten total. Five were miniature heart-shaped waffles. The remaining five were all different – a chili pepper, a fish, a snail, an old shoe, and a tin can.

  Her eyebrows lifted. "A tin can seriously?"

  "Dead serious."

  She was laughing again. "How awful do you think I am?"

  "I don't know," I said. "But I think I'd be smart to not find out."

  Her eyes narrowed even as her mouth lifted at the corners. "You're gonna get it, buddy." And then, naked except for the bracelet, she tackled me on my own bed.

  True to her word, I got it, all right.

  Chapter 85

  Anna

  From inside the limo, I gave Flynn a nervous glance. "How do I look?"

  He grinned. "Good enough to eat."

  I almost giggled. "You already did that." And it had been wonderful, just like always. I'd returned the favor, and we'd spent way too long in bed when we were supposed to be getting ready for the official premiere of his newest – and apparently, final – movie.

  I was wearing a long, sparkling black dress and huge diamond earrings – a gift from Flynn just this morning.

  An anniversary present – that's what he'd called them. Today marked one full month since we'd ditched the fake relationship in favor of something real. We'd been traveling nearly nonstop during that timeframe as he made the publicity rounds in advance of the movie's actual release.

  The whole time, we'd been dogged by reporters, wanting more details on what they'd dubbed – yup, you guessed it – Flanna.

  Heaven help me.

  In cheerier news, the whole thing was a lot more fun now that it wasn't just an act.

  And, my heart was feeling lighter than it had in forever, ever since Flynn – over my objections – had insisted on paying for the rest of Becka's college tuition as well as for a dorm room if she wanted to get away for a while, whi
ch in happy news for her, she did.

  As far as my mom, she's been talking about dating again. Why? Because Gordon's parole didn't come through after all, and she's been making noises about moving on. Whether she does or not, I've decided one thing for certain. Gordon is officially out of my life, and Becka's too.

  Speaking of Gordon, Flynn shared a confession that shocked me to the core. Turns out, he was the one who'd gotten Gordon convicted in the first place.

  As revenge?

  Yes. But not just that. Gordon's illegal dealings had hurt a lot of people over the years. And, according to Flynn, it wasn't hard to discover evidence to prove this fact – especially when someone was willing to pay for the best information money could buy.

  He'd expected me to be angry. It was, after all, the thing that had destroyed my family's financial well-being. But the way I saw it, all that wealth was built on misery anyway, and not worth having, especially at such a cost.

  As far as Felicity, she was out of the mental health clinic and hitting the publicity circuit hard and heavy, which meant that I saw her more often than I liked, but not so much that it ruined the pleasure of what had become a joyous adventure.

  Plus, I owed Felicity more than she realized. According to Flynn, she was the one who revealed to him just how hard I'd tried to make amends for what had happened all those years ago.

  Flynn assured me that he would've loved me regardless. Still, it was nice to know that we could put that whole ugly incident behind us once and for all.

  As far as Felicity's love life, she was pursuing a new guy hot and heavy – the director of her next movie who, rumor had it, was ditching his current fiancée in favor of Felicity's eager charms.

  In a weird twist of fate, sympathy for the spurned fiancée did a lot to reduce Felicity's goodness in the eyes of the world, which meant – happily for me – that I was no longer abused for stealing "her" guy.

  On the topic of fiancés, Mackenzie has been in the market for a new one. Apparently, Preston decided he'd had enough when he caught her "tasting" the bank president at their annual shareholders' meeting. Now, she's dating a guy in the mail room – a parolee named Bucky, who's working the job as part of a prison-release program.

  All in all, life was looking pretty sweet. And as we exited the limo and made our way down the red carpet, I smiled so wide that my face almost ached, but in a good way, because my smile was real, just like the guy walking beside me with his arm draped so sweetly around my waist.

  Flanna – maybe it wasn't so bad, right?

  Epilogue

  Anna

  His voice was tender in my ear. "You've got to get up."

  I rolled over and mumbled, "But I don't want to. You come back to bed."

  His lips brushed the top of my head. "Later."

  I gave a dramatic groan. Three full months had passed since the movie premiere, and we were back in Sugar Falls, where we'd been keeping surprisingly busy. I never did return to the waffle place and was pretty sure that I never would.

  Thanks to Flynn's generosity, all those debts that had been weighing me down for years were now completely gone. Over my initial objections, Flynn had insisted on paying them off, telling me that it was his fault I'd acquired them in the first place.

  Personally, I didn't see it that way. Didn't he know? Whether it had been his intention or not, he'd rescued me plain and simple, even before our little arrangement.

  Now, from beside the bed, he said in coaxing tone, "I made waffles."

  My eyes snapped open. "What?"

  "Waffles," he repeated.

  I sat up and frowned. "But you almost never make waffles."

  He grinned. "I almost never make anything."

  "Yeah. That's my point." In truth, I was surprised he was awake at all. It was obnoxiously early, and we'd been awake until nearly dawn.

  Flynn was still grinning, and for some reason, that was making me just a little bit nervous. He was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. He looked annoyingly awake in spite of the early hour.

  I asked, "Did you even sleep?"

  "A little."

  I eyed him with new suspicion. "How long have you been up?"

  "Long enough to make you waffles."

  "But that's no kind of answer."

  As I said it, I tried to think. Had I done something to warrant revenge? I felt my gaze narrow. "What kind of waffles?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "I mean, are they normal, or…"

  Smiling, he tugged me up from the bed. "Come down and see."

  In the end, I couldn’t refuse him anything, so I threw on a pair of little shorts and a T-shirt and let him lead me down the stairs.

  In the doorway to the kitchen, I stopped short. The waffles smelled absolutely delicious. But that wasn't the reason I'd paused.

  I gave Flynn a questioning look.

  With a smile, he teased, "What, you wanna stand here? Have me toss them into your mouth?"

  I looked from Flynn to the waffles. They were stacked at least a dozen high, and covered with chocolate and strawberries. But that wasn't the thing that got my attention.

  It was the massive diamond ring nested atop a swirling mass of whipped cream. Almost in a trance, I moved closer, feeling Flynn's hand in mine as I approached the stack.

  My lips curved into a smile, and in a breathless giggle, I tried for my best Flynn impression. "What's the sparkly thing?"

  His voice was a warm caress. "You know what it is."

  My breath caught. "Do I?'

  "You know it." With a smile, he reached for the plate and got down on one knee, waffles and all. He gazed up at me to say, "Anna?"

  My response was a breathless whisper. "What?"

  "Will you marry me?"

  I didn't even have to think about it. I gave a happy nod, and felt my eyes fill with joyful tears when he plucked the ring from the stack and slid it – slippery with whipped cream – onto my trembling finger.

  And then, he brought his tongue to my finger and licked it clean. Oh. My God.

  I'd like to say we made it back to the bedroom, but that would be a lie. And Flynn and I – we were done with that sort of thing.

  No more pretending. No more acts. Just me and Flynn.

  Forever.

  The End

  Sneak Peeks & Bonuses

  More Loathing-to-Love Romance!

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  Zane Bennington, he was the guy who'd been making my life miserable for weeks. He was a prick. A jerk. A stone-cold ruthless bastard with no redeeming qualities whatsoever – well, except for his face. And his body. And yeah, maybe his massive fortune. But other than that, the guy had zero going for him. The only upside? He hated me as much as I hated him. Or so I thought…

  Read the First Chapter for Free

  Allie Brewster has a problem, and his name is Jaden Bishop – the most impossible person she's ever met. So why, oh why, is he haunting her dreams like some kind of rock-hard shirtless nightmare? It's all so wrong, especially when hating him feels so right…right up until Allie realizes something terribly inconvenient. Turns out, there's a lot more to her billionaire boss than meets the eye, and just maybe, she's been haunting his dreams, too.

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  © Copyright 2019 by Sabrina Stark

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used in a fict
itious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events or locales is purely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 81

  Chapter 82

  Chapter 83

  Chapter 84