Keep This Promise

by Willow Winters

  My heart swelled, my lower lip trembling. “I never stopped loving you,” I said quietly.

  He reached out and stroked my face, running his fingertips over my cheekbones. “I couldn’t quite be sure. Sometimes, when love makes you mad, you wonder if it makes other people mad too.”

  I nodded. “It does.” I sighed and looked down. “I’m sorry that I gave up on us. I just tried to do the right thing.”

  “That is okay, Vera. I love you enough to make up for it. I would never let you go without a fight.”

  I shot him a quick look. “You didn’t know I was at Claudia’s for some time. I could have left the country.”

  “You are impulsive,” he noted, “but I figured it would take you a while to make arrangements. And even if you had left, I know your address in Vancouver. I would have found you. You burn too brightly to be missed.”

  I closed my eyes at that and smiled, a happy tear streaking down my cheek. I was finally letting myself believe it, believe that we were together and had a chance.

  “So,” I said carefully. “You still want me?”

  He laughed lightly. “Oh, my Estrella.”

  He grabbed my face in his hands and kissed me, hard at first, then soft as our lips and tongues melded together, feeling like honey, tasting like gold. I felt him all the way to my toes, making my skin and body come alive.

  The woman next to Mateo let out a happy sigh, apparently still watching us.

  Mateo and I slowly broke apart, our noses pressed against each other, gazing into each other’s eyes. I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. I gripped his hair, holding on tight, afraid to let go. He was here, he was here, he was here.

  And he was mine.

  “You still want me?” he whispered, the utter vulnerability of his words sinking into me like silk.

  “Si,” I said adamantly. “Always and infinity.”

  He grinned and pushed up the armrest between us, unbuckling my seatbelt and pulling me to him. He put his arm around me and held on tight, his warm breath at my ear, his heartbeat steady against my back. He held me as the world outside the window turned to night and the starshine filled the endless sky.

  We flew together like the stars.

  Epilogue

  Five Months Later

  “Come on, Vera, you can do better than that!” Josh yelled at me.

  “Fuck you!’ I yelled back. I couldn’t even look up to see his face because the moment that I did was the moment I was going to break my neck and legs. I was currently going down Whistler Mountain on a run that was way more challenging than it should have been. While I was a skier in my youth, I’d totally forgotten how to do it. As a result, I’d gone down most of the mountain in a snow-plow position. Several times the tips of my skis started to cross and I freaked out and launched myself into the snow.

  In short, it was hell, and I didn’t appreciate my brother yelling at me. He was on a snowboard and was actually really good at it. He drove me crazy zooming down the hill and yelling at me to keep up.

  Now I was pretty much near the end and I could see the sprawl of Whistler Village at the bottom of the hill. Most importantly, I could see the large patio where skiers and snowboarders were having their après run beers under the heaters, languishing in the high altitude sunlight.

  Beer was my biggest motivator.

  Somehow I made it to the bottom and immediately snapped off my skis and then brushed off my ski pants that were caked with snow.

  “You did awesome,” Josh said, sliding next to me like a show-off, powder flying everywhere.

  “Shut up,” I told him. “Don’t patronize me.”

  “I’m not!” he said, lifting his goggles on top of his head. “I mean it.”

  “Whatever.” I bent down and awkwardly scooped up my skis. “Get a beer in me and get it in me now.”

  “I wonder if they’ve gotten a table already,” Josh mused.

  We made our way through the throngs of people walking awkwardly in ski boots, just as I was, and stacked up our skis and board along the rack.

  “I see Claudia!” Josh said.

  I went and joined him and saw her at a table by the wall, waving at us and looking adorable in her little snowboarding outfit. I probably should have started snowboarding instead of skiing, but how was I to know I’d be so damn terrible at something I used to be good at?

  “How was it?” she asked us as we snaked our way towards her.

  “Great,” Josh said.

  “Crap,” I said. “I nearly broke my legs a million times.”

  “Well,” Claudia said, lifting up her beer. “All those shots at the bar last night probably didn’t help, did it?”

  I dismissed her logic and sat down. “Why are you back so soon? I thought all you professional people were going to spend all day on the slopes on all them fancy black diamond runs.”

  She shrugged. “All the shots last night didn’t help me. Ricardo looked worse than I did, so I’m surprised he’s still out there. His loss. I will drink all the beer.”

  “No, we will drink all the beer,” Josh said, signaling for the waiter who quickly came over. We ordered a round of beers for us and for our missing ski bunnies.

  Josh leaned back and put his face to the sun. “Oh man, I don’t want to go back to work. Can we just live here?”

  “Well, I don’t want to go back to work either,” I said. “It’s all grey and shit outside and dark, and things are so boring during the off season.”

  “At least your job is kind of fun,” Josh pointed out. “And at least you live in a foreign country. Doing paperwork for Las Palaminos or wherever you work sounds a lot better when you’re doing it in fucking Spain.”

  “Speaking of Spain,” Claudia said, looking over my shoulder. “Look who made it back alive.”

  I twisted in my seat to see Mateo putting his skis away. He gave us a wave when he spotted us and I grinned in response. He looked fucking sexy in his ski gear, I had to say. I should have figured that Mateo was also an excellent skier. The man who could do fucking everything.

  When I started getting my first bout of homesickness around Christmastime, I’d brought up the fact that Claudia and Ricardo had wanted to go to Whistler. Of course, she had said before Mateo had shown up on my plane, resulting in a two-day trip to Vancouver before we returned home to start our new life together. Still, I thought the Whistler trip was something we could all save up for. Besides, I had to return briefly to apply for my work permit. I had been paid under the table for my office services at the Las Palabras office but now I was ready to make it official.

  As it was, Claudia and Ricardo were getting kind of blue about the Madrid winter and wanted a change of pace from the usual European ski spots. With Mateo on board and taking care of our hotel and part of our flights, the four of us were able to fly to Whistler and invite Josh along.

  Well, actually we invited my mother and Mercy and Charles too, to be nice, but they declined. Oh well, couldn’t say I didn’t try. I wouldn’t stop trying to get close to my mother and sister, but at least I was learning not to take it personally anymore. Sometimes your family was through your blood and sometimes it was through your love.

  While the waiter came back and put down the beers, Mateo came over to the table and leaned over me for a lingering kiss. He tasted like snow and fresh air.

  “How is your knee?” I asked. “Can it handle skiing?”

  “It is holding up.” He lifted his aviator shades and peered down at me. “I saw you, you were doing very well.”

  I rolled my eyes and snorted. “Oh, now you’re yanking my chain too?”

  “What is this chain you keep speaking of and why is anyone yanking it?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” Claudia said, completely earnest. “Seriously, whose chain is this? A dog chain?”

  Mateo made a small barking sound and laughed.

  I slapped him on the arm. “Sit down, you dog. It’s an expression.”

  Claudia made a tsking sound. “Th
ese damn English expressions. The moment you think you have the language under control, more letters explode.”

  “I do know one expression though,” Mateo said, sitting down next to me and resting his hand on my knee. “We shall get buzzed like a bee.”

  We all raised our glasses and clinked them together.

  “To getting buzzed like a bee,” I said, smiling broadly at my crew, feeling warmth from the sun and warmth from my friends.

  “Here, here,” they said in unison.

  We drank and we laughed. Ricardo soon joined us and we drank and laughed some more, until the sun went down and the stars came up.

  THE END

  * * *

  For now… - WANT MORE? Pick up Love, in Spanish, and continue Mateo and Vera’s journey in the stunning sequel, available here.

  -> You can also keep reading to read the first chapter of Love, in Spanish!

  * * *

  Thank you for reading! 100% of the profits from this anthology will be given to the Live A Thousand Lives charity.

  This charity donates audio players - equipped with hundreds of hours of classic stories - to low-to-no mobility patients in nursing facilities and hospitals.

  The Live A Thousand Lives Project has been fueled by prolific Romance writers and unabashed book lovers who appreciate that audiobooks boost mental health, improve memory and stimulate the brain in ways that mirror reading printed text.

  * * *

  * * *

  WAYS TO HELP:

  You can donate by clicking here!

  Or you can purchase an audio device for yourself - a Brilliant Blue Classic or a Red Hot Romance Device (with over $200 worth of audios from multiple bestselling authors) by clicking here!

  For every ONE player purchased, Live A Thousand Lives is able to donate TWO Brilliant Blue Classics.

  About the Author

  Karina Halle is a former travel writer and music journalist and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author of The Pact, Love, in English, The Artists Trilogy, Dirty Angels and over 20 other wild and romantic reads. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books.

  * * *

  Halle is represented by Root Literary and is both self-published and published by Simon & Schuster and Hachette in North America and in the UK.

  * * *

  Hit her up on Instagram at @authorHalle, on Twitter at @MetalBlonde and on Facebook. You can also visit www.authorkarinahalle.com and sign up for the newsletter for news, excerpts, previews, private book signing sales and more.

  Also By Karina Halle

  Contemporary Romances

  Love, in English

  Love, in Spanish

  Where Sea Meets Sky (from Atria Books)

  Racing the Sun (from Atria Books)

  The Pact

  The Offer

  The Play

  Winter Wishes

  The Lie

  The Debt

  Smut

  Heat Wave

  Before I Ever Met You

  Rocked Up

  After All

  Wild Card (North Ridge #1)

  * * *

  Romantic Suspense Novels by Karina Halle

  Sins and Needles (The Artists Trilogy #1)

  On Every Street (An Artists Trilogy Novella #0.5)

  Shooting Scars (The Artists Trilogy #2)

  Bold Tricks (The Artists Trilogy #3)

  Dirty Angels (Dirty Angels #1)

  Dirty Deeds (Dirty Angels #2)

  Dirty Promises (Dirty Angels #3)

  Black Hearts (Sins Duet #1)

  Dirty Souls (Sins Duet #2)

  * * *

  Horror Romance

  Darkhouse (EIT #1)

  Red Fox (EIT #2)

  The Benson (EIT #2.5)

  Dead Sky Morning (EIT #3)

  Lying Season (EIT #4)

  On Demon Wings (EIT #5)

  Old Blood (EIT #5.5)

  The Dex-Files (EIT #5.7)

  Into the Hollow (EIT #6)

  And With Madness Comes the Light (EIT #6.5)

  Come Alive (EIT #7)

  Ashes to Ashes (EIT #8)

  Dust to Dust (EIT #9)

  The Devil’s Duology

  Donners of the Dead

  Veiled

  Wardrobe Malfunction

  By Samantha Towle

  Prologue

  Vaughn

  “So, Vaughn, how was it, making a movie with your girlfriend and best friend?” Bradford asks me.

  I’m sitting on a studio sofa in front of a live audience with Piper Watts, my girlfriend, and Cain Acton, my best friend. Treason is the film we did together. It’s a romantic comedy about two best friends who end up fighting over the same girl. Of course, I end up with the girl. It would have been a little weird for audiences if Cain had ended up with my real-life girlfriend. The film is due to drop in cinemas next week, so Piper, Cain, and I are doing the press rounds to promote it. Tonight, we’re on Digby’s Dirt.

  No, I shit you not. That’s the name of the show I’m currently on.

  The most popular late-night chat show on television.

  It’s hosted by Bradford Digby, the television host that every celebrity loves to hate. The fucker is a rat through and through. He’s like a bloodhound. He can sniff out scandal at fifty paces. God, even his name sounds pretentious.

  But he’s popular. His show has high ratings, hence the reason Jack, my manager—who is also Cain’s manager—and the studio are having us appear on here to promote our new movie.

  Pausing briefly at his question, I slide a smile in Piper’s direction. “It was fun.”

  Hard work.

  Piper bitched the whole time. I might have been with her for six months, and I’d known she could be a challenge at times, but I’d thought her diva reputation on set was sheer embellishment. It wasn’t.

  Honestly, it made me look at her with a whole new set of eyes. But that’s a thought for later.

  I’d worked with Cain before, so I knew what to expect. It was great, as always. He’s my best friend. I’ve known him for ten years. I trust the guy with my life.

  “It’s always fun working with Vaughn,” Cain says, smirking at me.

  I know he thought Piper was a pain in the ass, too, but he’d never say it to me because she’s my girl.

  Piper is actually the first woman I’ve dated seriously since I got in this business. I just figured it was time to settle down. I’m not getting any younger, and I want to have a family someday. Piper’s great—apart from being annoying to work with, which I’ll make sure I never do again. I’ll keep our relationship and work separate in the future.

  “No disagreements? Arguments?” Bradford asks.

  “Well, there are always disagreements.” I give a laugh, and the audience laughs, too.

  “But they were only minor disagreements, right, V?” Piper says.

  God, I hate it when she calls me V. How hard is it to say my name? Vaughn. It literally rolls off the tongue.

  “We had a blast filming together. And what more could a girl want than to work with the man she loves and, of course, his best friend?”

  The audience sounds out with an, “Aw.”

  “Of course,” Bradford says. “Don’t forget the best friend.”

  Um…what? Piper loves me?

  First I’ve heard.

  I make sure to control my outward reaction to this surprising piece of news, keeping my facial expression as neutral as possible.

  Inside though, I’m shocked to shit. I mean, we’ve been together for six months, but we haven’t said I love you yet. Honestly, I don’t think I’m even there yet. But that’s beside the point. You’d think she’d have said it to me first before announcing it on live television.

  God, I hope she hasn’t said it to me, and I didn’t hear it—or worse, that I forgot.

  “So, Vaughn, how lo
ng have you and Cain been friends for now?” Bradford asks.

  “Uh…” I look up.

  Bradford chuckles. “Been that long that you’ve forgotten?”

  “Probably.” Cain laughs and looks at me. “Ten years, right, man?”

  “Yeah. Ten years too long.” I grin at Cain, and the audience laughs.

  “Ten years? Wow.” Bradford leans back in his chair. His hand straightens out his tie.

  There’s something in his tone that I don’t like. Unease moves through me.

  “So, I guess it must come as a hell of a blow to learn that Cain has been having an affair with Piper for the last three months.”

  What?

  I hear a whoosh in my ears and realize it’s the audience gasping.

  I blink, glancing around.

  Piper’s and Cain’s faces are frozen, like I guess mine is. And Bradford just has this smug expression on his face.

  “What?” I laugh, but it sounds uneasy, even to my own ears. “You’re kidding, right? This is a joke.” I even look around to see if Ashton Kutcher is waiting to tell me I’ve been punked.

  “It’s no joke.” Bradford’s eyes flick to the big screen behind him, and there’s a picture of Cain and Piper in an embrace, outside what looks like a hotel room door.

  It’s fake. It has to be. Because Cain would never do that to me.

  I squeeze my eyes shut.

  But I know it’s not a fake.

  Because I know this industry. I know this asshole wouldn’t risk his career on a rumor or a fake picture. He must have authenticated it. He wouldn’t have done this on live television without die-hard facts and the proof to back it up because he knows he’d have his ass sued if he were lying.