23
It was the Sunday before Bronte had to go back to school, leaving behind winter vacation and her time with Chris. She wasn’t sure what their future together looked like, but she was resolved to figure it out. They were snuggled up on her couch, watching the Eagles game, when she tapped her fluffy bunny slipper against his foot to get his attention.
He dipped his chin down. “What’s up, bunny?”
“Bunny? Really?”
“Yeah. I like it. Bronte Beanie Baby Bunny. Rolls right off the tongue.”
“What will I call you?”
He tilted his head back and forth, listing off the choices with his fingers. “Bae, boo boo, honey bear, stud muffin, love bug, sugar lips, sex god…”
She curled into him, tracing his lips with her index finger. “Interesting choices.”
He bit the tip of her finger. “But fitting, huh?”
“Sex god?” She wrinkled her nose. “I’m not so sure.”
He huffed and wasted no time in hauling her into his lap to kiss her. With her fingers in his hair, he ghosted his fingertips across her back as his mouth, as usual, found a home on her neck.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Bronte remembered she wanted to actually use her mouth to speak and tried to hold on to the idea as Chris’s lips roamed up her throat and chin. “What’s…uh, what’s…um, your idea for us?”
“My idea?” He slowly moved his hands up her back. “I thought we’d start by removing this incredibly thick and kind of impenetrable sweater.”
It was cable-knit and one of her favorites, but she’d burn it if it was an obstacle between his fingers and her skin.
“Then I was thinking I could lay you down and slide these jeans off to feel the smooth skin of your legs.” He traced her jaw with his index finger. “What do you think?”
“I think that’s a great idea, but first I want to talk.”
When she slid off his lap, he settled one arm around her shoulders. “Okay. About what?”
“I go back to school tomorrow, back to the real world, and I was wondering what your real world is. What does it mean for us?”
His brown eyes focused on something across the room. After a minute, he looked back at Bronte. “Filming starts next month.”
“How long does it take to make a movie?”
“It depends. There’s usually a few weeks of preproduction, costume fittings, and rehearsals for the actors. Then depending on the script, actual filming could take a couple weeks or a couple months.”
She swallowed down a pebble in her throat. “How long is yours going to take?”
“It’s scheduled for ten weeks.”
Bronte sucked in a breath. “Two and a half months.”
His leg bounced next to hers. “The set pieces they’re building are incredible, according to Dante. He had wanted to try to film in New York, but it was too expensive so they’re recreating the city on a studio lot.”
“So, you’ll be in LA for three months?”
“Yeah, well…” He fluttered his hand through the air, as if three months was nothing. “It’s not like it’s forever, right? I’ll have days off. You’ll have days off. We’ll make it work.”
He smiled down at her, yet she had trouble believing him. Long-distance hadn’t worked with Hunter, and he was in the same state. Although maybe it wasn’t the distance so much as the person. She’d been indifferent to Hunter for so long, she had given up. But she wanted to make it work with Chris.
“Hey.” He brought her attention to him with his fingers on her chin. “We can do this. It’s only three months. Besides,” he said, “I have a while before I have to be out there. We have all the time in the world right now.”
She nodded woodenly like a bobblehead. “Right. Sounds like a plan.”