Choosing Ms. Everhart

PROLOGUE

“Ohh! Jude! Ahhh!”

“This is what you want, huh?” He kept his eyes locked on mine as he continued to move.

I stared at the next paragraph on my laptop, completely absorbed in the scene I had been writing for the past hour. My fingers hovered over the keyboard, but I stopped, wanting to finish reading before deciding if it was worth keeping. The room had been quiet for hours, save for the hum of the air conditioner and the occasional click of my keyboard. Outside, the city was waking, but I barely noticed. Once I started writing, everything else seemed to disappear.

Especially when my characters were finally getting somewhere steamy. I had spent three chapters building the tension between Jude and the heroine. I leaned closer to the screen, reading the next few paragraphs with a small smile.

I was about to scroll down when my phone began vibrating on the bedside table.

Elodie calling.

“Seriously?” I muttered, staring at her name as if she had personally offended me.

“Hello?” I said, my voice still slightly breathless from reading the scene.

“Wow, what a greeting.” I immediately rolled my eyes.

“How important is whatever you're about to say?”

“Very.”

I let out a long groan and dropped my head against the headboard. “You really don't know how to take no for an answer, do you?”

“It's seven in the morning, Valentina!” She shouted over the phone.

My annoyance disappeared so quickly it was almost embarrassing.

“Seven?”

“Yes. Seven. In. The. Morning.”

I turned toward the clock on my nightstand.

7:03 A.M.

My stomach dropped.

“Shit.”

I practically jumped out of bed, nearly tripping over the blanket that had fallen to the floor sometime during the night. I glanced at my phone and saw the three missed calls I had somehow managed to ignore.

“Okay, sorry sorry!”

“Sorry isn't enough. Get dressed. We're leaving in less than an hour.”

I hurried toward my closet, pulling the first decent outfit I could find while still holding the phone against my ear. “Wait. Why are we leaving at seven in the morning again?”

There was a suspicious silence on the other end.

"Don't think the VIP tickets mean you can arrive whenever you want. We still have to line up.It's the show, Good Afternoon, Paris! And the show starts at noon. Lastly please, wear something nice.” she said.

I narrowed my eyes at my reflection in the mirror. “Why?”

The call ended before I could ask anything else.

By the time we reached the studio, it was already packed with excited fans holding signs, taking pictures, and waiting for the doors to open. I thought we were just there to watch a popular noontime show, but the energy felt strangely different. Elodie kept pulling me through the crowd with a knowing smile, and I should have realized then that she was hiding something.

Still, I let it go, at least until the host announced the show's special segment.

EX-pecially for you.

The audience erupted into applause as the huge screen above the stage came alive with a montage of a couple. They looked genuinely happy, and they do look good together even though the girl is three years older. But then the music changed. The photos grew darker, their smiles faded, and the screen eventually showed the final chapter of their relationship...their breakup.

The host then explained the segment. A man looking for someone to date would meet three women and get to know each of them before choosing one. But there was a twist, his former girlfriend would have the final say on whether she approved of his choice.

I slowly turned toward my friends. All of them were smiling and that was when I knew.

“No.”

Elodie immediately burst out laughing.

“What?” I asked.

Before she could answer, the host announced the three candidates. My stomach dropped when the first woman walked onto the stage, beautiful, confident, and self-assured. The second was just as stunning, poised, elegant, and noticeably older than me.

Then the host announced the third candidate.

“Valentina Elise Everhart.”

For a moment, I thought I had heard wrong, but there was no escape. At eighteen, a college architecture student who secretly wrote romance novels, I somehow ended up as one of three candidates on a live TV dating segment. Backstage, I quickly realized I was the youngest and painfully aware that I had never even been on a real date

Then the host introduced him.

His back was turned in the opening shot, so all I could see was his silhouette. Tall, broad shoulders, dark hair, and a strong jawline when he turned slightly to the side. There was something striking about his appearance even from behind, something that made the audience react before the host had even finished introducing him.

I watched the screen, curious despite myself.

Then came the part about his former girlfriend.

Lora.

She's beautiful.

I noticed it when Lora appeared on the screen. She talked about their relationship with a carefully controlled smile, but there was something behind it that the camera couldn't hide. Then the shot changed, the man was shown listening to her, and he couldn't stop looking at her.

His eyes followed every word she said, and even when the camera shifted away from her, his attention remained fixed on the screen.

The realization settled quietly in my mind.

Then the camera focused on Lora again, and I saw the same thing in her eyes.

I knew it.

The segment continued until the host asked each of us the same question.

“What does being in love mean to you?”

The first woman gave a thoughtful answer. The second talked about trust and choosing someone every day. The microphone was placed in my hand. For a second, I didn't know what to say,

I glanced at the screen, then at Lora. My eyes lingered on him a little longer, and somehow, I already knew my answer.

“To me, being in love is when someone slowly becomes your home without you even realizing it.”

The studio gradually quieted.

“It’s in the little things, the way they laugh, the way they say your name, the way their happiness starts to matter as much as your own. You don’t force yourself to love them. You simply do, until somehow, they become part of every dream you have.”

I took a breath.

“I think love is falling for someone without knowing where it will lead, yet choosing to cherish every moment anyway. Because sometimes, you don’t realize you’ve fallen until you look at them and suddenly understand… you’ve already chosen them to give a piece of your heart.”

For a moment, nobody said anything until the audience applauded.

The man finally stood and made the audience grow louder. He turned toward us and for the first time, I saw his face clearly. He was even more handsome than he had looked on the screen, but those eyes didn't find us three, they went straight to Lora.

My heart sank not because I wanted him, but because his expression confirmed everything I had already suspected.

He loved her.

When the host finally asked Lora which woman she wanted her ex to take on the date, she chose me.

For a moment, I almost laughed.

Of course.

She knew I was not his type because he liked older women. I stepped forward and introduced myself, but before the host could move on, I took the microphone again.

“I actually didn't know I was one of the choices until today.”

The audience laughed softly.

“I respect the show, and I respect your decision. But I can still see the love in your eyes.” The laughter disappeared, and the studio fell strangely quiet. I looked at him first, then at Lora,

“You may have broken up, but that doesn't mean you stopped loving each other.”

I felt my voice soften.

“So let me give you the second chance you can't seem to initiate for yourselves.”

I turned towards the man.

“Take Lora instead.”

The audience erupted, and just like that, I gave him away. That was my line eight years ago, the very same line I said the first time I met Lucien Alessandro De Vera and I believed that was the end of our story.

Eight years later, I was standing on the west coast of France, staring at the same man. Only this time, there were no cameras. Time had changed him, made his presence more commanding, but he was still unmistakably Lucien and somehow, even more handsome than I remembered.

I glanced around the property, trying to focus on why I was actually there.

The location was breathtaking, clear blue water, white sand, and natural rock formations surrounding the property. There were already a few cottages, but Lucien wanted something bigger, like a five-star luxury resort with a private dream house at its heart.

The project was originally Elodie’s, but when she moved to the United States, she handed it over to me. I accepted without hesitation, unaware of one crucial detail that the client was him.

I looked at him again.

For some reason, I immediately thought, So this is your dream house with Lora. I had always imagined they would find their way back to each other, and maybe this was the life they once dreamed of. I quickly pushed the thought aside and reminded myself that I was here to work.

“Hi, Sir,” I said, extending my hand. “I'm Valentina Elise Everhart, and I'll be your architect. I was referred by Elodie Gibson.”

He took my hand. I smiled, suddenly feeling more awkward than I had expected.

“I'm not sure if you remember me, but I was the girl from Good Afternoon, Paris eight years ago."

I was about to pull my hand away when I realized he was still holding it. His grip was firm, warm, and strangely familiar. I glanced at our joined hands, then back at him, and at the same moment, he seemed to realize it too and finally let go.

“I remember you.” His voice was deeper now, nothing like the voice I had heard through television speakers all those years ago.

I cleared my throat and turned toward the property.

“Right. Well, we can start with the site inspection. I was told the engineers would be joining us.”

“ I'm the engineer.”

I stared at him for a second longer than necessary.

“Oh.”

The surprise in my voice must have amused him because the corner of his mouth lifted slightly. I quickly recovered and looked away before he could see how caught off guard I was.

“Well, then. Let's start the planning.”

He nodded toward the villa.

“Let's go there first for breakfast.” I laughed softly.

“Sure, that works.”

We started walking toward the villa, and after a few steps, I remembered the one person I hadn't seen anywhere on the property.

“I'm looking forward to meeting Miss Lora,” I said. “I'd actually like to congratulate her. I mean, after everything that happened between you two…”

Lucien stopped walking and when I turned around, he was looking at me with an expression I couldn't quite read.

“Lora and I broke up five years ago.”

The words took a moment to register.

“You mean…”

He slipped one hand into his pocket and looked out toward the ocean, then he looked back at me.

“I'm choosing now to be single, Miss Everhart.”