Romance Novel Sample

Catalina Valentino

Updated: 22 Sept, 2022

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He doesn’t know it, but he makes me laugh more often than he thinks. A random intrusion of thoughts implode my mind regularly throughout the day.

I’ll admit, sometimes I go weeks without a single thought, but through the quieter days, it’s all I can think of.

The best part is that it’s really not a laughable situation, and there’s really nothing funny being said, but it’s just … him.

That’s all it is really. Because really anybody could say they’re proud of me.

They could, but they don’t.

But meaning it? That’s a whole different ball game.

We’ve been through a lot together, but even time couldn’t divide us. Believe me, it had tried, but whenever we came back together, sparks flew. No…exploded. That feeling that we’d met before. Like we’d spent lifetimes together. A familiar soul.

After a few more messages had been exchanged, he wrote ‘you’re the one person I can count on for anything right now’.

There it was. My heart leapt out of my chest.

We’d never once exchanged words this way, never. It was the soft unspoken silence between us which spoke volumes. Though we never said it, we knew we belonged to each other.

And for as long as it would take, we’d stand by each other with every oncoming battle, every hurdle and every success.

Like we always did.

-

The more I think back to that first night, the more it makes me smile.

Red shirt, black skinny jeans.

How I’d grossly underestimated him.

How I swore I’d never date the idea of him.

Then I saw that damned cheeky grin and the love in his eyes and never looked back.

He was a charmer.

A great salesman.

He made his pitch alright.

And sold a lifetime’s supply.

But perhaps after all this time, I had been nothing but an insignificant fly on his windshield. Just another convenient distraction.

I tried desperately not to believe the latter. I chose to believe he enjoyed my company.

Perhaps a little more than that.

No. Hopefully more than that.

Perhaps I romanticise him more than I should. But come on, who wouldn’t?

Tall, dark and handsome.

And those damned eyes. Oh, those eyes.

The way they searched my soul every time they glanced in my direction.

The toughest part about it all?

Those days, the kind where time flies by before realising we’ve spent the entire night talking… those are the kind of nights I would wish didn’t have to end… but they did. Because we’re not supposed to be.

Or at least not for now. Patience Catalina.

But I remember it all.

Every word, every laugh, every moment.

You bring me to life.

And for that, I feel nothing but love.

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