You Promised Me Forever

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Books by Monica Murphy

  About You Promised Me Forever

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Copyright Notice

  Friends Series

  One Night

  Just Friends

  More Than Friends

  Forever: A Friends Novel

  You Promised Me Forever

  The Rules Series

  Fair Game

  In The Dark

  Slow Play

  Safe Bet

  Reverie Series

  His Reverie (Book #1)

  Her Destiny (Book #2)

  One Week Girlfriend Quartet

  One Week Girlfriend (Book #1)

  Second Chance Boyfriend (Book #2)

  Three Broken Promises (Book #3)

  Drew+Fable Forever (Book #3.5)

  Four Years Later (Book #4)

  Five Days Until You (Book #4.5)

  Billionaire Bachelors Club

  Crave (Book #1)

  Torn (Book #2)

  Savor (Book #3)

  Intoxicated (Book #3.5)

  The Fowler Sisters

  Owning Violet

  Stealing Rose

  Taming Lily

  The Never Series

  Never Tear Us Apart

  Never Let You Go

  Connect with Monica

  Website

  Newsletter

  Facebook

  Facebook Reader’s Group

  Twitter

  Email

  I’ve got it all, they say. I’m the starting quarterback for the best NFL team in the league. I’m rich. I’m famous. I can have any woman I want, any time I want.

  Yeah, I’ve got everything—except for the one who got away. How do you move on from loving the same girl since you were in the seventh grade? She promised me forever until forever got too hard and at nineteen, she dumped me.

  By text message.

  Now she’s walked back into my life. Just as beautiful. Just as sweet. Just as smart. More grown up and incredibly sexy…

  We’re older now. Supposedly wiser. This time, I’m going to fight for what I want, no matter how hard it gets.

  This time, I’m going to make her mine.

  Forever ago…

  “Are you going to maul me on my front porch?” I ask Jordan.

  The sexy look on his face tells me he’s considering it. “Don’t tempt me.”

  A shiver moves through me and he pulls me back into his arms. “Cold?” he asks.

  “Yes.” But happy. So happy. The porch is lit from the glow of the Christmas lights Dad puts up every year, and pretty much every house on our street is lit up as well. “Oh! I want to give you something.”

  He frowns. “What?”

  I wiggle out of his hold and pull the small wrapped box out of the pocket of my cardigan. “This is for you.”

  His frown deepens as he stares at the box I’m holding before he lifts his gaze to mine. “I thought you were giving me my gift tomorrow.”

  “I have two presents for you. This is the special one. The other one can wait until Christmas.” Tomorrow’s gift is a bottle of cologne that will make me want to lick him every time I smell him. A real win-win gift, if you ask me.

  He takes the present from me and slowly unwraps it to reveal a simple black box. He pulls off the lid and finds the men’s silver link bracelet I bought for him. Lifting his head, he smiles at me. “I love it.”

  “Really?” I stressed over his gift so much. I took my friends to the jewelry store and had them help me pick it out. They assured me it was perfect, but I still worried he might not like it.

  “Really,” he says firmly, taking the bracelet out of the box. “Will you help me put it on?”

  I take the bracelet from him and hook it around his wrist. It looks good on him and I smile, tracing my finger over the silver links. “You don’t mind wearing a bracelet?”

  “I will wear anything from you with no complaints.” He drops a kiss on my cheek, then runs his finger over my new piece of jewelry. “Do you like your present?”

  “I love it so much.” I hold my hand out and spread my fingers, admiring my new ring. It’s so tiny and dainty and perfect. A promise ring, he called it. “It’s gorgeous.”

  “Not as gorgeous as you,” he says, his voice low. I turn to meet his gaze and see the heat there. The hunger. Goose bumps sweep over me as he leans in and kisses me again, his tongue searching my mouth, his hand cradling my cheek.

  The front door swings open, causing us to spring apart, and my brother Trent is standing there with a disgusted look on his little face. “Mom says you two need to come in before you freeze to death, but I’m telling on you. Mom, Amanda and Tuttle are making out on the front porch!”

  The door slams before I can hear what anyone else said.

  “Should we go inside?” Jordan asks, his eyes sparkling with amusement. That he can tolerate my pain-in-the-butt brother says a lot about his character.

  “I guess so,” I say with a little laugh.

  “Hey,” he says from behind me just before I open the door.

  “What?” I turn to face him, startled by just how close he actually is.

  He reaches out and tucks a wayward strand of hair behind my ear, his fingers lingering on my skin. “Did I tell you today that I love you?”

  My cheeks go hot. Will I ever get used to Jordan so freely offering words of love to me? Probably not. “Yes, you did. But I’d like to hear it again.”

  Jordan tugs me into his arms and kisses me, his mouth warm despite the freezing cold air. “I love you, Amanda,” he whispers against my lips.

  “I love you too, Jordan Tuttle.” I touch his neck, his hair. I can’t get enough of him. Ever.

  “Forever?” he asks. It’s our new favorite word and hearing it makes me smile.

  “Forever.”

  Now

  “So you’re telling me that glorious hunk of man flesh…” My friend Lena points at the giant TV screen where said glorious hunk of man flesh currently appears, his face on extreme close-up. “That guy right there. He’s your ex-boyfriend?” Her voice turns into a squeak on the last word, like she can’t believe it.

  I nod. Take a sip of my drink. Heave an exaggerated sigh. “Yep.”

  Lena blinks, looks over at the TV and tilts her head. We’re at a bar on a Wednesday night, drowning our work exhaustion in cheap cocktails and salty appetizers. “You must be lying to me.”

  “I am so not lying.” I almost wish I was ly
ing sometimes.

  It’s really difficult to forget your ex when he’s everywhere. Like right now. There he is on the seventy-five-inch TV screen, the camera zoomed in on his ridiculously handsome face that he can’t hide even when he’s wearing a stupid helmet.

  The restaurant we’re at replays the football games from the weekend. I know this, yet I still choose to come here. And that says a lot.

  Like I’m a glutton for punishment.

  “And you claim he was your first.” Lena’s eyebrows go way up—like disappear-in-her-hairline up.

  “He was totally my first.” Not my last, though. He promised me forever and that so didn’t happen.

  “I am having a really hard time wrapping my head around this.” It’s Lena’s turn to take a drink, and she practically drains her glass before setting it on the round table between us with a loud thump. “You really went out with the Jordan Tuttle?”

  “Oh yeah. For most of my senior year. And a little bit into college.” That’s where we fell apart. I was stuck at home. He was gone, the new big man on campus at USC. Instantly famous, with adoring groupies and people wanting to be his friend and the media wanting to talk to him about his stats, his future, his charisma—and this all happened during his freshman year in college.

  It only got worse as time went on. Not that I knew much about it, since I was a giant idiot and broke up with him.

  Yes. You heard me right. I broke up with him.

  What the hell was wrong with me?

  When you’re nineteen, broke and feeling alone with a brain full of insecurities and not much else, you make stupid, selfish choices. Now that I’m older and supposedly wiser, I can see there was a lot wrong with me.

  “So what happened? Who broke up with who?” Lena asks.

  When I admit my connection to Jordan, this is where it always gets sticky. “I, uh, broke up with him.”

  Her mouth drops open. She’s quiet for a beat, two beats. Three. “Say what?”

  “It’s true.” I take another sip of my drink, then shake the glass so the ice rattles. “It wasn’t working between us.”

  Cheers erupt from the television and I glance up to see Tuttle throwing another touchdown pass to Niner wide receiver Tucker McCloud.

  Of course he did. That’s what Jordan does.

  And he’s very, very good at it.

  “Was he a dick?” Lena makes a sympathetic face. “Did he cheat on you?”

  “No, he didn’t. He just…didn’t have time for me.” Oh, that sounds pathetic, but it’s true. He was so busy all the damn time. It’s not like he meant to ignore me, but it felt that way. I was sad and all alone and massively insecure, which was a big problem throughout the entirety of our relationship. I never felt like enough in Tuttle’s presence, even though he reassured me countless times that I was more than enough. That I was his entire world.

  And I still ended things with him.

  I felt stuck in my going-nowhere life, while his had taken off. It was like his life changed every single day, with opportunities being thrown at him from every direction. I couldn’t compete. I didn’t feel good enough. I wasn’t strong enough to deal.

  So I broke it off. Via text.

  Groaning, I prop my elbows on the table and rest my head in my hands. “I think I broke his heart.”

  “What? He doesn’t look like he’s missing you or anything.” I look up to glare at my friend and coworker. “Come on! It’s true! He’s gorgeous. And he always has a girl on his arm every time I see him in a magazine or on a gossip site. Wasn’t he going out with that one famous model? The one who’s always on the cover of Vogue?”

  “Ugh, I don’t even want to talk about him right now.” I cover my face with my hands, tempted to scream. Tempted to straight up lose my crap and punch something.

  But I don’t. No matter what I say, people won’t believe me. They take one look at gorgeous Jordan Tuttle and they’re star struck. They have a hard time believing little ol’ me could destroy him.

  I did, though. I know I did. I broke my own heart and his too, and it sucks. Worse? I can’t take back what I did. I have to live with my stupid decision for the rest of my life. Instead of some stupid model who’s always on the cover of Vogue, it could’ve been me on his arm. Me staring into his beautiful blue eyes. Me living with him, touching him, kissing him…

  “Forget him.” Lena waves a dismissive hand and smiles at me, leaning across the table like she’s about to share a big secret. “At least you have Cade.”

  Hmm. Cade. Lena and I work for at a physical therapist office that specializes in sports medicine. I’ve always had a thing for football. My senior year I was a water girl for the football team, and that’s how I got so close to Jordan. Well, that and the fact that we went to school together forever and supposedly he’d had a crush on me since middle school. Oh, and then we messed around at that one party over the summer before our senior year, after I caught my then-boyfriend having sex with my supposed best friend and…

  Yes. There’s a lot of history between Jordan and me. History that I can look back on with a sort of nostalgic fondness.

  Whoops. I’m supposed to be focusing on Cade, not Jordan.

  “Cade is sweet,” I confirm. He’s a new physical therapist who recently started working with us, and he’s super cute. He asked me on a date today and I said yes. We’re going to dinner and the movies on Saturday.

  I think Lena is more excited about my date than I am.

  “And he’s extremely good looking,” Lena adds, her eyes sparkling. “I think you two will make a great couple.”

  “Maybe.” I shake my glass again, like that’s going to make a fresh drink appear.

  “Oh, stop—you always do this with guys. You’re too cautious.”

  “More like safe,” I correct. “And there’s no such thing as too cautious.”

  Another roar of the crowd sounds from the TV and I glance up to watch as they replay a terrific throw by my ex-boyfriend. I tell myself to look away. Look away now.

  But I can’t.

  “I find it hard to believe you went out with that guy.”

  I turn to face Lena with a frown. “You think I’m lying?”

  “No, not at all.” Lena’s eyes go wide. “But why didn’t you ever tell me before? We’ve known each other for a long time. You’d think this type of information would’ve come up a while ago.”

  Lena and I have known each other for over a year, but it never feels easy to tell people about my connection to Jordan Tuttle. Her reaction is the reason why.

  No one ever believes me that Jordan and I were together. Oh, they say they believe me, but you know they probably tell their other friends, significant other, whoever, that I’m probably making this up. I mean, seriously.

  Who in their right mind would ever turn away Jordan Tuttle?

  “It just never came up in conversation.” I shrug.

  “Please. I’d shout it from the rooftops.” Lena stares at the television. “He’s sooooo hot. And look! Oh my God, they’re going to have an interview with him Friday night!”

  I check the TV to see Jordan sitting in a chair, his dark hair tame, his gaze intense, his smile restrained. That’s his fake smile. I can spot it from a mile away.

  “Inside Football premieres its new season this Friday night with an intimate look into the world of superstar quarterback Jordan Tuttle,” the announcer’s voice says.

  Please. Jordan is a very private person. He wouldn’t give anyone an intimate look into his world.

  “We visit his home in the Sonoma wine country.”

  There’s footage of him in jeans and a flannel shirt, walking through a vineyard while chatting with a beautiful female reporter, who stares up at him like a star struck fan.

  I roll my eyes.

  “And he offers Inside Football a rare glimpse into both his past—and his love life.”

  “Do you ever think about the one who got away?” the reporter asks, sounding so very, very serious.
r />   He’s sitting in a chair in a house. His house? Still wearing the dark blue and red flannel shirt, his hair a little wilder in this interview clip. There’s scruff on his cheeks and he’s…God. Extra sexy.

  Looking directly at the camera, he says in that familiar low, melting voice, “I think about her all the time.”

  His words make me sit up straight, my entire body buzzing with electricity. Is he…

  Is he?

  Talking about?

  Me?

  No. He can’t be.

  “Find out more on the season premiere of Inside Football,” the announcer continues, just as Jordan fades to black.

  “Holy shit, just listening to him turns me on.” Lena shakes her head, her gaze meeting mine. “There’s no way he’s talking about you, right?”

  I say nothing. I’m trying to communicate everything with my eyes and one raised eyebrow.

  Lena blinks once, twice, three times like rapid fire. “Wait a minute. You do think he’s talking about you?”

  “Maybe.” I shrug, going for indifferent. I don’t want to look like a total snob, like I believe the entire world revolves around me, but come the hell on.

  The one who got away? He thinks about her all the time?

  He must be talking about me.

  I nibble on my lower lip, wishing like crazy I had another margarita to drown my sudden doubts in. Maybe he’s talking about me.

  But then again, maybe not.

  It’s Friday and I’m at work, and it’s almost five. Appointments are light today, and I’m bored because no one is around, since most of the therapists who work here are already gone for the weekend. The only person left on shift is me and Cade, with Lena covering the front desk.

  She’s an assistant physical therapist like me, but we trade off every Friday afternoon to cover the appointment desk and phones, since our receptionist only works a half day. Her kid has some mommy and me gymnastics class, and considering we work at Atlas Wellness Center, which specializes in sports medicine, management goes bananas for that sort of thing and will automatically give employees time off when they ask.

  Seeing Rhonda take off at noon every Friday with a giant smile on her face makes me wish I had a child I could put in mommy and me gymnastics class too.