The Breakup Bucket List by Cassie Cross
Series: Love Is... #4
Publication date: June 11th, 2020
Synopsis (according to Goodreads):
Ever since Lindsay Castillo was a little girl, she dreamed about living in Port City. As an adult, she learns the difficult lesson that dreams aren't always what they're cracked up to be. With a broken heart, an apartment full of boxes and a moving company booked, Lindsay jots down everything she wants to do before she leaves Port City and heads back home to start over.
She has a month to mark off everything on The Breakup Bucket List.
Evan Roberts is doing is best to live up to the high expectations that come along with having his last name. As Port City royalty, he's been following a strict path to success since the day he was born. He's looking for a little fun--something to shake up the monotony of his life--when he runs into Lindsay. He's captivated by her and welcomes the challenge of helping her complete her bucket list.
It doesn't take much convincing for Lindsay to agree; there are some things she wants to do before she moves that only someone with Evan's access can help her with. What starts off as a simple partnership grows into more as Lindsay and Evan race against the clock and Lindsay's moving day draws closer...
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Excerpt
I've dated a lot of men in my life, but never one who so explicitly got me, who went out of his way to find things like this that give me the opportunity to stretch my creative muscle.
Not that we're dating.
Because I'm leaving in a couple of weeks.
"Thank you for doing this. I feel like a broken record, but... seriously, thank you."
He steps closer, gliding his fingers down my arm, making goosebumps bloom across my skin. "I agreed to show you the best of Port City." He swallows. "Before you leave."
"I'm beginning to think that you're the best of Port City," I whisper.
We laugh as a firefly floats between us and when my eyes catch his, he gives me a tender smile, reaching up and cupping my cheek in his hand, brushing my hair back behind my ear with his fingers.
"You're so beautiful." He says it like a revelation, and the words resonate.
"Evan..." I reply, not really sure how to continue. I love that he thinks I'm beautiful. I want him to think about me always and I like hearing it more than I should, but there's a date when this ends and I'll be moving hundreds of miles away and I can't lose sight of that.
"I thought it the night I met you. I thought it when I carried you up the stairs, and I thought it when you laughed after I put you down. I thought it when you wore those absurd straw glasses, when we were eating Thai on my patio, and when you sipped coffee as the sun came up afterwards. I've thought it a thousand times in between those moments. When you're with me, when you're not. I had to say it."
They're such lovely words, but when they're said by him they make this indelible mark on my heart that scares the hell out of me, because they could change everything if I let them.
I gather his free hand to my chest and hold it so he can feel my heart beating.
"I'm leaving," I whisper, and not for the first time since I met him do I wish that I wasn't. I want to stay, but that's what got me in trouble in the first place, coming to Port City for a man.
Not that we're dating.
Because I'm leaving in a couple of weeks.
"Thank you for doing this. I feel like a broken record, but... seriously, thank you."
He steps closer, gliding his fingers down my arm, making goosebumps bloom across my skin. "I agreed to show you the best of Port City." He swallows. "Before you leave."
"I'm beginning to think that you're the best of Port City," I whisper.
We laugh as a firefly floats between us and when my eyes catch his, he gives me a tender smile, reaching up and cupping my cheek in his hand, brushing my hair back behind my ear with his fingers.
"You're so beautiful." He says it like a revelation, and the words resonate.
"Evan..." I reply, not really sure how to continue. I love that he thinks I'm beautiful. I want him to think about me always and I like hearing it more than I should, but there's a date when this ends and I'll be moving hundreds of miles away and I can't lose sight of that.
"I thought it the night I met you. I thought it when I carried you up the stairs, and I thought it when you laughed after I put you down. I thought it when you wore those absurd straw glasses, when we were eating Thai on my patio, and when you sipped coffee as the sun came up afterwards. I've thought it a thousand times in between those moments. When you're with me, when you're not. I had to say it."
They're such lovely words, but when they're said by him they make this indelible mark on my heart that scares the hell out of me, because they could change everything if I let them.
I gather his free hand to my chest and hold it so he can feel my heart beating.
"I'm leaving," I whisper, and not for the first time since I met him do I wish that I wasn't. I want to stay, but that's what got me in trouble in the first place, coming to Port City for a man.
About the Author:
Cassie Cross is a Maryland native and a romantic at heart, who lives outside of Baltimore with her two dogs and a closet full of shoes. Cassie's fondness for swoon-worthy men and strong women are the inspiration for most of her stories, and when she's not busy writing a book, you'll probably find her eating takeout and indulging in her love of 80's sitcoms.
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