How You Lost The Girl (HYGTG #2)

Prologue

New York had been good to me over the years. It had been kind enough to heal my mother only months after I came back, but I had never had the courage to go back to the UK. I had stayed behind, not daring to go back and not daring to start something new. I had promised my mother I'd attend some classes at NYU, but I could never bring myself to get all the way there. Instead, I stopped at a cafe on the way and called Karlie to come accompany me.

I had been a coward and I felt guilty for it, but I couldn't go back now. I was happy with my life. I had built a pretty good life here in the States, I had established myself as a songwriter, equally loved and hated, equally appreciated and discouraged.

"Hey, baby!" Taylor said, wrapping his arms around me. I leaned into his touch and felt engulfed in his warmth. He planted a sweet little kiss on my cheek and I smiled.

"Hi," I said, turning around to face him. Even with my absurd height, he still managed to tower over me. I rubbed my cold hands along the stone-hard muscles on his hands. I pressed my forehead against his and smiled even bigger.

"You look gorgeous," he told me and pecked my lips. I felt the butterflies in my belly start to wake up and dance around, speeding up my heartbeat and making my breathing heavier. I felt goosebumps rise on my arms as Taylor wrapped his strong arms tightly around my waist and deepened the kiss.

I gently broke away from his lips after a few minutes. "Stop," I told him, still smiling. "Stop or we'll never get there," I chuckled and he cheekily winked at me, flashing me that blindingly white smile of his.

"Ok, then," he said and unglued my body from his. I fixed my flowery dress in the mirror, then turned back to him.

"You ready to go?" I asked and he silently picked up the house and car keys, took my hand in his and dragged me out of the house.

We were sitting in the car at a traffic light and everything was good in the world. We had the radio set on country music and cranked all the way up when a song I had written for Carrie Underwood had come on. I squeaked and started singing along, while Taylor started laughing and kissed my cheek.

"I'm so proud of you," he told me, returning the radio to a volume that wasn't dangerous to our hearing. "Working with Carrie is a big milestone, right?" He asked as he started driving again.

"Yeah," I said, still way more excited than I should've been. "I'm so in love with her music, it's really been more of a privilege than a milestone to work with her," I said, opening up the window and letting the warm summer wind blow through my short hair. Taylor started laughing at that as he stepped on the gas, then had to push the break all the way down to stop the car when a stray pedestrian crossed the street where he shouldn't have.

I sneaked a look at the person who had jumped in front of our car. He was wearing a hoodie over his head, but I could see some rebellious brown curls escaping from the shelter of the thick material. He had huge black shades covering his face and he was looking down at the ground.

Even though he seemed somewhat familiar, I had to turn back to calm my angry boyfriend, who was launching arrows of swear words at the stranger.

"Who does he think he is?" he screamed as he pushed the break all the way down at the next traffic light.

He looked at me with big eyes and I smiled. "Umm, I don't know... Maybe every other pedestrian in New York ever?" I asked and his serious expression cracked on the spot. He started laughing alongside me.

I loved that about Taylor, how he seemed to think I was funny when very few people had ever thought that. I loved how he laughed at my jokes, no matter how stupid they were.