“For giving me another chance.”
“Hmm. . .I didn’t really have a choice. You kind of stole my heart,” I tell him sweetly as I peer up at him beneath my lashes. His misery far removed as he returns my smile.
“Angel, you did more than that, you stole the scene.”
EPILOGUE – DEVYN
She can’t see me watching her in the mirror, like a voyeur. The glass glistens from the crystals woven into the neckline of her dress catching the sunlight. Tiny rainbows dance across the bedroom walls as she twists and turns.
I know that she’s nervous. We’ve mostly kept to ourselves in the six months since she moved in my house in L.A., though we do make it a point to travel back to Shady Pines once a month. With my filming and her nursing classes, we stay home most nights. And since my parents landed themselves in jail for breaking the restraining order on multiple accounts and trying to forge my signature on loan documents, our lives have been quiet.
But tonight is our first big outing as a couple, confirming the gossip and rumors that began when I announced that Elena and I were nothing more than close friends. My agent was furious, but Quinn was okay with the decision. And since she was the money backer for the film, what she says goes.
Quinn came to Larsen’s rescue earlier in the month to help her find a dress to wear to the premiere of our movie Fire & Vice. The one-shoulder design falls against her body in a Grecian design. The yellow color a perfect complement to Larsen’s angelic features. But she’s worried about the fact that her arms will be exposed. Her right arm and leg will be on full display, but I plan to keep her by my side the entire time, especially so everyone can get a glimpse of the custom diamond ring she’s sporting on her left hand.
We’ve come a long way in such a short time, but there is no one I’d rather have with me in the next act.
“The limo will be here soon, Angel.”
She spins toward me in alarm, the sleek fabric twirling around her legs. Her hungry eyes travel up and down my body. I’m dressed more casually, but Quinn assured her that she would be wearing a designer gown as well. As if my girl isn’t nervous enough, making a fashion faux-pas at her first premiere was not something she was taking lightly.
Her slender fingers rotate back and forth as she wrings her clasped hands. “How do I look?”
I step toward her and gently tuck her perfectly waved tresses behind her back, letting the tips of my fingers trail along her bare shoulder. “You’re the most stunning woman I’ve ever seen.”
“You know, I actually believe you when you say that.”
“I have no reason to lie to you.” I stare at her for a moment, still unbelievably astonished that I get to call this woman my fiancée, and soon, my wife. Her red-colored lips call me forward in a trance and I tilt my head to capture them between mine.
It lasts just a minute and as she pulls back, her cheeks flushed at my erection tenting my pants, she knows that we’ll finish this when we get home. Larsen turns back to the mirror and gives herself another once over in the mirror, smiling as she sways a bit letting the material slip through her legs.
“I imagine this is what prom would have been like.”
“I wouldn’t know. I didn’t get to go to mine either,” I add as I stand behind her and press a soft kiss to her bare shoulder. “Come on, I’m sure Tessa is waiting.”
Outside, the limo waits with Tessa standing beside the opened door. As if the stars aligned, the house across the street came on the market the same week Larsen and I returned from Shady Pines with the items she wanted to bring. Tessa’s father and I helped her negotiate a reasonable price and she moved in about two months ago.
“Took you guys long enough.” I’ve come to miss her sarcastic tone, but only slightly.
“You look beautiful, Tessa,” Larsen says as she takes in my cousin’s pale pink dress.
“And you. . .you’re going to knock them off their feet.”
I can hear the small cracking in Larsen’s voice as she thanks Tessa for the compliment. We all know how much strength it’s taking Larsen to do this, to join me under the watchful eye of the vultures. I like to think that I’m part of the reason she’s able to face her fear, that she knows my opinion is the only one that matters.
The red carpet isn’t as long as Larsen expected, even though I told her many times it wasn’t a mile in length. But by the time we’re finished being stopped for the interviews she’s ba
rely able to stay on her feet.
I made sure that I kept the attention off Larsen unless someone asked her about the ring on her finger. It went unnoticed until halfway down the carpet when Elena spotted us and demanded she be a part of the wedding.
The premier became utter chaos at that point.
“We just have to stop by that stage for pictures, then we’re golden.”
“Good, I don’t think my lips can hold a smile much longer.”
We follow Elena onto the stage as she exits. Larsen waits on the edge with Tessa knowing that the photographers are going to want shots of me.