“I know I am.”
Police lights flashed in the window and officers began clearing the crowd. A gloved hand thumped against the window.
“You’ll be fine.” I swallowed nervously.
***
I sat in the police station, hair still a mess, Amelia’s lipstick stains all over my neck. This whole mess was the worst publicity of my career, but I couldn’t be happier when the officer brought Amelia out to the front of the station where I was waiting for her.
Her shirt hung sloppily with half the buttons torn off, and she looked more stressed than I’d seen her in my life, but she grinned when she saw me. I stifled a giggle. Did they really have to handcuff her?
Actually, I wouldn’t mind handcuffing her myself.
I shut that idea down quickly because I was still horny as hell and had been for the entire three hours I’d waited for Amelia to be released. Fortunately, I’d been able to convince the limo driver not to press charges against Amelia. He hadn’t been very moved by my explanation that Amelia had just been driven crazy by love and wasn’t thinking, but somehow the twenty-thousand dollars I offered him ended up being a more compelling argument.
“Thank you so much,” Amelia said, throwing her arms around me as soon as they’d removed the handcuffs. “I don’t know what you did, but I know you saved my ass.”
“Hey, I had to save your ass.” I pinched her cheek. “That butt is way too cute to be locked away.”
Amelia looked out the front doors of the police station to where reporters were swarming like flies. “Holy shit.”
“Yeah…” I scratched the back of my head. “Guess we attracted a bit of attention to ourselves.”
“You weren’t serious, were you? When you said you would quit acting.”
“Yeah, I was.”
“But—”
I held my hand up to cut her off. “That’s not the life I want anymore. I just want to be with you.”
“You didn’t have to quit just for me…” She looked at the ground like she fel
t guilty over my decision.
“Trust me, I’m doing it for me too. I’m doing it for us.” I opened the station doors, exposing us to the army of reporters and paparazzi. As we stepped out, Amelia grabbed me, pulling me in for a deep kiss that sent an explosion of excitement through the crowd. But for the first time in my life, I didn’t care what the headlines were going to say tomorrow. Everything I wanted was right there in my arms.
25.
Amelia
Jessica’s eyes looked into mine adoringly, and I swore I saw tears in them as she finished her vows.
“... and I never want to be apart from you again,” she said as she slid the ring on my finger.
My hands trembled as I looked down at the symbol of commitment. I’d known I’d wanted to marry her, but I hadn’t realized how long I’d wanted it. In the year since Jessica and I had confessed our love, hardly a day went by when I didn’t think about my future with her. I wanted it to last forever.
I grabbed her by the neck and pulled her lips to mine, not even waiting for the cue from the officiant. From the front row of seats, I could hear Oliver clapping excitedly, but I didn’t care. I was so lost in that moment.
Until a loud shout snapped me out of it.
“Cut!” The director strode onto the set. “Oliver, can we do the scene with less noise from you? Honestly, you’re worse than the extras.”
“Sorry.” Oliver held his hands up defensively. “I just got really excited.”
The director turned to me and Jessica. “You guys were perfect as always. Can we do it just like that again, but quieter?” Her eyes darted back towards Oliver who nodded and gave a very silent thumbs-up.
As Jessica and I redid the scene, all the emotions I’d felt only became more powerful and this time, I knew I was tearing up too. I could redo this scene as many times as they wanted me to. I could do this forever.