“Angel, I’m pretty sure there’s going to be a shitload of press waiting for us down there.”
“I’m planning on it.”
We round the last hedge of her winding drive, and suddenly, we’re spotted. Cameras flash, and hundred questions come hurling through the gates from the assembled press. I pause for a second, brow furrowing as my jaw tightens, but she just keeps tugging me with her.
“C’mon!”
“Alyssa—”
“They think leaking pictures of you and me kissing is going to be this big leverage over us, right? I mean, I know what they’re doing. They think some sordid grainy shots of you and me in the backyard is going to make it look like you took advantage of me, so they can push that stalker narrative and get you thrown in jail.” She snarls. “Which is bullshit, but we both know how that’s going to work out with a guy like that David asshole and all of his paid off connections.”
“So we’re standing half-naked in front of half the press in LA for…?”
“For this.”
She grabs me, leans up on her tiptoes, and kisses me. Hard, and right there in front of all of them. The paparazzi dickheads go nuts, screaming and yelling and firing off a million fucking pictures. But I barely even notice them. They’re barely even there as I lose myself in kissing her. My arms go around her, and she giggles into my lips as I scoop her up and kiss her fiercely, with everything I have until she’s moaning into my mouth.
Slowly, grinning, we pull away.
“Let ‘em try and leak those shots and hang them over our heads now,” she whispers fiercely.
I chuckle, my eyes searching hers. “You’re sure about this?”
“Little late for that now, isn’t it?”
I grin. “Suppose so. But tomorrow’s news is going to be all about you shacking up with your ex-con bodyguard who happens to be twice your damn age.”
“Hey, you’re the one who’s going to have to deal with all the shit about me being half your age.”
I groan. “True.”
“And anyways, that story is bullshit.” She shrugs. It’s not my ex-con bodyguard I’m screwing. It’s my ex-con mover.”
I laugh, kissing her fiercely as she melts into me.
“Just so you know, baby girl,” I purr into her lips as the cameras flash like lightning around us. “I’m in love with you.”
“Shit, really?” She gives me this big fake worried look. “I mean, I was thinking I was just betting my whole career on a one-time fling.”
I roll my eyes. “Anyone ever tell you you’re a brat?”
“Only if that person is willing to give me a spanking later.”
I growl. “Count on it.”
She bites her lip, looking into my eyes. “I love you too, you know.”
The questions come screaming through the gates to her estate, but we just ignore them as our lips come together again. And then it’s just me standing there kissing the girl I love, and the rest of it fades away.
Epilogue
Alyssa
The movies tell us that life always has a happy ending. Trust me, I know that’s bullshit better than a lot of people. But then, sometimes, if you’re lucky, you actually get that Hollywood ending. And when you do, man is it good.
With us, our happy ending didn’t come for free, that’s for sure. It didn’t come without a fight either. Diesel and I went to bed in each other’s arms that night after our very public display, but I’d be lying if I said we woke up to everything being bright and sunny and fine the next day.
Danny sued me for breach of contract when I fired his ass that next day. And he still tried to go with the story about Diesel being the stalker who’d written those disgusting letters. David Prichard didn’t just magically disappear either. If anything, he came at Diesel even harder after that night, using every crooked cop, lawyer and judge he knew to try to get the man I love behind bars again.
…Yeah, but like hell was I going to let that happen.
I haven’t always been proud of the work I’ve done since I got “famous.” I did some really bad movies, was a spokeswoman for some seriously questionable products, and I allowed myself to get spun up in all of these tawdry made up tabloid stories. But, there’s one silver lining to all of that. Actually, it’s more of a gold lining.
…All those things paid. And in this crooked little town? Oh, they paid well.
I hired the best legal defense money could buy to hit back at the asshole trying to steal Diesel from me. And even then, for a minute there, it even looked like David was going to win, especially with Danny in his corner along with his bullshit evidence of Diesel being my stalker.
But then I got smart. Then, I found them.
René and Toby weren’t easy to find. She’d changed their names after she ran off from her monster of an ex-husband, and even moved to France. But, I found them. At first, she flat-out refused to have anything to do with David, but when I told them what was going on, and how Diesel was involved, there was no stopping René from getting on a plane and coming back with me to make things right.