“That’s not fair to you. Asking you to wait,” he murmurs. “And it’s not fair to ask you to hide with me either.”
“Alex, what do you want?”
“You! Any way I can have you.”
My limbs feel lighter, as if an invisible weight pressing down on them has shifted.
“But even after the whole studio mess is over, my life always has a dose of crazy. That’s Hollywood: insane filming hours, travel. The paps always make up stuff. I won’t be able to protect you from all that, as much as I want to.”
“You don’t need to protect me, Alex. I’m not a damsel or a kid.”
He kisses my palm, then moves my hand to his cheek. “In my early years in Hollywood, I had relationships with a few women who weren’t in the industry. It overwhelmed them.”
“And I’ve dated men who acted like I was disposable. Like they could walk all over my feelings. Everyone has a history. You know what they say about kissing frogs.
I’m tough.” I shrug, smiling, even though I feel like jumping up and down, screaming my happiness to the four corners until my throat is raw. “And I don’t want this to end.”
He pulls me into a kiss, hooking an arm around my waist, pulling me out of the armchair. I topple him over, until he’s sitting on the floor, and I’m in his lap. We’re laughing, and kissing, and I feel like the luckiest woman. He sweeps me onto my back on the thick, plush carpet, lounging over me, kissing me deeper. God, I have never been kissed like this, not even by him. It feels more intimate than making love.
“I want to kiss you for hours,” he murmurs, swiping his tongue over my lower lip. “Just kiss you. It’s the first time I can do this without counting down the time we have left.”
Emotion wires up my entire body as I bring my mouth to his. We kiss until we’re both shaking, and then move to the bed. After sheathing himself, he slides inside me, moving slow and deep until I come apart so hard I see stars behind my eyelids.
Although the temptation to remain in this room, wrapped in our cocoon, is high, we head out to the goodbye bonfire. Alex and I do our best to act as if we’re simply friends—which we’ve done the past week too—but I think if anyone looks closely, they’ll see the barely disguised joy on our faces. We end up not sleeping at all, watching the sunrise and heading straight to breakfast.
Alex pulls me to one side once we’re out of the breakfast hall. “Preston, my manager, will be here soon because we’re flying together to New York.”
Alex is flying around the country for the next two weeks for more prerelease promo for the superhero movie.
“I’d like for you to meet him,” he continues.
“You’re telling him?”
“It’s best if he knows. He can help. It’ll be easier to manage all this secrecy if he knows. But if you’re not comfortable with that—”
“No, it’s okay. If you think it’ll make things easier, I’ll meet Preston.”
***
Preston nearly cries when Alex explains everything to him.
“You’ve got to be kidding.” He looks between the two of us, as if hoping someone will jump up and say April Fool’s. Slumping down on the armchair in Alex’s room, he pulls at his mustache, which is dark brown with a few silver streaks, like his hair. His crisp suit wrinkles as he crosses his arms over his chest.
“No offense, Summer, you seem like a nice person, but, Alex, this is the worst time for you to be with someone. Have you got any idea what the tabloids would do with this info? How the fans would react? The studio?”
“I have a pretty good idea, yeah,” Alex says dryly. He’s leaning against the wall, in arm’s reach from me. I chose to sit on the bed, but standing would have been better. Preston’s reaction is unnerving me.
“The success of these two movies is hinging on the public opinion, which at the moment is against you. Do you know what two box office bombs would do to your career? You don’t have the luxury to play hide and seek.”
Alex’s jaw ticks. “Pull yourself together, Preston. It was one panel gone wrong, you said so yourself.”
Preston is sweating in earnest now. “The studio did some polls. Your popularity is at an all-time low. If the three interviews next week don’t go better, we’re neck deep in shit.”
My stomach constricts, fear gripping me on Alex’s behalf. I’m also dreading that he might change his mind about us.
No, just because other men walked all over my feelings doesn’t mean Alex will. It’s not fair to hold him to those low expectations. As if sensing my apprehension, Alex takes my hand to his lips and kisses it.
“We’ll be careful,” I promise. “And I do have experience with the press. They’ve been stalking my family for years.”