Hollywood Ever After (Red Carpet 1)

I didn’t need to hide my feelings now or the satisfaction I felt just looking at him. I took a deep breath, watching his hand rise on my skin.

“Claire.” Shannon peeked around the door. Her eyes grew huge and she started giggling as I tried to cover myself with the sheet tangled about Josh. “I’ll be in the kitchen.”

Josh rolled over, trying to pull me against him.

I slipped carefully from his hold and into my robe. When I looked back over my shoulder, he was sleeping with my pillow drawn into his chest. I closed the door as quietly as I could and headed for the kitchen.

“Morning,” she sang as I entered the kitchen.

“Morning,” I murmured as she handed me an oversized coffee mug. “Bless you.”

“Did you take something last night?” she asked, shaking the bottle of pain reliever as I took my first blissful sip of coffee.

“I did. Lots of water, too. I feel surprisingly normal this morning.”

“You have some messages. It’s been vibrating a lot this morning.” She called her voicemail and put it to speaker before I could say anything.

There was a message from Natalie, looking for her soccer cleats. The next was from Mom about the soccer cleats, then Natalie calling to tell me that they’d found the soccer cleats. Frank Graham had called and left a pleasant voice message asking me to call him. Shannon raised her eyebrows over that.

My mom’s message about the book was next. Shannon blushed at my mom’s angry words, but nodded as the message continued. The machine beeped and the kitchen was quiet.

“Arthur’s very nice.” I watched her carefully. She may talk a lot about everyone else’s business, but she was very private about her own.

She nodded. “He’s pretty wonderful. He asked me to move in with him, actually.”

My mouth fell open. “And?”

She shrugged.

“Shannon, I don’t have a lot of patience…”

“I know,” she teased. “How long did it take before you two, you know, did the deed?”

I knew I was bright red. “Way to change the subject.”

“I said yes.”

“I’m so happy for you!” I jumped off the stool and hugged her fiercely. “He’s a great guy.”

She shrugged, then nodded. “He is.”

“You deserve it!”

“I do.” She nodded. “So do you.”

I waved her words away. “Not this morning, please. Let me just bask in your moment. This is so exciting. It’s a big step for you. When?”

“The sooner the better. This house is way too big for me anyway. Ah, good morning, sunshine! So you really do just roll out of bed like that, huh? How revolting.”

Josh was scratching his head, wearing his T-shirt and boxer briefs. He looked gorgeous as usual, and my smile appeared before I could control it.

“Morning, Shannon. Chance of tea around?” He looked at my coffee with envy.

“Here.” I held my coffee to him.

He smiled and took it, taking a cautious sip.

“You’re sharing your coffee with the man?” Shannon teased. “This could be getting serious.”