Hearts in Motion (Boggy Creek Valley 5)

“As you should,” came a voice from behind me.

Turning, I smiled when I saw Hank.

“Hank!” I threw myself into his arms. “I’ve missed you.”

He laughed. “I’ve missed you, too, Brighton.”

After I drew away, I glanced back at Kathleen, who was standing there looking utterly confused.

“You might want to let Luke know he needs to have them clean out his trailer better,” I said. “It appears someone left the trash in here.”

“How dare you!” Kathleen exclaimed as she attempted to stomp out of the small bedroom and doing a piss-poor job of it. “You have no idea about the man you married! He was with me all morning.”

I raised a brow. “How have you been nominated for an Oscar? You’re terrible at lying. Or are lying and acting that different?”

She glared at me. “Fuck you, you little twit! He’ll get tired of you, you wait and see.”

Pushing past me, she made her way out of the trailer. She let out a little scream, and I imagined it was because she nearly fell going down the two steps.

“You shouldn’t have pissed her off, Brighton,” Hank said. “She could tell the press your name and where you live.”

I looked at Hank. “She could, but I seriously doubt she wants Luke to be pissed at her. And I don’t think she wants a picture of her naked ass displayed for the world.”

Hank looked back toward the door where Kathleen had disappeared. “You’re probably right.”

“How did you know I was in here?”

He motioned for me to head out of the RV. “Lanny told me you were here, and she also confessed to Kathleen being in here as well. It appears Kathleen saw your name on the list for security and quickly hatched this little plan. Luke is going to be furious when he finds out.”

I chuckled. “Maybe we shouldn’t tell him.”

“Why wouldn’t you tell him?”

Shrugging, I said, “I kind of feel sorry for her.”

Hank stopped walking and looked at me. “You feel sorry for Kathleen Daughtry?”

With a nod, I replied, “Yes. From what I understand, she seems to throw herself at men. To me, that screams that she’s a woman who’s unhappy and insecure with herself. Hopefully she realizes that sooner rather than later, or she’s going to be one very lonely woman.”

Slowly shaking his head, Hank said, “No wonder Luke is so in love with you.”

I gave a half shrug before we started walking again. Stopping at a golf cart, Hank motioned for me to climb in.

“I’ll take you over to where they’re filming the next scene. Kathleen should have been in makeup, not playing in Luke’s trailer. You’ll have a few minutes to talk to Luke, and I’m sure he’ll want to introduce you to some folks.”

I smiled and tried not to let my excitement show, but I was so curious to see Luke in action. I still hadn’t watched one of his movies, so I’d never seen him act.

When we finally pulled up and I saw all the cameras and what looked like small train tracks set up around a stretch of the lake, my heart was pounding in my chest. I wasn’t sure if I was nervous, excited, or worried.

It still bothered me that Luke was walking away from his career. But a part of me was also so happy, and that part filled me with guilt.

Luke was standing with three other men in a circle. They were holding something that I assumed was the script. As I approached, his eyes lifted up from the paper and he looked directly at me as if he sensed I was there. A brilliant smile spread across his face, and he hurried over to me. “Hey, you’re here.”

When he leaned down to kiss me, I froze for a moment. Then I relaxed and kissed him back.

He drew away and leaned his forehead on mine. “Hi, wife.”

With a giggle, I replied, “Hi, husband.” It was then I realized he still had the paper ring on. “You kept it on?”

He reached down for my hand and brushed a kiss across my knuckles. “So did you.”

“I’m not taking it off until we get real rings.”

Luke smiled. “Neither am I.”

My eyes darted over to the lake, and Luke must have been able to read my mind.

“They can digitally edit it out, because I am not taking this paper ring off my finger.”

“Well, we do need to take it off to shower,” I stated with a wicked smile. I was hit with memories of last night, and I almost moaned thinking about Luke’s mouth making me come while the water rained down around us.

“Someone’s having dirty thoughts,” Luke whispered against my ear.

Laughing, I replied, “Just thinking about last night.”

He drew back and looked down at me, his eyes dark with promises of more. “Wait until our honeymoon this evening. Since your folks are back in town—and I cleared it with your father—I booked us a room at the country club here.”