Victoria blinked, and her eyes zeroed in on Nate. “What?”
He picked up her left hand, kissing her ring finger. “I know I’m doing this ass backward. I don’t have a ring. Well, I don’t have a ring here, it’s at home, but—”
“You already bought me a ring?”
“I did. I bought it months ago.”
Victoria felt her mouth drop open, beyond words.
“I knew I wanted you from the first moment I saw you. I also knew I had to take it slow. You had apprehension written all over your face from the get-go, and I didn’t want to bombard you with too much, too fast. But don’t mistake my patience for acceptance. I knew I would make you mine and nothing—not even you—would keep that from happening.
“Before I left, I’d planned to talk with you about moving in with me—take the next step in nudging you in the right direction—but in light of recent events,” he laid a hand on her stomach, “I’m throwing my take it slow playbook out the window.
“So, Victoria Rachel Lee, I might not be down on one knee, but that doesn’t change the fact I want you to be my wife. Now, tell me you’ll marry me.”
She saw the pulse in his neck jumping at a frantic pace and placed her hand over his heart. “It’s beating so fast.”
He covered her hand with his own. “I’m scared to death what your answer will be.”
She shook her head not understanding his fear. “Why?”
“Because I don’t know what I’d do if you said no. I love you so damn much. I want you with me forever.”
“I don’t know.” She tinged her voice with a hint of sarcasm. “I need to think about this. Forever’s an awfully long time.” She watched Nate’s lips twist up and gave in to her own smile.
He pulled her to him, burying his face in her neck. “So, is that a yes?”
She pulled back, gripping his shoulders. “Only you would get that. Get me. Yes. It’s a big, fat yes.”
He kissed her, his hands roaming down her back to find her ass before rolling them, her on her back with Nate over her. “Thank you.”
Twin pools of happiness gazed down upon her, and she melted, whispering, “Anytime, stud.”
Her toes curled as a wave of pleasure washed over her. She looked through slit lids to find Nate between her legs, soft beams of sunlight igniting his hair.
Her favorite way to wake.
His strokes were leisurely, yet no less effective, as his tongue licked through her folds and swirled around her clit. A moan fell from her lips as her hands gripped the sheets and her hips surged.
Nate’s head popped up, a smile hitting his lips. “Good morning.”
“Mmm, yes, it is.”
His fingers came into play, gliding effortlessly into her. “So wet.”
He continued with his mouth, his fingers in sync with the flicking of his tongue. “I want you to come for me.”
“I’m close.”
“How close?”
“Very.”
“Good.”
Then his mouth latched onto her, sucking hard on her clit while his fingers slammed into her. Her back arched off the bed as a cry flew from her lips. Her body convulsed as waves of pleasure raced up her spine. She crashed back down on the bed, spent, as Nate’s fingers resumed their leisurely pace, riding out the last ripples of her orgasm.
Nate’s lips trailed up her stomach and over her chest to land on her mouth. She opened willingly, tasting herself intermingled with his own unique flavor.
“As much as I hate to say this,” Nate said, capturing her lower lip between his own, “we need to get up and get ready.”
Regaining use of her arms, she wrapped them around his waist. “What time is it?”
“A little after eight.”
They didn’t need to be at the studio for their meeting until ten. “We’ve still got time. Besides, there’s something we need to take care of.” She punctuated her words with a bump of her hips, rubbing her stomach against his more than evident erection.
“Come on,” he nipped at her bottom lip before getting to his knees, “you can take care of it in the shower.”
She smiled following him to the bathroom, liking the idea of getting a little dirty before getting clean.
“You missed the turn for the studio.” Victoria’s finger flew up, pointing to the street they just passed.
“I have a stop to make first.”
She eyed the clock on the dash, noting they still had time and figured this was why Nate had woken her so early and rushed her out of the house. “Where are we going?”
“My place. There’s something I need to grab real quick.”
Victoria sat back in her seat and rested her eyes as Nate wound his way through the hills and didn’t open them until they pulled up to his house.
She looked over at him when he opened the car door. “I’ll be right back.”
She nodded then watched him jog to and up the stairs before unlocking and slipping through the front door.
Unfastening her seat belt, she got out of the car to stretch her legs before they headed back down to the studio. Raising her arms above her head, she tipped her face toward the sky, letting the sun’s rays beat on her closed lids. It would be too hot by mid-day—the August temperatures reaching into the high nineties—but right then, with a light breeze blowing, the weather was perfect.
She turned her head when she heard the front door and smiled at Nate as he approached. He stopped in front of her, taking her by the hands and lightly kissing her on the lips before falling to one knee.
“I didn’t get a chance to do this right last night.”
She tugged at his hands. “Get up, you silly man. You don’t need to kneel in front of me.”
He raised a brow and smirked. “I think it only fair, as you kneeled before me this morning.”
Victoria felt her cheeks heat as a vision of her doing just that in the shower not even an hour prior filled her mind. She tugged his hands again. “Get up. You’re getting the knee of your pants dirty.”
“I don’t give a fuck about my jeans. But I do care about slipping this ring on your finger.” He let go of one of her hands to reach into his front pocket, pulling out a ring, its large, square-cut diamond twinkling in the sunlight. “Say you’ll marry me,” he said, slipping the ring halfway up her finger then looking up at her, squinting into the sun.
She dropped to her knees in front of him, and he followed her with his eyes. “Now look who’s getting their knees dirty.”
She smirked. “I don’t care about my knees, and yes, I’ll marry you.”
He grinned, sliding the ring the rest of the way on. Then leaning forward, he halted a breath away from her lips, murmuring, “Sealed with a kiss,” before doing just that.
“There you are!” Matt Gregory, the producer of their film, said as they walked through the door of the meeting room. He looked down at his watch then at their clasped hands. “So nice of you to join us.”
Nate gave him his best Hollywood smile—the one reserved for people he secretly thought were assholes. “If five minutes were considered late, everyone in Hollywood would be booted out on their ass.” Nate tugged at her hand, leading her to an empty seat at the end of the conference table, pulling out her chair and seating her, before taking the seat beside hers. “Now, are we going to waste even more time, or should we get down to business?”
Victoria looked around at the others already sitting at the table. She grimaced when she spied April, looking her usual put-together self. Her blond hair—styled in a sleek, stylish bob—framed her perfectly made-up face that currently had a stern, straight-lipped expression. Whether it was from their lateness, the talking to Victoria had overheard Nate inflict on her that morning, or just her usual bitchiness, Victoria wasn’t sure. What Victoria did know, she was the only one receiving the full brunt of her icy-blue glare.
Byron sat across the table from April, his chair pushed back to make room for his ample stomach. His brown hair—looking greasy from product—was slicked back making his already overly long forehead look even longer. Bangs, the man needed bangs. His concentration was set on the papers in front of him, his pudgy fingers shuffling through the stack.
Victoria only recognized two of the four others sitting at the table—Matt who still look peeved from Nate’s comment and Simon, looking bored.
Matt cleared his throat. “As Mr. Reed so graciously pointed out, we should get started so not to waste everyone’s valuable time.”
Nate leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Asshole.”
Victoria smirked to herself. Nailed it.
“If everyone could look at the papers in front of them. It’s a list of meetings, schedules, and events leading to the release of the film. Any changes or additions will be emailed so please check yours daily. As you can see, a larger cast meeting is set for one week from today. That meeting is mandatory.”
Matt continued to drone on, and by page two, Victoria was starting to lose focus, her mind drifting to more pleasant thoughts. It still felt surreal she was engaged. She knew Byron would be shocked, and she could only imagine what April would think. And her parents! The last time she saw them, she was a depressed lump on their couch. Funny how fast things could change in such a short time.
Her eyes drifted to her ring, feeling foreign and heavy on her finger. It really was beautiful. A large princess cut diamond set above a platinum band that was inset with smaller square stones. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the cost. If she did, she’d probably be too scared to wear it.
She felt a hand squeeze her knee, and she jerked her head Nate’s direction. He was in full smirk. “Meeting’s over. Do you need me to fill you in or was it me filling you that had you so distracted?”
“Ha, ha,” she whispered, noticing everyone standing from the table. Boy, she really had zoned out.
Nate got to his feet, holding his hand out to her. She didn’t hesitate, taking it, his arms wrapping around her once she gained her feet. Chest to chest, her head tipped back, his tipped down, they stared at one another oblivious to the people talking around them. He did that. Created her own little Nate World—population two.
“So, what’s on the agenda for the rest of the day?” she asked, looping her thumbs through the belt loops at the back of his jeans.
“I was thinking you, me, in a bed.”
“Hmm, that does sound lovely, but I was thinking we should pack up our trailers.”
A furrow formed between his brows. “I like my idea better.”
“Yes, but my idea might put me in the mood to pack other things.”
“Like things in your condo?”
“Exactly things like that.”
“Hmm,” he squeezed her closer. “I’ve changed my mind. I like your idea better.”
She chuckled. “I thought you might.”
“Victoria, a word.” Her World was invaded by Byron’s gravelly voice behind her.
“She’s busy.” Nate hadn’t bothered to look up when he spoke, keeping his eyes trained on her face.
“Yes, I can see that, but she’s never too busy to talk to me.”
“Wrong.” Nate moved his eyes over her shoulder, giving Byron a very not happy look—a look she hoped was never directed at her.
Knowing things would escalate quickly if she didn’t intervene, she gave Nate a small squeeze before spinning in his hold to face Byron but kept her back flush to Nate’s chest. Nate never lost his hold, his arms hugging her around her shoulders. Her hands came up to hold Nate’s forearms. “What do you need a word about?”
She saw Byron’s eyes flick to her ring finger, slightly widening before narrowing, his lips forming a flat line. “In private.”
She felt Nate’s chest expand and quickly spoke to stave off an argument. “Whatever you need to say can be said in front of Nate.” She felt Nate’s body relax slightly, but his arms squeezed her a bit tighter.
If possible, Byron’s expression turned more disproving. “Fine,” he snapped. “There’s a part that opened up. I think you’ll be perfect for it, and the powers that be, agree with me. It’s in early production still and filming won’t start until late February or early March. They’re very interested and want to talk with you about it.”
She felt Nate tense behind her, growing stiffer the longer Byron spoke, but he didn’t say anything after Byron finished his little speech, which Victoria was grateful for. She would deal with Byron herself. “We’ve already had this discussion, and you know where I stand. I won’t be making any commitments for the foreseeable future.”
“Fine,” he said in a short, clipped voice, obviously not fine at all, but she’d warned him to back off too many times for her to care. His eyes flicked to her ring again. “Anything you want to tell me?”
April chose that moment to join their happy trio, turning it into a jolly foursome. Victoria mentally sighed.
It also didn’t take long for April to zero in on her ring. But in all fairness, the thing was huge. She was no expert, but the stone had to be at least two carats.
April pasted on a fake smile but didn’t beat around the bush like Byron. “Are congratulations in order?”
“They are.” Nate leaned his head down, kissing her temple. “Victoria agreed to become my wife this morning.”
“The news will crush a lot of your female fans.” Fake smile forgotten, April had slipped her bitchy mask back on.
“Maybe we should write a press release before the tabloids get ahold of the news.” That came from Byron.
“No.” Nate’s voice was a sharp command. “Not until after we’re married. Reporters hound us enough as it is. They get wind of this, they’ll be up our ass looking for the money shot of our wedding.”
April was quick to announce, “Not sure how long we can keep something like this quiet, especially with her running around with that thing on.” April flicked her hand at Victoria’s.
“You let me worry about that,” was Nate’s curt reply.
“Have you set the date?” Ms. Twenty Questions asked.
“We haven’t talked about it yet, but it’ll be soon.”
“What’s the rush?” Damn, she was persistent. Wasn’t she aware she was pissing Nate off? Victoria couldn’t see him, but even still, knew he wasn’t happy.
“That’s none of your business. We’ll update you when it’s a done deal.”
Victoria flicked her eyes to Byron, silently hoping he didn’t open his mouth.
“Fine.” April sounded affronted.
“Are we done here?” Nate didn’t give April or Byron a chance to answer. “Good.” Then in a lower voice, steering her toward the door, he said, “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
The heat smacked her as they stepped out of the air-conditioned building. As she’d predicted, it was sweltering.
“Still feel up to packing?” Nate asked as they walked hand in hand through the parking lot.
“Absolutely.” She eyed Nate’s car with a critical eye as they passed it. “Will we be able to fit everything in that?”
“I’ll make it work.”
“Okay.” She brushed his cheek with a kiss before starting a light jog to her trailer, calling over her shoulder, “Last one packed is a rotten egg.”
She slowed at the stairs to search through her bag for her keys. Still not finding them when she reached the top, she leaned her butt against the handrail. Raising her left knee, she placed her foot on the middle bar, creating a shelf with her leg for her purse so she could properly look through it, and felt the railing give against her weight. Her purse flew from her hands, sailing over her head, its contents raining around her.
She teetered—for what felt like endless moments—staring up at the bright light of the sun, until unable to keep her balance, she shrieked as she tumbled backward over the top of the handrail. The ground swooped up, and she landed painfully on her hip with her shoulder taking the next brunt then finally her head. Dazed, she saw a sprinkling of stars before blackness.