7
KNOCKED UP
I PRACTICALLY HELD my breath as Ace limped across the deck of the rescue ship, gazing out at what was left of the ruined expanse of the U.S.S. Alabama. From where I sat off camera, I had a view of his strong backside, his Navy uniform looking more like tattered rags than the pristine outfit he’d worn at the beginning of the film.
It was the final day of shooting after a long twelve weeks, and though my last scene had been a few days ago, I wasn’t about to miss being here for Ace’s big end scene. To say my first experience making a movie was an odd one was an understatement. Things had never quite thawed between us and the cast and crew, and it felt like we’d spent more time in Ace’s trailer avoiding the stares than actually shooting.
Well, it wasn’t like that time in Ace’s trailer hadn’t been very well spent.
Since I had no plans to continue with acting, I was soaking in the remaining minutes, watching my man from the sidelines. The set was completely still as one of the cameras caught Ace’s reaction to the destruction before him and the fact that he made it out alive. I wished I could see his face, but I could feel the mood he’d set, could see the tension in his shoulders and the way he held his body.
“Daddy!”
A little boy, about four, went running toward Ace, who’d jerked his head around at the sound. Even from across the room I could see the tears form in his eyes, and the smile that lit up his face as he hobbled toward the boy had me biting down hard on my lower lip. As he swooped the kid up into his big arms and held him close, his eyes caught on a woman with fair hair walking hesitantly his way. Tears streamed down her face, and as she finally came to a stop before Ace, he pulled her to his chest and kissed the top of her head. The picture the three of them made against the green screen that stood in for a sunset background caused a couple of audible sniffs, and then the cameras panned out slowly, fully exploiting the reunion and happy ending.
“Cut! And that’s a wrap on Insurrection 2!” Ron called out, and the remaining cast and crew on set burst into cheers and whistles.
I stood up and clapped along as Ace set the boy down and then rubbed the back of his neck. When he glanced up, his eyes met mine, and the grin he gave me was more heart melting than the scene we’d all just witnessed.
As Ace headed in my direction, Ron continued speaking, but I couldn’t tell what he said. My focus was solely on the gorgeous—though slightly worn—man in front of me.
“Congratulations, mister. Great scene,” I said.
Ace’s smile grew. “Coming from my biggest fan, that means a lot.”
“I am definitely your biggest fan in bed, and don’t you forget it. I kinda like your movies too.”
He laughed and gave me a shove. “Ass.”
“Mhmm, I like that too.”
“Oh yeah? Maybe I’ll let you kiss it later.”
“Maybe I’ll do more than that.” Then I winked at him and said, “So how does it feel? You’re all done.”
“Well, except for any pick-up shots, but yeah. Feels…like a relief, honestly.”
“You know I have no idea what a pick-up shot means.”
Ace’s arm went around my shoulders, and he walked us toward where Ron and the cameras were. “How about I explain it tonight after you give me what you promised.”
“I could get on board with that…”
He gave me a final squeeze, and then his arm left me, reaching out toward Ron instead.
“I just wanted to say thank you. I think the film’s going to be great, and I’m proud to be a part of it,” Ace said.
Damn. I had to hand it to the guy for being the bigger man, considering the hard time Ron had given him for weeks on end. No way in hell would I have done the same, especially with the way Ron was eyeing Ace’s hand before reluctantly shaking it.
“Always a pleasure, Ace,” he said, and I didn’t miss the way he wouldn’t look in my direction. As Ron let go and shoved his hands in his pockets, he rocked back on his heels. “And, uh…I meant to talk to you before you left.”
Was he about to apologize? He fucking better. Ace deserved at least that much.
“You mentioned before that you would throw the wrap party, and I just wanted to make sure that was still on. Announce it to everyone before they head out today and all.”
Are you fucking serious?
To his credit, Ace didn’t blink. Instead, he replied smoothly, “Of course. I’ll have my party planner email everyone the details.”
Ron clapped Ace on the shoulder and nodded. “Great.” Then he turned around and went back to deconstructing his setup.
Without even thinking about it, I reached for Ace’s hand, linking our fingers. After months of being so careful not to throw our relationship in anyone’s faces, I couldn’t give a fuck anymore what these pricks thought. How could anyone in their right mind treat the man beside me with anything other than total respect and admiration? He’d give the shirt off his back for a stranger. He’d throw a stupid wrap party and spend his own money to make sure the people who’d turned against him still had a good time. He’d bite his tongue instead of saying how he truly felt.
Once we were outside of the soundstage, I found it hard to keep from biting my own tongue. “Why did you do that?”
“Sometimes you have to suck it up and be a team player.”
“Or you could just tell them all to go fuck themselves.”
“I did in my head.”
“Not the same thing.”
“What good would it do to stoop to his level? It would just make things worse.”
“But this guy is going to make a shit ton of money off you when this movie explodes. The least he could’ve done was say, ‘Sorry, I’m a dick, and I should’ve been more understanding and treated you like a human being when someone stole your private life away from you and aired it out to the world for everyone to talk about.’”
Ace brought our hands up and kissed my knuckles. “Thank you. But it’s fine.”
“It’s not fine.”
“We’ve gotta let it go.”
As we stepped inside his trailer, I sighed, but deep down I knew he was right. Still didn’t make it fair, though. Ace continually amazed me with the kind of man he was. Every day he showed me another side to himself. A side I never imagined someone like him would have, and today it was humility.
Here was a man who, by all standards, was a very influential player in this business. Yet he’d spent the past few weeks doing everything within his power to keep the peace on set. He’d done everything possible to make things less awkward for me and the entire flipping cast, when really he could’ve acted like an egomaniac and demanded things I probably couldn’t have even imagined. I also knew he would’ve been able to have Russ fired in a heartbeat, and yet he hadn’t, which made him…well, it made him pretty damn incredible.
I glanced over to where he was unbuttoning the collar of his torn Navy jacket, and watched him dig around inside his bag for his cell. Once he located it, he took a seat at the small kitchen table and scrolled through his phone, looking for his event planner’s number, no doubt, and when I shut the door behind me, he looked up and aimed a half-smile in my direction.
“You’re looking pretty serious over there, Daydream.” There was humor in his tone, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “You okay?”
I nodded slowly as I made my way over to where he sat. I reached for the phone and put it on the table, and when I cupped the side of his face and lowered my lips to his, I said, “I’m just great.”
Ace pulled away slightly and raised an eyebrow. “Great, huh?”
“Mhmm. I was just thinking…”
“Always a dangerous pastime,” Ace said, and brought a palm up to lay it directly over my heart, and I wondered if he could feel it thudding.
“No. Not this time,” I said.
“No?”
“Nope. I was just thinking how wonderful you are.”
“Okay, sweet talker—”
“I’m serious,” I said, bringing my other hand up so I was cradling his face between my palms. “I wish for one day you could be me, so you could see what an incredibly brave, sweet, extraordinary human being you are. You have so much, Ace, yet…you’re more generous and humble than anyone I know.”
“Dylan—”
“Shh,” I whispered against his lips. “I just wanted you to know that I…” I caught myself at the last minute as his eyes pierced mine and I was paralyzed by the enormity of emotions flooding me.
God, how is it that in twelve weeks this man has completely turned my world upside down? But he had. Ace had me wanting things…things I’d never even thought about before. Things I always assumed I would never want.
“You…?” he said, but my mind had changed course. The emotions had blurred and morphed into something else entirely, and then, quite unexpectedly, I asked, “Do you want kids?”
From the stunned expression on Ace’s face, I might as well have asked him if he were a serial killer. His eyes had widened and his mouth fell open, and he looked so bewildered I couldn’t stop the chuckle that bubbled out of me.
“Uhh…” he said.
He appeared so shell-shocked it made me laugh even harder. “I’m sorry…but you should see your face right now… I promise, I’m not pregnant.” When I began laughing again, Ace’s mouth snapped shut and he brought both his hands up to my wrists to encircle them and tug me down into the booth with him. He scooted across the seat until he was lounging back against the wall and I was awkwardly sprawled across him.
“Excuse me if you took me a little bit off guard,” he said.
“A little bit?”
“Okay, a whole fucking lot. But that wasn’t where I thought you were going with that at all.”
I aimed a grin his way, trying to play down the fact that I’d been about three seconds away from handing over more of me than I knew I could ever get back should Ace decide he didn’t—
“Hey?” he said. “Where’d you go?”
“Huh?”
It was Ace’s turn to chuckle. “What is up with you? You’re all over the place.”
I sighed, knowing that he was right. Maybe it was like a postproduction crash or something. But I felt oddly sentimental. Like all of my feelings were right there on the surface.
I stroked my fingers down his cheek. “I just think you would be an amazing father, is all. And I was curious.”
He narrowed his eyes on me. “I don’t think that’s it at all, but to answer your question. Yes, I think one day and”—his eyes were so intent on holding mine then that there was no way I could look anywhere but at him, and his meaning was crystal clear before he even said it—“with the right person, I would definitely consider having kids. What about you?”
“I never really thought I would, considering where I came from and all. But…” I chewed on my lower lip, suddenly wishing I’d kept my damn mouth shut.
“But?”
My eyes locked with his and I decided it was now or never to really just lay it out there. “But watching you today on set made me think about what-ifs.”
The grin that curved Ace’s mouth then was cheeky, and for the first time since we’d entered the trailer, his eyes lit with the same amusement his smile was conveying.
“Are you trying to say you want me to knock you up? Because, Dylan, I have to tell you, I have some pretty powerful boys at work, but no amount of horny goat weed is gonna make that happen.”
It was my turn for my jaw to drop then, and when Ace started laughing his ass off I punched him in the arm. “Dick.”
“Aww, but you just said I was wonderful.”
“A wonderful dick.”
“But not magical enough to get you pregnant.”
“Would you stop saying that. You’re freaking me out.”
Ace’s rumble of laughter vibrated through him as he wrapped his arms around my waist, and finally, after a minute or two, when his mirth had subsided, he stroked a hand down my back to my ass and pulled me as close as was possible while wearing clothes.
“It’s okay to look at the future and think about what might be, Daydream.”
I laid my head against his shoulder and shut my eyes. “I know. This is all just happening so fast. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe it’s real.”
I felt his lips at my temple and then he whispered, “It’s real. So believe it. Plan it. Trust it.”
I nodded and then angled my face to see him look up at me. He had a soft smile on his face, and for the first time all day he looked relaxed, and I knew that as long as we were together the future looked brighter than ever.