Epilogue
ELLIE
My gown was completely extravagant.
It was a jade garment that fell to the floor and my back was completely revealed even though the front came right up to my neck.
And the best part: it was free.
I decided it was the best thing about my moment of fame. Plenty of people had approached me asking if they could give me free things as long as I'd wear them and use them in front of the camera. And I wasn't even remotely ashamed to have sold out to all of them.
I walked down the red carpet, hand in hand with Aaron, and we stopped to sign autographs and take selfies together.
I'd thought maybe we should tone it down a bit at the premiere. Sure, it was completely public now, and everyone knew that we were together, but this was still a professional event.
Only, as soon as we'd linked hands on the red carpet and grinned, the screams for us had only gotten louder.
As it turned out, the people were a fan.
Especially when it came out what a bitch Mindy was. I was glad I was seen as a good, friendly alternative instead of another money-grubbing bitch trying to get at his riches.
It probably helped that everyone in the public still thought this was the beginning of my shining acting career, rather than the end of it. Of course there'd been some speculation that our relationship had started before filming, and that was why I'd gotten the part, but it had died out pretty quickly.
Probably because the movie had gotten good reviews, including my performance.
I'd been surprised when Aaron showed me the first round of reviews. I'd been planning on abstaining from reading them; I'd already decided I was going to quit, I didn't need it rubbed in my face that I wasn't made for the job. I was pleasantly surprised when he wrestled me to the bed and forced me to listen to, Ellie Lyndon's stunning debut reveals exactly why leading man Aaron Palmer fell head over heels during filming. She wows with beauty, boldness and just enough emotion to keep her sympathetic.
I'd flushed and snatched the magazine from him, reading it for myself.
"I don't believe it," I'd said.
He grinned. "I do."
And part of me had been just a little bit tempted to give it another shot. As soon as the reviews were published Dana was calling me up, telling me that if I wanted to change my mind about my career path, now was the time to do it. She could have offers rolling in for me if I just said the word.
I'd told her no, though. A bit of an ego boost from reading that people liked me wasn't worth the misery I'd been through actually filming the stupid thing. It wasn't worth it.
"Are you sure it wasn't just because I was making things hard for you?" Aaron checked. "All this stress about our relationship making things difficult?"
"It wasn't. Even when we figured everything out, the rest of the filming was still horrible. It's just not for me."
And I was right, it wasn't.
I was a little sad about all the clothes, though.
Aaron's fingers danced on my back as we finally escaped the crowds to go inside the theater. "I'll buy you all the clothes in the world," he promised, as a shiver ran up my spine. "And I'll find some that are even more revealing than this."
I leaned into his touch as we walked, completely pressed against his side. "I'm not going to say no to that."
There was a flash of a camera, but I'd stopped flinching when it happened. I just laughed and we carried on, walking past and acting like nothing had happened.
Really, it hadn't. I was just likely to see a picture of me in my beautiful dress with my beautiful boyfriend tomorrow. I couldn't really complain about that.
We sat in the front row, and I was surprised when I enjoyed the movie.
I hadn't watched any of the footage except small clips, and I'd had no idea what to really expect. Aaron had held my hand the entire time, and more than once his fingers had found the slit in my dress to drag themselves along my upper thigh, dangerously close to my panties.
He had no shame, and I hoped he never got any.
I was a mess of desire by the end of the movie, and when the lights came back up, one look from Aaron told me he knew exactly what he'd done to me. We were going to have to have a quick Q&A session with the press, but then I was going to make him find us somewhere secluded where he could deal with the throbbing clit between my legs.
His fingers danced over my back and his hot breath fanned over my earlobe as he said, "I can't wait to take you home."
"I don't think I can wait until we get home." There was still an after-party we had to attend for a polite amount of time. Maybe I could just about make it to there before I caved and pushed him into a deserted room.
His nails dragged across my back now, and I bit my lip as we approached the cameras and I had to make myself look composed. "If we got caught that would be a lot more press than I was hoping for after tonight."
I flashed him a grin before we took our seats behind the table, ready for interview questions. They had so many of us up there that Aaron and I were pushed so close together we could still touch. It also meant there were people close on either side that could see everything we were doing, too, though, and so we kept our hands in our laps as I rubbed my knees together and tried to concentrate on anything but the thought of having him inside me.
I blanked out all of Dennis' answers, even though it might have been useful to play off some of them. I had a surprising number of questions for myself, and I knew I'd given short and disappointing answers. All of Aaron's were quick, but witty, and the press ate them up.
I wouldn't miss this part of it at all. I'd be perfectly happy to be standing off to the side watching Aaron with a dopey smile on my face.
And then he could whisk me away somewhere private like he did the second someone said that was enough questions, and we could leave the table.
Aaron laced his fingers through mine and no one even looked twice as we disappeared down a corridor. It was the way he walked, I decided. He just looked so confident in everything he did that no one would think he was doing anything out of the ordinary.
"Do you have any idea where we're going?" I asked, heart pounding and a wild grin on my face.
"Not exactly. I've had premieres in this theater before, though, and there's always someone who sneaks away and has a quick fuck in some shady back room. I know there must be one around here somewhere."
I pressed my hand to my mouth to hide my giggle as we turned a corner. We hadn’t gone very far, but I also hadn't seen any side doors for us to peek our heads in. I was half expecting us to just come to a back entrance in a moment.
But just as I did see the fire exit, there were also two doors on either side of the corridor.
"Which one do you prefer?" he asked.
They both looked identical. "Left."
Aaron hesitated, then pushed it open. It was empty. It was a cloakroom, presumably for the staff. He checked his watch. "How long do you think these guys have to work after the premiere has finished? I don't think we've got very long."
I practically shoved him into the room and closed the door after me. It was pitch black, but I didn't want someone coming in to find out who was hiding in the cloakroom. "Stop talking and start fucking, then," I murmured, feeling out his face and then kissing him.
In the slinky dress, it was awkward to get my legs around his hips, but we managed it, the slit in my dress letting the material fall to the side as he began to pull at the elaborate nest of clips holding my hair together.
"I'm going to look like I've just been fucked in a cloakroom," I muttered as he pulled my hair down and laced his fingers through it. I kissed along his jaw, no doubt leaving lipstick along the side of it.
Aaron dipped fingers beneath my panties and I regretted wearing any at all. I should have known this was exactly where we'd end up. Months in and we still couldn't keep our hands off each other.
"That's exactly how I want you to look," he said, teeth nipping at my shoulder. Then he began to suck and I had to pull him off and capture my lips with his before I was left with a bruise that would be impossible to hide in my dress.
I got his pants undone and guided his hands back down to my ass as he slipped himself inside me.
My ears were on high alert, but it didn't stop my feeling every inch of him inside me as he began to rock slowly.
I bucked, hoping I wasn't about to throw us off balance, but needing more.
I was damned if I was going to get caught fucking in the cloakroom at the premiere. There wouldn't be much escaping that for the rest of my life.
I was still horny enough to be doing it, though, as I wrapped my arms around Aaron's neck and tried to hold in my moans as he finally found my clit. It would serve me right, really.
He sped up until his hips slamming against mine were almost painful and I knew the hands on my ass were dying to give my cheeks a loud spank.
When he came he groaned my name into my mess of hair and I came with him, his thumb soft on my clit and pleasure racing through me.
With labored breathing I barely got my feet back onto the floor and dug around in my purse for a tissue to clean up the mess in my panties. Aaron tucked himself back in, and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, severely hindering my attempts to look presentable before we had to leave the building and get into our car where there would no doubt be press waiting for us.
"Aaron," I whined, batting his hand away and shoving the dirty tissue back in my purse. "You've made such a mess."
He checked his watch. "We're going to be in a much bigger mess if we don't get out of here quickly," he said. "Come on, let's go. You look beautiful."
"There's a difference between you thinking my just-fucked look looks good and the general public thinking it looks good," I argued.
Only I argued it as I was coming out of the cloakroom, and a pair of employees at the theater were walking down the corridor.
They both stared at us with wide eyes.
Aaron composed himself easily, giving them a wave before wrapping his hand around my waist and guiding me past them. There was no hiding the unnatural shade of red my cheeks had turned.
He arranged some strands of my hair, kissed me on the temple, and murmured. "It's always hotter when you might be caught," before we were snapped getting into the car that would take us to the after-party.