When Brian and I finally emerged from my room, everyone was in the kitchen. Jennifer was starting a pot of coffee, fretting as she glanced back and forth between the three of us girls. Anastasia was sitting at the dining table, texting on her phone with a scowl on her face. Dad was leaning stiffly against the counter, his arm elbow-deep in a box of Lucky Charms. Guess he was done pretending he didn’t sneak contraband into the house. Apparently, he needed the comfort food to settle him down.
Juliette was going to need more than some marshmallow cereal to bring her down from her rage. She was pacing back and forth, muttering to herself under her breath. At once, she stopped mid stride, whirling on Dad. “Why aren’t you making any calls right now?” she demanded. “That stupid entertainment creep should be on his way to jail already. Nobody messes with the Coleman family and gets away with it!”
I looked over just in time to see Dad cringe. The expression made my heart skip a beat. “What?” Juliette asked. She knew there was bad news coming, too.
Dad glanced back and forth between us and sighed. “Erik Clarke did nothing wrong.”
“WHAT?” Juliette roared.
My heart sank into my stomach.
“Morally,” Dad said, talking over Juliette’s shouts of protest, “what he did was despicable. Legally…” His shoulders drooped. “He’s done nothing outside of the law.”
I blinked in disbelief. Could that really be true?
“He filmed us without our knowledge!” Juliette ranted. “How is that not illegal?”
Dad shot her his calm-down-now-or-you’ll-be-sent-to-your-room look. “Everything you girls did and said yesterday was in public.”
“But it wasn’t meant for the whole public to see.”
Dad shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Public is public. Clarke’s first amendments rights protect him on this matter. This is his business, ladies. I’m sure he knows exactly what the laws are and was very careful not to break them. You’re not his first angry victims by any means. He’s long since figured out the system. I did make a call. Clarke’s got his own team of lawyers, and my friend says they’re some of the best. He gets sued often but usually settles out of court, and he’s never been slapped with any criminal charges.”
Juliette plopped down at the table beside Ana—arms folded tightly, face pulled into a petulant frown.
“So much for seeing that pretty face behind bars,” Ana said.
“Lucky for him,” Juliette muttered. “He’d make a lot of the inmates happy, for sure.”
I cracked a smile at that. “Definitely too bad we can’t get him thrown in jail, then.”
Anastasia laughed, and Juliette huffed. “Fine. We’ll just have to settle for suing him.”
“My lawyers are already looking into that,” Brian offered. “I called them on my way over.”
He was trying to be helpful, but Dad’s eyes narrowed again.
Anger rose up in me—Dad really didn’t have a reason to hate Brian so much—but I choked it down. Things were bad enough. I didn’t need to get into a fight with my dad on top of it. “I’m sorry to change the subject,” I said, “but I really need to take some painkillers and sit down for a while.”
My request set everyone into motion. Brian pulled out a chair from the kitchen table for me, while Jennifer grabbed a bottle of Tylenol from the cupboard. “Not those,” I said. “I’m going to need the heavy-duty stuff today.”
She put the Tylenol back and reached for a bottle of prescription painkillers that I only ever used when I really needed it. After yesterday’s all-day mall excursion, I needed it. Dad grabbed me a V-8 from the fridge and brought me the medicine. “You’re still sore from yesterday?”
“Yeah. I’m going to have to take it extra easy for a few days.”
Dad’s brow creased. “Should I call Daniel?”
Daniel was my gorgeous and cool, but ruthless, physical therapist. I liked the guy, and I had to admit I’d come a long way since working with him, but still, I didn’t want to have to see him more than was necessary. “No way. Do you know how painful it would be if he made me do my exercises right now? He promised me a torture-free holiday. I’ll be fine until next week.”
I swallowed the pill my dad gave me and smiled. Once Dad wandered into the kitchen to dump a bunch of sugar into his coffee, Brian pulled out the chair next to mine and sat with me. He threw an arm casually around the back of my chair, and the simple gesture went a long way in helping me relax. “So…” he said, “have this morning’s events convinced you to reconsider my offer at all?”
Juliette plopped down across from us with a curious expression. “What offer?”
“Nothing,” I said, while Brian answered her loud and clear.
“I asked Ella to move in with me instead of Vivian. I’m hoping I can convince her before moving day.”
Juliette choked on surprise, and, as I knew would happen, my father heard this and completely overreacted. “WHAT?” he roared, slamming his coffee mug down on the counter so hard he nearly shattered it. As it was, he spilled coffee all over the counter and his shirt, and Jennifer was forced to clean up the mess while my father fumed.
There was a reason I hadn’t mentioned Brian’s offer to anyone. I knew it would make my dad flip. Brian knew it, too. I couldn’t believe he’d brought the subject up in front of him. After shooting Brian an annoyed glance, I turned around to face my dad. I tried to look and sound completely calm, hoping I might rub off on him. Doubtful, considering the dark red shade of his face. “Relax, Dad. I didn’t say yes.”
“Yet,” Brian interjected stubbornly.
I glared at him again. Surprisingly, he returned the annoyed look before locking his eyes on my father. Ditto for my dad with him. He looked ready to murder Brian. “How dare you suggest such a thing to her? You’ve only been a couple for a week. She’s barely nineteen!”
Brian was completely unruffled by the outburst, save some eye twitching and teeth grinding that suggested he wanted to tear into my dad. He resisted the urge, though, and sat up straight in his chair to give the scary prosecuting attorney a confident, challenging stare. “I know you don’t understand my relationship with your daughter,” he said calmly, “but Ella and I have been best friends for years. The way we know each other—love each other—is not new, and it’s not casual. I’m not going anywhere, Richard, no matter how much you disapprove of me, and if Ella wants to move in with me, that is her choice, not yours. She’s an adult.”
I was stunned. Maybe even more stunned than my father. Brian had called him by his first name on purpose. He’d spoken to him man-to-man. He’d let him know that while I might be someone Dad could push around and treat like a child, he was not going to accept that. And he’d completely pulled it off, is the thing. Ana’s boyfriend Jason would have peed himself if my father had thrown that kind of hostility at him. But not Brian. He might only be twenty-two, but he’d been thrown into an adult world at a young age and forced to grow up. He was a man now, in his own right—a mature, confident one, who was used to having people answer to him, not the other way around.
Dad was not happy to be put in his place. “You smug son of a—”
“And, not that it’s any of your business,” Brian continued, talking over my father and his would-be insult, “but my offer to Ella was about more than just our relationship. If she’s going to move, her privacy and safety have to be taken into consideration.”
“What do you mean?” Jennifer asked before Dad could yell some more.
Brian barely spared her a glance before meeting my father’s eyes again. “Like it or not, Ella is a celebrity now. Vivian and her fathers are wonderful people, but their apartment isn’t equipped to handle Ella’s fame.”
My father swallowed whatever argument he was about to spew and frowned at me. In turn, I shot Brian a nasty glare. I wanted to kill him for bringing this up with my family after I’d already turned down his offer. He ignored my anger as easily as he’d ignored my father’s outburst. “I’m serious about this, Ella. I know you think things will die down, but you have to trust me. I’ve been dealing with this my entire life. I know what it’s like. And with the stunt Erik Clarke just pulled, it’s only going to get worse.”
“Oh,” Jennifer said, grabbing Dad’s arm with a worried frown. “He’s right, Rich. We never thought about that.”
Dad, still glaring and clenching his jaw, nodded slowly and turned his furious gaze from Brian to me. “If your safety is at risk, I don’t want you going to Vivian’s.”
Great. Now he was going to try and stop me from moving out. I’d do it anyway, but he’d be pissed at me for it. Thanks a lot, Brian. “He’s being paranoid, Dad.”
The argument sounded weak, even to my ears. I was starting to see Brian’s point. Erik Clarke had shaken me up. I’d been completely blindsided, and I’d never once suspected him. If someone was willing to ambush me with hidden cameras like that, I could only imagine what the paparazzi would do when they realized I’d moved to Vivian’s apartment. I don’t know that my safety would be in jeopardy, but I’d definitely never have a moment’s peace.
I sighed, not willing to accept defeat but not in the mood to argue anymore, either. “Look, now is not the time for this discussion. I haven’t agreed to anything, and it’s Christmas. Can we please drop it before we get into a huge fight and ruin the holiday? We’re all worked up because of the Erik Clarke thing. Let’s wait until we can discuss this rationally. It’s breakfast time, anyway. Maybe if we eat, we’ll all be less grouchy. How about I whip up some spinach quiche?”
There was a tense moment of silence before everyone gave in and accepted the obvious subject change. Jennifer was the first to move. “Ella, sweetheart, you’re not feeling great this morning. You take it easy, and let me handle breakfast. I may not be able to recreate your amazing quiche, but I can handle egg-white omelets.” She glanced around for approval, and when everyone nodded, got to work.
Dad was still glaring, so Jennifer shoved an apron at him. “Would you mind helping me? I need some onions and some bell peppers chopped. Richard.”
Dad sucked in a breath, sent Brian one last death look, and threw the apron over his head, muttering under his breath.
I glared at Brian and didn’t hold back my irritation when I snapped, “May I speak to you privately?”
Brian turned his unrelenting gaze on me. “Yes. Let’s.”
I dragged him back into my bedroom and rounded on him the minute the door was closed. “Are you kidding me? You had to go and bring that up in front of my father, when not just me, but the twins, are all over the media right now?”
Brian’s eyes flashed for a brief instant, letting me know that he was just as upset as I was, even if he hid it better. “That’s exactly why I brought it up. You blew me off too easily. You aren’t taking this seriously. I’m worried about your safety.”
“Fine. Maybe I don’t really grasp the whole fame thing well enough yet. But still, you can’t just spring something as huge as living together on me all of a sudden when I’m about to get out of the car, and then blurt it out to my family before we got the chance to really discuss it, just because you were mad that you didn’t get your way.”
He rolled his eyes. “That’s not why I mentioned it.”
“Bull.”
He spun around and half leaned against, half sat on my desk, folding his arms tightly over his chest. I gave him a challenging look, and he huffed, throwing his hands in the air. “Fine. I was mad! Sue me.”
I scoffed. “Jerk.”
“You didn’t even think about it, Ella. I asked you to live with me—something I’ve never even come close to doing with anyone before—and you blew me off without blinking. Worse. You shot down the idea like it was a freaking warplane coming to drop nukes on you.”
I felt like crap when I realized he was upset because he felt rejected. “Brian…” My shoulders slumped, and my anger deflated. What could I say? I wasn’t ready for what he wanted.
“It’s not like I’d try to take advantage of you,” he muttered, pinning me with the full force of his Oscar-Award-worthy expressive eyes. “Don’t you trust me?”
I had to look away from him. I couldn’t handle the hurt and confusion in his gaze. I sat down on the edge of my bed and wrapped my arms around myself, feeling strangely vulnerable. When I had a good grip on the whirlwind of emotions swirling inside me, I looked back up. “Of course I trust you. It’s not that I think you’ll pressure me for anything; it’s just that you’re so intense. Everything about you is intense. So is this relationship. And the fame is downright crazy. It’s overwhelming. Trying to add living together on top of everything…” I blew out a breath, beset by the very idea of it. “It’s too much all at once.”
Brian pushed himself away from my desk and raked his hands through his hair. “I’m sorry,” he said, with a frustrated shake of his head. “I was raised with this. My father was well-known in the industry long before I was born. I’ve been famous my entire life, even before I started acting. I can’t imagine how hard getting thrown straight into all of this must be for you.”
“No. You can’t. I can’t even grasp it. That’s why I need a little time and space. Just some breathing room where I can escape it, if I need to. Just until I get used to it. That’s all I’m asking for.”
With another long breath, Brian sat beside me on the bed. “I’m sorry this is overwhelming you, but Ella, my life is intense. There’s no escaping that. I’ll do my best to buffer you from it when I can, but there are going to be things about this relationship that will force you out of your comfort zone. I can’t help that.”
“Yeah, but—”
“I know what you’re hoping for, but moving to Vivian’s would not be an escape. The insanity would follow you there, and it would only be worse because you wouldn’t be prepared for it. Plus, you’d bring it down on Vivian and her fathers, too. You would pull them into this bullshit, whether you wanted to or not.”
I closed my eyes and sucked in a breath. That was something I hadn’t thought about. If the paparazzi was going to start hounding me at Vivian’s the way they did here, then they would doubtlessly hound Vivian and her dads, too. They didn’t need that.
“Why do you think I never told you who I was?” Brian asked softly. “I knew this would happen, and I didn’t want this life for you. But I’m selfish, and now you’re stuck with it. You don’t have to do that to Vivian. Moving in with me might not be something you’re completely ready for, but you may just have to learn how to swim straight from the deep end. I want you to live with me, but I need you to be safe, and if that means asking you to do something you’re not fully comfortable with, then so be it. Sacrifices are going to have to be made if we’re going to work.”
I wanted to be mad, but he was being so reasonable. It was super annoying because I couldn’t argue with him when he was thinking smartly, being rational, and, most importantly, being straight with me. He might try to protect me from his world, but he never sugarcoated things. I was glad he seemed to be of the ignorance-is-not-protection opinion.
Things weren’t always going to be pretty or easy for us. Brian knew that. He didn’t like it, but he always warned me ahead of time. I was grateful for that. I’d read a million books where the hero kept the heroine in the dark in an attempt to shield her from bad things. Those heroes were idiots. Their lies always ended up hurting the heroine.
Brian didn’t try to hide the bad things. He wanted me to be prepared so that we could face them together. He trusted that I could handle it. For that alone, I owed him the courtesy of trying my best to make good on that trust. For him, I would find a way to handle the things that came at us.
“All right,” I said, quietly letting out another breath. “We don’t have a solution to this yet, but I acknowledge that it is important, and in the future, I will take your suggestions much more seriously. I promise, no more blowing off anything you say just because it makes me uncomfortable.”
Brian frowned. “That’s not a promise to move in with me.”
“No, it’s not,” I agreed with a wry smile. “But it’s an I’m-willing-to-sit-down-and-discuss-the-issue-to-try-to-find-a-reasonable-compromise.”
Brian didn’t respond right away. He studied me with a searching gaze that I decided was him trying to figure out why I was so hesitant to live with him. I figured he needed some reassurance even if he’d never admit to feeling insecure, so I stood up, pulling him with me, and slipped my arms around his waist. “I love you, Brian Oliver.”
As if my words were magical keys that unlocked the tension in his body, he sucked in a breath and wrapped his arms around me, melding his body to mine. “I love you, too, Ellamara Rodriguez.”
“Good,” I said, snuggling into his embrace as much as possible. “Then, could you do me a favor and not try to use my family against me to get your way in the future?”
Brian sighed, but he chuckled, too. “I was unhappy that I didn’t get my way—I’m definitely not used to being told no—but I swear I didn’t mean to do that.”
“Liar.”
“Fine. I didn’t only mean to do that. It was for your father’s benefit as much as yours.”
“Nice.”
He groaned and hugged me tighter. “I’m sorry. Your dad just gets to me.”
“I know.” I sighed in full understanding and placed a small kiss to his neck. “I’m sorry he’s been a jerk to you. I think he’s overwhelmed, too, and nervous about what this could do to our family, but that’s not an excuse to treat you so horribly. He doesn’t deserve your patience, but would you try to play nice as much as possible? He’s frustrating, but he’s the only parent I have left. Please? For me?”
Brian pulled back and lifted my chin so that he could see my face. I managed my best puppy-dog pout, and he cracked instantly. “Wicked woman,” he said as he lowered his mouth to mine. “You are not allowed to give me that look ever again.” He moved his lips to my neck. “It’s not fair.”
“You use your audiobook voice on me constantly.” He kissed me beneath my ear, and I shivered. “Talk about unfair.”
The dangerous, low chuckle that escaped him set my insides on fire. “Oh no. We are not doing this right now,” I said, though I made no attempt to escape his attention. “Not while my whole family is out there and knows we’re back here fighting.”
“We were fighting,” Brian murmured, as he continued to rain kisses on my neck. “Now we’re making up.”
His mouth finally reconnected with mine in a tender kiss that left me unable to do anything except melt in his arms.
“I’m sorry, Ella,” he whispered between kisses.
“Me too,” I gasped.
Truth be told, I couldn’t remember what we were fighting about.
We gave it a minute or two longer, but then forced ourselves to rejoin my family. Dad and Jennifer were still cooking, and both Juliette and Anastasia were at the table, with omelets in front of them. Both girls smirked the second they saw us. “All finished with your lovers’ spat?” Ana teased.
I didn’t think I was particularly flushed or anything, but Juliette scanned my face and snorted. “Looks like they worked it out just fine.”
I was dying, but Brian seemed to enjoy the attention, and being the stupid actor that he was, he hammed it up for his audience. He walked between the two of them, resting an arm on the backs of each of their chairs, and ducked his head down near theirs. “We worked things out, all right,” he murmured, low enough that my dad and Jennifer couldn’t hear him. “You remember the make-up scene in my movie Senior Trip? It was like that but hotter.” With a slow, provocative wink, he added, “It’s okay to be jealous.”
Ana nearly snorted juice out of her nose while Juliette inhaled her omelet and started hacking up a storm. Their reactions were justified. How that movie got a PG-13 rating with that scene in it was beyond me. “Oh my gosh. Brian!” I hissed, slapping a hand over my face. “Shut up! We did not!”
All three of them laughed at my mortification. “Yeah, you wish,” Ana told Brian. “You’re dating Ella. I’m sure it was closer to something out of your movie V is for Virgin.”
Brian frowned, but the corners of his lips twitched. “Burn,” he admitted with a grudging nod. “Well played.”
Juliette, finally done choking on her breakfast, dissolved into a fit of giggles and held up a hand to Ana for a high five. “Nice one, sis.”
“You’re all idiots.”
I rolled my eyes and headed into the kitchen, needing some juice and to escape the three stooges.
Brian wrapped his arms around me from behind just as I reached the kitchen counter and placed a small, soft kiss to side of my neck. As far as apologies went, it was pretty nice. I suppressed a shudder and leaned back against his chest. “Smells good,” I said.
Jennifer and my dad looked up from their places near the stove, and Dad said, “Well, you kids sit down, if you’re hungry. How do you like your omelets, Brian?”
Brian and I were both surprised by the invitation. Either my father had been lectured by Jennifer while we were gone—Jennifer, as most women did, had a major soft spot for Brian—or Dad actually felt bad for losing his temper at my boyfriend. It was probably the former, but either way, I’d take it.
Brian glanced at me and then shook his head. “That’s okay. I didn’t mean to intrude on your family time. I only came to make sure the girls were okay after I saw that video.”
Judging by Jennifer’s smile and Dad’s soft grunt, Brian earned a few brownie points by including the twins in his concern. I’m not sure it was genuine in Ana’s case—he wasn’t her biggest fan—but I was sure he felt bad for Jules, and that was enough for the worry to come across as sincere.
“Well, you’re here,” Dad said gruffly. “May as well eat.”
Brian looked down at himself and then shook his head again. “Thank you, but I suppose if the fire’s out, I should run home and shower and put some real clothes on or something.”
I realized for the first time that he was in pajamas and slippers and had bed hair, having sped straight over here when I refused to answer my phone this morning.
“What?” he asked, noticing the grin on my face.
“Nothing. Just…thanks for coming over this morning.”
He matched my smile and kissed my cheek. “Thanks for not picking up your phone so I had an excuse to come over.”
“Gag,” Juliette said, as she walked past us to put her empty plate in the sink. “I’m going to get out of here and go shower before the lovebirds make me puke.”
Laughing, I smoothed down the side of Brian’s hair that was sticking up. “Come on, I’ll walk you out.”
As we reached Brian’s car, he slid his arms around my waist and pulled me against him. “You could come with me,” he murmured, ducking his head to my ear. “My shower’s plenty big enough for two.”
He was teasing, and he wasn’t. He knew I would say no, but at the same time, the offer was real. With his mouth so close to my skin like that, his invitation was a lot more tempting than he knew. Suppressing a shiver, I swatted him on the chest. Unfortunately, my hand clung to his shirt when I hit him, which didn’t help much in convincing him I wasn’t interested. “That’s not happening.”
His mouth moved down my neck, raising goose bumps on my skin. “Forget the shower, then. How about a nice, long drive up the coast? Maybe we can find a deserted overlook to relax and…talk.”
I laughed, but it quickly morphed into a groan. “You have no idea how good that sounds. Go home now, before you convince me and I ditch my family all day, making my father disapprove of our relationship even more.”
Brian’s mood flipped like someone had thrown a switch. “Who cares what he thinks about it? As soon as you move, it’ll be none of his business anyway.”
His frown turned to a dark glare, so I wrapped my arms around his neck and forced his lips down to mine. The kiss put a smile back on his face. “Just hurry back,” I said.
Laughing, Brian found my lips again. “Are you sure I should? With all the Erik Clarke drama, I don’t know if I could keep from fighting with your father if I spent the whole day here.”
“I don’t care. With all the Erik Clarke drama, you’re the one I want to spend the day with. Not him. You’re the one who makes me feel better. Please come back soon.”
I used that face he warned me not to use again, and he sighed. “As you wish.”
Yes, he was totally quoting The Princess Bride.
As he opened the car door and climbed behind the wheel, he shot me a grin and said, “You won’t even have time to miss me.”
I tried to keep quiet. I tried to swallow the words wanting to tumble out of my mouth. I really, really tried. But I couldn’t do it. After he closed his door, I gestured for him to roll down his window, and then said, “I miss you already.”
His chest shook with laughter as he turned on the car. “Now who’s the dork?” he called over the roar of the engine. “Love you, woman. I’ll be back soon.”