Page 32 of Kiss Me, Darling

“I’m ready. Let’s start now. How are we going to handle your ex and her propensity to release damning photographs every time Kaine and Lily Productions bids against her?”

I was still uncomfortably hard and Lucy was already moving on to work? She really was ready to move on. I adjusted and cracked my neck for some relief. “How do we get her to stop using our past to poach projects?” I hated that it was nearly a decade later and some photographs could still sway producers and investors. It was ridiculous.

But I felt a little easier about fighting it now that Grandma Kaine had given me permission to finally let it go, once and for all.

“Well,” Lucy placed her hand over mine, “you have to stop reacting. All the photographs are out there, the rumors have been around the sun a few times. The only reason they still have any power is because you give it power.”

“Already done.” If someone wanted dirt on me they were no longer going to get any reaction from me.

“Good. Will we still lose out sometimes? Yes. But we’re building a really high quality production company. Our reputation grows every year. Eventually all people will care about is that we do great work. It might take time, but it will be time well spent.”

“If I spend it with you, it’s all well spent.” It was cheesy and I meant every word.

“I love it when you’re mushy.” She crawled into my lap and kissed the crap out of me.

At first I was shocked. It was...well it was a lot. She was over me, pressed against me. I could barely breathe I was so overwhelmed. Then I got over it and let my hands drop to her hips.

“I’m only mushy with you.”

She pulled back and smiled. “That’s why I like it.”

Knock, knock, knock.

We both jumped and yelped at the sound of someone knocking on the window. Lucy leapt off me. I froze and then recognized the grinning face outside my window.

Ben.

“How the hell did you find us?” I stepped out into the humid night air. Beside Ben was Chris, Esther, and Joe. There was also a tow truck pulling up in front of us.

“Your car has GPS tracking that Contention Security made sure to have access to before you left. I’ve been calling you and when you didn’t answer—”

“You used the GPS tracking on my phone and realized I left it in my bedroom.” There was one good thing about being under so much security.

“Bingo. So we checked on your car and saw you were traveling south instead of north and got worried. We were almost to Naples when we got a warning your car was in trouble.” He waved to the tow truck.

“You’re a lifesaver.”

He looked past me to Lucy. “Did we...interrupt something?”

“No. Why?”

Lucy moved beside me and took my hand. I pulled her knuckles to my lips and brushed over them, loving this feeling of normalcy.

Ben grinned. “No reason. You two just looked like you were happy.”

Lucy went up on her tiptoes and kissed my cheek. “We are. Now, can we go home?”

8

You’re one of us now

Lucy

We stood in the hallway. At a crossroads, so to speak. Scott’s room on the left, mine on the right. To the room where he spent the summer? Or the room I was in the middle of decorating? The room of new beginnings?

Yeah, the choice wasn’t hard.

We said nothing. At this point it was nice to dispense with the talking. All the words had been said. Now was the time to act.

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