Page 28 of Hollywood Fairytale

I couldn’t wait for Luke to show me how much he’d missed me during our last two months a part, but that would have to wait until we were away from innocent eyes.

“Whose car is this? It looks exactly like the one you bought in Fairlane, but a different color.”

Luke looked out the windshield sheepishly before side-eying me. “It’s mine. There’s a lot of things you can’t do with a car and after buying yours—” My head whipped in his direction because the one in Missouri was not supposed to be mine. He dismissed my look with a flick of his hand. “You know what I mean. If you think about it, I wouldn’t have even been able to fit both you and Mason along with your luggage in the other car. This is more prudent, and it’s helped a great deal as I worked on the house.”

“Don’t think I’m going to forget about your little slip,” I warned.

“Never a doubt in my mind.” He quipped back with a big smile.

“Luke,” I sighed heavily. We hadn’t even been in LA an hour and I was already worried and frustrated. “You’ve lived here almost five years while you stayed with friends and only a single car in your name and now you’ve bought two houses along with two more cars all within a few months. It’s not that I don’t appreciate everything that you’ve done because I do, but I don’t like that you’ve spent all this money.”

He placed his hand on my leg and let it spread out engulfing my thigh. My words stalled as I enjoyed the warmth of his touch. “If you’re worried that I’m spending all my money there’s no need. Yes, what you said is true. I stayed with friends and only had my car because I was so busy that I saw no point in owning a house where I’d never be, but things have changed. My life has changed for the better. I have you and Mason now and I plan to be home as much as possible.” His hand squeezed my thigh to reassure me. “As for the money, I have plenty of it. Staying with friends afforded me the opportunity to save on rent or a house payment. If it will make you feel better when we get home, I’ll show you how much I have in my accounts.”

Placing my hand on top of his, I laced our fingers together. “That won’t be necessary. I trust you.”

“I think it would put your mind at ease.” He turned and smiled at me.

On our way to get lunch, Luke and Mason talked about In-N-Out Burger and what Mason had been doing at school. I loved the ease in which they talked. It was something Mason had never had with his father and it was obvious he craved a male figure that cared both about what he had to say and about him. It broke my heart that he’d lived this long without it, but if I hadn’t been married to Decker, I never would’ve had him. A tear slipped down my cheek and I hastily wiped it away. I wouldn’t think about Decker and his asshole ways while I was here with Luke.

“Hey, are you okay?” Luke asked softly with concern.

“Yeah.” I leaned over to kiss him on the cheek and whispered in his ear. “Happy to have you in our lives.”

“I feel the same, beautiful. I feel the exact same.”

14

When I imagined meetingLuke’s younger brother for the first time, it was nothing like what happened in real life. The moment the garage door started to go up, he bounded out of the house and was sweeping my door open before I could blink. Taking my hand, he pulled me out of the car and into his arms, squeezing me tight. Not quite as tall as his brother, Leo was still well over six-foot-tall with me cradled in his arms, rocking me back and forth.

Murmuring into his shirt, I spoke unsure if anyone could hear me. “I think he likes me.”

“Mama?” Mason asked hesitantly in a small voice.

Pulling away, I turned to find Mason standing beside Luke, holding his hand with worried eyes. “Hey, sweetie. It’s okay. This is Luke’s brother, Leo. He’s just excited to meet us. He’s not scary. I promise.”

Leo moved from behind me and slowly walked over to Mason where he got down on his knees, holding out his hand for Mason to shake. “I’m sorry if I scared you, buddy. Like your mom said, I was excited to finally meet you both. I’ve talked to your mom on the phone a couple of times, and every time I talk to my brother he talks about you and your mom.” Every word was spoken quietly as he tried to ease Mason’s fears.

Leo eyed Luke in what looked as if he hoped he wasn’t scaring Mason further. It was an odd situation since Mason had never had that kind of reaction to anyone before. It wouldn’t be good if he was scared of Luke’s brother for our entire trip.

Luke smiled at his brother and nodded his head. “Hey, little man. How about we let Leo bring your bags in and I’ll show you to your room. I’ve been working on it and I think you’re going to like it.”

“You have a room just for me?” Mason’s eyes were wide and eager.

“One all for you.”

Mason smiled brightly. You would have thought he had received every Christmas present he’d ever asked for in that moment. “Let’s go!”

We watched as Luke took him inside the house and a few seconds later we heard Mason exclaim. “You’ve got a pool! Awesome!”

Leo rested a hand on my shoulder. “I really am sorry about scaring him. It seemed like Luke was gone forever and I was excited.”

“Don’t worry about it. Mason’s tired and hungry and wasn’t expecting to have a huge man come bounding out of the house. It’s sweet you were so excited to meet us.”

“How could I not be? The whole family is so happy that Luke met you.”

“What do you mean?” I asked as we walked into the kitchen.

“We were all worried about him. He’s been here in the states working almost nonstop with only a few friends and then all of a sudden, he’s calling home talking about this woman he met and her little boy.” Leo stopped at the counter and leaned against it. “It was obvious from the first phone call that he was enamored with you. I’ve never seen him this way about a girl. It’s great to see him find love and settling down.”

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