Chapter Nine
Andreas
“You’re ready?” I eyed Norah.
She grinned as she smoothed her ivory-colored satin nightgown along her thighs. “This thing feels like heaven. I’m going to try to steal it.”
I smiled. “I think they might let you have it…if you ask nicely.” I held her gaze.
After a moment, she caressed my cheek. “Do I normally prefer waiting for a few weeks before hopping into bed with a guy? Sure. But sometimes a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.”
We got into the huge bed.
And spent the next three hours pretending to have sex.
Although I’d had a passing attraction to women in the past, and had even been on a few dates with them, I’d never been intimate with a woman.
Freddie had been my first partner.
I’d thought he was going to be my last.
That hadn’t happened, and I’d had a few boyfriends over the years. Omar being the most recent and the most disastrous. Being in the closet, though, had never felt right. Being outed by an asshole had one advantage—I could be my authentic self from now on. That felt empowering. Liberating. Freeing.
“Time for lunch.” The director stalked out of the room.
I let out my breath. I hadn’t done badly.
Norah rubbed my bare shoulder.
I put the nightshirt back on and accepted a robe from the production assistant.
An hour later, Norah and I were back in bed.
She gazed into my eyes.
I read the pain she was supposed to be portraying. I’d hurt her badly, and she embodied that pain through her character. So effectively I wondered, in passing, if she might’ve endured this level of agony at another time.
Her stare bore into me—as it should.
“I love you.”
She blinked. As she should.
“I didn’t say it when we were together because I was afraid.
Of my feelings, of the possibility of you rejecting me…
of everything. And then a man, who I believed was a friend, persuaded me that I was better off rejecting your affection.
Of turning away from you. And so I did. To my shame and heartbreak, I sent you packing.
” I blinked several times. “I never forgot you, though. And even the possibility of getting back together has me clinging to hope. Dare I ask you for a second chance? Dare I believe you might forgive me? Give me a sign, my love. Because I never forgot you. There might’ve been others, but they damn well weren’t you. ”
Nora’s brow knit. “Are you saying you love me?”
“Yes.” I willed him to understand.
Her. I willed her to understand.
“I do love you. I have from the first moment we met. And I’m a fool for letting you go the first time, but I’m damn well not going to make that mistake again. If you tell me that you love me, then I’ll be yours forever—body, mind, spirit, and soul.”
“Oh.” Her piercing green eyes held mine—mesmerizing and sure. She blinked again, clearly fighting tears.
I wanted to pull her to me, but that would mess up the camera angle. Instead, I ran my finger down her cheek.
She swallowed. “You were always my one and only. Marrying Charles was a mistake. The miscarriage…” This time a tear streaked down her cheek.
“Losing my baby showed me what an error in judgment I’d made.
I got out. I got as far as I could away from that disaster.
I just…didn’t expect to find you at the end of that journey. ”
“Do you believe in fate?”
Her brow knit. “I didn’t.”
“But now?”
“You’re my destiny, Thane. I can never be with anyone else. So when you ask me if I love you, the answer is yes. Always has been and always will be, hell, yes.”
She shifted so our faces were about an inch apart.
“Kiss me?” Her eyes sparkled.
“Yes, my darling. Always.”
And we pressed our mouths together.
“Cut!” The director’s order reverberated through me.
I wasn’t quite ready to face her, though, so I met Norah’s gaze a moment longer. “You okay?”
She grinned. “You know, half that wasn’t even in the script. I don’t know how that’s going to go over, but that performance was freaking brilliant.”
“Okay you two, let’s talk.” The director grinned.
Norah and I sat up, clutching the sheet to our chests.
I gazed out over the small group of people. When we did sex scenes, we had a closed set.
Yet Freddie was here.
Our gazes clashed.
My world shifted.
Oh shit.