Epilogue
Walking into the Cannes Film Festival was like stepping into another dimension, one of glamour, expectation, pomp, and adrenaline. The gauntlet of photographers and reporters milled just out of sight.
Sporting a sleek dark pantsuit and a killer pair of heels, Yasmin stood between Jules and hundreds of people. She scrolled through her phone to recheck the schedule she’d drilled into Jules as though this was the first time she’d done this.
And that made Jules want to laugh, because tonight, she actually felt like it was her first time ever, even after all these years. Today marked the first time she and Rhys would hit the red carpet together as an engaged couple.
“Make your way through the step-and-repeat,” Yasmin said. “Then you have two minutes on the press line.”
Jules nodded, knowing all that, but appreciating the way her friend was coming into her own in the new job.
“And you know when to back away?” Yasmin eyed Rhys again as if she hadn’t also drilled him. “You’re not the bodyguard tonight. Will you remember that?”
He smirked. “I don’t know how anyone could forget with you around.”
This red carpet was unlike any Jules had experienced before for more than one reason. No one would know except for Rhys and a very select few. Exhilaration pulsed in her blood. It had been years since the electricity of a night like this had resonated.
Rhys squeezed her hips. “Ready to kill it, baby?”
All Jules had to do was make it through the last interview. “Ready.”
Yasmin gave them a final once-over then spun and strutted into public view as a precursor to Jules’s arrival.
A thunderous clamor arose. If anyone ever said they didn’t react to the frenzy, they had to be lying.
Because even when Hollywood had sucked her soul dry, the buzzing energy on red carpets still stirred it.
Rhys held her clutch and took her elbow. The man had been born for Hollywood. She’d never be able to convince him of it, but that was part of his charm. The public loved his allure, and he never noticed.
They stepped from behind the partition, and a roar exploded.
“Jules!” Flashes popped. “Rhys!”
She mentally mapped where their first mark was. A few spots together, then they’d split apart, and he’d stay as far back as he could manage. He might not like the limelight, but he hated to relinquish security duties. Wes had stepped in, the only person Rhys trusted for events like this.
“Jules. This way. Over here.”
“Show us the ring!”
She eased into Rhys’s strong arms. He tucked her to his side, and she gave them what they wanted—a slight twist of her hips, resting her palm on his flat stomach, a diamond engagement ring gleaming.
An explosion of lights blinded them.
Rhys tipped his lips against her ear, his face turned from the photographers capturing every moment. “They have no idea you were just coming on my hand.”
She had to keep a straight face and tried not to move her lips. “I will kill you later.”
“Suffocation? Strangle me with your thighs?” His palm pressed against the small of her back as he maneuvered her to the next mark while still keeping his mouth hidden. “That’d be fun.”
With hot cheeks and excitement fluttering far below her stomach, she managed to hit her next mark.
Step. Stand. Turn. Repeat. This was an endurance test. Flashing lights poured over her as she posed, smiling for pictures that would be everywhere within minutes, all while thoughts of Rhys being buried between her legs remained forefront in her mind.
“Either way will be a great way to go,” she said sweetly for anyone watching.
He totally wanted her to try to kill him with her pussy tonight, but that wasn’t his only agenda. The distraction was working. Tonight, Jules had her first real task on this new twist in her career. It was a simple one, but one that had had her on pins and needles for the last twenty-four hours.
She reached the press line and scanned for her target. Rhys approached with her clutch. Yasmin signaled whom she should speak with first. The quick interviews flew by.
“Who are you wearing?”
“How do you feel about the premiere?”
“Set a wedding date yet?”
“Who’s on the guest list?”
She hadn’t heard any question that should trigger her next step.
“Can you sign—”
Yasmin intercepted the reporter. “No autographs right now.”
“It’s fine—”
Yasmin cut Jules off with a look.
“Honestly. It’s fine.”
The reporter handed Jules a pen, and she scribbled her name on a miniature copy of the movie poster.
“Thanks—” The reporter stumbled against the barrier.
Wes, Rhys, and press-line security lunged between them. Their response was swift, appropriate, and totally predictable. Jules jumped back.
“Sorry. So sorry.” The reporter’s apology turned from English to French as security reprimanded him. Embarrassed, he backed away, holding his hands to his chest, still apologizing.
Wes shook his head, aggravated far more easily than Jules had expected. Did he know what she was doing? Not a chance. But now that she thought about it, he’d been grousing all day long and on the phone, back and forth with Vivian, as though he were unhappy.
Rhys took her by the arm. Yasmin ended the press line early, and Jules reclaimed her clutch. The group hurried inside as if the reporter who’d tripped represented a danger.
“Wait. Wait.” Jules smoothed her hands over her dress. “I’m fine. Everything’s fine.” She let the air conditioning wrap around her and calmed her breathing. “I need to use the restroom.”
Rhys stayed near Yasmin. Wes posted near the bathroom door as Jules stepped inside and set the pen on the counter. She touched up her lipstick and jumped when another woman stepped from the row of stalls.
This lady was who she’d needed to find. It seemed so simple.
Vivian and Jared would give Jules a solid ten out of ten for this first baby-spy step.
Maybe they’d give her a task that required more forethought than moving a pen.
Then again, Rhys had had to get her off in the back of a limo for her to calm down. Baby steps worked. So did orgasms.
She blotted her lipstick and checked her teeth, leaving the national security pen in the bathroom with the stranger.
Wes hovered by the door, a dark cloud over his expression. “Ready?”
“Yes—”
He’d already turned. “Let’s go.”
All right, then. What had crawled up his ass? She returned to Rhys’s side.
“Good, baby?”
“A little anticlimactic.”
“You are just begging for another orgasm, aren’t you?”
Wes groaned. “You know people can hear you, right?”
Jules leaned into Rhys. “Wes is super grumpy today.”
Her fiancé nodded. “Yeah.”
“Are you going to tell me why?”
“No.”
Jules raised her eyebrows. “Oh, so you know?”
Rhys said nothing, which was answer enough.
“Come on. Tell me.”
No answer came.
Jules pressed her mouth against his ear, cupping her hands around it. “Don’t rain on my first official day as a spy.”
He snorted. “You know, people don’t usually say that.”
“Scarlett sent me flowers with a card that said that.”
“The hell she did.”
Jules laughed as their group coalesced again, with Yasmin leading the way and Wes bringing up the rear. “Well, if she could have, she would have. Tell me what’s going on with Wes.”
“I can still hear you,” he snapped.
Jules glanced over her shoulder. “Then tell me what’s going on.”
“No.”
“God, you’re no fun.”
“No fun? You should talk to Viv about no fun,” Wes muttered.
Now she was getting somewhere. “Maybe I will. What will she say?”
“Wes has an assignment he doesn’t want,” Rhys volunteered.
“The client ruined my life. And no matter what I say, Viv’s dead set that I’m going to help the lady. No. Fucking. Thank. You.”
Jules raised her eyebrows. “Well, that sucks.”
“The client is in trouble, and no one knows the situation better than Wes. Not that it necessarily means Wes is the best guy for the situation,” Rhys muttered, half defending Vivian, half acting like he needed to stand for the bro code.
Her lips rounded with the delicious tidbit of gossip. These guys never gave her anything good, and this had the potential to be great. “Tell me more.”
“Ignore it,” Rhys said.
“Absolutely not.”
“I just… She won’t… I don’t want anything to do with any of it.” Wes sawed his jaw back and forth. “Let’s get you to your seats. I can’t deal with this right now.”
Rhys leaned in close. “Wes lost a job because of our new client.”
“Lost a job? That’s being awfully generous.” Wes nodded for them to continue. “You look awfully pretty, by the way. You look good, too, Jules.”
“Fuck you very much,” Rhys replied as he escorted Jules to their seats.
“You do look awfully pretty,” she said.
The rest of the day flowed. The premiere attendees gave Jules and her costars a standing ovation. Press junkets ran nonstop. She had three wardrobe changes in the span of eight hours, and when they finally reached the hotel suite, Jules walked in the door and kicked off her shoes.
“Last time I saw you do that, you’d had a pretty shitty day,” Rhys said, shrugging out of his jacket and unbuttoning his shirt.
“Are you going to order me a hundred types of ice cream?”
“Do you need a hundred types of ice cream?”
“No, but we need to celebrate.” She twirled. The dress flared around her. “As far as I’m concerned, I started a new job today and nailed it.”
His shoulders shook with laughter, and pulling her close, he ran his hands up and down her biceps.
“I’m excited for you to use your powers for good.
” He spun her around and slid the zipper down her back, and the dress landed in a pile on the floor.
“This day will end so much better than the last time you kicked off your shoes and demanded ice cream.”
“We should celebrate that day. The day I almost screwed up everything but didn’t.”
“Nah. We’ll just celebrate our big day.”
Their wedding wouldn’t have a carpet of flower petals. There wouldn’t be six hundred and seven people that they kinda, sorta knew. Just them, their family—blood and found—and friends. Clyde would wear a bow tie.
Vivian had even offered to officiate—though that had been more of a joke. Try as Vivian might, she hadn’t convinced Jules that she minded her carefully curated team of unattached protectors pairing up.
If she weren’t careful, she might end up with an entire team of sexy, over-the-top men who worshipped their women. Jules and Grace were certain of it. Maybe even certain enough that one day, even Vivian Maddox would fall. But not today. Not tomorrow.
For now, Rhys and Jules’s attention was solely focused on each other. Who would have thought that she would relocate her entire life to Granite Creek?
She couldn’t wait for life’s next adventure.