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And as soon as he got off the phone with his agent, he’d tell her how she made him feel. It might be hard to coordinate, but he wanted her all to himself. They could find a way to make it work. He could live in Colorado in between movies and press tours, and maybe she could come visit him if he had to travel during the summer since she wouldn’t have to teach.
Somehow, someway, they would make it work. The alternative wasn’t acceptable to him. This feeling he had in his heart, warming his whole body? It had to be love—or at least the beginnings of love. He couldn’t think of another word for it. Since he’d moved to California, he’d avoided her because he’d known without a doubt he would fall in love with her if he saw her again—and not be able to walk away. He hadn’t been ready for her back then. But now he wanted so much more.
He dug his phone out of his pocket. “Hello?”
“Tell me you’ll be here in time for the premiere tomorrow, despite the snowstorm I warned you about, or I’ll be locating you via GPS and dragging you here on Santa’s sleigh if I have to.”
Mark rolled his eyes and collected his pants. Something about having this conversation bare-assed naked didn’t seem right. “Gary. You do realize it’s two o’clock in the morning, right?”
The sigh coming through his cell was so loud his phone vibrated. “Yes, I know the time very well. Just as I now know you’re not on a plane home. Thanks for the heads up, by the way.”
“I didn’t want to interrupt your Christmas.”
“You should’ve.”
“Sorry for being thoughtful,” he muttered.
“Stop playing games. Can you get here, or not?”
Mark rubbed his eyes and yawned. Right now he wanted nothing more than a good night’s sleep wrapped up in Lacey’s arms. “There aren’t any flights out, and my Maserati is in a ditch. Unless you can charter a plane for me, I’m stuck in Colorado.”
“Why didn’t you charter your own plane already? Damn it, I told you not to go.”
Because he hadn’t wanted to. Because he was with Lacey—and he didn’t really want to leave. He grit his teeth. “And I told you not going wasn’t acceptable. Christmas away from her is not okay.”
“So you should’ve flown her out here.”
“She couldn’t come.” Mark dragged his hand through his hair and sat down. He needed to at least try to focus on getting to California on time for his premiere, even if he wanted nothing more than to crawl back into bed with Lacey and forget the rest of the world existed. “Look, is there any way you can get a private jet to come get me?”
“I might be able to arrange something early in the afternoon, after the roads are cleared and the runways are safe.” Gary sighed. “Are you somewhere warm and dry tonight?”
Mark looked over his shoulder then lowered his voice. “Yeah, I’m at an old friend’s house. She’s letting me stay until I can get a tow truck out here.”
“She?”
“Yes. She.”
“Don’t let this fuck up your night tomorrow. You and Sylvia are a couple now.”
Mark closed his eyes, picturing the bombshell beauty he was supposed to be madly in love with for the next six months. “Yeah, about that.”
“Uh-uh. Stop it right there. You’re not backing out of this one. As a matter of fact, Entertainment Tonight has already run the story.”
Mark’s heart dropped to his feet. “What? They’re not supposed to air the news until tomorrow.” Panic crept up his spine, immobilizing him. How would he explain this to Lacey?
“They were supposed to wait until tomorrow, but they were afraid TMZ would beat them to it, so it’s too late for doubts now. Where does this ‘old friend’ live, under a rock? If not, then you can bet your ass she already knows. The whole world knows about the two of you. They all saw the photos of you two making out in Cabo.”
The staged make out session that looked real enough in the photos. They’d made sure of it, choreographing it like one of his films. Afterward, Sylvia had tried to make it even more realistic, but he’d sent her back to her own room. “You need to fix this.”
“There’s nothing to fix.”
“The hell there isn’t.” Mark stood up and clutched the phone so tight it should’ve snapped in two. “I just spent the last hour in the arms of the perfect woman for me, and I’m not about to see it get ruined because of some story running in the tabloids.”
“Well, maybe you should’ve thought of the repercussions of your actions before climbing into bed with her.”
Mark clenched his jaw. “You need to come up with a suitable story to make the Cabo thing look false, or outdated, or whatever. I don’t care what the fuck you do, but get together with Pam to find a way to make it go away.”
“Are you sure you want me to tell your publicist about this? She worked hard on this deal.” Gary hesitated, and Mark could practically feel his frustration through the phone. “Hell, we all worked a long time to come up with this one. Sylvia’s PR firm won’t be happy with us, either.”
