“Do you hate me yet?” His lips barely move, but the words come out perfectly clear.
“Are you kidding me? Do you even know how good you look in that tux?” I keep a smile plastered on my face so big it starts to hurt after a couple of minutes.
His hand travels up to the nape of my neck. “I’m already counting down the minutes until we can go home.”
I lean into his touch. “Does it make me a total and complete sap if I admit I love hearing you refer to it as our home, even if it’s not actually our home?”
He tilts his head down, eyes meeting mine. “Well, what if it was?”
My fake smile falls, a real one taking its place. The crowds and the cameras and the screaming and the flashes fade away. “Are you asking me to move in with you?”
“I think I am. Or I can move in with you, whichever you prefer.” A hint of a grin pulls on his lips.
“Did you always plan on springing that on me in the middle of our first red carpet walk?” I slip my hand underneath his tux jacket, pinching his hip in his one ticklish spot.
He jumps, chuckling. “No, but I’m seizing the moment.” He tucks a stray curl behind my ear. “So what do you think?”
“I think yes.”
“Yeah?”
“Fuck yeah.” I grin up at him, and thanks to the height of my stupid shoes, he barely has to lean down to kiss me.
Which is of course the moment a thousand flashbulbs explode. Our lips don’t even get the chance to touch before we’re both pulling back with a sigh.
Grayson groans and tugs on my hand, pulling me away from the photo zone, farther down the red carpet. “Let’s finish this bullshit and go find an empty closet somewhere.”
“I know just the one, actually.”
He shoots me a look. “Should I be worried that you know the best closet here for a hookup?”
I shrug and flip him a wink. “I’ve been to a lot of premieres at this venue, and sometimes I just need a minute of quiet time, you know?”
He squeezes my hand. “I know.”
We come to a stop at the first reporter lining the carpet, and I paste my fake smile back on. I position myself slightly behind Grayson, but he tugs on my hand, making sure I’m standing right at his side.
The reporter asks him some standard questions about the movie and how he feels about his role and the franchise—all the usual queries he’ll have to answer a hundred times. I tune them out for the most part, still reveling in the fact that he asked me to move in with him. I bite my lip to keep my giddy grin from spreading, mindful that it could look creepy to an errant camera. Every so often Grayson breaks eye contact with the reporter, meeting my gaze and flashing me a secret smile. He keeps a hold of my hand the entire time, his thumb rubbing my knuckles.
We move down the line, Grayson answering questions and me staring up at him all goofy and lovelorn. We’re almost to the end of the line when one of the reporters snags my attention as Grayson is moving on to the next. I squeeze his hand and let him go ahead without me.
The reporter is a young white woman, probably in her early twenties, and she greets me with a mix of earnestness and professionalism. “Thank you so much for stopping, Ms. Harper. I have to say, I’m a big fan of your work.”
I smile back. “Thank you so much. That’s always nice to hear.”
“Can we take tonight as officially official confirmation that you and Grayson West are officially a couple?”
“That’s a lot of ‘officials,’ but yes, I suppose you can.” I clutch my tiny purse so I have something to do with my hands. It’s not like this is my first red carpet walk, or evenmy first interview, so I don’t know why the nerves are fluttering, but something about tonight just feels different, more impactful somehow.
“Can I ask what it is about Mr. West that initially drew you to him?” She’s bouncing a little on her toes, signaling she might be just as nervous as I am, which actually makes me feel a little better.
I shoot the man in question, just a few feet away from me, an appraising look. “Well, if I’m being honest, the initial attraction was mostly due to all of that.” I gesture over to him, taking another second to admire just how delicious he looks in his tux. “But once I got to know him, he blew me away. Grayson is the total package. He’s smart and witty and so kind and caring. An amazingly talented actor—I can’t wait for everyone to see how well he tackles this new genre inNo Reservations. It would be stupid to deny a physical attraction, because he’s obviously a perfect specimen, but it was his heart and his mind that really made me fall for him.”
Her eyebrows raise slightly. “So you two are serious then?”
He catches me watching him, moving a few steps in my direction as if attracted by a magnet. A smile automatically spreads across my face. “Yeah, it’s serious.” I reach out my arm, my hand landing on his shoulder, needing that contact with him.
He’s in the middle of another conversation with a different reporter, but it doesn’t stop him from sliding closer to me. His head turns, and he plants a kiss on the crease of my elbow. The move sends a shiver down my spine, and I can tell by the wicked glint in his eye that he felt myreaction. His arm snakes around my waist, pulling me toward him, anchoring me to his side, my arm still draped around his neck.
