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Bella smiled across the row at her mother. A shaky smile spread across Sabrina’s face in return. The tears hovering in her blue eyes glinted even from a distance in the darkened family theater.
In that moment, Bella realized it didn’t matter what David had done, what her mother had done twenty-six years ago. This was her family.
A light slashed across the theater from the back, someone opening the door. Frowning, Bella looked over her shoulder and gasped.
Sam stood silhouetted in the open doorway.
Her heart swelled with something other than pain. Relief, happiness, and yes, love flooded through her as she watched him walk down the aisle, coming for her. Strong and supportive Sam who’d actually never given her any real reason to doubt him, yet she’d run at the first sign of trouble.
In a flash of inspiration she acknowledged life wasn’t a matter of all or nothing, black and white issues. It was about people trying their best to love and be loved.
As she loved Sam.
Sam watched Bella rise from her seat in the dim media room. She scooted sideways past Markus toward the aisle—and she was smiling. Thank God.
He’d crossed the Atlantic, plotting his strategy the whole way for how to win her back. As he’d considered all the possible scenarios, he’d never imagined she would actually be glad to see him.
She strode barefoot toward him, her conservative black dress swishing around her knees, her high heels dangling from her fingers.
Bella stopped in front of him, her family craning to look over their shoulders. “Sam, you’re here.”
He kept his hands in his pockets for now. “I just heard the news about your grandmother.”
“The funeral was this afternoon.” She slid one shoe, then the other back on. Keeping her voice low, she spoke into his ear so as not to disturb the backdrop of children’s laughter in the family video highlights splashed on the big screen.
He leaned closer to keep her openly gawking relatives from hearing. “Do you think we could go somewhere more private to talk?”
“Absolutely.” She slipped her hand into the crook of his arm, turning him toward the open door.
A low buzz of whispers sounded behind them as her family huddled together. His family soon, if he had his way in winning Bella over. But even as a damn good negotiator in the business world, he knew he needed to take this one step at a time. “Where’s Muffin?”
Bella glanced up. “She’s in my house. I left food out and the doggie door open. I didn’t think a funeral would be an appropriate place for her.”
He kept his silence—as did Bella—while crossing the yard to her cottage. On impulse he stopped beside the angel fountain.
What the hell was up with that because he was never impulsive? Until now. Until Bella.
Sam turned to clasp one of her hands in his. “I truly am sorry about your grandmother.”
She leaned to drag her fingers through the water, the wind blowing through the trees adding a crispness to the fifty-degree evening. “There’s never a good time to say goodbye.”
He shrugged out of his suit jacket and draped it over her shoulders. “I wish I could have been there for you this afternoon.”
She glanced up quickly, her hand leaving the fountain to secure his jacket. “Even after how we left things?”
Was it his imagination that she’d turned her face toward his lapel and breathed deeply? Inhaling his scent?
He drank in the site of her after four days apart, cataloguing the small facets he loved about her. The restless hands that talked for her when she spoke. The red hair as vibrant as the woman herself. God, he could stand here staring at her all night, but that wouldn’t get things moving.
“Do you still believe I’m hiding an engagement to Tiffany?” No need hedging, he went straight for what mattered most. “Because there’s no way I can prove when she and I broke up. You’re going to have to take my word on it.”
“I need you to understand I’m in a job where affairs and broken relationships are a dime a dozen. And then there’s my family…”
His gut clenched as he faced the possibility she could still boot him out on his ass. “Is that a no to believing me?”
Her eyes went wide. “No. Uh, I mean no! I do believe you. I understand firsthand how bad gossip magazines can be about fabricating a whole story out of one small thread.” She hugged his jacket closer. “Your actions speak louder than words. I should have believed you and I’m sorry.”
“Thank you. I’m sorry too about being a jealous jackass. I may be a driven person, but I pride myself on being honest about what I want. And right from the beginning I have wanted you, Bella. It may have started out about sex, but you’ve got to know there’s more going on between us.”
He slid his hands up to cup her face, for emphasis, for her undivided attention, for the unsurpassable pleasure of simply touching her. “Bella, I’ve fallen in love with you.”
She gasped, her eyes filling with tears.
Ah hell. He’d botched it already. “This probably wasn’t the best day to spring that on you—”
She clapped a hand over his mouth. “Stop. This is exactly what I needed to hear. Even more so, what I wanted to hear, because Sam, I was so wrong to walk out on you. I was so, so wrong to let the actions of others influence me into denying what has been growing between us these past weeks.”
Bella slid her arms up and around his neck, his jacket slipping off her shoulders to the ground. “Because I have fallen in love with you, too.”
Relief surged through him, driving him to lift her up for a kiss, deep, intense, echoing with a need to cement this moment and his love for her.
Bella stroked her hands over his head, down his neck, cupping his shoulders. “Sam, I do trust you, but I need to hear that you trust me, too. The whole media and schmoozing are a part of my job. Future movies will involve a love scene, so I’ll be slipping into that body sock again.”
He had to admit he didn’t feel like cheering over that notion, but without question there would be parts of his job and life she would have to adjust to as well. They both needed to adapt. “What if I come to the studio when you’re filming those scenes?”
“Hmm…” The worried pucker between her eyebrows smoothed. “I seem to recall my grandmother telling me that’s what she and my grandfather did whenever she had a kissing scene in a film. I can’t think of a better role model for romance than the two of them.”
Her eyes filled with nostalgia and a hint of tears. Again he regretted he hadn’t been there for her earlier. But he intended to be there for her now.
And for the rest of their lives.
He thought of all she would have to get used to as well. “My main base is in Marseille and your work is based in Hollywood.” He reminded himself of his vow to work as hard for her as he did for his work, harder even. “I can shift my headquarters here to the new hotel in L.A.”
“Hold on.” She halted him with a hand to his chest. “Does it have to be all or nothing? Could you split time between the two places? Hollywood is fun, but it would be nice to run off to France for the privacy we both crave. I even have a sister there.”
“That sounds doable to me,” he assured.
She would make a damn fine negotiator in the business world. They’d made a solid first step at blending their different lifestyles, giving them the time they deserved to build on the love they’d found together.
He hooked his jacket off the ground, shook it out and draped it over her shoulders again. “I stocked up on my allergy pills. What do you say we find Muffin and end this day together?”
She tucked against his side, sliding her arm around his waist. “I think that’s the best proposition I’ve heard all year.”
Epilogue
One week later
Champagne, chocolate-covered strawberries and Sam—the best way to celebrate amazing news.
Bella leaned over Sam’s naked body to snag another strawberry between her teeth. She shared the plump fruit with him until they’d both nibbled their way into a sultry kiss. Given how things were still low key for the Hudsons following Lillian’s funeral, Bella had opted to commemorate her exciting career milestone in a private celebration with Sam.
Sam kissed a smear of chocolate from the corner of her mouth. “Congratulations on your nomination for an Academy Award.”
In addition to Bella’s Best Actress nod, Honor had also been nominated for Best Director and Best Picture. Grandmere was no doubt cheering them on from heaven. “I’m lucky to have had such an inspiring story to enact.”
Muffin yipped from her puppy bed, her new pal in a larger doggie bed beside her. Bella had surprised Sam for his birthday yesterday. She’d done some investigating about breeds of dogs that worked best for allergy sufferers. Through a pet rescue network she learned of an elderly man heading into a nursing home who couldn’t keep his three-year-old Portuguese water dog. Muffin was still most definitely a fixture in their home, but now she had a more allergy friendly pal in Bear.
They had actually made quite a few changes and plans in a few short days. Bella had accepted two movie offers, a drama and comedy, both offers coming in with paychecks that put her on par with top grossing actors in Hollywood—and sent her to remote filming locales. Sam had reassured her he could use the opportunity to scout potential sites for new Garrison Grande hotels.
