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Before Sariah could question her about whatever was going on, someone prompted from the side, “You’re on.”
“I hope we see you again,” Sariah said to Scarlett.
“Me too.” Scarlett waved.
Mack lifted his chin to Scarlett and escorted Sariah onto the stage. The lights were bright and the crowd loud as they cheered them on stage. Nerves had her stomach rolling. She had to fight against the urge to wrap her hair around her neck. Mack holding her hand and being by her side was the only thing that gave her strength to keep walking forward.
The host, Jessie, greeted them with air kisses and they took their seats.
“Now, we’ll get to this lovely mass of muscles and his stats in a minute, but we want to hear about you, Sariah. You have a message you’d like to share with girls around the world?”
“Yes.”
Mack squeezed her hand, giving her that smile that said she was the most beautiful woman in the world to him.
“You see, I used to think my scars were a deformity, but then I met the most amazing man and he taught me …” She had to swallow past the lump in her throat. “That I’m beautiful, not in spite of, but because of my scars. The hard things we go through in life give us character, and if we can keep on smiling through the pain, we’ll come out more beautiful on the other side.”
The audience went crazy, clapping, screaming how beautiful she was. Sariah waited until they quieted and then she tried to explain better, “Every woman is a unique beauty. Don’t compare yourself or concentrate on what isn’t perfect about you. Shine with your own beauty.”
The audience freaked out again, but Sariah was too busy staring at Mack. He tugged her close and kissed her, which made the audience go even more nuts.
“I love you,” he whispered against her lips.
“Thanks for that.”
He laughed, and ignoring the talk show host trying to question them, kissed her again.
* * *
Quinn Romance Adventures
Devoted & Deserted
Conflicted & Famous
Gentle & Broken
Rugged & At-Risk
Too-Perfect & Stranded
Rejected & Hidden
EXCERPT - RUGGED & AT-RISK
Scarlett Lily walked through her Newport Beach home, closing blinds as she went. She used to never close the blinds in her spacious living area. She loved the view of her infinity pool, her small, landscaped yard with flowering bushes and trees, hanging and potted baskets overflowing with blooms, and the beach and ocean beyond. But something had her unsettled lately.
Obsessed fans, occasional threats, stalkers, and paparazzi had been such a part of her life the last ten years that she hardly noticed them anymore. She didn’t think it was any of those normal concerns. Her security system was engaged, and the people hired to monitor the gate and her exclusive neighborhood were top notch. She was safe, but she had been a believer her entire life, and if the Lord put an impression in her mind, she listened. Right now the impression wasn’tRun, but it was definitelyBe aware. Some might think she was simply being paranoid because she had been the lead in one too many action movies, but she never doubted her intuition.
Entering the kitchen, she pulled out a glass and a bottle of Fiji water from the fridge. Her throat felt sandpapery from all the concern. She poured the water into the glass and smiled. Griff Quinn had always made fun of her for having to drink out of real glass, teasing her about being a princess. Ah, Griff. At the Georgia Patriots’ end-of-season celebration, she’d tried to plant some seeds with his youngest brother, Mack, with the hope that Griff would contact her again. She’d heard he was sometimes in southern California with the enigmatic Sutton Smith. It had been weeks and nothing had changed. She still longed for Griff, and he remained out of her reach. Ten long, lonely years. It was pathetic she couldn’t shut him from her memories as he obviously had done of her, but he was the love of her life.
She took a long sip of the water and stared at her spacious, top-of-the-line kitchen with slate flooring imported from India and quartz countertops from Brazil. She liked the contrast of the gray swirled countertop and flooring against the dark walnut cabinets. With all the light from the floor-to-ceiling windows and retractable walls leading out to the pool and patio, there was plenty of light to offset the darkness of the wood. Except for right now, when she had the blinds all tightly closed.
In the eyes of the world, she had it all. Money, fame, handsome men constantly chasing her. She could pick and choose which movies she acted in. She preferred action, but she’d dabbled in drama and rom-coms. She hated the rom-coms. There was inevitably a battle with the producer when she refused to do a love scene, but they always ended up cutting the on-screen intimacy because they wanted her name and notoriety. She also loathed pretending to fall in love, considering the man she’d always loved had ditched her for the military years ago.
The truth was that she was lonely. Most of her fellow actors, the ones who didn’t mock her for her morality, were great friends to her, when they were all on set. After the shooting ended, they went on with their lives. Her parents loved her and were very proud of her, but they were retired and spent their winters in Costa Rica. They’d come for Christmas a few months ago, met her in Aspen at her spacious cabin, but then they’d gone back to the warm weather. They would return to their home in Canton, Ohio, sometime in April. A month after that, theymightcome see her. She could fly to Costa Rica to see them. She had a break from filming for the next month. Newport Beach usually had great weather in March, but Costa Rica would be even nicer.
She sighed and rubbed the condensation from the glass, lost in thought.
