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My heart sinks. “Give me another chance. I’ll do my best to earn back your trust and be the kind of man you deserve.”
“Gabe,” Ashley says. Tears shimmer in her eyes, but her expression is tight, her voice wavering on a watery edge. “You hurt me. I understand why, because I understand you, but you can’t put me on the pedestal now that it’s empty. I’m not replacing Michael as some ideal you have to live up to. The only kind of man I deserve is one who loves me.”
“I love you. No more pedestals or impossible ideals, I promise. Just you and me. We can go anywhere, start over. Whatever you want, it’s yours.”
She sniffles. “I’ll drag you down. You’ll never have the life your uncle wanted.”
“I don’t want that life.” I want to reach for her again, pull her into my arms. “And you could never drag me down. Not when you’ve helped me find my way up. I was drowning before you, in guilt and fear. You saved me.”
Ashley rises to her feet, taking my hands and tugging. I rise more slowly, afraid that when she opens her mouth again, all hope will be lost. When her lips touch mine, it feels like my heart, time, everything, stops.
Her hands are in my hair, her body pressed to mine, and this right here is where I belong. This is happiness and joy and peace. Acceptance. Of our pasts and flaws and love.
“I love you,” I tell her when she finally pulls back. I’m going to tell her every day. I’m going to show her.
“I love you too,” she says, a big smile breaking across her face, forcing the tears from her eyes. “You’ve got a lot of work to do to make it up to me.”
“I’ll do it. Anything. Whatever it takes.” I pull her close again and kiss away the tears before finding her lips and I’m so happy I could cry too. This, right here, is better than any award, better than all the things Michael told me were important.
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” she says, breaking the kiss and holding tight to the lapels of my suit. “Tomorrow, you go back to LA and fix the mess you created when you walked off set.”
I nod, but frown when she stops. “Not without you.”
“Yes, without me. I’ll have to drive back, and that will take days.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “I’ll go with you. I don’t want you driving alone, and I want to be with you right now.”
“I want to be with you too,” she says, soft but firm. “But you need to get back on set before they sue you for breach of contract if they haven’t already.”
“I don’t care. I’ll quit.” It’s not just words. I’ll do it if it means Ashley’s in my arms.
“No.”
“You don’t get to decide that.”
Her eyes narrow. “This time, I think I do. You love acting—”
I pull her tight against me. “I love you.”
“—and I don’t want you to walk away from it.”
“I’m not walking away from you. Not again.”
Ashley’s arms slide around my neck. “A week, Gabe. That’s all I’m asking.”
I don’t want to give in, but maybe she’s right. “Is Wendy doing anything? I’ll fly her out and she can drive back with you. Or David can—”
She laughs. “I’ll ask Lea if it will make you feel better.”
“It’ll help.” I bend my head until our foreheads touch. “But I won’t feel better until you’re back with me.” I brush the end of my nose against hers. “I want to keep teaching you to swim. I want you in my bed. I want dinners where we talk about our days and evenings snuggling on the couch. I want you with me for the rest of our days.”
“I want that too,” she says in a soft voice, reaching up to bring our lips together.
Little shocks of electricity zip through my veins, warming me, and it’s a relief to finally kiss her. Ashley’s hands slide down my shoulders to my waist, untucking my shirt, and just like that, a kiss isn’t enough. It’s nowhere close, but it’s a start. We have all night.
We have forever.
Epilogue
