Luke licked his lips. “About what?”
“This hammock. You and me on this hammock—this is what’s real, this is what’s true.”
Luke ran his fingers through her wild, disheveled hair. “I did say that, didn’t I?”
“And suddenly, there was nowhere else I could handle being. I had to be here . . . right here, in this spot.”
“Well, that’s nice.” Luke’s lack of expression was worrying Elle. He promised he’d fight for her and she hoped he still would.
“I couldn’t see it then.” Elle, filled with anxiety, rubbed her legs with her palms as she spoke. “I mean, I wanted to, but something held me back. Does that make any sense?”
“You didn’t trust me,” Luke said softly.
“I was an idiot. Deep down, I knew you were telling the truth, I just . . .”
Her words trailed off as she watched Luke scratch the back of his neck. She was messing this up completely. She needed to be bold, daring. She needed to prove herself to him once and for all.
“If this is going to work, you’ll have to trust me, Elle.”
“I know. I promise. I let my past dictate how I treated you and that will never happen again.” Elle peered into Luke’s eyes, but he had broken their eye contact and was looking down at her lap. “Luke? What’s wrong?”
He said nothing in response. In fact, he was blatantly ignoring her as he took her hand in his. He squeezed her fingertips in his grip, and just as he did months ago on their very first date, he raised it to his lips and placed a kiss inside her palm.
“Forgiven,” he said.
Stunned, Elle lost her breath as she stared into the eyes of the man she loved. She couldn’t believe how forgiving, how trusting Luke Kingston was. And despite knowing he was sincere in his sentiment, she still had so much to say.
“I mean, I was insecure, confused. I didn’t know what the hell I was thinking half the time, and—”
Luke laughed, taking her chin between his fingertips. “Elle, did you hear me? It’s all in the past.”
“As simple as that? I was horrible to you, Luke.”
“Horrible? Far from it.” He brushed her bangs from her eyes. “You never expected to see him again, especially just as we were getting to know each other. You didn’t plan any of this, you just did the best with the cards you’d been dealt. And I’m glad you took the time to figure this out. You were drowning.”
“I was?”
“Your entire life—your career, the show, it was all based on the hell you went through. It was your story, Elle.”
“Was,” Elle said with newfound confidence. “It was my story.”
“Exactly.” Luke wrapped his arms around Elle, pulling her close.
“Thanks for not giving up on me. When I thought you had, it crushed me.”
“It crushed me, too.”
“There’s more, though. There’s more you need to know.”
Luke shifted his body to face Elle on the hammock. He rubbed her back with his hand and she sighed at his gentle touch.
“I never slept with Troy.” Elle quickly caught her poor choice of words. “I mean, since he came back into my life.”
Luke shook his head, closing his eyes and holding his hand out in front of him as if to stop her. “That’s not my business. You’re a grown woman, and we weren’t exclusive. It’s fine, really.”
“No, you need to hear me because it’s the truth. We were taking it slow. We’d get close to it, and then I couldn’t go through with it. My feelings for you kept me from being completely intimate with him.”
Luke bit down on his lower lip before giving Elle a coy smile. “So . . . these feelings you mentioned.”
Elle returned the smile, realizing she hadn’t yet said the words. Weeks ago, he told her in this exact spot how he felt. But Elle hadn’t reciprocated the words. Not exactly. She’d held back. But Elle was done holding back her feelings for Luke.
“I’m in love with you, Luke. Only you.”
For just a moment, they were quiet before Luke pulled her in for a kiss. His strong lips brushed against hers with an urgency that drove her wild. “Only you.” She whispered it again and again between each kiss.
“And I love you. I’ve loved you since the moment we first met.”
“You have?”
“Mmm-hmm. I told you, I’ve never felt like this before. And when you experience something at thirty-five years old that you’ve never felt before, you know it’s time to pay attention. I’ve never stopped paying attention to how you make me feel.”
“And you fought for me,” Elle murmured with a smile. “I’m sorry I didn’t do the same.”
Luke recoiled, placing his hands on her thighs. “Sure you did.”
Elle scanned her memories, looking for a time when she’d fought for Luke, but she came up short. Clearly, he was just giving her the benefit of the doubt.
“I seem to remember a very hot session in my dressing room where you took what you wanted.”
“That was just jealousy.” Elle shrugged it off.
“I disagree. Every time you would get upset, every time you came crashing into my dressing room demanding answers over Paris Hilton or my supposed showmance with Gina, you were fighting for me, Elle. For us.”
“Perez.”
“Hmm?”
“Perez Hilton.”
“Oh, that’s right.” He chuckled, rising to his feet and pulling her with him. “What did I say again?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said with a smile.
“The point is, we fought for each other—both of us. And it all worked out, didn’t it?”
“Focus on the good,” she repeated his words from backstage the night before, “and everything will work itself out.”
“Exactly.”
And just as he did the night before, he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her into the air. The California breeze danced in her hair as he spun her around the deck. And for the very first time, she let go of his shoulders, and her arms reached toward the clouds. She was letting go, learning to be free, and enjoying every second with the man she loved so very much.
Luke returned her to the deck, placing a kiss on her forehead. And then, without warning, he stripped himself of his shirt and shorts, tossing them onto the hammock.
Elle scanned the neighbors’ houses, wondering if anyone could see her naked boyfriend. “What are you doing?”
Luke wiggled his eyebrows. “C’mon. Let’s go for a swim.”
SEVEN MONTHS LATER . . .
Elle relaxed into the cool leather of the limousine seat, her hands interlocked with Luke’s. His foot was tapping relentlessly against the floor of the car and he was fixing his bow tie . . . again.
“First nominations can be nerve-racking. But you’ve got this in the bag. You have to know that.”
Luke grunted in response and Elle couldn’t help but giggle.
It was Luke’s first time attending the Primetime Emmy Awards, and unlike at the Golden Globes, they were proudly attending this show together. Follow the Sun was nominated for Best Drama Series, and Luke was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Elle couldn’t help but celebrate when Gina failed to receive a nomination. It was business as usual at the studio, only now Luke and Elle were able to ignore Gina and her antics, knowing she was a severely unhappy person who was going to ride out her contract.
“Easy for you to say, Miss Golden Globe winner.” Luke smiled, wiping his brow. “I bet next year, you’ll be nominated for both shows.”
“That would be incredible, wouldn’t it?”