“Yep. You owe me thirty bucks for the steaks, moneybags.” I laughed, poking him with my toe.
“Grace, what’s this on the nightstand?” he asked. I grinned and didn’t need to look. I knew what it was. I’d put it there.
“What does it look like?”
“It looks like a bowl of candy.”
“You’re a genius. That’s exactly what it is.” I laughed, sitting up against him and peeking over his shoulder. There, on his nightstand, was a crystal dish with individually foil-wrapped candy.
“You’re sharing candy, Nuts Girl?” he asked incredulously.
“Yes, I’m sharing. I’m tired of being the emotionally stunted one in this relationship. I’m an adult, and I can share. Besides, I have my own. On my side,” I said, pointing to the identical dish on my nightstand.
“Wow, that’s progress.” He whistled, laughing at me.
“I know!” I said, launching myself at him and stealing a candy from his dish.
“Hey!” he said as I unwrapped it.
“Shhh,” I answered, placing the chocolate between his lips.
“Don’t say I never gave you anything.” I smiled. He grinned that sexy half grin and kissed me sweetly. He tasted like S’mores.
***
The next morning in the shower, we discussed our plans for the coming days.
“So, I’ve got interviews this afternoon, and then I’m supposed to go to this party thing at some restaurant, but I can get out of it if you want me to—the party, not the interview. Spin ‘round,” he said.
I turned so he could rinse my hair. As soon as it was clean, I grabbed some shampoo and began to wash his hair as well.
“No, it’s cool. I’m having dinner with Holly tonight, so I’ll just see you back here afterward. At some point we need to pick a menu for this holiday shindig. Anything particular you want? Okay, rinse, please,” I instructed, trying not to notice the way he was rubbing my nipples persistently.
“Nope. I want a traditional American Christmas dinner, so make what you’d normally make,” he replied, releasing me so he could stand under the water.
I began to lather up with shower gel and offered him some. “Okay, well then I need to head to the store today and start getting shit together. We only have two days.”
“Let me know what you need help with, and I can always pick up some things on my way home tonight.”
“What the hell are you going to drive, by the way? Your car is toast, and I need my car today.”
He grinned sheepishly and stood under the water again. He didn’t answer.
“What’s going on?” I nudged him out of the way so I could rinse off. He smirked. “What did you do, George?”
“Well, I might have bought a new car. It’s being delivered today. I hope you don’t mind, but they’re bringing it here,” he said, shutting off the water and getting out. He grabbed two towels and handed me one as he started to dry off.
“What did you buy?” I asked, wrapping my robe around me and putting my hair up, turban style.
“Just something sporty.” He looked sheepish again, and also a little guilty.
“How cute are you?” I asked, setting my lotion bottle down so I could admire him fully. His towel hung low on his hips, and he ran his hands through his damp hair, making the curls jump and twist the way I loved.
“Why cute?” he asked, looking at me in the mirror.
“You feel guilty for wanting to drive something new, don’t you?”
He looked down again and smirked. “Yeah, a little,” he admitted, and his cheeks turned pink.
I turned him around to face me and wrapped my arms around his waist. His hands found the small of my back and settled there.
“You deserve everything you have, and everything that’s coming to you. Enjoy it, love. If you want a fun car, then get a fun car. It’s okay to have fun with this, ya know.” I kissed his chest and then rested my head against him.
His chin settled on the top of my turban. “I am having fun,” he said.
“Good,” I answered, and hugged him more firmly.
Soon after we stood in my driveway, admiring a bright, shiny, new silver Porsche convertible. He was grinning.
“Wow, this is fun,” I said, walking around and admiring it.
“Mm-hmm,” he said, sliding in and twirling the key ring around his finger. “Wanna go for a spin?” he asked, winking at me.
“Hell, yes!” I cried and jumped in. He slid on his Ray Bans, and we were off. We drove Mulholland for a while, then made our way back down the canyons. We were close to his apartment.
“When’s the last time you were at your apartment?” I asked as we pulled into a gas station. We needed to put the top up now that we were back in town and stopping at stop lights. A redhead in the front seat was just asking for a TMZ headline.
“Hmm, what month is this?” He smiled as we finally figured out how to operate the top. “Actually, right after the movie came out, some fans posted my address on the internet, so now there are always a few girls outside waiting for me—when I’m there,” he said. “They’re usually pretty cool. They just want to say hi when I come out in the morning to get the paper. Sometimes I talk for a bit. It hasn’t gotten too out of hand, and I’ve been traveling most of the time anyway.”
“Ugh, that’s so weird.” I shivered in dramatic disgust.
Top in place, he returned to the driver’s seat and his hand made its way back onto my knee. I smiled, and we were off.
“They’re not really pushy—other than the fact that they’re stalking me outside my apartment—but it would be nice to go home and not have to deal with that,” he said, his voice dropping just a bit.
I knew better than anyone how grateful he was for his fan support, but he needed some anonymity as well.
“No worries, love. I can handle it,” he said, kissing my hand firmly as we drove through the streets of Beverly Hills.
Once home, I started to make a list of the things I needed at the grocery store, and he settled onto the couch. Within seconds I heard the TV click on. I smiled at how at home we both seemed here. I went in to see if he wanted to come to the store, and found myself pulled onto his lap. I kissed him soundly and told him I was heading out.
“Do you want to come with me?” I asked, nuzzling his ear until he cried uncle. “We could dress you up in a hat and glasses. I might even have a wig around here somewhere.”
“No, I think I’ll stay here. I can help you when you get back.” He smiled and ruffled my hair.
“I’m going to be making pie crust,” I said, snuggling into his arms.
“Okay, sounds good,” he replied.
“You want to help me make pie crust?” I rolled my eyes at him.
“Sure. Why not?” he asked, making a point of rolling his eyes back at me.
“I feel bad. Is there somewhere you want to go, friends you want to see? Aren’t you going to be bored? Making pie crust?”
“Are you kidding me? For the first time in weeks the phone isn’t ringing, no one’s telling me I have to go somewhere, no one’s knocking on my door asking me for an autograph, and I can pick my nose if I want and not worry about it ending up on Perez. Making pie crust sounds about fucking perfect if you ask me.” He laughed and laid back on the couch.
“Okay, then. Pie crust it is. Want me to pick you up some Fatburger while I’m out?” I asked, getting up to grab my purse. I heard a moan behind me. I turned and he was smiling huge.
“Grace, I knew I was right to keep you around,” he said, winking.
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” I winked back as he threw a couch pillow at me. I paused when I got to the door and looked back at him. “Is it me, or did we just say the words ‘pie’ and ‘crust’ like seventy times?”
“We said pie crust a lot. Pie crust, pie crust…” he answered, saying it differently every time.
I left him mumbling to himself. With a giant grin I walked out to my car, which now looked a little paltry next to his Porsche, and slid in. I turned on the tunes and realized life really didn’t get much better than this.