Captivated by You (7 page)
Authors: Diane Alberts
Tags: #Romance, #Contemporary, #Adult, #celebrities, #Try Me, #sexy, #hollywood, #novella, #diane alberts
“I didn’t realize you earned a psychology degree while you were away,” she muttered, staring at her lap.
“Do you deny that, despite your doubts at first, you realize I’m not with her?”
She opened her mouth ready to deny the truth. To lie through her teeth. But instead she said, “I don’t even know anymore.”
He dropped to his knees, looking up at her from the floor wearing nothing more than a pair of black pants. “I love you, Lacey. I’ve always loved you, but didn’t want to be tied down to anyone or anything. I didn’t want a relationship getting in the way of my career, competing with it. It wouldn’t have been fair to you, and I knew it. Even when I got here tonight, I tried to remind myself how selfish it is to want you. To have you.”
She finally looked at him reluctantly. His eyes were clear and earnest, and she could hear the sincerity in his voice. Was he right? Was she refusing to believe him because she was scared of what would happen to them when he went back to Hollywood? Of course she was.
But how could a relationship between them work?
He extracted her hands from the death grip she had on the comforter and kissed her fingers. “I know it’s scary to think about dating someone in the public eye, and I know I’m asking a lot. But selfishly …” He paused, and for a minute Lacey thought he was going to take it all back. She held her breath. “I can’t resist asking you anymore. Having had you, and tasted you, I can’t possibly walk away. I love you, and I want to be with you. I want to let everyone in the entire world know I’m taken, and it’s real.”
She clung to his hands, unable to believe the words coming out of his mouth. Only one week ago, she’d seen him making eyes at and exchanging sweet nothings with the actress on the screen in his latest film. All the women in the theater melted, and the men rolled their eyes. She had clutched her heart. But this declaration? This blew the other speech out of the water and decimated it.
“Mark.”
“Sh. Let me finish before you say no. I have to tell you how much I’ve always cared about you. I wrote you a dozen letters in the first month after I left, each one begging you to come visit me over Christmas vacation. Each one begging you to move to California, be my roommate.” He paused again, seeming to search for the right words. “I-I ripped them all up and threw them away. You had your own life here. You were normal, and fun, and free. Already, within my first year in California, my time was not my own. My time was planned and plotted and calculated. It still is.
“And I was okay with it. I really was. But being with you for such a short time reminded me what it felt like to be alive. To live life, and laugh, and feel something in here.” He pressed her hands to his chest. “I feel so much when I’m with you, and it’s something I’ve never forgotten. Something I was too scared to examine, even when we were kids.
“I knew it wouldn’t be fair to start anything because I wasn’t ready to commit to you. I knew if I had held you in my arms, I wouldn’t have wanted to leave.”
She hesitated, her mind spinning. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? That he wanted to be with her? Actually make a go of an impossible relationship? “And now? Now you’re ready?”
“Yes.” He dropped her hands and cupped her cheeks, pressing a light kiss to her lips. Pulling back, he stroked her jaw with his thumbs. “I’m here, and I can’t imagine wanting to leave your side ever again. I’m ready to commit myself wholly to you, and you’ll never doubt my dedication. Never doubt my feelings. I was not, I repeat,
not
in a relationship with Sylvia. Nor have I ever been. I’ve been single ever since I walked away from you.”
She blinked at him. “Wait, what? But Angie—”
“Fake.”
“Sandy?”
“Fake.”
“Wow.” She bit her bottom lip and looked up at him, unable to believe this was happening. Unable to let herself hope it could work. “But I know how busy you are, and I know you can’t move here with me. And I can’t move to California. My parents are here. My life is here. It can’t work.”
He shook his head, his jaw tight. “None of it matters. Not if you want to be with me. If you’ll let me show you how happy I could make you be, I promise you’ll want for nothing. I don’t have to live in California. Plenty of celebrities live in different states. Yeah, I’ll have to leave to film movies and go on publicity tours around the world, but I can live here. I can
be
here, if you want me to be.”
“You would move here? For me?”
His lips twitched, and he slid his hands into her hair. “Honey, I would do anything for you. All you have to do is say
yes
.”
She sighed. “It would never work. The town closes down at nine at night—when Hollywood is just waking up. The highlight of the season? The Christmas party at school. Santa comes, the kids have a blast, and the whole town shows up. Do you remember how bored you were? If you don’t, I do.”
“I don’t care about any of that anymore.”
“You say that now, but wait until you have to drive thirty minutes for a Starbucks. Or twenty to the closest bar. You wouldn’t be happy here.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You’re continuing to tell me how I feel—yet not listening to a word I say about the subject. I’m not the same kid you knew. I’d be happy because I’d be with you. Can’t you believe me?”
Could she dare to take a leap of faith? Could she not? Her heart sped up as she thought about what they could have together. What they could be to each other. There was no denying he was right about her feelings for him. They’d never died, and now that she’d spent a night in his arms, they never would. If anything, they’d get stronger. It would be much stronger than a desire, but a need. Even now, she longed to close her arms around him and make love to him again. And again. And again.
If she said yes, she could have that, and so much more. If she said yes, she’d have his heart and his love. She’d have Mark Delaney.
“Yes,” she whispered, unable to make her voice louder. She cleared her throat, trying to dislodge the lump that had formed there, and tried again, this time in a louder, surer voice. “Yes.”
“Thank God,” he said, his eyes shining. “If you’d said no, I might have made a fool out of myself crying in your lap, begging you to change your mind.”
She choked on a laugh. “No crying necessary.”
He tugged her close and melded his mouth to hers, his tongue touching hers as soon as she parted her lips. She pulled him closer, laying back on the mattress and bringing him with her, needing to feel his weight on her. Needing to feel him. He tore his mouth free and smoothed her hair off her face. Looking deep into her eyes, he asked, “What are you doing tomorrow? Got any plans?”
Didn’t he know she had different plans for those lips than mere words? Disappointed he stopped kissing her to
talk
, she blinked up at him. “Uh, no?”
She watched his mouth form the words, but had a hard time focusing on the actual words themselves. She shook her head, forcing herself to pay attention. He smiled down at her. “… And you do now. You’re flying to California with me.”
Huh? “I c-can’t fly to California. I have to watch Tinkerbell.”
“I’m sure I can get Eve to do it. Come to my premiere with me.” He pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth. “We’ll buy you an amazing dress.” He kissed the other corner of her mouth. “And killer shoes.”
This time he pressed a long, hard kiss to her lips, his fingers trailing down her side, and getting close to her breasts. By the time he pulled away, she forgot what he was asking for in the first place.
“And we’ll tell the whole world I’m taken by the most amazingly gorgeous, kind, caring, generous woman in the world. I’ll tell everyone I am in love, and couldn’t be happier,” he vowed. “I’ll even jump on a couch to let everyone know how happy you make me.”
She choked on a strangled laugh. “Oh, God, please no.”
“Fine. No couch jumping.” He brushed his lips against hers, teasingly soft. “But only if you say you’ll come. Will you come?”
She cupped his cheeks, unable to believe that any of this was happening. All of her dreams, coming true right before her eyes. Tears blurred her vision but she blinked them away impatiently. She wanted to see him far too badly to allow anything to obscure her sight. “Yes.”
“Good.” He moved to kiss her again, but she put her fingers over his lips. “Did you really have a lot of one night stands, or did you make that part up?”
He raised a brow. “Define a
lot
.”
“Mark,” she said, her tone holding just enough threat to make him tell her the truth. “Tell me.”
He turned a little bit pink. “I might have exaggerated a little bit to make you want nothing to do with me. I haven’t sworn off sex or anything, but it wasn’t a different woman every night like I insinuated. So, I guess I did lie to you tonight.”
“That’s one lie I can live with.” She grinned up at him. “And you’re right.”
He raised a brow. “About?”
She took a deep breath and met his eyes. “Me and my feelings. I do love you. It sounds crazy after being apart for so long, but I loved you back then—and I love you now.”
His eyes watered, and he kissed her forehead. “Okay, I was wrong before. I thought I couldn’t be happier a minute ago, but then you said you loved me. Now? Now I couldn’t be happier.”
She blinked back tears. “Then come here, and let’s see how much happier I can make you. I have a few ideas on how I could—”
When his lips closed over hers, cutting her off, she clung to him. She couldn’t believe her lonely Christmas turned into the best day of her life. Couldn’t believe the snowstorm had not only brought her the white Christmas she always loved to see, but it had also brought her an unexpected present, too.
Mark was officially her best Christmas gift
ever
.
Diane Alberts
Diane Alberts has always been a dreamer with a vivid imagination, but it wasn't until 2011 that she put her pen where her brain was, and became a published author. Since receiving her first contract offer, she has yet to stop writing. Though she lives in the mountains, she really wishes she was surrounded by a hot, sunny beach with crystal clear water. She lives in Northeast Pennsylvania with her four kids, a husband, and a Senegal parrot. In the rare moments when she's not writing, she can usually be found hunched over one knitting project or another.
She is a multi-published, bestselling author with Entangled Publishing, Swoon Romance, and Decadent Publishing. Her February 2012 release with Entangled Publishing, ON ONE CONDITION, hit #18 on the Barnes and Noble Bestseller List, and TRY ME, hit #76 on Amazon. CAPTIVATED BY YOU is the first book in the Superstars in Love Series from Swoon Romance.
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