The Trouble with Marrying a Movie Star (19 page)

The next morning, Andrew dropped me off at the hotel, and it seemed as if everyone was still asleep except for Erin. She didn't sleep in her bed, but I knew she was fine. She was probably with Miles and soon she would either text or show up. I took the time to swim some laps in the pool outside on the patio. It served as both a small pool as well as a lap pool, creating resistance as one swims towards the front.

"Andria..."

I slowed my laps when I heard Keira's voice. I swam to the side as she walked towards me. "Hey. I thought you were still asleep."

"Get out of the pool."

Okay? She seemed upset, and I quickly got out, and grabbed the nearest towel.

"What's up?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

I stared at her. "What?"

"Look, I understand the whole
overwhelmed
thing. Andrew's life is crazy and the wedding is too much, but it’s affecting your work. You are better than this." She held up my last edits. Why was she working on them?

"I thought the changes were better..."

"What they are is you letting out your frustrations on your characters."

"I'm not..."

"You
are
."

I sat down in a chair that she was standing by and suddenly felt the urge to cry. So, I did.

"For heaven’s sakes...you don't cry! Ever since you started dating Andrew, you've changed. I'm not saying that it's for the worse, but where is your head?"

I sobbed harder. "Why are you yelling at me?"

"Because Erin is not here. If she were, your ass would have been sore from being kicked so much."

I gawked at her before busting out in laughter. "You've been hanging around her too much."

She sat next to me. "I have always been completely honest with you. I've watched your life drastically change. I understand it has to be overwhelming, but your being depressed about it is not good. It's not you. You're stronger than this."

I was, but I really didn't care anymore. "I don't know how to shake this off. I love Andrew. I'm an incredibly lucky girl to be able to literally marry the man of my dreams. I just feel..."

"Guilty?"

I shook my head. "Selfish, maybe? I didn't care what type of wedding that I had. I never really did. I only care that it's Andrew, yet when he made that decision...the man can really push my buttons sometimes."

"How many relationships has he been in beside you?"

"You know that he dated Brittney."

She rolled her eyes. "How many
relationships
has he had where they’ve meant something to him?"

I went over our conversations in my head, and Andrew had never really said much about anyone that he had dated. "He's dated, but I think that's it."

"Look. You know I've been married before, and my late husband and I were best friends since we were kids. We still had difficulty in
our
relationship.
But
," she stressed, "we communicated. No matter how mad he made me, or how frustrated he was with me, we talked it out."

"I've talked to Andrew."

"You have walked around for several weeks festering in your anger, and letting it out on everyone instead of dealing with the issue at hand. You're upset. You have every right to be, but you need to talk to Andrew. And I mean
really
talk to him. The only person that you can blame for being miserable is yourself."

I glared at her.

She was right.

She was always right.

It was the end of the next week, and I was ready to go home to Andrew. It had been a long week at the studio, and we were still unable to agree on a Thomas. No one seemed to work, but it didn't slip my mind that Ethan might have nailed the role, if he had shown up. There was something about him, but it seemed as if all he had wanted was a good time and access to the VIP room last weekend.

In spite of the unsuccessful week, I was really looking forward to the long upcoming three-day weekend. Andrew had a full schedule until then, and at first, I was going to just veg out. Yet, after talking to Keira, I had decided that it would be a good idea for Andrew and me to get away from everyone, and he agreed. I thought that I was fooling everyone, including myself that everything would be okay, but obviously I was a bad liar. Andrew mentioned asking Owen for some advice—and he had to be desperate to do so. This made me think that Owen had gone straight to Keira for
her
advice.

Fortunately, mine and Andrew's schedules' were open for the 4th of July holiday, and we were going to talk.
Really talk.

The last group of actors was being called into the room, when I heard that familiar voice say, "My name is Ethan Ross." I did a double take. The assistant gave him some instructions, and he began to tell us a little about himself and why he would be the best actor to play the part of Thomas. His eyes stayed on mine as he described his take on my character. I must say, he made some good points, and I was intrigued with his vision. 

The assistant asked if we were ready to hear some dialogue. I nodded my head, trying to focus on the notebook that lay in front of me. I took notes first on how a person sounded when they recited the lines, and then I looked at the person to see if they were a good fit, aesthetically. Thomas has a British accent, and if it wasn't believable, there was no point to continue. Ethan had no issues being English himself.

Then, I looked for anything that would give me some sort of spark. Not sure what that
spark
was, but I knew I would know when I heard it or saw it. When I finally looked back up at Ethan, and saw him from the eyes of my heroin, she would have gasped at the sight in front of her. The man was gorgeous! He was tall, with dark blonde hair and had the most intense blue eyes that I had ever seen. He smiled at me, and there was something about his smile...

Ethan started reciting another line, and his deviant side started to show. Just a little bit. Enough to see that there was something more to him than met the eye. Whatever it was, I wanted to see more of it. I requested that he read two completely different scenes, expressing the two sides of Thomas. He nailed both of them. It was believable, and I got chills watching him. Something about the man...I couldn't place my finger on it, but he was definitely my Thomas.

Damn
.

Andrew was not going to like that.

I left the studio in the best mood; a mood that I hadn't experienced since I had started this whole project. This may have explained why I hadn't noticed him staring at me as I walked to the car. Yet, I did feel his eyes on me.

The moment that I looked up, he smiled and waved, and briskly walked towards my direction. "How did I do?"

"Not too bad." He was bloody fantastic.

"I just wanted to say how happy I was to be able to read for Thomas today. I'm confident that I can take your vision and present it properly."

I stared at him before saying, "I'm sure that you could," a little too sweetly before I caught myself. I cleared my throat, stumbling out, "Ummm, thank you for coming in to read."

I walked past him towards my car.

He followed. "Alexandria. Would you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

I looked at my watch. I had about thirty minutes that I could spare. "Okay, go ahead."

"Would you mind terribly if we spoke over a cup of tea? I was nervous and haven’t placed anything into my stomach."

"Well...okay. But, I don't have much time." I looked around for the cafeteria.

"I know a place around the corner from here. It's a small café, pretty quiet."

"Why don't I follow you, then?”

He placed the biggest smile on his face. "I really appreciate your taking the time to speak to me."

"It's my pleasure, and if you get the part, we will be speaking to each other often."

He thought about what I had said before a strange grin graced his face. Something in his eyes showed me that he was very happy with that.

Not saying a word to each other at first, we placed our drink orders with the server, and sat in silence until she brought our cups of tea.

I took a sip, feeling his eyes on me again, and looked through my eyelashes confirming that he was staring at me with
that
grin. It wasn't anything like Andrew's smirk, but he had his own unique twist on it.

I know I sat there gawking at him, but it was as if I was meeting my character for the first time in person. Although, Andrew's face was in the forefront of my mind the whole time that I had written the character, knowing the man now makes me see Thomas in a new light. Andrew surpassed my expectations, where Thomas was a fantasy totally fabricated in my head. The two had similarities, but they had totally different personalities.

Andrew didn't dabble in BDSM, even though he had a side of "Sir" that would come out occasionally to play. I smiled to myself, embarrassed at how that side always made my girly bits anxious to have him…well…engage in activities down there.

"Alexandria, did you have a nice time the other night? You took off before saying goodnight."

"I was needed at home." Very needed, I thought. "So, your questions?"

"How did you come up with the concept of
Deception
?"

"It dropped on me. Actually, it fell down from a shelf." I've told the story so many times, but it never failed that I always laughed to myself at the memory. "I love to read and to explore independent bookstores, and happened to frequently visit one specific bookstore in my hometown. I wanted something new to read, so I started to explore a different section of shelves. When I pulled a book out, intrigued by its title, another one literally fell on my foot."

Ethan leaned in further, seeming very interested in my tale. I looked into his eyes and there was something very spellbinding about them. It took me a moment to remember where I was in the story. "Hmmm, so I opened the book to some…ummm…erotic photographs and closed it immediately."

Ethan's brows rose. "Was that your first time seeing erotic photographs?"

He's voice sounded like sin. I stared at his grin while I thought about his words. "No. I'd seen them before, but these were different. It was my first time seeing BDSM art photos."