Page 17 of Resorting to Love
A smile lights her face as she makes her way to the bedroom. “I’m going to change into something more appropriate for the fake, temporary girlfriend of a famous actor. Just in case we end up in another set of pictures.” She disappears into the bedroom before I’m required to answer.
Good thing, because I’m drawing a blank. And I’ve got less than twenty-four hours to get her to change the wordsfakeandtemporarytorealandpermanent.
* * *
chloe
The tension from the cabin vanishes as soon as we step outside, and Eli takes my hand. His touch has that effect on me. Well…that and a few other pretty amazing effects. I’m going to miss him when we say goodbye tomorrow. The sex, yes. God, yes. The rest of it too. If circumstances were different, I could see us giving this a go as a real relationship. I’d actuallywantto give it a go.
But circumstances are what they are. My free trial of everything Eli ends tomorrow, when I get in my car and drive home.
That’s a tomorrow problem. The rest of today can be problem-free, as the entire week has—aside from becoming an overnight, viral sensation because of a handful of sex photos on the internet. Those may haunt me until I’m Grandma’s age.
I’m okay with that. I can actually picture myself at eighty-six, telling people about the summer I was thirty-three, and had the time of my life boinking a famous actor at Mountain Ridge Resort. It’ll be a fun story to tell. It has certainly been a fun story to live.
“What’re you thinking about that’s making you smile like that?” He squeezes my hand as we walk past the oversized chess board built into the lawn.
“You. Me. Everything that’s happened. It’d make a great movie, you know.”
“It would. You should pitch it,” he says, totally straight-faced. “I can put you in touch with someone.”
“How about I stick to nursing, and you pitch the movie. Then send me a big fat check for my share of the royalties.”
“Done deal. Who do you want to play you in the movie?”
“Hmmm…I like this game. Except I don’t watch much TV, or movies, as you know. Who’s the hottest leading lady around?”
“You are.”
“It’s because I told you I’m not wearing underwear, isn’t it?”
“No, that’s just making me hard,” he says, giving up my hand to draw me under his arm. “Everything about you makes me hard.”
“Then it should be a relief when I leave tomorrow morning.” My joking misses the mark when Eli’s muscles tense, and he answers with silence. Maybe tomorrow is on his mind too, and I’m not the only one who’s dreading it. ““Will you be flying back to Los Angeles, or are you going directly to New York to start work on the movie?”
“New York. This week was my only time off.”
“I’m glad I got to be part of it,” I say, smiling up at him as we step off the lawn, onto the side of the main resort road leading to the parking lot.
He halts us, standing in front of me with my face in his palms, his eyes searching mine. “You weren’t part of it, Chloe, you were all of it. Every minute. Every thought. Every damn breath. All you.”
My heart leaps to action, beating so hard, I hear its pounding.
Like a flurry of feet on pavement…except that sound is real, and the group responsible for it is running toward us, cameras in hand.
“Eli! Can we get a couple pictures of you and your girlfriend?”
“The worst fucking timing,” Eli says under his breath. “Shit.”
“It’s okay. I knew what I signed on for this week.”
“You didn’t sign on for this. I’m sorry.” He presses a kiss to my forehead, then rallies a game face as we turn toward the press. “Gentlemen. We’ll have to make this brief. Ms. Bartlett and I have somewhere to be.” He’s always gracious, especially with fans.
These aren’t fans. They’re paparazzi. Five in total, and the vibe they project makes my skin prickle.
But I agreed, so I smile as we pose, looking from one paparazzo to the next. The resort manager and Eli’s team have kept media intrusions to a minimum this week. A handful of single photographers who met us politely in a prearranged location. I naively thought that was the norm.
“How long have you been together?” one of them calls.
