Page 75 of Seeking Stars
"Can you talk?"
Ana didn't recognize the background behind him; it was his bedroom, which was the only place in his house she had never seen.
"Yeah. I was organizing some of the video files from the last few weeks."
He arched an eyebrow. "When do you think you're going to have something to show me? I do have to check for any scenes I may need to veto."
She pursed her lips and pulled them to the side, but a flutter of amusement softened her eyes. "Depends on whether you're willing to veto scenes based on a rough draft, or advanced draft."
"What gets us in the same place the soonest?"
Yep, butterflies were a common occurrence now. "Are you flirting with me?"
"Yes. I hope it's obvious." He sat on his bed, its big headboard framed by dark wood, with a deep blue, tufted fabric body. "It's really bugging me that you're not here."
"I want to be there. I keep looking around and having a hard time recognizing my apartment."
"We'll make it happen. We'll be together again. And until then, all I'm going to be thinking about is how different things might have been, had you let me kiss you in the pool that day. We'd've had a lot more time… we could have done so much more."
"Sure, that could have been great but… then we wouldn't have had today. I liked surprising you."
His eyes wrinkled at the corners. "I need to ask… what made you change your mind?"
He wasn't teasing her, this time. His voice was soft and tinted with amazement, as if he was still trying to put the pieces together.
Holding the phone at eye level, she looked out of her window into the parking space below, the concrete wet. She hadn't realized it was raining.
"I guess… the way you looked, what you said, the way you held my hand… I had to stop lying to myself. I knew that if I didn't do something about it I'd regret it."
His voice dropped low. "God. I'm really, really upset that we're far right now," he said, his voice husky. "I want to kiss you again."
"I want to kiss you, too. It was a good kiss."
"Oh? Tell me more." He dropped back to lay on the bed, holding the phone above him.
She chortled. "I will not." She got up from her chair and went to the kitchen, getting a glass of water. "When do you think we'll see each other?"
"How soon 'till you have the rough draft?"
"A month if I really rush." Glass in hand, she sat on her couch. "Typically the rough-rough version of editing is six weeks to two months. But whatever I show you then is far from final, and it'll definitely be crap."
"A month? Two? I don't want to wait that long."
"Me neither, if we can see each other earlier than that at all. When are you back from the press tour?"
"I fly out tomorrow. One week in the US and Toronto, Vancouver. One week in Europe: London, Edinburgh, Paris, Berlin. I think I'm going to Rome, too."
She shook her head. "That sounds intense."
"It's actually a short one," he said, lifting a shoulder.
"Will we have time to chat while you're traveling?"
"I'll find time. I want to see you. Talk to you." He turned to his side. She could see a window behind him, looking out to the gym on his patio.
She nodded. "Me, too. How often do you think we'll be able to? You said that your schedule makes it impossible to stay in touch with people."
A corner of his lips turned down. "I want to think this is different. I can't justify calling Logan or my parents for five minutes here and there, or a couple of times a day, or even every other day. I can't say,hey, Logan, just eating a sandwich and thinking of you. What's going on over there?"
