Before A Perfect World: Movie Trilogy, Book Two (The Movie Trilogy) (14 page)

I expected the plane ride back to LA to be lighthearted and playful, but
he had other plans. He pulled out the script for the movie, handing me a copy.

“Take notes. We have about four hours until we land, and I want to get through at least half.”

“We’re… working?” I clarified. He nodded, shifting in the seat to turn my way.

“
If I sit here staring at you, I’m going to end up in that tiny bathroom, fucking you against the wall.”

“
Keaton!”

The woman sitting next to Keaton obviously heard him, shooting us both a dirty look before turning toward the aisle.

He smirked and kissed my nose before turning toward the script.

We almost made it through half. For the first few comments and critiques about my acting, I nodded gratefully, making notes along the side of the script.

By the fifth page of notes, I began to take offense.

“Why did you even cast me
? Do you think I can act at all?”

He paused, raising his eyebrows my way. “Don’t do that. Be open to suggestion. I’m not an expert, but I have more experience than you do. Pouting is unattractive, and a waste of time.”

“Unattractive?” I stuck my lower lip out, batting my eyes pitifully. “Don’t you think I’m pretty? You’re hurting my feelings,” I whined pathetically.

He smirked, rolling his eyes. “
Okay, you little shit, work.”

I grinned.

By the time we landed, I had margins filled with his ideas. We’d stopped at the love scene.

“I’ll work with you and Salter on the scene. I don’t want gratuitous. I want this film to be suspenseful, but not tasteless.”

“I’m nervous about that, Keaton.”

“It’ll be a closed set.”

“Will I be… completely naked?”

His brows furrowed, and he lowered his voice, pressing his mouth to my ear. “Never. Not with another man, not for as long as I live.”

His resolute tone both comforted and entertained me.

He gathered our luggage from the baggage
carousel, leading us toward the front of the airport. I stopped in my tracks, recognizing Frank right away.

“There she is.” He wore his sunglasses inside, and coupled with this beer belly and Hawaiian printed shirt, I almost giggled. “
The pretty woman in Keaton’s life. Here to stay, Vivian?”

“Yes,” I replied, holding out my hand. “And I feel like we got off on the wrong foot, what with you referring to me as Keaton’s ‘vagina of the week,’ and me
calling you ‘asshole.’ Can we start over?”

He grinned, shoving his glasses up to his brows
and accepting my handshake. “Nothing’s really changed, honey. Now you get all the weeks, but I’m still an asshole.”

I grinned, exchanging a glance with Keaton.
He rolled his eyes, dropping his hand to my back and leading me toward the door.

“
Let’s make a movie, kids,” Frank called, following us out to the limo.

Frank and Keaton discussed the notes we’d taken on the plane, and then Keaton closed the script as we got closer to his apartment. “Did the dress arrive?”

“The dress?” I furrowed my brow in confusion, and Frank nodded.

“Yes. It’s at your apartment, ready for tomorrow night
, along with your suit.”

“Suit?” I smirked. “Is this for the ball? Shouldn’t you be wearing a tux, Keaton?”

He sat back in the seat, stretching his long legs out and jabbing his thumb in the air, in my direction. “She’s already nagging me, and we’re not even married.”

“Stop it,” I chided, rolling my eyes.

“Keaton asked for a suit. He thought it’d be cute, since all the tabloids have labeled you two the ‘Hollywood High School Sweethearts.’ The idea is to look like you’re headed to prom.”

“Show her the dress,” Keaton ordered, gesturing to Frank’s phone.

“No, don’t,” I protested, reaching for my pony tail to twist nervously. “I want to be surprised. No, wait, do I? Okay, show me. No, don’t.”

Frank laughed heartily, and Keaton winked my way. “I’ll show you when we get home.”

Home
. There was that word again. Yanking harder on my hair, I raised my eyes to Keaton’s. “Aren’t we going to celebrate your birthday tomorrow? We should do something,” I said.

“Right,” Frank replied, glancing at his watch. “Speaking of that… we have to stop by the
office for, um… a folder.”

“A folder.” Keaton scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Terrible. Try again.”

“A… book?”

“How many people?”

Frank shrugged. “Who the fuck knows. Kathy put the whole thing together. I only saw the bill. It’s going to be obscene. Do you want to go to your apartment first and change?” he asked.

“What, is it a surprise birthday party?” I clarified, and Keaton nodded.

“
Every year.”

“Kelse
y used to be the one to throw this. It’s kind of an annual thing,” Frank added, and I could feel Keaton’s entire body tense at his ex-wife’s name.

“Frank, don’t tal
k about her again.”

His words were friendly enough, but neither
I nor Frank missed the commanding threat behind his tone.

Frank shrugged. “Sure. But she’s part of your life, Keaton. You don’t need any mudslinging. You better play nice in front of the cameras. Good press and all.”

“I don’t need to change, I don’t think,” I cut in, glancing at Keaton. I wore a long, white maxi dress and wedge sandals, and Keaton leaned forward, pinching my chin before drawing my lips to his.

“You look gorgeous.”

Frank watched us with a wayward smile.

At almost eight PM, his office building appeared to be deserted. As the elevator climbed each floor to his level, I moved closer t
o Keaton, anxiously twisting my ponytail.

Ignoring Frank, he turned to me, pushed me against the wall, and covered my mouth with his.

Lost in his kiss, I barely noticed him pull my hair from the band, aware of nothing but his fingers threading through the long waves as his tongue tangled with my own. He held me steady in his arms, even as the door chimed upon our arrival.

“
Surprise!
”

With a grin, he pulled away, his eyes still locked in mine as he pressed a delicate kiss to my forehead. “Ready?”

I could only nod, letting him lace his fingers in mine.

“
Happy birthday, kid,” Frank called, making a beeline for the bar. The Los Angeles skyline lit the room with twinkling lights, providing the perfect backdrop for my first official event with Keaton.

“Keaton,” Kathy cried, her smiling eyes darting to me, and then back to him expectantly. “
Vivian. So glad you could make it.”

I flushed, going full-on hives as I remembered the last time I’d seen Kathy; I’d ended up leaving LA with Matthew.

Her cunning gaze told me that she trusted me about as much as she liked me.

“Thanks,” I answered meekly, feeling Keaton’s grip tighten on mine.

“Everyone,” Keaton called over the laughter and celebration, commanding the room with one word, “thank you for this. For those of you who remember me last year at this time, you know that I wasn’t at my best. I want to thank you all for standing by me, and believing in me, even when I was too fucked-up to believe in myself.”

“
Make us a blockbuster, kid!” Frank called, and I recognized Max as he raised his glass to Keaton.

“
A blockbuster.” Keaton turned to me, and I took a steadying breath, forcing a brilliant smile. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without this woman right here. Since you’re my closest friends-”

“O
nly friends,” Max riled, encouraging a rumble of laughter from the crowd.

“
Only
friends,” Keaton corrected, grinning, “I would like to formally introduce my fiancée, Vivian Hale. Many of you already know that she will star opposite Ash Salter in
Round-Up.
Many of you have probably read that she’s got my family in here.” His hand slipped around my waist lovingly, and he pressed a kiss to my temple. “That is also true. But what you haven’t read in a tabloid is that Vivian is beyond talented. I don’t have enough words to describe her ability, so I’ll just show you all when the cameras start rolling next week.”

A cheer erupted in the crowded office,
and I beamed, turning into his arms.

Nothing he could have said would have made me feel more like a star at that moment.
He waved his hand at everyone, continuing to kiss me. “Party,” he ordered, and his demand was met with fits of laughter.

For the next solid hour, I moved with Keaton around the room as he introduced me to everyone.
After about the fifth or sixth person, I was starting to feel unusually self-conscious. I couldn’t help but suspect that many of the women were sizing me up, and finally, one honest comment confirmed my suspicions.

“
You’re a pretty little thing,” a woman named Marianne announced, her curvy body and perfect hair doing everything to make me feel as inadequate as possible. “I never thought you’d be into country girls, Keaton,” she commented, outright
flirted
, with him at my side.

“More like the girl next door,” a deep voice added. I turned, widening my eyes as Ash Salter joined us. “Every man’s fantasy.”

Marianne both scowled and forced a smile at the same time, leaving her looking like a constipated cocker spaniel. “Right.”

“Hi, Ash,” I
managed, and he bent to kiss my cheek.

“Hey,
country girl,” he teased. Keaton’s grip on my hand tightened from possessive to uncomfortable, and I turned to him.

“Glad you could make it, Salter,” Keaton offered politely.

“Happy birthday,” he replied, his eyes still set on my face. “I’ll catch up with you two later, okay?”

“Okay,” I breathed, watching him turn to make his way through a sea of drooling women.

“I’m not sure that I’m okay with you being Ash Salter’s girl-next-door fantasy. I may have to recast him.”

I turned to Keaton, ready to launch into a tirade of protests, but I saw that he was grinning.

Finding my confidence,
finally
, I cocked my hip to the side, raising one eyebrow. “But I’m not his girl next door. I’m
your
girl, in
your
bed. And I can’t wait to go there tonight.”

He tugged me against his chest, his eyes darkening.

“Five minutes.”

I took that to mean we’d stayed long enough.

It wasn’t until we were back in the limo and almost to his apartment when I realized that he’d had a lot to drink in a very short time. I opened my mouth to say something, and then stopped, remembering his ‘nagging’ comment from earlier.

Did it really matter if he drank? He seemed to be functioning just fine. I tried and failed to find the origin of the uncomfortable feeling deep in my stomach, not sure what to make of his ability to drink so much, so fast, and
yet still appear completely together.

“I’m proud of you,” he said, interrupting my thoughts. “You really held your own tonight. Even before Salter decided to swoop in and be your knight in shining armor.”

“I could have handled Marianne,” I agreed, leaning against his chest and listening to his heartbeat. “Did you sleep with her?”

His hand stilled over my hair for a moment, and then continued through
my long, auburn locks.

“Yes.”

I didn’t expect him to be so honest. I didn’t want an answer, and I was instantly pissed at myself for even asking.

While he waited for my reaction, I took a deep breath.

“And the… other women there? Did you sleep with any of them?”

Fucking curiosity.

“No wait. Don’t answer that.”

“Vivian.” He lifted my face so my eyes met his. “
It’s you and me now. Not Fowler, not my bitch ex-wife, not any of those women back there. You. Me. And our baby.”

“I know. Hormones, vagina, et cetera, et cetera.”

“My favorite parts of you.”

“You’re an ass.”

“I’m
your
ass.”

I giggled, reaching for his kiss.

We walked together from the limo to his apartment building, and even in the darkness I could see that he lived very extravagantly. The complex was huge, new, and had all the amenities that I’d dreamed about for my own LA apartment someday.

“Stop.”

I paused just outside his luxurious apartment door, turning to him.

“What?”

“Look at me.” He shifted our bags, nodding toward the open entryway of his lavish place. “Once we walk through these doors together, this is our apartment. Yours and mine. Until we find the perfect home to raise our family in. Okay?”