More Than Famous (Famous #2) (7 page)

"Are we finished then? It's almost time to go," I said when she moved toward me.

David's eyes narrowed as he turned to go and slammed out the door.

Brook flinched and I went over and took her in my arms and placed a kiss in the curve of her neck. 

"Okay, love?"

"Yeah.  Just don't let go of me."

"Not in ten lifetimes."  I pulled her tighter against my chest and bent my face into her hair.

IT WAS FINALLY
here.  What we'd worked for the entire past year, and now, one short year later, my life was completely different.  I'd watched the news and there was a report about our premiere at Mann's Chinese Theater showing the fans lining up outside more than forty-eight hours in advance. 
Jesus, that was completely unbelievable!
I knew it was due to the book series and the fact Cade had top billing. I was lucky to have him on a film with me so early in my career. No way would I have had this kind of visibility without him.

Cade's family was in town, and they, along with my parents and brother, would be attending with us.  He was staying with them at the Beverly Wilshire, but our families were going to arrive apart from each of us.  For once, Pinnacle was letting us arrive together due to the mass amounts of fans and traffic jams that would be involved. Thankfully, Noah, Jennifer, Wendy, Gavin, and the rest of the cast would arrive before us, which would limit our time at the press stations and with the fans before the movie began.

This was a weird experience for me.  My publicist, Ruth, hired a stylist, and they'd flown dresses in for me from New York, Paris and London, as well as shoes and accessories. 

Okay, seriously?
 
They are making way too much out of this
; especially since most of the fans would be clamoring to get a glimpse of Cade, and they wouldn't give a
rat's ass
what I'd be wearing. 

Frankly, the only reason it mattered to me was because Cade would be looking at me so I always wanted to be as beautiful as possible.

Ruth and I picked out a midnight blue, strapless gown in silk chiffon that was fitted through the bodice with a flowing skirt that had been tailored so the hem fell perfectly to the floor to brush the top of the strappy high heels.  I knew that a little skin would tantalize and tease Cade, so I'd give him a little taste.  There would be women throwing themselves at him throughout the evening and I wanted to look my best.

For the past month, he'd been getting thousands of letters from fans begging to meet him, stating their undying love.  He'd teased me, mocking that he didn't find even one love letter from me within the many piles.  I just laughed it off.

"Even if I did send one, how would you find it in there?  That's Mount Everest!"  I'd shoved him down amongst the piles, and he pulled me with him and we'd ended up making out in the middle of them all. 
Take that, fan girls
.  I laughed to myself at the memory.

What worried me more were the half a dozen or so personal notes sent to him through his manager from actresses asking to meet him up with them at the after party at the Armand Hammer Museum.  Pinnacle made it plain that Cade was to socialize at that damn thing, and make sure he appeared
unattached
. Well, he damn well was attached.

For the first time, David wasn't going with me, but as far as the world was concerned, he and I were still together.   This wasn't going to be so much fun watching Cade talk and flirt with a lot of the women there, even though I knew it was part of the job. 

His job.  That's what he called it.  To me it was more.

The only consolation was Cade had a radio interview pretty early the following morning, so hopefully, he'd have an excuse to leave early before too much socializing with actresses like Roxanne Mason. 

She'd sent him
two
notes. 
Please
. I couldn’t help huffing and rolling my eyes at the thought.
Could she be more obvious?

They particularly pushed Roxanne at Cade because she had a movie coming out from the studio shortly after our movie released.  What a mega-media machine; to have the two leads from two of their movies hook up?  There were plans to have Cade meet her out for coffee and a couple of other ‘dates’ as well.

I wanted to throw up, and it wasn't nerves over the premiere either. It was particularly grating because the studio was working the “relationship” angle for Roxanne’s movie, but Cade and I had to lie about ours.

Ruth had the hair stylist put my hair up which was unusual for me but I liked it.  There were little wisps trailing down on either side of my face and my jewelry was simple. That was me; simple, easy, no bullshit and no pretenses.

After this premiere we'd have the Western European circuit, which would include Munich, France, Berlin, and London, all the first week of December.  That was going to kill us, but at least I'd get some alone time with him then.

Ruth was fiddling with my hair and shoving a black clutch in my hand as she went over the designers I was wearing. I rolled my eyes as I checked my make-up one last time. 

"What is that? What who do you have on?"  Her face was stern, insistent as she looked at me.

"Ruth, come on.  Is this really necessary?  These girls care more about what brand of hair gel Cade uses than whom or what I'm wearing."

"Brook," she said; her irritation clear.  I sighed.

"Okay, the dress is Balenciaga, the shoes and purse, are Christiana... Er, somebody or other, and the necklace is Chanel."

"Don't be flippant.  This shit is important, especially if we think this movie is going to explode as projected.  Your career could take off and you could be the next Angelina Jolie!  We don't need these gossip shows dumping on you before you even get out of the gate.  So who did your shoes?"

I laughed out loud. "Why would I want to be the next Angelina Jolie?  She’s strange. First she's wearing some dude's blood around her neck, then she's a home wrecker and she's adopting and popping out so many kids, she can't even remember all of their names. Not to mention all those tattoos.  What a nightmare. Jesus." I shook my head. "Cade would flip if I got any tattoos, or you know, wore a vial of his blood around my neck," I said and smirked at her. Really, I didn’t think the actress was weird at all, I mean, to each their own, but playing with Ruth was fun.

I was making fun of her and she was getting frustrated. I bit my lip to keep from smiling as I peered at her reflection in the mirror.  She was getting hot.

"Brook! Your
shoes
?" Her eyes widened and her mouth set as she glared at me.

"Ugh!  Ruth!"  I stood up and picked up the shoes to put them on, glancing at the label in the bottom as I did so. 

"Um...
Christian
La-boo-tin, okay?" I read it off and looked at her with a shrug.

"No.  Not okay.  That's pronounced loo-bow-tawn!  Got it?" 

I was laughing again as I shoved my bare feet into the shoes.

"What the fuck am I doing here if you're just going to make fun of me, huh?" she huffed at me.

I sobered up and went to give her a hug. "I'm sorry, Ruth. You're right.  I'm just nervous and am trying to have a little fun.  I knew the shoes and purse were Louboutin.” I made sure to pronounce it correctly this time.  “I was only playing with you, okay?" 

Ruth cocked her head to one side and I could see her tongue in her cheek.

"You
know
you love me." I was smiling at her again.

She let out a huge sigh and relaxed.  "Yeah, I
love
you, all right."

"I know." I moved toward the door when my mother called from downstairs to tell me the limo was outside.  Cade would already be in the car.

"Relax, Ruth.  I got this, I promise.  I won't embarrass you."

Downstairs, I hugged my parents and brother goodbye as Cade’s driver, Shane, waited in the foyer.  They were all dressed to kill and looked very stylish.

"Wow, you guys look amazing."

"We're very proud of you, Brooklyn.  Tonight is your night and you look beautiful."  My dad hugged me again, and my mom handed me my wrap as the driver waited for me in the hall.  The fans camped outside my house prevented Cade from coming in.

"Good evening.” The driver said, nodding at my parents and then my brother and me. “Mr. Carlisle offers his regrets at not being able to come inside to collect Miss Brooklyn, and begs your pardon.  He said he would like to spend some time with you at the after party so he can introduce you all to his family.  Would that be acceptable?"

My mom's face glowed at the English formality and respect Cade was exhibiting, even if he couldn’t do as he wished.  My heart thumped in my chest at the look on her face. My father’s lips lifted in a smile and I breathed a sigh of relief. Cade had met my mother, but had yet to spend any time with my father.

"Why, yes, thank you.  Tell Cade that’s just fine, Shane." 

He bowed his head to her, and then ushered me to the door. "Shall we go, miss?"

"Yes, thank you," I answered and preceded him through, as he held the door open for me.

This was it; the big U.S. premiere. It was finally here, and I was nervous.  From our phone conversations earlier in the day, it was clear Cade was a little out of sorts as well.  Neither one of us knew what to expect. If Rome had given us a taste, this would be madness.

Shane opened the door for me and I slid in next to Cade.  He was impeccable in all black, his shirt, suit and tie all the same tone. His hair was perfectly messy as usual, and his eyes were bright as he looked at me, with a beautiful smile on his face.

The minute Shane closed the door; he took me in his arms and placed a hot kiss on my mouth.

"You look gorgeous, love.  I missed you." His blue eyes devoured me.

"You just saw me this morning." I poked him in the ribs with my index finger.

"Yeah.  I missed you."  He reached out to cup my face as our eyes met.

"Are you ready for this?"

We both leaned back in the seats and faced each other.  "As ready as I'll ever be, I guess." I searched his face for reassurance. He had done this numerous times. "Can you believe it's been an entire year? It's weird, isn't it?" I didn't really know how to put my thoughts into words.

"Yes.  Only a year since we met, and this all started, but so much has happened in that year.   The best part is us, Brook.  Kahlen writing the books; the movie being made… I see all of it as fate's way of making sure you and I find each other. We were meant to be."

Thud.  My heart was beating so fast at his words.  How in the hell did he do that all of the time?  His words melted me and lifted my heart right out of my chest.

My eyes began to sting and well with tears as I looked at the beautiful man who had changed my life.

"You're amazing.  Thank you for being in my life, and for loving me so much."

His eyes and smile softened. "Like I have a choice in the matter.  You’re everything to me," he said words that echoed Ryan's, but I realized they were his words and he meant them.

He pulled me into his arms and his mouth brushed mine.  "I'd like to make love to you right here, but I know Ruth would kill me. Literally."  The corners of his mouth quirked in the adorable way I loved.

"Yeah, I already yanked her chain enough tonight." 

"What?" He took my hand between both of his and laughed.

"Oh, I teased her about not knowing the designers I'm wearing.  She thinks that crap is
so
important."

We arrived at Mann's where the u-shaped red carpet awaited us with the thousands of screaming fans.  I could hear the din from several blocks away through the closed windows of the limousine.  The skylights sweeping back and forth across the sky guided us to our destination.  This was really happening.  With the rest of the cast already there, we'd be the last to go into the theater, where our families would be ushered through a back door to meet up with us.

"Did your sister and brother come with your parents?"  I'd met his younger sister Layla, but had yet to meet his older brother, Oliver or his parents.  I was a little nervous at the thought of meeting them.  Cade read my mind.