I close my eyes and hope it will be over soon. David yells, “Cut! Nicely done.” Then makeup and costume rush to them before the next scene. They spray beads of sweat on Chad’s back and fix Courtney’s hair to look more mussed up.
When David calls action again, I watch Courtney and Chad tear each other’s pants off and then Chad presses her into the rock, grinding against her while kissing her once more. The scene ends and makeup comes over to brush something across Chad’s ass. I guess they don’t think it’s perfect the way it is. Stupid, stupid women. I bet they love their jobs right about now.
Chad looks over at me while his hands are still on Courtney. He knows what’s coming next. I know what’s coming next. He gives me the biggest, brightest smile I’ve ever seen. He holds my stare, telling me with his eyes all the things I need to hear. Then he tells me with his lips as he mouths, I love you.
Then he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. When he opens them, I can see the transformation from Chad Stone to Lt. Jake Cross. He’s not my boyfriend anymore, he’s a superstar. He’s a man doing what he was born to do. And despite how I feel about what he’s doing right this minute, I have an overwhelming sense of pride when I look at him.
“Let’s do this in one take, people,” David says as John looks at me with sympathetic eyes.
I move off to the side so I can barely see what they are doing. The more obscure I can make this, the better. I don’t watch the monitors; those make it look too real. I watch the actors. I watch Chad lift Courtney into his arms, pressing her back against the massive boulder as he simulates moving inside her. I listen to them moan with pleasure. I watch his lips move down her neck like they have a hundred times on mine. And when it gets to be too much, I look over at the cameras and the microphones and the tents and trailers just to remind myself it’s not real.
Then I watch Courtney throw her head back in ecstasy as my boyfriend makes her come. I hear Chad shout into the canyon as he simulates his own orgasm. I feel my heart lurch in my chest as a vise grips it, getting tighter and tighter until it almost snaps me in two.
I feel hot tears stream down my face as I watch my boyfriend make love to his ex.
I double over and put my hands on my knees, embarrassed that I’m having this visceral reaction. I’ve never been so happy to hear the words, “Cut. Print that.”
I discreetly wipe my eyes as I watch Chad and Courtney put their robes on. I take a breath for what feels like the first time in hours. Finally, Noreen comes up behind me. She’s left me alone this afternoon. I think everyone knows I didn’t want to be handled. I needed to get through this myself.
Chad is watching me, clearly needing to get to me, but someone has pulled him aside. Courtney is walking back to her trailer but stops when she sees me. We haven’t talked much over the course of filming, but when we have, she’s been nothing less than professional and insanely nice.
She smiles at me, but it’s a sad smile. “He’s all yours now,” she says. “You are one lucky woman. I hope you know that.”
There’s no ill intent. No malice in her words. Just sincerity. I wish she and Chad hadn’t dated. Not just for obvious reasons, but because I like her. I think we could have been great friends. I watch her walk back to her trailer. And I’m almost positive I see her wipe a tear off her face when she gets there. She loves him. She loves him like Julian loved me. She gets to pretend Chad is hers, but at the end of the day, he goes home with me. And for the first time, I feel sorry for her. I feel sorry for her because I know what she’s missing. And I’m pretty sure she does, too.
There’s some commotion by Chad. He’s being put back into costume which confuses me because I thought they were done. Usually, when David goes off set, that means they call it a day. But John asks everyone to get set up for one last shot over at the rock formation they used for Chad’s climb scene last week. As everyone scrambles to get the cameras and the gear, John walks over to me. “We need to re-shoot the climb. It shouldn’t take long. You can wait over there.”
Chad shrugs at me and walks over to take his place.
There isn’t much pomp and circumstance, they don’t even go through all the normal motions of shooting a scene. I guess if they just need some extra footage to work into what they already have, it’s not such a big deal.
Chad easily scales the rock that is only fifteen feet high where they have him climb. It looks much higher from the viewpoint they get on camera. When he gets to the top, he looks down on me with a huge smile. “Mallory, you have to see this,” he calls down to me. “The sunset will be awesome from up here.”
I look around at the crew, embarrassed that he’s spoken to me when he should be filming. Nobody else seems as surprised. I give him a ‘WTF’ look and he laughs. John’s assistant comes over, bringing me a harness. She kneels down and waits for me to put my feet through. “What’s going on here?” I ask her.
She shrugs. “I just work here,” she says. “I do what they tell me.”
She secures me into the gear and I put on rock-climbing shoes that just happen to be my size. She escorts me to the bottom of the rock formation. I look up at Chad, still freaked out by what he wants me to do. He wants me to climb up to him. In front of everyone. I’ve only done this a half dozen times. I’m awkward and unskilled. They will laugh at me. If he wanted to go climbing, why didn’t he just send everyone away?
“Come on, Mal,” Chad yells down at me. “Live a little.”
I look at the crew just standing about. And I think someone left the camera rolling. “Uh, you guys don’t have to hang around.”
“We know,” John says, but nobody moves an inch.
I guess they don’t think I can do it. Or they plan to catch me if the rope breaks and I fall. I find my footing and climb as fast as I can. Faster than I’ve ever done it before. The last thing I need are people staring at my ass longer than necessary.
When I make it to the top, Chad pulls me into his arms. I reluctantly let him, after all, there are people watching us. And I’m pretty sure the crowd grew bigger on my way up.
He smiles down at me, gently removing my helmet before he removes his own. “I know today was really hard for you. I can’t even imagine having to watch you do what I did. You are so strong and brave and I thank God every day that you came back into my life.” He shifts his weight nervously from foot to foot. “I wanted you to have a good memory,” he says. “Of these rocks. This place. I want to wipe everything you saw today from your thoughts. Because none of that is real.” He motions a finger between us. “This is real. You and me. This is all that matters.”
The sun starts to set and the sky behind Chad is a perfect mixture of orange and yellow. It takes my breath away. “It’s beautiful up here,” I say.
“It sure as hell is,” he says, not bothering to tear his eyes away from mine to look behind him. He reaches into the pocket of his pants and pulls out a small velvet box. My heart thunders harder than it ever has. My breath catches and I feel faint. Is this really happening?
As if he can read my thoughts, he nods at me. Then he drops to a knee and takes my hand in his. “I hope you won’t let the fact that I just had sex with another woman dissuade you from giving me the answer I desire.”
I laugh, tears rolling down my face in streams of pure happiness.
“Mallory, I love you. I’ve loved you since the first day I met you at the bus stop when you were only six years old. I loved you even when I moved away and we lost touch. I loved you the second I saw you at the club. And I’ll love you until I draw my last breath. My life can be crazy sometimes, you’ve seen a lot of that these past months. And I have to travel much of the time. But there’s nobody I want to come home to more than you. There is no one else I want to be holed up in hotel rooms with. There’s nobody else I want to eat pizza with and play HORSE with. There is no one else I’d rather go through life with. And I’m not giving any other guy the chance to keep me from the promise I made you at your aunt’s wedding. It was you
and me then. And it’s you and me now. We were put on this earth to be together.”
He drops my hand to open the box. I squeeze my eyelids together to get rid of the tears clouding my vision. Inside the box is the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen. The diamond is tear-shaped. Big, but not too big. It’s surrounded by smaller diamonds lining a platinum band. He clears the frog in his throat. “Mallory Kate, will you marry me?”
My throat stings so badly I can’t speak. My heart gets so big my chest hurts. My eyes spill over and bleed my love for him. All I can do is nod and mumble, “Mmmhmm.”
He smiles, still on his knees. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I didn’t quite hear that. You’ll have to speak up for the cameras.”
It’s now I realize he’s having this filmed. By professional cameramen no less. He orchestrated and pre-planned this so one of the worst days of my life would become one of the best. “Yes,” I say. “Yes, yes, yes!”
He slips the ring on my finger and hugs me where he kneels. He wraps his arms around me and picks me up as I look down upon him. He gazes up at me as he twirls us in a circle. The sunset has turned into a brilliant mixture of red and orange hues. The claps and cheers from below echo off the rocks and canyon walls. There couldn’t be a more perfect moment than this if we searched a million moments in a million lifetimes. He lets my body slide down his until our mouths meet. Then he kisses me like it’s our first. Like it’s our last. Like this kiss matters more than any other because it’s sealing our fate. Solidifying our bond.
And I know right in this moment that this rock, this canyon, this place, will never be anything but a perfect memory. Chad knew that. He knew exactly what to do to make it this way.
He steps back, still holding my hand, admiring his ring on my finger. “No take backs,” he says, reminding me of the phrase he used often when we were kids.
I laugh and shake my head. “No take backs. Never. But what I want to know is, how are you going to top this? If I remember correctly, you have a few more movies coming up. What are you going to do the next time you have a love scene?”
His face falls. “Shit, Mal. I didn’t think of that. I’ve just set a big fucking precedent, haven’t I?”
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chad
Mallory’s head is propped against my shoulder in the car as Cole drives us home from the airport. She’s been staring at her ring, looking at her hand from all different angles. She thinks the surprises are all done, but they’re only just beginning.
“I was going to wait until we got back in L.A., you know,” I confess to her. “I had the ring all picked out and I was going to ask you on your last night here, before you went back to New York.”
She looks up at me. “What changed your mind?”
“It was something Hayden said when we were out to dinner one night. He said you would never like Sedona because of what I was going to do there with another woman. I didn’t want you thinking of that place as somewhere I cheated on you or anything.”
“I would never,” she says.
“I know. But still. My hope is that whenever your schedule allows in the future, you will join me on location. But if you’d had a negative experience, you might not want to. So I had Kendra get the ring from my house and overnight it to me.”
She giggles. “Well, you certainly accomplished your goal, Mr. Stone. I’ll be happy to join you on set whenever I can.”
I kiss the top of her head. “Mission accomplished, future Mrs. Stone.” Then I frown thinking maybe I shouldn’t be so assuming. “Uh, are you going to take my name?”
Her face breaks into a shy smile and she wrinkles her nose in embarrassment. “Do you know how many times I’ve written my name as Mallory Stone? Thousands. I used to doodle it in my notebooks in school. I was always afraid you’d see it but you never did.”
Hearing that makes me want to pound my chest and high-five someone. “So you’ll take my name?”
She nods. “Of course I will.”
“Mallory Stone,” I say, testing out the sound of it. “I think I like it. I think I love it.”
“We have a lot to figure out, you know,” she says. “I’m not sure I’m ready to leave New York. My job is there, my family. Mel and Julian. What are we going to do?”
I smile big. Because she couldn’t have picked a better time to ask that question. Cole pulls into my driveway. I get out and run around the car to open her door. When she exits the car and sees what’s in my front yard, she covers her mouth and squeals. “Chad, is that what I think it is?”
I look at the sign in the front yard. “If you think it’s a For Sale sign, then you’d be right. But I figured with you being a school teacher and all, I wouldn’t really have to spell it out for you.”
She slaps my arm playfully. “Not that, silly. Does this mean . . . ?” She looks at me hopefully.
I nod. “I can live anywhere, Mal. I know I’ll have to be on the west coast quite a bit, but I can crash with my parents. I don’t want home to be anywhere but where you are.”
“You’re moving to New York?” she yells, jumping into my arms.
“Where else would I possibly want to be?” I say right before her lips crash on top of mine.
I carry her to the front door. I have no choice; she’s wrapped around me as snugly as a latex glove. I try to put her down when we get to the door, but she won’t let me. “Don’t you want to carry me across the threshold?” she asks.
“I thought that was after we get married,” I say.
She laughs. “I think you need to practice.”
“You think I need to work out more, babe?” I tease.
“No. I just don’t want you to take your hands off me right now unless it’s to remove every stitch of my clothing.”
I laugh knowing what’s on the other side of the door. “You might change your mind in about five seconds,” I say.
I open the door and walk through, carrying my bride to be. Then she jumps out of my arms, startled when everyone yells, “Surprise!”
“What? What is this?” She looks around my living room. Everyone we know and love is here. My parents and brothers. Megan. Ethan’s wife, Charlie. Mallory’s dad and his girlfriend. Julian and Melissa. Kendra and Ana. Even Hayden and Noreen are here even though we just left them thirty minutes ago at the airport. I also invited some of the crew we hung out with in Sedona. There’s a huge banner hanging on the back wall that reads ‘Congratulations.’ Mallory turns around and looks at me, her mouth hanging open. “A surprise engagement party? Are you serious? When did you even have the time?”
“Kendra and my mom did most of it.” I pull her against me and whisper in her ear. “I’m holding you to what you said earlier, you know. As soon as they all leave, you’re mine.”
I feel a shiver run through her. Then she looks at me and her eyes tell me I’m in for one hell of a night once we’re alone.
Her dad comes up behind her, picking her up and spinning her around. “Congratulations, pumpkin.” She hugs him for a long time, eliciting tears from both of them. Then Richard holds his hand out to me. “I can’t think of a finer man for my daughter.” After I shake his hand, he pulls me in for a hug.
His girlfriend, Denise, congratulates us as well, and then my parents follow suit.
My mom fawns over Mallory’s ring, tears welling up in her eyes. “I must be the luckiest mother-in-law in the world. My sons sure do know how to pick ‘em,” she says. “Welcome to the family, dear.”
We make our way through family and friends, taking time to be congratulated by every one of them. Then the caterers circulate with trays of finger food and champagne.
“I hear you’re a movie star, Mal,” Julian says to my fiancée.
She shakes her head. “I still can’t believe he did that,” she says, elbowing me. “But I can’t wait to see it. I wonder how long it will take for it to be ready.”
I pull a DVD case out of a bag Cole left by the front door. “It’s not a good party without
entertainment.”
She covers her mouth. “Oh, my God. Is that it? Can we really watch it? I was so nervous,” she says. “Everything you said was beautiful and perfect, but I can’t remember it exactly, because . . . well, because you were proposing and I was about to pass out from shock I guess.”
I laugh. “You bet your ass we can watch it. We can watch it a million times if you’d like. And whenever you forget how much I love you, I’m going to strap your beautiful behind to my La-Z-Boy recliner and make you watch it over and over.”
After everyone has some food and a few drinks, we get settled and watch the DVD. I normally don’t like to watch myself on screen. But this is one time I don’t mind it. I don’t mind it because it’s Mal and me. And it’s not me I’m watching. It’s her. I’ll never get tired of watching her reaction. Of seeing the excitement on her face. The love in her eyes.
“Well, shit,” Kyle says, when it’s over and all the women in the room are crying. “You’ve pretty much just ruined any chance the rest of us have at an epic proposal. How in the hell are we going to beat that?”
Everyone laughs. “I like to set the bar high, little brother.”
Julian corners me in the kitchen when I’m grabbing a bottle of water. “So I take it Courtney wasn’t invited. What’s going on with all of that?”
I think back over the past eight weeks of filming. How she never even made a pass at me after that very first comment in her trailer. She has changed. And I catch myself hoping she can find someone to make her happy. I know it must have been hard for her to see Mal and me together. And she was conspicuously absent for my proposal. However, she gracefully congratulated both of us the next day.
I shake my head as it dawns on me. “What’s going on is I think all the crazy is finally out of my life.”
The Stone Brothers: A Complete Romance Series (3-Book Box Set) Page 56