InHap*pily Ever After

by Kim Desalvo

  It was too much for him to bear…simply being inside her again brought him to the edge immediately, but her face—her beautiful face—threatened to toss him off the cliff from which he barely clung. He held her gaze as he watched the pleasure he was bringing her play out over her features; her eyes hooded as she crested the wave, then rolling back as she tumbled over into ecstasy; the muscles of her legs quivering against him where they were wrapped around his waist. She held her hands under her hips to give him deeper access and the passionate sounds that slipped through her swollen lips echoed off the walls. She was heat and velvet and sweet, sweet, slickness and he could feel her clenching around him as he pushed urgently toward the precipice from which he was now desperate to plunge.

  “Oh, Dylan, yes!” Tia hissed as she felt his climax swelling inside her, and rode it with him as he came on a snarl and a curse. He thought that he’d never heard a more beautiful sound than her crying his name in the throes of passion, and as the muscles that surrounded him tightened their grip he felt a second orgasm building inside him and quickened his pace. He watched her eyes go wide as she felt it too, and she threw her head back in pure carnal bliss as they rode the next wave together until he fell on her, completely spent and breathing in gasps.

  Reaching blindly over the back of the couch, Dylan pulled a blanket over them and wrapped it tight to ward off the drafts wafting over their slick bodies. He rolled onto his side, pulling her close and taking her hand in his, interlacing their fingers and bringing it to his lips as he smiled down at her. He’d never seen her look more beautiful, he thought as he drank in her sex-flushed face, her disheveled hair, and the smudge of mascara at the corner of one eye. He disentangled his fingers and pushed them through her twisted locks, tucking them behind her ear.

  “I’m so glad you came back for me,” she whispered, reaching up to stroke his face.

  “Oh, baby, I never let you go,” he smiled, placing her palm on the center of his chest. “You were always right here, Tia.” She spread her fingers, sifting them through the soft hair there and absorbing his warmth and the still-frantic beat of his heart. He lifted the Eiffel Tower charm from where it rested on her chest and turned it so the tiny diamonds caught the light. He’d given it to her the night he first told her he was in love with her as a reminder of just that—that she’d always be in his heart, no matter how much physical distance was between them. How he wished that there hadn’t been so many moments of great doubt during that separation…how he wished he could have spared her that pain.

  “I took it off,” she admitted. “When I thought you were finished with me I couldn’t bear to wear it—couldn’t stand to have it shining at me in the mirror when it felt like all the sparkle was gone from my life. But I didn’t tell anyone we broke up, and people started noticing I wasn’t wearing it, so I had to put it back on. I’m glad that I did.”

  Dylan smirked and raised an eyebrow; a simple gesture that she’d missed horribly over the past months, but that seemed to mock her in the moment. “You didn’t tell anyone we broke up?” he asked, with what could only be described as a laugh in his voice.

  “No, I didn’t,” Tia said defensively. “My parents booked a cruise when I told them I wasn’t going to be here for the holidays, and I didn’t want them to feel guilty about leaving me here all alone; or worse, insist that I go with them. Plus, I’d gone over our last phone conversation in my mind at least a thousand times, but I couldn’t remember anything that even hinted at us breaking up. That was the day you told me that Jessa was working on my plane ticket, and we were both so excited about seeing each other again. Maybe it was denial, I don’t know, but I kept hoping maybe you’d miss me…” she watched as his smirk turned into a grin, and wished she could put her hands on her hips and stare him down. “What’s so funny about that?”

  Dylan kissed the end of her nose. “I didn’t tell anyone either.”

  Tia’s eyes narrowed in surprise. She’d kept Dylan a secret from everyone she knew; except for Lexi of course; but Dylan’s family had known about her pretty much from the start. They were expecting her to join them for the holidays...how could he not have told them that she wasn’t coming? “No one? Not your parents? Not even the guys?”

  “Not a soul,” he smiled.

  “Why not?”

  “I guess I just couldn’t accept that we were done either,” he said. “No matter how much evidence was staring me in the face, I kept wracking my brain trying to come up with something that would’ve changed your mind about us.” He shook his head. “Believe me, I picked apart that conversation too, but I couldn’t think of a single thing that raised even the smallest red flag. I, of course, assumed that you had the plane ticket, and hoped that maybe you’d show up anyway so we could talk things through. And if you didn’t, I was going to skip the holiday and come find you…” The corners of his lips turned up in a sardonic grin, “…to convince you to stay with me. I can be quite persuasive, I think,” he said, walking his fingers softly over her breast.

  “I’ll never be through with you, Miller,” she smiled back. “Better get used to that right now.”

  “Music to my ears,” he said.

  Tia took his hand and gave it a squeeze while she assimilated what he’d just told her. All the weeks of mourning, all the tears—her decision to give up on men completely because she knew she’d never be able to feel for anyone else what she felt for Dylan—none of it mattered now. He’d never stopped loving her as she’d never stopped loving him. God, when she’d woken up this morning, thinking that she should’ve started packing for her trip to Australia but instead believing that she’d be facing a lonely weekend and one more unbearable week before the most miserable Christmas of her life…she never for a moment considered that she’d be here; in his arms again and full of new hope for the future. It was a really good place to be, she thought as she snuggled against the man she loved.

  Chapter 2

  The thought weaved in and out of her consciousness before taking root and growing quickly. The future. ‘Officially and forever,’ he’d said. Although she’d considered at least a million times what would happen when she and Dylan went public with their relationship, it had always been that—in the future. She realized suddenly that the future was now, and that over the course of the next few days, she’d be facing the reality of stepping out of her completely ordinary life and into the public eye without any time to prepare. The ‘whole talk show circuit’ comment still hadn’t been discussed, but ‘going public with their relationship’ meant that she’d be expected to make some sort of an appearance, at the very least, which did nothing to settle her heart.

  Then another thought crashed into her brain with just as much force. If they were going to be gone next week—she’d already decided that it would be pointless to go back to school for just the last two days before the holiday break—she needed to introduce Dylan to her parents. Her coworkers had already met him, and although all she wanted to do was hide away from the world and keep Dylan to herself, she had a very small window in which to share him with her friends and family. She couldn’t possibly let any of the people she cared about find out about their relationship from a television show; especially since she felt so guilty about lying to them all along.

  Nervous energy flooded her system and she crawled out of her warm cocoon, grabbing another blanket from the back of the armchair and wrapping herself in it. Her thoughts were flying in a hundred different directions at once and she couldn’t seem to nail any of them down. “Oh God, it’s going to get crazy real fast, isn’t it?” she asked rhetorically.

  Dylan stood and wrapped his arms around her. “You could say that,” he said simply.

  Tia took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying to make sense of it all. It was a hell of a lot to take in within a couple hour time period.

  “OK,” she said, sounding more confident than she felt. “I can do this, right? I mean, it’s not like I didn’t know for a long time that it was coming.
I thought I’d have a little more lead time, but it is what it is.” She pulled in a deep breath and looked him in the eye. “So what’s next, Dyl? What should I expect? Tell me about ‘the whole talk show circuit.’”

  The fierce protective instinct he felt only for her kicked into high gear, and Dylan felt stopped. Part of him wanted to lie to her; to tell her that the changes that were coming wouldn’t alter her whole perception of reality. He wanted to protect her from all of it; shield her from what he knew was coming. If things had played out normally,--if he’d come back after shooting the film and they’d simply gone public as a couple—it might have been a little blurb on the celebrity pages and a few pictures in the tabloids; maybe a talk show appearance or two because of his “sexiest man” title. The whole thing probably would have blown over in a few weeks without too much fuss, and they could have built their life together in the relative cocoon of anonymity he worked so hard to protect. The whole Penelope factor, however, completely changed the game. He’d never been at the center of a media firestorm, but he knew plenty of people who had; and none of them came out of it unscathed. America’s obsession with celebrity news and the vast number of outlets dedicated to delivering it were overwhelming, and anything involving a scandal of this magnitude was going to be a big story. He’d had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach from the moment he’d contacted Person to Person about running his story, and he certainly wasn’t feeling any easier since Jessa had texted him that the requests for interviews had quickly started pouring in. It was going to be a bloody avalanche, and once it started rolling, nothing was going to stop it.

  “I wish I could tell you that it’ll be no big deal,” he finally said, “but I can’t. I promise you complete transparency though, even though some of it isn’t going to be what you want to hear.” He took her hand and kissed the back of it. “You’re going to have a whole new life, love. A very different one than the one you’ve been living up to now. Some of it’ll be really great—a lot of it will—but being under public scrutiny is a really mixed bag, and I just don’t know how it’s all going to play out.”

  “I’m already freaking out about being on television,” she said. “Putting myself out there in front of millions of people isn’t exactly something I ever thought I’d do. I do really well in front of ten-year-olds, but with adults…not so much.” She dropped her eyes and her voice fell to a whisper. “What if they don’t like me, Dyl?”

  “Oh baby girl,” he said immediately, pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. “You are the most loveable person in the world; I know this from personal experience.” He planted a supportive kiss on her forehead. “I truly believe that most people will love you, because you are a good and genuine person— but in the end, who cares what other people think? There are always going to be haters no matter how wonderful you are, but they won’t know the real you. None of them will. Some people will adore you, and others will just be plain out jealous that you’ve gone from “rags to riches,” for lack of a better term.”

  “And I’ll bet there’ll be quite a few who are just pissed off that I took you off the market,” Tia tossed in.

  “There may be a few of those,” he answered honestly. “But if you just be yourself, who could help but love you? One of the toughest challenges will be staying true to your values; trying to protect who you really are on the inside, even while people judge you without knowing anything about you.” He shook his head and took her face in his hands, bringing her up to meet his eyes. “Do you remember the first night we met?”

  “Every single detail.”

  “You asked me that night why I couldn’t just be a normal guy. I told you that I was a normal guy; I just wasn’t in a normal situation.”

  Tia’s eyes widened in understanding. “I get it Dylan, I do. I’m not going to change, but people’s perceptions of me will.”

  “Unfortunately, yes,” he said sadly, wishing again that he could protect her from the spotlight and all its glaring accusations. “I wish I could tell you differently…”

  “Oh, some of it just sucks, doesn’t it?” she said in frustration. “I’m nobody. I’m not trying to hitch a ride to fame on your coattails, but some people will see it that way, won’t they?”

  “Some will,” Dylan said. “But you know who your true friends are—the ones who’ve loved you all along. You’ll have to be much more careful about the people you choose as new friends; because not all of them will have your best interests at heart. It’ll be an adjustment, obviously, but I intend to make it as easy on you as I can. I’ll be by your side every step of the way.”

  “It’s funny, in a way,” she said. “I see it in my students all the time; the big dreams of living the lives of the rich and famous. So many of them want to be movie stars or sports heroes—they idolize celebrities even when they don’t deserve it.”

  “We’re a bit backward, aren’t we?” Dylan mused. “Sometimes I feel guilty that I get paid so well for what I do; for making music or pretending to be someone else in films. The real heroes are the ones who give of themselves to make our world a better place; but they’re too often undervalued. Being a teacher is noble thing, Tia. You’ve made a real difference in people’s lives. That’ll play into how the public sees you, too, I think. I’m pretty sure your cheering section will be much bigger than you think it will.”

  His comment caused Tia’s mind to make yet another leap. How would her students see her once she’d been in the spotlight? Once they’d seen her on television and on the covers of magazines? What about the parents and her coworkers? She wasn’t naïve enough to think that she was just going to be able walk back into her classroom after the holidays and teach reading and math like nothing had happened. It’d only been a couple hours since she walked out of school, but she already felt as if it were a distant memory; as if she’d walked away from that part of her life as soon as she’d stepped out of the building.

  “I’m not going to be able to go back, am I?” she asked, already knowing the answer. “To teaching, I mean.”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Dylan replied, “but I don’t think so, Tia. I’m so sorry.” He watched a momentary shadow cross her face as the reality sank in. He hated what Penelope had done on so many levels, but none so much as how it affected Tia’s life. It was likely that even if they hadn’t been thrown into this shit storm; even if they had been able to go public on their own terms; that Tia’s teaching career would have ended. But it would’ve been her decision; she would’ve had time to come to accept it instead of having it forced on her. She was smart, though, and he knew she would have already contemplated the possibility, and hopefully that would help her now.

  “I pretty much figured that,” she said softly. “I’ll miss it, of course, but I’m so ready to start the new chapter of my life that includes you, Dyl. I’ve wanted that for so long, and as much as some parts of this whole situation suck beyond belief, the end result is that we finally get to start a real life together, and that makes me happier than anything else in the world could.”

  “It’s about time we get our happy ending,” Dylan said. “And it will be happy, Tia, I promise you that.”

  “Alright then,” she sighed, “tell me what the next week’s going to be like; and don’t try to spare me the gory details. I need to know what I’m in for.”

  Dylan’s stomach rumbled. He hadn’t eaten since the international flight, and even though they’d put a fairly decent meal in front of him, he’d been so worried about what would happen when he arrived; so worried that the rejection might have been real; that he’d barely touched his food. He pulled the blanket tighter around him to ward off the chill and looked out the window at the snow that fell in giant flakes. “Can we do it over lunch?” he asked. “I’m bloody starving.”

  They threw on some clothes and Dylan poked his way through Tia’s cabinets, putting on water for tea and pulling mugs from her cabinet. He frowned when he saw the paltry selection of food in her
fridge.

  “I know,” she said, interpreting his frown. “I kind of haven’t been eating too well lately, and I’ve been avoiding the grocery store…”

  He was reminded again of what she’d had to go through the past weeks, being bombarded with the forged photographs of him and Penelope that made them look like the couple of the freaking year. “I haven’t exactly been the poster child for healthy eating lately either,” he admitted. “But I think my appetite is finally coming back.” His stomach grumbled again in agreement.

  Tia looked at the clock, and saw it was just past 11. “How about I order us a pizza?” she suggested, reaching for the phone.

  “Brilliant,” Dylan replied. He’d missed a lot of comfort food while he was in New Zealand, but perhaps none more than a greasy Chicago-style pizza dripping with cheese and slathered in pepperoni. “And while we’re waiting, you may as well start packing. I’ve got a room in the city, and I think we ought to stay there tonight. I don’t know how long the secret will hold, and we don’t need to deal with a mess of paparazzi just yet.”

  To emphasize his point, Tia turned on her phone to find twenty-three missed calls and seventeen voice mail messages. As she scrolled through the numbers, she saw that most of them were either from other schools in her district or from work friends. Apparently Ned’s warning to keep the information quiet didn’t keep people from passing it along. She couldn’t blame them, really, it was too juicy a story to keep—she knew it all too well.

  She ignored the messages and called for the pizza, then went and pulled her suitcases from the hall closet. Damn it, she thought, as she rummaged through her closets and drawers, trying to decide what to pack. Her plan had been to shop for some new clothes to wear in Australia; her teacher clothes didn’t even come close to fitting the bill; but since they’d allegedly broken up, she’d never gone. She had precious little that would work for meeting Dylan’s parents, and even less that would be appropriate for going on national television as Dylan Miller’s girlfriend. She pulled things out and then put them back, tossing things into drawers and frowning all the while.