When Dreams Come True (The Star Series Book 1)

by Stratton, M.

  “Great, I should be finished soon.”

  “Ma’am,” the sheriff said from the door. “We’ve filed your report and dispersed the crowd, so you should be able to leave now.”

  “Melissa, what’s going on?” Will questioned from the other end of the phone.

  “Nothing. I’ll be home soon.”

  “Melissa…”

  “We’ll talk soon.”

  “Darling, you can bet your sweet arse we will.”

  The call ended. Shit. They’d had some heated battles before about different opinions, but she knew he was pissed. He was wicked smart and his brain moved at lightning speed. This might end up being their biggest battle, and she knew better than try to keep the entire truth from him.

  “Sorry, ma’am. I didn’t realize you were on the phone.”

  “No problem. Can someone help me get this to my vehicle?”

  “Yes, ma’am. If I can have your keys, I’ll pull your vehicle around to the back and load it up for you. We’ll also make sure no one follows you out of the parking lot.”

  “Wonderful. Thank you.”

  Before she knew it, she was on her way home. She kept a lookout in her rearview mirror but no one was following her. Pulling into the garage, she started to load the bags up on her arm and bring them into the house. As soon as she walked into the kitchen, there was Hannah, on the phone and scowling at her. Trying to play it light, Lissa set down the bags as she blew her a kiss and quickly walked back out to grab more groceries.

  When she came in with the second load and sat them down, Hannah stopped her. “I’ll get the rest and put it all away. You need to go video chat with Will.”

  “How pissed is he?”

  “Well, considering neither one of us knows exactly what is going on, but you’re all pale and shaking, I’d say not as pissed as he’s going to be.”

  “Great.” She turned to go to her office.

  “Lis, are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I’ll fill you in after I talk to Will.”

  As soon as she walked into her office, she could see the light blinking on her laptop letting her know Will was calling. She hit a button and his face filled the screen. He was still in costume and very angry. “What happened?”

  “It wasn’t much of anything.” She went to her small refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water, taking a long drink of it. She didn’t want to sit down and have to look him in the eyes, so she turned the laptop around so he could see the rest of her office. She walked over and opened the wall of glass doors which led out onto the balcony, letting in the warm air. She must’ve been suffering from some kind of shock, because she was a bit cold.

  “Melissa Emily Loring, answer me now. Tell me exactly what happened.”

  “Fine, I just went to the grocery store.” She started organizing the files on the small table. “While I was standing in line at the checkout, someone recognized me. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by people yelling all kinds of questions at me and taking my picture. The store called in the authorities for crowd control and to help me get what I needed and leave.”

  She snuck a look at him from the corner of her eye. He was sitting there, his eyes narrowed at her and his arms folded across his chest. Her lips twitched as she thought he truly looked like the royalty he had played in movies, displeased and ready to lay down the law.

  “Why don’t you sit down?”

  His voice was calm, and she knew she was in trouble. The man was brilliant and could think faster than most people, so of course he’d seen through her and had already figured out what he was going to do. Knowing she couldn’t put it off any longer, she sat down and looked to the side, fiddling with the pen and paper she had left there.

  “Look at me.”

  Sighing, she looked right into the camera.

  “Damn.”

  “Will, I’m fine. Really.”

  “No, you’re not. Do you honestly think I don’t know your face better than my own? I can see you are most definitely not fine. You were scared, more scared than you’re letting on. I should have thought of something like this happening.”

  “Okay, yes, I was. I’d never been in a situation like that before. I never expected anything like that to happen. But now I know and I can be ready for it, try to do something to prevent it.”

  “Oh, you can bet your sweet arse nothing like that is going to happen again. I’m waiting for a reply to my email from my people. You’ll have a security team.”

  “Now, wait just a min—”

  “Yes, Melissa, you will have a security team. There is no way I’m going to leave you without someone I trust around to make sure you are safe.”

  “For all we know, this was a one-time situation.”

  “Do you really believe that? Think about it. What happens when we start spending more time in the public eye together? What happens when your movie starts filming? When it’s released? Then what? You still think this is just a ‘one-time situation’?” His voice shook with anger. “I will not allow you to be in that situation ever again.”

  “Whoa, wait, you will not allow it? Listen here, buster. I can take care of myself. I was caught off-guard today, but that won’t happen again. And if I decide to have a security team, I can certainly choose my own. Hell, I have Betty Boxer in the house. I’ll just take her out with me all the time.”

  Will’s voice calmed down; he was changing tactics. “Yes, well, that’s all fine and good. And while I know you are perfectly capable of choosing your own protection, do you not think it might be better to allow me to help since I have more experience in this than you do?”

  “And you don’t know Tucson. Things like this normally don’t happen. Do you know how much time big celebrities spend here? Sir Paul and Linda McCartney had a house here and spent time here, Oprah has been here. This was not normal.”

  “That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have help. In fact, I’m thinking you need more help than just Hannah.”

  “What? Where the hell is that coming from?”

  His eyes narrowed and he moved closer to the screen. “You, my darling, have been very clever in the past month or so, using lighting, or lack thereof, and certain camera angles when we’ve been chatting. Today, you forgot about that and I can see you clearer than I have in weeks. You need someone to take care of you.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “No, you aren’t. Hannah told me how much you’ve been working, and not sleeping or eating. There is only so much you’ll allow her to do. I know you have a whole team who helps you with your business, so you need to start allowing them to do more of the work they are capable of. You need to allow Hannah to make sure you are eating right. Then you are going to allow the security team to make sure you’re safe when you’re out, which you’ll be doing more of.”

  Lissa sat back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. “Is that all? Or are there more things I’m going to have to allow?”

  “Yes, you are going to have to allow for the fact I care deeply for you, which means I’m going to want to make sure you’re safe and cared for. You don’t have to like it, but just give me the privilege of taking care of you. Don’t you understand it kills me I’m not there with you every single day? That I’m not there to hold you when you need me to? My being was created to take care of you. It has nothing to do with the fact you are perfectly capable of doing it yourself. My soul screams out to cherish you.” His voice shook with emotion.

  There was nothing she could do; she melted at his words. “Will… I don’t like to impose…”

  “I know you don’t, but you’ve got to learn to let people help you. It’s okay to ask for help.”

  Everything Lissa had been feeling, along with pushing her physical and emotion well-being to the brink for the past three months, crashed in on her. Almost immediately, the tears she’d always held back, especially while talking to him, started to fall from her eyes.

 
“Darling, please don’t.” Through hazy tears she saw him lean closer to the camera, as if he wanted to reach out and touch her.

  Shaking her head, she held up a hand. Giving herself a moment to try to stop the tears, she took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. It’s just everything. I’ll be okay.”

  “Lissa—” There was a knock on his door and he turned away from her. “Yes?”

  “They’re ready for you on set, Will.”

  He sighed. “I have to go. We’ll chat again, as soon as I’m free.”

  With eyes full of tears, she nodded. “I’m sorry.”

  “Darling, you have nothing to be sorry for, except for being stubborn.” He smiled. “Please, let me help. I’ll make sure everything goes through Hannah so you won’t have to worry about anything.”

  After they said good-bye, she looked up and saw Hannah standing there.

  “Damnit, do you know how hard it is to chew you out when you’re sitting there crying?” She walked over to her and put her arms around her. “Come on. I’ll yell at you later but for now, let’s get you to bed. You need some sleep.”

  Lissa allowed Hannah to help her up, get her to her room and into bed. “Thank you. I don’t know why I’m such a mess.”

  “I could tell you. Do you want to hear the long or short version?”

  “Shut up.”

  Hannah closed the drapes. “Get some rest.”

  “Thanks. Love you.”

  “You, too. Now, get some rest.”

  Lissa fell into a dreamless sleep within seconds of Hannah leaving the room.

  A few days later, Hannah was standing at the front door waiting for Will to show up. Beau had been in contact with her and they’d planned everything. They both knew Will and Lissa needed to see each other. After the incident at the grocery store, Lissa had been down on herself and Will had become irritable. There was another issue on the movie which ended up giving Will two days to come out to see her. They hoped it was going to be enough to get them through the next two weeks before they could spend more time together. The movie he’d been working on had one delay after another, and shooting was running behind schedule.

  They talked quietly as she led him through the house and to Lissa’s room where he set his suitcase down. She knew they were going to want to spend every minute together, and that included sleeping.

  “Wow,” Will said as he walked over to the windows which filled two of the walls. One of them directly faced the mountain and a rock wall with cactus clinging to it. The other set of windows framed the mountain range to the east, where you couldn’t see any other homes.

  “When we were looking for a house, she didn’t like this one too much. She said it was too modern for her, but then she saw her office, and she was sold. By the time we got back to her bedroom here, she was telling the real estate agent to make an offer.”

  “And you? What if you didn’t like the house?”

  “There were a few other houses in the neighborhood and knowing her, she would’ve bought me one so we could be close. But I like the modern lines, and I have the whole other side of the house to myself. Especially these last two months.”

  He turned toward her, focusing all of his attention on her and what she was going to say. She could completely understand how Lissa had fallen under his spell before they’d even met. People rarely completely focused on the person they were talking to any more.

  “She is either in her office or here. I stock her mini-fridge in her office, but there are times the only thing missing is the sodas, the things which help her stay awake.” She sat down in one of the chairs by the fireplace. “We’ve had a great working relationship, and it hasn’t just been about work. We’re great friends. We divided everything… well, everything she’d let me do. We’d take turns going to the grocery store, cleaning and cooking. That way, both of us felt we weren’t taking advantage of the other. It took us a while to find the balance, what with me wanting to do everything for her since this is my job and her not wanting to ask me to do anything since we’re friends.

  “I come and go as needed since most of my work is done during the day anyway, so my nights are free. I prefer to go work out in a gym with other people, but she prefers to work out here, alone. We’d time our work-outs, mostly to keep her motivated since she stayed home. Now, she goes through the motions, but she’s been spending more and more time alone. More and more time working. If I had to guess, I’d say she’s missing you more than she ever thought she would and trying to keep her mind off you.”

  “This won’t do. It won’t do at all.”

  “I know.”

  “We’ve got to come up with something. First off, you’ll hire a cleaning crew and someone to go to the market for you. We need to take things off your plate so you can focus more on her and making her take care of herself.”

  “That’s all fine and dandy, but this is just going to continue. Every time you have to go away or are apart from her for a long time, she’ll fall back into this funk. And quite frankly, I’d hate to see what would happen when you break her heart.”

  He stood up taller. “What do you mean, when I break her heart?”

  “Will, I won’t deny you two have something going on, but we can’t predict the future. No matter how strongly you feel right now, you are a movie star. Now tell me, how many movie stars cheat? How long do the marriages last? Even the ones who were sure they were going to make it? It’s not very optimistic.”

  “Yes, but they aren’t me.”

  “No, they aren’t. But how many of them said the same thing you just did? Will, I’m not trying to be mean. I’m just looking out for my best friend. I met her right before her first book was published, while we were still in college, and I’ve been with her ever since. The ups and the downs. The happiness and the heartbreak. We’ve grown together; we’re like sisters. No one is happier than I am when she gets the praise and accolades she deserves for her work. I only want the best for her, and I’m here to help her as much as she helps me.”

  “What does she do for you?”

  He didn’t ask to be mean. He genuinely wanted to know what Lissa helped her with, which was why she didn’t kick him out. “That’s a story for another time. Everyone she has hired to help her write is a friend, and she’d do anything for any of them.”

  Crossing over to Hannah, Will kneeled in front of her, taking her hands in his. “I promise you, Hannah. Everything I have, I give to her. To make her happy, to give her everything she needs, for as long as she’ll have me. And even after, I will still be there for her, as she will still be in my heart.”

  Hannah searched his eyes. She wanted to believe him, but after all, he was an actor. She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, at least at that point. “I figure she’s been up for almost twenty-four hours now. She needs to sleep.”

  “I’ll make sure she does. I’ve had a long flight and am still on different time, so I’ll see if I can get her to go to bed with me.”

  Hannah nodded and stood up, showing him to Lissa’s office. He didn’t go in but leaned against the doorframe, watching her work. Hannah knew her routine: she’d spend minutes in a frenzy banging out words on her keyboard then all of a sudden go still and relax back in her chair, staring out at the beautiful landscape while lost in thought. Then a few minutes later, she’d start the whole thing all over again. There were times she’d sing along with the radio she had playing while typing, and other times she was completely silent except for her foot tapping to the beat of the music.

  Hannah moved away. She wanted to observe him as he watched without him knowing. At one point, she wasn’t able to resist any longer and she snapped a picture of him with her phone. The look on his face made her sigh. To have a man look at her like that, she’d give just about anything… well, maybe at one point in her past she would have. She knew Lissa wouldn’t believe her unless she had proof. He sure looked as if he loved her. Maybe he really did truly care about her
, maybe their relationship would be different. With his old-fashioned values and how he treated women, all women, they might have a chance. Lissa wasn’t an actor, but she was in the entertainment business, so it would give them common ground, but they had enough was differences to make it work.

  Hannah walked back over to him and he raised a finger to his lips. He knew she was there, but didn’t want Lissa to know yet. “She could be like that for hours,” she whispered.

  Without taking his eyes off Lissa, he whispered back, “And I could spend hours watching her.”

  Her eyes misted; she couldn’t help it. Obviously they both cared a great deal about each other, and she was willing to bet they actually were in love. Knowing Lissa, she was going to have to come up with some kind of plan for the relationship. Lucky for them, she could write anywhere, as long as she could charge her laptop. Making a mental note to talk to Beau about Will’s schedule, she decided she was going to help the two lovebirds spend more time together. It was the least she could do for Lissa. She’d helped Hannah through the darkest time in her life when she’d put her love and faith into the wrong man, a man who had tried his best to kill her. Hannah shook her head. She didn’t want to go there.

  Soon enough, Hannah could tell Lissa was falling asleep in her chair, and she knew it was only a matter of time when she heard Lissa switch the stereo to Bon Iver . Whenever she was writing an intense scene or wanted something on to soothe her nerves, she played him. It was the only music she could fall asleep to; Lissa said it calmed her.

  “She’s asleep,” Hannah told him.

  “I hate to see her like this. Why is she pushing herself so?”

  “She doesn’t like the fact she doesn’t have control over her emotions. You have them.”

  “Well, we’re going to have to see what we can do to bring her balance.” He turned to Hannah. “Can you get her bed ready? I’ll carry her.”

  “Sure.” Hannah turned and walked down the hall, turning down the lights and the bed. Seeing her best friend asleep and so trusting in Will’s arms started to melt her jaded heart. As he placed her in the bed and covered her up, there was no hiding the fact that Lissa had control of his emotions, as well.