When Dreams Come True (The Star Series Book 1)

by Stratton, M.

  “Not me, that’s for sure.”

  “Damn straight.”

  Melissa sank her teeth into a warm, gooey roll and closed her eyes, letting it melt in her mouth. “Mmmm… excellent idea. I do love me some cinnamon rolls.” She licked her fingers. “Okay, who’s next?” She uncapped another pen.

  “Hope and Natasha.”

  “Great, that will be short, and then Katie. I’m hoping we can get all of this done before Will wakes up. Trying to keep everyone in the dark about what we’re trying to do is exhausting.”

  “I talked to Beau this morning after they got in; Will should be out for a while longer. He’s been doing the same thing as you: working around the clock trying to get everything done early so he could spend time with you and not have to worry about anything else. Then you add on the shooting schedule since they were behind and jet lag, and we’ve got a few more hours at least.”

  “Great, and I don’t want to get close to that.”

  “Me either. Part of me feels like a super-spy trying to get all of this done in secret, and the other is a Nervous Nelly worrying we’re going to get caught.” Hannah laughed at herself. “But seriously, we aren’t in life-or-death situations.” She shook her head. “There’s no way I could ever be a spy.”

  “Me either. Let’s get them on the line so we have one less thing to worry about.”

  Hope Ferris was her graphic designer and Natasha Bendlin was her editor. They worked hand in hand making sure everything to do about the book was properly polished, both visually and grammatically. As with everyone else, they were both surprised there were so many books coming up. Lissa also made sure they both knew they were welcome to come to Chicago while she was there. All of her ladies had been with her since the beginning, and she would do anything she could to show her appreciation to them. She was beginning to wonder if she was going to have any free time. Plus, she wanted them all to meet Will and understand that what they had was special.

  Their last phone call was to Katie Reynolds, her content partner; the one who would kick her ass all over the place about the story and make her tighten it up and not forget any loose ends. She also helped rally her street team to continue to get the word out there about her. Lissa gave Katie full authority to run contests and giveaways on social media to make sure the readers had ample opportunities to win signed books or whatever may correspond to her work. That phone call was a bit harder since Katie knew her so well, because she continually dove into Lissa’s mind and tried to pull more out of her and get it into the stories. However, she managed to finish the call without letting on what was going on. At least she hoped.

  Stretched out in the chair, Lissa glanced over at the empty plate. “Please don’t tell me I ate all of them.”

  “No, you didn’t.” Hannah had her feet curled up under her as she continued to write down notes.

  “But I ate the majority of them, right?”

  “Oh, yeah, totally.”

  “Not helping.”

  “Hey, it’s not my fault you felt guilty for not telling them everything and decided to eat your way around it.”

  “You’re the one who made them.” Lissa pouted.

  “True, but you already have, what, five pens in your hair and you ate six rolls? Girl, you hate keeping secrets. If it wasn’t the rolls, it would have been something else.”

  “You know I really dislike it when you make sense and there is absolutely no way to argue with you.”

  “You’d think you’d be used to it by now…”

  Lissa threw a pen at her, which landed nowhere near her mark.

  “And you’d also think you’d be able to hit your target by now.”

  “One of these days, I’ll throw something at you and it will actually hit you. Then who will be surprised?”

  “Not holding my breath over here.”

  She sighed. “Neither am I, damnit. Anyway, you have everything?”

  “Yes, you and Will are going to be leaving in a few days to go to Paris where you’ll spend a couple of days in the city then out to a tour of the countryside. Then you’ll head back to Paris for the Safe Water benefit event, where Will is a presenter. You’ll be hanging back with Beau in disguise; can I tell you how much I love that part? Then you’ll be going to London, where he’s rehearsing for a short run of his favorite scenes from Shakespeare. You do remember I’m flying over to see that, right? That man’s voice reciting Shakespeare is pure ear porn. Ear. Porn. Then the four of us will fly to Chicago where, unknown to the two men, we won’t be continuing on to Tucson via Phoenix; we’ll be continuing on with them. I know you had originally planned to head out there when the shooting started, but it feels right you’ll be there from the beginning stages of the read-throughs and rehearsals.”

  “Do you think he’ll be happy?”

  “Seriously, Lissa, do you really even need to ask that? The man overcame so many obstacles to come in early to surprise you and spend extra time with you. You didn’t see the smile on his exhausted face last night when he finally walked through those doors and into your room.”

  “You know, I think so, but then I let my imagination get away from me. I start to wonder if it’s all up in my head and not real, or maybe he doesn’t feel the same way.”

  Hannah stood up and walked over to her, kneeling in front of the chair and taking Lissa’s hands in hers. “Melissa, honey, I know you live in your head so much sometimes it’s hard to believe what’s going on right in front of your eyes, but you know me, and I don’t pull any punches. You know I’ll make sure you know exactly what’s right and what’s really going on.” She waited for Lissa to nod. “Will loves you, and I truly believe he’d move Heaven and Earth for you. I’ve been able to sit back and watch this develop from the very beginning, and you both fell so fast and so hard no one could have predicted it. Trust in your feelings for him. Trust in what I’m telling you. Trust in what you see in him. It’s all real, and you are very lucky. Hold on and don’t let go.”

  Lissa smiled. She knew she could count on Hannah to tell it like it was, and she felt better hearing the words from someone who wasn’t all twisted up in feelings. “Thank you, but I’m going to let go of your hands now. Damn, girl, you’re the only one I know who could wear gloves in the summer. Go warm your hands up.”

  “Well, if you wouldn’t keep it so cold in here…”

  “To you, anything under a hundred and ten degrees is cold. You’d better go shopping for Arctic-wear for when we go to London, because you’re so going to freeze your ass off.”

  “Blah, blah, blah.” Hannah pulled her hands away and stood up. “I’m going to get everything we talked about in order and update your calendar. Then I’ll make sure you have all that you need on your laptop, zip drive and the cloud in case you have a free moment and inspiration strikes.”

  “Perfect. What would I do without you?”

  “Ha! I remember what you were like before I forced you to hire me.” Hannah shuddered. “Disorganized is too tame a word.”

  “Hey! I knew where everything was.”

  “Not going there. Go check on your man, and if he’s still sleeping climb into bed with him and wake him up. You could’ve brought him a cinnamon roll if you hadn’t eaten them all.”

  Lissa pulled another pen from her hair and threw it at Hannah. “One of these days… one of these days.”

  Hannah kept typing without looking up. “Yeah, I’m shaking in my boots.”

  With a bounce in her step, Lissa walked down the hall to her room knowing Will was in there.

  Quietly, she snuck through the door and quickly took her pajamas off. Sliding under the covers she smiled, thankful he slept naked and was on his back. Careful not to wake him, she moved until she was able to take him in her mouth. It didn’t take long to get a rise out of him and soon enough, he groaned. She heard her name hissed through his teeth before the covers were thrown back and she looked up at him, grinning around his cock in he
r mouth.

  Her smile faded at the look in his eyes and with one quick movement, he dragged her across his body and his mouth was devouring hers as he quickly slid into her. She tried to gain the upper hand, as she had started out, but he wasn’t having any of it. There was nothing she could do but hang on and let him take the lead.

  He moved her from position to position as easily as if she weighed nothing. It was almost as if they couldn’t get close enough to satisfy either of them. Once again he worshipped her body, his hands and mouth knowing exactly what to do. Once she finally went over the edge, he threw off his mental restraints and allowed himself to get completely lost in her and take from her what he needed, what she craved to give him. With a roar, he threw his head back and came.

  Lying there together, with him still inside her, she casually traced patterns on his back with a smile on her face. She might have been too weak to move, even if there was a fire, but she was so completely happy and content knowing they were going to be spending more time together. They were going to be an actual couple. Seeing each other every day, sleeping together every night. It was real; it wasn’t a dream any longer.

  Over the next few days, the four of them found their rhythm and they’d spend the early morning hours traveling around the desert before it became too warm or too crowded. So far, no one had recognized Will and Lissa began to hold out hope no one would until they were settled in Chicago for the filming. They all took turns cooking and trying to one-up the other, especially the men, in elaborate presentations.

  Their afternoons were spent either playing games or watching eighties movies. They’d have contests to see who could remember the most lines, or try to have complete conversations using only lines from the movies. Not surprisingly, either Will or Lissa would win every time. The evenings were spent in quiet companionship; most times, Will was going over scripts and Lissa was doing some last-minute social media events. Beau and Hannah were doing everything they could to make sure Will and Lissa had all they needed for the trip.

  Lissa was very happy both she and Hannah were able to spend so much time with Beau; he’d become almost like a brother to them. Since they were going to be spending a lot more time together, it was wonderful everyone was getting along so well. It was more than she could have ever hoped for, and she was worried that it would all come crashing down. It was in her nature to come up with at least a half-dozen ways things could go wrong. Lucky for her, Hannah typically would give her a look and she knew she needed to stop dwelling on what could go wrong and enjoy what was going right.

  It was their last night before the three of them headed to Paris. Hannah was staying behind to make sure the house was closed up and everything they’d need was sent on to the house she’d rented on the beach in Lake Forest, north of Chicago. The security team was going to hang back, as well, and make sure no one interfered with the vacant house. Hannah said she was fine missing out on Paris, and she mumbled something about the ear porn making up for it in London.

  Hannah was sitting next to her on a stool watching the men cook dinner. Beau threw some lemons to Will who easily caught them and started juggling them before tossing them back to Beau. Lissa looked over at Hannah and they smiled at each other. She knew they were both on the same wavelength; there was something considerably sexy about the two of them cooking. Watching Will wield a kitchen knife with expertise, his long fingers gripping the handle, was hotter than she thought it could be. When Will leaned over to feed her some food and his fingertips lightly grazed her lips, it took everything she had not to moan in pleasure. When Hannah kicked her in the shin all, she could do was smile and shrug; she knew she didn’t have a poker face and everyone could see what he did to her.

  Lissa jumped up, pulled the plastic wrap out of the drawer and started to wrap the extra ingredients which weren’t needed. She tried to ignore Hannah smirking at her; she always battled with the wrap, and the wrap usually won.

  “Here.” Will came up next to her. “Let me help.” Grabbing the end, they both tried to pull it straight but went in opposite directions, making it cling even worse to itself.

  “Why do we use this again?” Lissa was still fighting with it. “Maybe we should start all over with a new piece.”

  “No, we’ve almost got it,” Will assured as he twisted again, but that time he captured her hands in the wrap. “Yes, I’d say I have it just where I want it.” He pulled her closer to him, their hands wrapped together. “You can’t run from me now.”

  Laughing up at him, she said, “Like I ever ran from you.”

  “True, very true, darling. Although, there was that one time, but I did end up catching you.” He grinned at her and she could see the devilish glint in his eyes. “Let’s just kiss.” Backing her into the corner of the counter, he had her trapped as he leaned in, slowly sliding his lips across hers.

  “Eww… Beau… Mom and Dad are kissing again,” Hannah whined.

  “Don’t look, Hannah. If you don’t look, it isn’t happening. Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll stop soon,” Beau stated, trying to contain his laughter.

  “Do something. They need to stop now.”

  Lissa pulled away and peeked around Will at Hannah. “You know how to push my buttons, don’t you?”

  “Sure do.” Hannah grinned. “Now quit distracting the cooks. I’m starving.”

  “Can’t argue with that.” Lissa held their hands up. “A little help here?”

  Hannah looked over at Beau. “If I wasn’t so hungry, I’d be tempted to leave them like that.”

  Beau nodded. “Yes, they totally deserve that. Maybe we should finish cooking and leave them to… umm… continue?”

  “If you want to play that way…” Will moved them to the sink, carefully grabbed a knife and started to cut into the wrap which bound their wrists together.

  “Stop!” Hannah yelled. “Geez, you two can’t take a joke. The last thing we need is either one of you to cut yourselves. Here, give it to me.”

  “Sucker.” Lissa stuck her tongue out at Hannah. “I wasn’t worried.”

  “I was,” Hannah replied. “No way was I going to call Christine and let her know how you cut your hand that you had to go to the hospital, who was also with you, and that you wouldn’t be able to type.”

  “And you think I’m the Negative Nelly always thinking of the worst things which could happen.”

  Hannah rolled her eyes. “You’re still the queen. There, you’re both free. Now don’t ever do that again.” She turned to sit back down on her stool and drank the rest of the wine in her glass. When she glanced back up there was Will, juggling knives. “You both are so cruel,” she squeaked out before hiding her eyes behind her hands.

  “But funny,” Lissa said. “Totally funny.”

  Later, Lissa and Will sat out on the balcony overlooking the twinkling lights of the city. “You know,” Lissa started, “there are so many times I sit out here and look at all those lights, wondering about the stories behind them. Is it a family? Who’s in that family? Are they happy, or sad? Or is it a single person? What’s their story? Sometimes I get so lost in thinking up stories about the people down there I’m still awake when Hannah gets up at the unholy hour she calls morning.”

  “Do you let these stories go, or do you ever write them down?” Will played with a lock of her hair as they slowly swung back and forth on the bench swing.

  “Most of them I just let go. Every once in a while, something will strike a cord and I’ll write down what I’ve come up with and file it away for later.”

  “How do you choose which story to write?”

  “Oh, I don’t choose it; it chooses me. It never fails: while I’m writing I get all of these ideas. The closer I get to the end of the book I’m working on, the louder one of them will start talking until finally it’s practically screaming at me to get it all down. I always have these grand plans and the order I’m going to write, and after I finish a book it gets thrown away and I
figure out a new one. So many times I knew in my head which book I’d be writing next, but when a story grabs you there’s nothing you can do but sit down, hold on, and write.”

  “What’s the quickest you’ve written a book?”

  “One week for a first rough draft. I couldn’t stop myself; the words kept flowing. It was magical.”

  “Which one was it?”

  “Oh, it’s actually my next release. It’s a romantic comedy, something different than I usually write, but the story grabbed me and I had to go with it. Funny thing was as I was writing it, I kept thinking of suspenseful twists I could add to it in order to make it more like the typical books I write, but I couldn’t do it. I wanted this book to be all hearts and flowers, more romantic than anything else I’d ever written, and of course, a few laughs sprinkled in. Because, as you know, I like to make people laugh.” Lissa smiled and ducked her head.

  “When do I get to read it?”

  “I don’t have the paperback formatted yet, but I do have an e-reader copy. But you don’t have to.”

  “Darling.” He took her hands in his. “I love your writing, of course I want to read it. Besides, I have to see who is more romantic: me or him.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Who do you think is?”

  “Oh, there’s no contest. You are, by far, more romantic than anything I could dream up.”

  Will narrowed his eyes are her. “You know, there are times when I can’t tell if you are being serious or sarcastic, and this is one of them.”

  She grinned at him. “Maybe I’m just trying to keep you on your toes.”

  Very slowly, he closed the distance between them until they were practically nose to nose. “Are you trying to push my buttons?”

  Both of her eyebrows went up. “Why, I would never dream of pushing your buttons, dear William.”

  “Oh, yes, you would, Miss Loring. I believe it gives you great pleasure to push them.” His hand moved up her leg and under the sundress she wore.

  “And if it does?” She couldn’t help herself as her breathing became rapid and she bit her lip.