by H. L. Logan
I was so focused on not fucking up the limo that I didn’t notice Jessica had caught up with me until she was right beside the car. I floored it, driving right over the curb and into the posh little garden lining the traffic circle, but it was too late. Jessica tore open the door and leapt into the back seat.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I shouted at her.
“What the fuck are you doing, Amelia?”
“Not talking to you, that’s for damned sure.” I started pressing buttons, searching for one that would close the divider between the driver and the passenger, finally finding it, but before it had closed, Jessica jammed her arm in the way, stopping the divider halfway.
“Amelia, I know you hate me right now, but you’re acting crazy.”
“I don’t hate you.” I pushed my foot down on the gas, but the wheels only spun in the mud. The urge to escape had never been stronger as I felt my feelings forcing their way out of me. I couldn’t run anymore. There was nowhere to go. I let my head slump against the steering wheel and said again, “I don’t hate you... I’m in love with you.”
“What?”
“I said I’m in love with you.” I jerked my head up to glare at her in the rear view mirror. “I’m in love with you. I’m in love with you. I’m in love with you, Jessica Black. How many times do I have to say it?”
24.
Jessica
“I… I’m in love with you too,” I said in disbelief. “I can hardly even think of anything other than you.”
Amelia didn’t turn, just kept staring at me in the rearview mirror as she said, “I wish that meant something.”
“Doesn’t it, though? Doesn’t it mean everything?”
“No, it doesn’t, Jessica.” She turned suddenly. “Loving someone doesn’t mean anything if you lie to the person you love—lie to the whole world about how you feel about them.”
“Believe me, I couldn’t hate myself more for what I did when we were together… and that’s one of the reasons I love you so much. You make me a better person, Amelia.”
She looked down, some of the anger dropping from her voice. “Well, you’re welcome, I guess.”
Outside the limo, a crowd was gathering, but thankfully they couldn’t see us through the tinted windows.
“I understand if you’ll never forgive me, but I want to prove to you that I’ve changed. I’m going to announce that I’m quitting acting tonight.”
“What?” She looked up suddenly, eyes going wide.
“I want you to know that I’m done with pretending. All of it. Forever.”
“Holy shit.” She barely breathed the words.
Photographers were setting up cameras, snapping shots of the stolen limo. The crowd pressed tight around the car. Suddenly, all my hesitation left me and I knew what I had to do.
“Hey!” I shouted as I rolled the window down. “I just want to announce that I am officially retiring from acting. Real Love will be the last film I ever make.
“What are you doing?” Amelia gaped at me before squirming over the divider, into the back seat to tackle me to the floor of the limo.
The mob outside went wild, people shouting questions over one another, cameras sticking into the window to photograph us. Amelia reached up and hit the button to shut the window. I guess we were both acting a little crazy.
“I need you to know that if you give me a second chance, it’s going to be for real.” I squeezed my arms around her. It felt so good to have her this close again.
“Jessica… I…” Amelia’s expression was so conflicted. She moved her mouth wordlessly a few more times before finally uttering, “I’m so in love with you and I have no idea what to do about it.”
“Just give me one more chance,” I begged. “I promise I’ll treat you the way you deserve.”
She couldn’t seem to form any more words, so she just kissed me. Hard.
“Oh God, I love you so much.” I grabbed her by the neck and pressed her lips to mine. Months of desire poured out into my kiss, and I felt the longing returned by Amelia’s lips. I ran my hands down her body, up her shirt, feeling her soft skin and toned muscle.
Amelia moaned into my mouth. Our breath steamed, fogging the windows. I didn’t care who was outside. I needed her. I’d needed her for months.
She pulled my dress above my waist and I heard the seams tear from the sudden motion. I would be a mess when we finally emerged from the limo, but I wasn’t thinking about that. My mind was completely focused on Amelia’s confession as I kissed down her neck, leaving lipstick stains all over her white shirt collar. Everything about her body was perfect and I couldn’t believe this was really happening.
I slid her pants down her thighs, finding her wet heat and stroking her until she was moaning my name. Jesus, that sounded good on her lips. Her nails raked down my back as I slid a finger inside her, groaning out with all the aching need I’d kept pent up for months.
She grabbed me tight, pressing her lips to mine as she gasped out,“Fuck, Jessica.” She was panting, cheeks red, lips raw. “I missed you so much.”
Everything around us disappeared as we touched one another’s bodies with unquenchable urgency in a blur of gasped moans, flushed lips, heaving chests. My lips on her peaked nipples. Her hands in my hair. Our bodies pressed together like we could never be close enough.
The moment was perfect.
Until the police sirens filled the air.
“What the hell?” Amelia shot up, the moment broken.
I let out a groan of annoyance, but couldn’t help laughing. “Well, you did steal a car. I’m not sure what you expected.”
“Fuck.” She lay back down covering her face with her hands. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. What was I thinking?”
“Hey, don’t worry about it.” I pulled her pants back up quickly. “You were just acting the part of a crazy celebrity.”
“I thought we were done with acting.” She let a small smile spread across her face.
“I know I am.”
Police lights flashed in the window and officers began clearing the crowd. A gloved hand thumped against the window.
“You’ll be fine.” I swallowed nervously.
***
I sat in the police station, hair still a mess, Amelia’s lipstick stains all over my neck. This whole mess was the worst publicity of my career, but I couldn’t be happier when the officer brought Amelia out to the front of the station where I was waiting for her.
Her shirt hung sloppily with half the buttons torn off, and she looked more stressed than I’d seen her in my life, but she grinned when she saw me. I stifled a giggle. Did they really have to handcuff her?
Actually, I wouldn’t mind handcuffing her myself.
I shut that idea down quickly because I was still horny as hell and had been for the entire three hours I’d waited for Amelia to be released. Fortunately, I’d been able to convince the limo driver not to press charges against Amelia. He hadn’t been very moved by my explanation that Amelia had just been driven crazy by love and wasn’t thinking, but somehow the twenty-thousand dollars I offered him ended up being a more compelling argument.
“Thank you so much,” Amelia said, throwing her arms around me as soon as they’d removed the handcuffs. “I don’t know what you did, but I know you saved my ass.”
“Hey, I had to save your ass.” I pinched her cheek. “That butt is way too cute to be locked away.”
Amelia looked out the front doors of the police station to where reporters were swarming like flies. “Holy shit.”
“Yeah…” I scratched the back of my head. “Guess we attracted a bit of attention to ourselves.”
“You weren’t serious, were you? When you said you would quit acting.”
“Yeah, I was.”
“But—”
I held my hand up to cut her off. “That’s not the life I want anymore. I just want to be with you.”
“You didn’t have to quit just for me…” She looked at the ground like she fel
t guilty over my decision.
“Trust me, I’m doing it for me too. I’m doing it for us.” I opened the station doors, exposing us to the army of reporters and paparazzi. As we stepped out, Amelia grabbed me, pulling me in for a deep kiss that sent an explosion of excitement through the crowd. But for the first time in my life, I didn’t care what the headlines were going to say tomorrow. Everything I wanted was right there in my arms.
25.
Amelia
Jessica’s eyes looked into mine adoringly, and I swore I saw tears in them as she finished her vows.
“... and I never want to be apart from you again,” she said as she slid the ring on my finger.
My hands trembled as I looked down at the symbol of commitment. I’d known I’d wanted to marry her, but I hadn’t realized how long I’d wanted it. In the year since Jessica and I had confessed our love, hardly a day went by when I didn’t think about my future with her. I wanted it to last forever.
I grabbed her by the neck and pulled her lips to mine, not even waiting for the cue from the officiant. From the front row of seats, I could hear Oliver clapping excitedly, but I didn’t care. I was so lost in that moment.
Until a loud shout snapped me out of it.
“Cut!” The director strode onto the set. “Oliver, can we do the scene with less noise from you? Honestly, you’re worse than the extras.”
“Sorry.” Oliver held his hands up defensively. “I just got really excited.”
The director turned to me and Jessica. “You guys were perfect as always. Can we do it just like that again, but quieter?” Her eyes darted back towards Oliver who nodded and gave a very silent thumbs-up.
As Jessica and I redid the scene, all the emotions I’d felt only became more powerful and this time, I knew I was tearing up too. I could redo this scene as many times as they wanted me to. I could do this forever.
Since the success of Real Love, major studios had been begging Jessica to be in more lesbian romance movies. She’d been resistant to come out of her retirement, but she’d finally agreed on one condition—she only wanted to make movies with me.
I could agree to that.
I was living my dream with the person I loved more than anything. I didn’t know how my life could get any better.
“Hey, I have a present for you,” Jessica said as we headed back to our dressing rooms.
“Oh shit, I didn’t forget our anniversary, did I?”
Jessica laughed. “No, it’s something I’ve wanted to give you for a while.”
She put her arm around my waist and led me toward the prop room. I blushed as I remembered last week's filming when I’d gone to wake Jessica up from a nap and it’d led to.... well, I’ll let you imagine. I never could understand why Jessica prefered to nap on the floor instead of on the couch in her dressing room. It was just one of her adorable quirks.
She led me towards her favorite spot in the back of the room, behind a rack of long wool coats that had been used for a WWII drama. As she parted the coats, I saw a large red box with a bow on it.
“It’s huge!” I kneeled down next to the box.
“Don’t get excited. It’s not as big as it looks.” She grinned, taking a seat next to me. “Open it.”
There was something in her tone that told me that this gift was more than it seemed and I couldn’t help feeling nervously excited as I pulled on the bow. My mind raced with possibilities as I took off the lid and peered inside.
“Jessica…” My brows furrowed. “... this is your dog.”
Cleo looked up at me from inside the box, seemingly as confused as I was.
Jessica’s excited smile forced her dimples to press deep into her cheeks. “You said you always wanted a dog!”
“So you’re giving me Cleo?” I gaped.
“No!” she said hurriedly. “We’re going to share her… I want to share everything with you, Amelia.” She scooted closer to me, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small ring box.
I stared in disbelief as she opened it. “Did you take that from the set?”
“No.” She smiled softly. “I actually bought this months ago. I was just waiting to work up the courage to ask you: Will you marry me?”
“Holy shit, yes.” I threw myself at her, tackling her to the floor as I kissed her.
She laughed, pulling away just long enough to slide the ring onto my finger before she submitted to my ruthless kisses again. I couldn’t believe that moment was real. I’d been dreaming of it for so long, but I never could have imagined how happy I would be to commit my life to Jessica. To think, after all the romances we’d be making together, we would be getting our own happily-ever-after.
End.
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