by Force, Marie
“Let’s give it a whirl.” I point to the key, and she turns it, starting the car. “Now put it in Drive.”
“You’re sure about this?”
“Positive. Take me for a ride, sweetheart.” I add a wink and a smile to remind her of the last time I said those words to her, and she blushes adorably.
We do a hundred laps around the parking lot, and as expected, she’s a cautious, conscientious driver. I suppose that’s the benefit of learning at twenty-three rather than at sixteen when you’re too stupid to know how many ways this activity can get you killed. Natalie has been an adult since she was fifteen, and comes at driving with adult sensibilities.
“What do you think?” I ask her after an hour of driving in circles. “Want to take to the road?”
“Like the actual road with other cars? I don’t think I’m ready for that.”
“Sure you are. You’ll do great.” I signal to the SUV to let the security guys know we’re leaving.
“Flynn, seriously, this is not a good idea.”
I lean over to kiss her cheek. “It’s a great idea. My parents are expecting us for a late lunch, and we need to get going.” I point to the parking lot exit.
She grits her teeth and aims the car in the direction I’ve indicated. What should be a twenty-minute ride to Beverly Hills takes forty minutes as Natalie drives so slowly that it’s all I can do not to lose it laughing as one car after another goes by us with angry drivers flashing the bird at my girl.
“People here are mean,” she says, breaking a long silence.
“I think it’s more that they expect the other cars on the road to at least drive the speed limit.”
“I can hear you mocking me, and don’t think I won’t remember that later when you’re wanting to get your hands on me.”
“I would never mock you, sweetheart.”
“Said the man who wants to get lucky later.”
I love her madly. I love the way she bickers with me and puts me in my place and doesn’t care who I am or what I have. For the first time in my adult life, I’ve found a woman who genuinely cares about me rather than the crap that comes with me. She’s a miracle. My own living, breathing miracle, and watching her intense concentration as she follows my directions to Beverly Hills only makes me love her more than I already did.
“Stop staring at me.”
“I don’t want to. You’re cute when you concentrate.”
“Don’t you mean I’m cute when I’m terrified?”
“No need to be terrified, and you’re cute all the time.”
“Right… Whatever you say.”
“You’re doing great. What do you think of it so far?”
“It’s scary.”
“It’s fun. Wait till you get to drive a real car.”
“This isn’t a real car?”
“This, my love, is a sedan. We can do better.”
“This is as real as I plan to get.”
“We’ll see…” I look over at her, drinking in the sight of her beautiful face, her lips set in an adorable pucker. “Is it okay that I did this?”
“Did what? Force me to drive through LA traffic when I’ve never driven a car in my life?”
“That,” I say, laughing at her indignant retort, “the permit, all of it.”
“I am wondering how you managed to enter me into a legally binding agreement with the State of California without my participation.”
I scoff at that. “Anything is possible if you know who to ask.”
“I suppose you must have a staff member devoted to the DMV since you own sixty cars.”
“I do have my connections.”
We’re stopped at a light waiting to take a left turn into Beverly Hills when she looks over at me with that sweet, loving smile that stops my heart every fucking time she directs it my way. “Thank you.”
“For?”
“Pulling strings to get me a permit, letting me drive this very expensive and beautiful car, taking me to lunch at your parents’ home and, most of all, sitting next to me during that interview when it was the last place in the world you wanted to be.”
The light turns green, and she makes the turn, her face a study in concentration. I direct her through the neighborhood to my parents’ house. We pull up to the security gate, and I give her a code to punch in that will open the gates.
“I can’t believe the way you just give me this kind of info.”
“Why wouldn’t I? I trust you with my life.” The nagging voice in the back of my mind reminds me that while I may trust her with my life, I haven’t trusted her with my truth. When the big wrought-iron gates swing open, Natalie pulls into the driveway.
“Where should I park?”
“Right there is fine.”
We come to a stop and Natalie turns off the car, releasing a huge sigh of relief as she leans her head on the steering wheel.
I give her a second to recover. “Hey, Nat.”
She raises her head and looks over at me.
“What you said before about the interview…”
“What about it?”
I reach over to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear and take full advantage of the opportunity to run my fingertip over her cheek. “I didn’t want to do the interview, but that wasn’t the last place in the world I wanted to be. I want to be wherever you are, and if that means doing things I don’t want to do, so be it.”
She stares at me, seeming to take inventory of my face. “Are you real? Is this real? You’re not going to suddenly turn into a raging bastard at some point, are you?”
There it was again, that pang of guilt over what I’m keeping from her. “No plans for that.”
“Promise?”
“Yeah, baby, I promise.” I’m about to kiss her when someone knocks on the window behind me. I growl with frustration and turn to find my father grinning like a loon as he stares into the car. Amused, I push the button to lower the window. “Hello, Dad.”
“Hello, son. Natalie.”
“Hi, Max.”
“Whatcha up to?” Max asks.
“Well, I was about to kiss my girl before I was very rudely interrupted.”
Natalie giggles like the girl she once was, before her innocence was stolen from her. The sound is music to my soul.
“Don’t let me stop you,” Max says.
“The moment is lost,” I say, winking at Natalie. “Rain check?”
“You got it.”
“So you’re letting your lady drive you around, son?” Dad asks when we’re out of the car and following him inside. “That’s not like you.”
“Natalie is learning how to drive and doing a fine job of it.”
I can see by the way my dad’s face softens that he immediately understands that learning to drive was something she missed out on. “That’s wonderful.” He hugs and kisses her and welcomes her into his home like she’s his long-lost best friend. I love him so much. He’s the best man I know, and my whole life I’ve strived to make him proud of me.
Natalie is blown away by the house. She tries to be surreptitious about taking it all in as my dad whisks her through the big airy rooms to the back patio, where my mom and the housekeeper, Ada, are laying out a spread of food.
“Look who’s here, Stel,” Max says.
My mom stops what she’s doing and comes right over to hug Natalie. “Oh, my sweet girl. I’ve been so worried about you.” She pulls back so she can see Nat’s face but keeps her hands on Natalie’s shoulders. “How’re you doing?”
“I’m okay.” Natalie glances at me. “Flynn has been taking good care of me.”
“He’d better be.” Mom reaches out to me, and I kiss her cheek. “This whole thing is just beyond outrageous. I hope you’re going to sue the ass off that guy in Nebraska.”
“We’re on it, Mom. Don’t worry.”
“I’ve been sick with worry. I’m just… I’m beside myself over it. If I spend another fifty years in this business, I’ll never understand h
ow any media outlet could pay money for a story like this.”
Dad puts his arm around Mom. “Take it easy, Stel.”
Mom takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to ruin our time together by dwelling on things that are outside our control.”
“I want you to know that it means the world to me to have your support,” Natalie says, addressing both of them. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had parents to lean on, and your outrage is actually rather comforting.”
“You have parents now, love,” Mom says firmly. “We’ll be your parents. We’re actually rather good at it. Ask our kids.”
Natalie blinks repeatedly, which is how I know Mom’s kindness has touched her deeply. She hugs my mom. “Thank you so much.”
“How did the interview with Carolyn go?” Mom asks after they embrace for a long moment that has all of us dabbing at our eyes afterward.
“It was good,” Natalie says. “She was very nice and respectful.”
“I’m just glad it’s over,” I add.
“When is it scheduled to air?” Dad asks.
“Sometime next week. They’re going to let us know.”
“What can we get you to drink?” Dad asks, his jovial tone lightening the mood considerably.
We pass a relaxing hour with my parents, during which my dad tells me he heard there’s an underground plan afoot for celebrities on the red carpet at the SAG Awards to boycott the Hollywood Starz TV news magazine that broke the story about Natalie.
I tell her this on the way back to the beach house in Malibu. I’m driving so Natalie doesn’t have to take on LA’s notorious rush-hour traffic.
“Wow, so they’ll blow off those reporters because of what they did to me?”
“Yep, and when they do that on live TV, it’ll send a big message to the others that if you cross the line, you pay the price.”
She doesn’t reply, so I glance over to find her worrying her bottom lip.
“What’s wrong, Nat?”
“You’ll think it’s silly after I pitched such a fit about going to the SAGs.”
“What will I think is silly?”
“It’s just… You worked so hard on Camouflage, and everyone’s saying you’re going to win again.”
“Ack, don’t jinx me!”
She smiles, but I can tell she’s still troubled. “I don’t want that night to be about me. It needs to be about you and your amazing accomplishments.”
God, she’s so sweet and so perfect. I want to take her to bed and not let her up until I’ve managed to slake the burning need she inspires in me. “It’s about us, sweetheart. Everything is about us now. Whatever happens with the rest of the awards, all I care about is I get to go home with you after. The awards are a distant second place to that.”
“Do you ever wonder how something like this could’ve happened as fast as it did?”
“Something like this? You mean me falling flat on my ass in love with you and hopefully vice versa?”
“Yes,” she says, laughing, “that’s what I mean, and there’s no hopefully about it. I’m right there on my ass next to you.”
“I don’t wonder how it happened. I know exactly how it happened. You came barreling into me, your crazy dog bit me and infected me with love potion number something. The rest, as they say, is history.”
“Poor Fluff. She gets such a bad rap in all this.”
“She deserves every bit of bad publicity she gets.”
Her ringing cell phone interrupts our “argument.”
“Make sure you check the caller ID before you answer it.” I’m always on guard against the relentless paparazzi. I wouldn’t put it past them to have hunted down her phone number.
“It’s Leah. Hey, how’s it going?”
I can’t hear Leah’s side of the conversation, but Natalie is rapt, listening to whatever her roommate in New York is saying. “When do you think they’ll decide?” she asks. “Wow, well, keep me posted and tell Sue thanks for the info.” After another pause, “It’s great. Sunny and warm every day. Today, I’ve been learning to drive—and we did an interview with Carolyn Justice.”
I can hear Leah’s screaming reply to that, which makes me laugh.
They talk for another couple of minutes before they say their good-byes.
“What’s up?” I ask the second she ends the call.
“According to our friend Sue, who works in the main office, the board is seriously considering overturning Mrs. Heffernan’s decision to fire me. Aileen and the other parents apparently presented one hell of an argument.”
“That’s great, Nat.” It is great, and I’m happy for her, but the thought of her returning to New York is thoroughly depressing.
“Yeah.”
“They should reinstate you. It’s the right thing to do.”
“I know.” She runs her fingers through her long hair as she stares out the window at the scenery on the way into Malibu.
I want to know what she’ll do if she gets her job back, but I don’t ask. I’m afraid of her reply.
“How about a walk on the beach?” I ask when we’re back at the house. We’ve been sticking close to the house since we’ve been here, but I recall how much Natalie loved the beach the first time she experienced it. And since Addie handed me the package I’ve been waiting for, I can move forward with my plans. My stomach is full of butterflies, but they’re the happy excited kind.
“Can we do that? You don’t have your Russian mafia hat with you.”
“That would draw too much attention here. I do have a Dodgers ball cap and dark sunglasses. And we’ve got them.” I gesture to the security guys who pulled into the driveway behind us.
“Sure, if you think it’s okay.”
After we change into shorts and T-shirts, we head out with Fluff, who’s thrilled to have us back at home. Well, she’s thrilled to have Natalie. She’s tolerating me. The beach is largely deserted this late in the day, so we have the place to ourselves, other than the security team that trails at a decent distance. I’ve asked them to give us some privacy for what I have planned for this walk of ours.
We hold hands as we stroll along the edge of the cold water that sloshes over our feet.
“Does the water ever get warm?” she asks.
“In the summer, it gets tolerably cold.”
“It’s so pretty here. If I lived here, all I’d do is stare at the ocean all day.”
“Do you want to live here?”
“I don’t know,” she says with a nervous laugh. “I have no idea where I belong anymore.”
She’s handed me the perfect opening for the conversation I wish to have with her. “I do.”
“You do what?” She’s staring out at the ocean, so she doesn’t see me staring down at her, captivated by the way the breeze flutters through her hair. I will never get tired of looking at her, of talking to her, of holding her hand, of making love to her or anything else I get to do with her. “I know where you belong.”
“And where’s that?”
“With me.” I stop walking and turn to face her, dropping to one knee before her.
She gasps, and Fluff barks. “Flynn! What’re you doing?”
I push my sunglasses to the top of my head. “Natalie, I love you more than I ever imagined it was possible to love anyone. When I heard the other day what the press was doing to you, I felt like my own heart had been ripped from my chest. I couldn’t think or breathe or do anything until I got to you.”
Natalie wipes tears from her face. “I don’t expect you to do this because of what happened with the press.”
“You think I’m doing this because of that? My darling love, this is because of what happened in a park when you and that vicious wildebeest of yours mowed me over and changed my life forever with one look into the most amazingly beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m doing this because every second I spend away from you feels like the most painful form of torture I’ve ever endured. And I’m doing it because I qu
ite simply can’t live without you. So do you think maybe you could help me out here and have some mercy on me? Will you marry me, Natalie?”
“Your parents… Are you sure they want all the crap that comes with me?”
“You heard them today. They’re thrilled to welcome you into our family. And besides, they’ll be busy celebrating the fact that a woman they too fell in love with at first sight has finally brought me up to scratch.”
“Yes, Flynn,” she says, laughing as she wipes away her tears. “I’ll marry you.”
“Why?”
She tips her head to look at me inquisitively. “Why?”
“Tell me why you want to marry me.”
“Because I love you desperately—” She never gets to finish that thought because I stand up to kiss her.
“That’s all I needed to hear.”
“Let me finish.” With her hands on my face, she stares into my eyes, and I feel as if she’s showing me her very soul. “I don’t love you for all the reasons the rest of the world does. I love you for all the other things about you that no one but me will ever get to see. I love you for your kindness, your generosity, your humor, the way you don’t take yourself too seriously but take your work very seriously. I love you for the way you take care of your Great-Aunt Sally—”
“How do you know about that?”
“You’re not going to tell me the press got that wrong, are you?”
“No,” I say with a laugh, “that’s one thing they got right.”
“I love you for who you are, not what you have. That’ll never matter to me as much as you do.”
“And that, my love, is why, for you, I’ve broken all my earlier vows to never marry again and exactly why I’m willing to take all new ones with you.”
I pick her up and twirl her around, bringing her down for a kiss that’s far more chaste than I’d like it to be, but I’m mindful of the security detail watching us.
“I can’t believe this is happening. Are we really getting married?”
“We really are. What’re you doing tomorrow?”
“As in the day after today? You want to get married tomorrow?”
I love her so much. I don’t have the slightest doubt that this is the right thing for both of us. “Yes, I do. We’re checking on what we can pull together for tomorrow or Monday.”