“I didn’t say that.”
Oh. “Okay.”
“I produce now, help movies get made. I’m not an actor anymore.”
“So does that mean that you have to be gone for long periods of time?” I keep the panic out of my voice, but my blood runs cold. I don’t want him gone most of the time!
“No, I do most of my work from home.” He kisses my hand again. “I go to L.A. or New York for a few days here and there, but that’s it. I also work with other producers who are able to do most of the hands on work.”
“Oh.” Wow, he really does live in a completely different world from mine.
“I have a question.”
“Shoot.”
“Jules said yesterday that she’d heard that someone hurt themselves in your house.”
Luke goes pale and his eyes suddenly look bleak.
“Yeah. I was in New York doing publicity for the last movie.” He swallows. “A young girl, a fan, broke into my house. She lit it on fire.”
I gasp. “Oh my god.”
“That would have been bad enough, but she did a really bad job of it and got caught in the house, and ended up dying in there.”
“Holy shit, Luke.”
“That’s when I knew, I was done. It’s too crazy, and I’m just not made for it.
Other actors manage okay in that world, but it’s not worth people’s lives to me.”
“She was obviously a messed up girl, honey.”
His eyes dart to mine. “That’s the first time you’ve called me anything other than my name.”
I smile shyly and shrug.
“Yeah, she was messed up. It didn’t make it right.”
“Do you miss it?”
“I miss the work. Acting is fun, and I like to think I was good at it. Being on set was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot.
But I don’t miss the rest of it.”
“Okay, so here’s the million dollar question. Why didn’t you just tell me?”
“At first I didn’t believe you when you said you didn’t know who I am.”
He smiles sadly at me. “That rarely happens. And then when it became obvious that it was true, it was just such a breath of fresh air to be normal.”
“You’re not normal, Luke, and I mean that in a good way.”
He smirks. “You know what I mean.
You didn’t become a fifteen year old like Jules did yesterday. You seemed to like me, not a character in a movie.”
“I’ve never seen your movies,” I state matter of factly.
“I love that.” His voice is completely honest.
“But were you ever going to tell me?
I was going to find out sooner or later.
That’s what I’m struggling with, Luke.
That’s why I freaked out on you yesterday. I confided things in you that I just don’t share with anyone. Even Jules doesn’t know about my tattoos.”
His eyes smolder at the mention of my tattoos, but I press on.
“Clearly after our conversation in the car you should know that I have trust issues with men. All men. I don’t keep men in my life.”
“I’m hoping that’s about to change,”
he whispers.
“This wasn’t a great start to convince me to make any changes.”
“Natalie, think about the rest of the time we’ve been together. I’m still the same man I was before we were in your kitchen yesterday morning. I still like to cook, I think your work is sexy, I can’t keep my hands off you. I’m just a man.”
“I know.”
“You do?”
“Yes. I’m not an idiot. But you know me better than anyone, after less than a week, and I can’t help but feel a little foolish.
Yesterday
was
really
embarrassing for me.”
“It was embarrassing for me too.”
“Well, I’m glad that’s over.”
“What?”
“My first embarrassing moment in front of you.”
He smiles, but it’s fleeting. He gets serious again. “Can we start over?”
“No.”
His face falls. “So it’s over?”
“No, I don’t want to start over because that would mean erasing everything we’ve had and honestly, aside from yesterday, the past few days have been really good.” I bite my lip and gaze over at him.
His impossibly beautiful face breaks out into a heart stopping smile. God, he just looks so… joyful. I can’t help but match it.
“Natalie, these have been the best few days of my life, and I mean that.”
“Wow.”
Finally, he pulls me onto his lap and into his arms. I bury my face in his neck, wrap my arms around him and hold on, inhaling his sexy scent, planting soft kisses on his cheek.
I lean back and take his face in my hands, gazing deeply into his eyes. “Just don’t ever act with me.”
“Baby, you don’t have to worry about that.”
Suddenly he’s kissing me and we’re on the move. He stands with me in his arms and heads inside the house. He’s carrying me like I weigh nothing, and it’s so… hot.
“Where are we going?” I ask against his lips.
“My bed.”
Oh.
“We didn’t clean up after breakfast.”
“Later.”
“We could get naked on the deck,” I suggest and bite his earlobe.