Page 130 of Reel Love

I laugh. “You are awesome, Bridge.”

Stevens shouts into the phone, “You’re awesome, Brigitte!”

“Okay, kids. You two have fun!”

She hangs up and I settle back into Stevens’ embrace.

I kiss Stevens’ cheek and then drop my head onto his chest. He holds me to himself, as if he doesn’t want to let me go. The mood shifts between us—comfortable and settled. Like neither of us could really rest until we made our way back to one another. I don't lean on anyone, and yet I’m leaning on him—because I know I can.

“I used to have feelings about you,” he murmurs into the top of my head. “… about Alana Graves, the movie star. But the more time we’ve spent together, the more I know that was infatuation, idolizing someone I thought I could know through the distant lens of a camera.”

“You had feelings?”

“As evidenced by my stellar ability to act normal when we first met at the water taxi.”

I chuckle.

“But now?” He tips my chin up so he can gaze in my eyes. “Now I have feelings foryou—for Alana, my girlfriend, the one I know without a camera telling me what to think. Just you, unfiltered, unadulterated, you.”

“Girlfriend?”

“Whatever you want to call yourself.”

He backs off so easily, probably assuming I’m not ready for a label. Always considering me.

“Girlfriend works. I actually love that. I want to call myselfyour girlfriend. I’d pretty much get those words tattooed somewhere.”

“Because that wouldn’t bring the news outlets running from every corner of LA and beyond. And where, exactly, would this tattoo go? And what would it say?”

My body hums with the electricity between us. He always surprises me when his intelligence and thoughtfulness give way to this incredibly flirty side of him.

“Would it be here?” He taps my bicep softly and then gives it a gentle squeeze. I feel my eyelids flutter. “Or here?” He lifts my leg and runs his fingers along the top of my foot, and I shiver. I actually shiver. “Or here?” He flips my arm over gently so my hand is facing upward, and then he drags his pointer slowly along my wrist.

“Mm hmm.”

“Mm hmm? All the places?” He chuckles.

“All the places. I’ll just get multiple tattoos that say,Stevens’ girlfriend. Or maybe justRen.”

“You can call me that. My mom still does half the time. I figure she earned the right.”

“Your mom sounds awesome. I barely remember her.”

“I want you to meet her, officially. We’ll just have to borrow some sports padding from the high school for when she tackles you.”

I giggle. “I’m tough. I think I can handle it.”

“I think you can handle anything.” His eyes are so sincere that I almost actually believe him.

“You’ve been so amazing about all of this,” I tell him. “… hiding our relationship … coming here. I hate that it has to be this way.”

I sigh, frustrated with myself for shifting the mood in the room, for wasting precious time together bringing up the challenges my fame imposes on our relationship, for the fact that we have so many hurdles when we should be able to enjoy these early months of dating.

“I’ve been thinking so much about you—us,” I tell Stevens. “And you should have everything. Of all the people in the world, you deserve all the normal things a man gets when he dates someone he really likes. You should have a girlfriend who can go to the movies with you, or ride on your boat without people swarming her for autographs at the dock, someone sweet, and kind, and beautiful. You should have someone who doesn’t mess things up by being complicated.”

I don’t even look in his eyes because I’m tearing up a little now that the words are out of my head and lingering in the space between us.

Stevens brushes my hair back, and I ache from the contact. There’s a visceral tug to give in, to take what I want without thinking of him and how my life messes his up.

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