Page 41 of The Fake Family Deal

But I show some restraint. That’s not the type of film we’re making, after all.

We barely speak during the movie, just cuddle and eat popcorn, enraptured by the love story unfolding. I only look away when I feel Marina sigh in my arms. I reach down to brush a strand of hair from her face, squeezing her in tight.

She grins. “This is really nice,” she whispers. “I wish we could do this again.”

I say nothing. I just continue to stroke her hair, savoring every second with her. It makes me feel sick to think that I’m never going to see her again after this, so I try to push any thoughts of that away and focus on the here and now and the beautiful woman in my arms.

But the movie ends too quickly.

It’s like I blink, and the popcorn bucket lies empty as the credits roll. Marina opens her eyes, waking from her half-asleep daze. I lean forward to kiss her on the forehead, and she smiles sleepily up at me. “Ellis, let’s go home.”

Another rush of desire flows through me, and I have to stamp on the urge to touch her. I let my fingers trail over her soft skin as consolation, but it just sends another wave of lust to the base of my stomach.

The director stops yelling at the camera crew for two seconds to come over to us after we’ve wrapped. “Awesome work. That was so natural and loving. I believed every second of it.”

“Good,” I say, though I don’t really mean it. Nothing about this is good.

We’re driven back to my place in silence. Marina leans against the glass and stares out the window, and I spend the whole journey staring at her. I know we’re all thinking about the same thing.

Tomorrow. The final day.

The last day I’m ever going to see Marina.

Unless something drastic changes in the next twenty-four hours, this is going to be my last night with her.

After this, she’ll be completely free of her contract with me. And though we’ve fallen into a sort of loving haze now, reality is going to set back in and we’ll go back to our daily lives.

And I can’t think of a single reason why she’s going to keep wanting to talk to me.

CHAPTER 20

MARINA

“All right, and that’s a wrap!” calls Simon. The whole crew launch into applause.

I wrap my arms around Ellis, who’s holding Lila, and kiss my daughter on the head. I can’t believe how quickly three weeks have gone by, and, true to his word, Ellis has deposited an astonishingly enormous amount of money into my bank account.

Tomorrow, I have a meeting with an accountant about savings accounts and investing and all sorts of stuff I need to figure out how to do but haven’t got a clue where to begin. But that’s tomorrow’s news. I can be a responsible adult then.

For today, we can all breathe out.

“I cannot wait to have my house back to myself,” says Ellis with a grouchy sigh. I can tell now when he’s putting it on for effect, and that sigh wasn’t truly grumpy.

“It’ll be good to have your own space again,” I say to him, as if I’m trying to comfort him, and he makes a face, like he’s confused by my comment.

Too quickly, he says, “Stay tonight. I’m having a wrap party. You know, to celebrate, kick back a little. Unwind.”

“Okay,” I say, hesitant. “A whole party?”

“I’ve got a couple of other people coming over and some of the better guys from the crew. We’re going to have a celebratory dinner.”

“Sounds good,” I smile. Anything to stop this feeling of everything coming to an end. “Is it okay if Lila sleeps in her nursery? If we’ll be staying late and there’s going to be a lot of people, I’d like her to be somewhere where she can be comfortable, to sleep and feel safe.”

“Sure thing. It’s all hers.”

The crew filter away, and we say our goodbyes. Simon gives us a terse farewell before he goes. Now, that’s a guy who I don’t want to see again, and I’m certain the feeling is reciprocal.

I’m not sure exactly what to expect from a wrap party, but we have a couple of hours to ourselves before the guests arrive. We spend it all over each other, kissing with a teenage desperation like somewhere inside us, we know that this is ending today.

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