Page 87 of The Great British Bachelor Chase

“You made it,” I beam. After he was fired-slash-quit from the movie studio job, Fraser immediately turned around and reenrolled at the Royal College of Art, to finally finish his degree. We’ve been travelling back and forth from London, stealing every moment possible together, while he puts his apartment on the market and prepares to leave town.

“Are you joking? I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” Fraser looks around at the party, and smiles. “I take it everything wrapped smoothly?”

“It was perfect. I can’t wait to see the final edit. Hopefully, it’s good enough that Bradley will have to release the movie,” I add.

Fraser grins wider. “You didn’t hear?”

“Hear what?”

“I just got the news alert,” Fraser pulls out his phone to show me. “Seems like everyone’s least favorite studio head just got canned. He left his Zoom camera running and said a few choice things about the governing board that they didn't exactly take too well. He’s out.”

“Oh my God!” I exclaim in glee. “I have to go tell Reeve—” I start, but judging by the sudden whoop from across the party, he already knows.

“Fuck yeah!” Reeve punches the air in delight. “Stick that in your content generator, and smoke it, asshole!”

I laugh, thrilled for him. Everyone’s been working so hard on this movie, it’s something special to have been a part of it, in my own small way.

Fraser takes my hand, and draws me away from the crowd, to a private spot behind one of the trailers. “Where are we going?” I ask breathlessly, trying to keep up.

“Hmm… Here will do.” Fraser grins, pushing me up against the wall, and kissing me senseless.

I sigh, melting against him. “I missed you,” I murmur, sliding my hands over his body.

“I missed you too, baby,” Fraser murmurs, nibbling my ear. “I can’t wait until we’re in the same place for longer than a weekend.”

I smile. “Me either.”

“Are you sure you won’t get bored up in Scotland?” he checks. “Because autumn in Inverness isn’t exactly buzzing like a film set. There’ll be rain. Lots of rain.”

“I’m sure you’ll find ways to keep me entertained,” I tease, flirty. “Plus Tessa and Jackson will come visit. And also… I have news. Reeve’s friend Lacey called.”

Fraser grips my hands. “About the job?”

I nod. “She got a green-light for her Austen miniseries, and wants to hire me to be her official researcher!”

“That’s great!” Fraser lights up.

“So I’ll be buried in books, while you paint your heart out,” I say, then laugh at the déjà vu, all those evenings in college we spent doing the exact same thing. “It’ll be just like old times.”

“You mean, you’ll be naked the entire time?” Fraser smolders at me.

I smirk. “If you play your cards right…”

“I always do.” Fraser’s mouth finds the curve of my neck, and his hands roam lower over my ass. I shiver in pleasure, arching closer in anticipation—

“Everyone, everyone?”

Reeve’s voice drifts over. I pause, torn. As much as I want to keep following Fraser’s line of thinking, it feels like an important moment we’re missing out on here. Especially after the very great lengths we went to in order to keep this movie on track. “Hold that thought?” I ask Fraser, moving his hands back up.

He chuckles. “Tonight,” he promises. “You, me, room service and a bubble bath…”

“It’s a deal.”

We rejoin the party, as Reeve leaps onto an equipment crate, and gestures for quiet, as we all crowd around. “Don’t worry, I’m not here to interrupt the party,” he begins, looking just about as relaxed and happy as I’ve ever seen him before. “I just want to take a moment to say how grateful I am to each and every one of you, from the bottom of my control freak, neurotic, perfectionist heart.”

There’s laughter.

“In the past couple of months, we’ve made something from nothing,” Reeve continues.

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