Page 98 of Lights, Camera, Love

“I swear to you that I did not kiss Julie last night. Nor did I do anything other than talk, dance badly, and point out Liam for her in the crowd.”

“It’s the truth,” Julie said from beside me. Her usual joy had been replaced with a somberness, and she surveyed the others with a grave expression. “I genuinely believe the four of you can make this work, and I want to see Oliver happy. He’s happiest when he’s with you, Sophie. And you two,” she added, gesturing to Aaron and Diego. “You work as a team, and I think you can make it for the long haul.”

Julie stole Sophie’s hands from mine. “Besides, as great as Oliver is, he’s not for me. He’s foryou, and I adore you guys together.”

After a moment, Sophie said, “I believe you.”

Her shoulders visibly relaxed, and she blew out a breath, ruffling that little tendril of hair. With her hands occupied, I finally tucked it behind her ear. Her eyes met mine, and I smiled a soft grin.

“I’ve been dying to do that since we got here. Can I kiss you hello now?”

Sophie nodded, and I leaned forward, closing the distance between. Both the physical and emotional after the ordeal the producers had put her through last night.

Taking her lips with mine, I tried to convey every ounce of remorse I felt she had doubted me. It wasn’t as if I could blame her. We’d known each other for a total of three weeks. While our bond was growing and my feelings had definitely crossed over from like to something more, building trust took time.

But I would show her daily that I was a man of my word and meant what I’d said. She was the only one for me.

I felt her answering emotions in her kiss and tried to infuse her with my faith in us.

Julie cleared her throat after a few seconds, and yeah, I could see her point. She had a front-row seat to our apology and make-up kiss. Aaron pulled Sophie back by her shoulders and took her under his arm. Diego’s hand wound around her waist, and she adorably rolled her eyes at their show of affection.

“That was cruel of them to make you watch the dates,” Julie said when we parted.

“I agree,” Diego grumbled. “And it’s not as if there were sound on the video clips. So when we saw you guys laughing at dinner, we didn’t know what it was about.”

Julie chuckled. “I was just informing Oliver that he would have to get used to LA traffic if he was going to drive up and down to San Diego every day.”

“Every day?” Sophie asked. “Don’t you already have a place?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s pretty far from Los Angeles.”

Her lip trembled. “You want to move just for me?”

“Are you really asking if I’m content to only see you on weekends when you’re not busy with work? No, I’m not okay with that. Not after getting to spend every minute of every day with you here. It would be like going cold turkey.”

My willpower was phenomenal, but it didn’t matter. I wanted to be close to Sophie, and so long as she agreed, I intended to do just that. I would make it happen one way or another, and I definitely wouldn’t be satisfied with the odd weekend here and there.

“Oh, come on, the traffic’s not that bad,” Diego said.

Sophie laughed. “It is during rush hour, and you know, ‘rush hour’ lasts approximately six hours a day in LA.”

I groaned. Americans drove on the wrong side of the road, and the brief bit of road rage I’d experienced when I’d visited the university was enough to make my stomach turn. I could only imagine how much worse it got in the summer with the heat and all the on-edge drivers rushing from place to place while moving at a snail’s pace. All the honking in the world and vulgar gestures wouldn’t make them go faster.

“I’ll figure it out,” I said. “But get used to this face Sophie, because I won’t spend long away from you if you’ll have me.”

She leaned forward and gave me a quick kiss, lingering there for a second, so her smile pressed against my lips. “Looking forward to it,” she whispered.

Aaron tugged her back again when Julieawwed.

“You’re going to have to get better at sharing, Aaron,” Julie chided.

“I’m plenty good at sharing!” he defended. “Just ask them. But after last night, I’m feeling a little snuggly. Get off my ass, girl.”

Julie laughed. “What was the point of making you watch other than to torture you?”

“Well,” Sophie answered, “at any point, one of us could end a date, but it would cost $20,000. Per date. But if nobody ended things, they would add $10,000 to the prize. So we sat, watched, and ate popcorn.” She threw an eye roll at Aaron for some reason. “I left when I saw the whole kissing thing. I gotta hand it to them; they have those camera angles down pat. There was no way to see who you were kissing. It was just a closeup of the back of your head and a hand fisted in your hair.”

“That must have been torture,” Julie said, her voice remorseful. “I’m sorry they used me to hurt you. Since the date didn’t end, I assume you didn’t make the call?”

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