Her eyes never leaving the movie screen, Leah's hand ran down my thigh as she whispered in my ear, "You look so f**king sexy."
It was exactly what I needed to hear to break the tension running through my body. Her voice was the calm that helped me come back down from my epic freak-out. Relaxing, I countered, "Yeah, how sexy?"
"So sexy, I'm wondering why we've never watched one of your movies before. That could be fun."
"We'll put that on the schedule, babe."
Watching the movie with Leah as she whispered in my ear and ran her hand down my thigh made the minutes go by quickly, and before I knew it, we were at the part I had been dreading. I recognized it immediately when Leah's entire body tensed. Her fingernails dug into the fabric of my pants, and she gasped. Just as Melody and I were about to go at it, Leah's eyes darted down from the screen, and her breathing increased. It wasn't a warm, gentle love scene. I was the side road the heroine took on her way to true love. We f**ked, and for everyone in the theater, I was sure it was hot. For the two of us though, it was torture.
Leah was shutting down, and I didn't blame her. Movies today did a very good job of making love scenes look real, and in her mind, all she could picture was what was on that screen and how authentic it appeared.
"Hey."
No answer.
"Leah, look at me," I whispered.
She blinked, looking at me finally.
"Close your eyes, and shut it out," I said gently. "Focus on my voice, and on the feel of my hands. I'm here with you, no one else."
Eyes still closed, she nodded and took a steady deep breath.
"You are the only woman I want. You and I are real. I could do a hundred scenes like this, and none of them would ever change the way I feel about you. You're it for me. I love you, Leah —only and always you."
She opened her eyes, finally catching my gaze, no longer focused on the movie. Everything else disappeared —the theater, the people around us. It was just her as she said the four words I would spend the rest of my life making her never regret.
"I love you, too."
Chapter Eighteen
~Leah~
We skipped the after-party, taking our leave shortly after the ending credits. I thought we'd both had enough socializing for the evening.
Seeing Declan on the big screen wasn't a new experience for me. I'd seen every movie he'd done. But that had been all before I actually knew him, before he'd walked into that bar so many months ago and completely changed my life.
Seeing him act now was completely different. I knew his mannerisms, his smile, and his laugh now. I knew every expression he displayed, and now, when I saw his movies, I could tell he was acting. It was Declan in the movie, but it wasn't him. Because of this, while watching him on the big screen now, I'd felt an overwhelming sense of pride. I could see the talent and power he had when he acted, knowing he wasn't just regurgitating lines but actually taking on his character. It was completely engrossing, and I'd gotten swept away when watching him.
Until the sex scene. I had been so invested in my sexy conversation with Declan and watching his character on the screen, that the love scene had completely blindsided me. I didn't know why. It wasn't like it had come out of left field. It had quite the normal buildup.
God, it had been awful. It had felt like walking in on my boyfriend doing it with another woman, except I'd gotten to see it in twelve different angles with perfect lighting as it was set to music. It had been a horrid experience.
When Declan had turned to me and told me to tune it all out, I had. I'd shut it all off, focusing on his voice and the feel of his touch. He'd brought me back to reality, reminding me that in the real world, he was mine. When I'd tried to apologize for freaking out on him, he'd covered my mouth with his, ending my attempts before they could even begin.
In the limo ride home, Declan said he was starving, and I agreed. I hadn't wanted to eat before the event. I had felt too scared that I wouldn't fit into my dress. So Declan had the driver take us to this hole-in-the-wall Mexican place. I raised my eyebrows when we pulled in. He just laughed, gave me a quick kiss, and said he'd be back in a few minutes. I was just glad he wasn't making me go in. I'd look a little ridiculous ordering tacos in my ruby red ensemble. After about ten minutes of putzing around on my phone, Declan popped back in with two bags of food, and then we were on our way. We got back to his place, and a few minutes later, he was spreading out the food on the coffee table in the spacious living room overlooking the ocean.
I looked down at my dress before taking another glance at the food. I needed to change, but I was so damn hungry.
"Declan, can you unzip me?"
"Yes. The answer to that question is always yes," he joked.
He came over and slowly unzipped my dress, placing a sweet kiss on the sensitive skin of my neck as he did so.
"Thank you." I turned and shrugged out of my dress, letting it fall to the floor.
Wearing nothing but a lace thong since my dress came with a built in bra, I headed over to the coffee table and sat down on the floor. Declan stared at me, dumbfounded.
"What?" I asked innocently.
"You're seriously going to eat like that?"
"Well, you didn't think I was going to eat greasy tacos in a three-thousand dollar dress, did you?"
"That's an excellent point. I shouldn't be eating tacos in Armani either."
He made quick work of his jacket, shoes, socks, pants, and shirt. He left nothing on but a black pair of boxers that hung low on his hips. I bit my lip when he turned, and I saw the top of his rock-hard butt cheek peeking out of his waistband. The jerk probably did that on purpose.
"So, shall we eat?" He grinned.
"Absolutely." I smiled. I couldn't wait to see who caved first.
"So, why did we stop by a Mexican joint in a limo, sporting formalwear?"
"This is not just any Mexican food. This is the best Mexican food ever."
"Um, okay. That's some serious passion about Mexican food. You know we have Mexican food in Virginia, right?" I argued.
"No, no, you don't. You have food that pretends to be Mexican food. This? This is the real deal."
"Okay. You sound a bit crazy, but I'll try it."
He was right. It was better. The smug bastard laughed, too, when I moaned after biting into a taco. Of course, that moan was also his undoing, and I threw a couple more in there for the fun of it. He lost it and tackled me to the ground, the food completely forgotten. We rolled around, kissing and laughing, until suddenly, Declan sobered. He rose above me, his eyes full of passion and purpose.