“Hey.” He tugs on my hand when I don’t respond. “You’re not mad, are you?” His brow puckers, and I shake my head.
“Not at all. I understand, Reeve, and it’s fine.” He doesn’t look convinced. “Honestly.” I give him my biggest, most reassuring smile, and his shoulders relax. While he has done enough to graduate early, I was still hoping he could make it back for the ceremony, but he can’t, and that’s that. Ironically, shooting wraps four days after graduation, which is a little frustrating. “I’m so glad you got time off for prom. I couldn’t attend without you.” I swing our conjoined hands as we walk the cream stone path through the massive rose garden.
“There’s no way I’d miss seeing you in that dress you’re making.” He flashes me a cheeky grin.
I slam to a halt, narrowing my eyes at him. “You’d better not have been peeking at it.” I’ve gone to great trouble designing my own gown for prom. I am making Audrey’s too, and we want to keep them a secret until then. I’m really looking forward to seeing the look on Reeve’s face when he sees me in my own creation.
“Babe, I value breathing.” He playfully swats my ass. “I even close my eyes and race past your studio door anytime I’m at your house.”
“I’ve trained you well,” I tease, tugging on his hand as we start walking again.
“I don’t need to see it to know you’re going to be the most beautiful girl there.”
Be still my heart. Stretching up, I kiss the underside of his jaw. “Thank you, but you know you’re probably biased.”
“I’m only speaking the truth.” He presses a kiss to my temple. “I hate that I can’t be here for your eighteenth birthday, but I will make it up to you this summer. I promise.”
I hate he’s missing my birthday too. It will be the first time ever that one of us has missed the other’s birthday. But I’m trying not to be selfish, so I’ve told him not to worry about it. I know Reeve would be there if he could. At least we’ll be able to make up for lost time during summer break.
Reeve’s shooting finishes at the end of May, and the movie isn’t scheduled to release until January, meaning he will have a few months off before we start college and before the promotional tour commences. I’m not sure how he’s going to juggle school with his promo duties, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. “I’m so happy we’ll have the entire summer together,” I say, drawing circles on the back of his hand with my finger.
“There may be some reshoots in August,” he warns, tightening his hand in mine. “But other than that, the summer is all ours.”
“I can’t wait.”
He stops at the lavender rose bush, removing a pair of pruning scissors from his back pocket. I beam at him as he examines the flowers, looking for the perfect rose. I study his gorgeous face, memorizing the light smattering of freckles along his strong nose, the angles of his high cheekbones, the beautiful curve of his tempting lips, and the endless depths of his stunning blue eyes. Reeve is beautiful, and he steals my breath every time I look at him. I trace my finger across the flat beauty mark over the right side of his lip. “Has Lipgate been resolved yet?” I inquire, arching a brow.
“Nope. Honestly, it’s ridiculous. They can cover it with makeup for filming, and I don’t see why it’s such a big deal.”
“I’m glad Bianca is fighting them on this.” I trace my finger back and forth across the mark I love as he continues scanning the roses. “Studios have too much say in actor’s lives as it is. So what if you have a beauty mark? It’s absolutely perfect on you, and it never did Enrique Iglesias or Cristiano Ronaldo any harm. Both have had amazing careers, and I’m sure they had asshole PR people demanding they get theirs removed too.”
He tweaks my nose, grinning. “You’ve really given this a lot of thought, huh?”
“I might have googled it after you told me they were making a big deal of it. I thought my research might help if they were still being stubborn about it.”
Turning around, he threads his fingers through my hair. “I love how you always wade into battle on my behalf. It’s sexy as hell.”
“You’re sexy as hell.” I press my lips to the small, neat mark. “And you’re perfect exactly the way you are. I don’t want any asshole director or ambitious publicist trying to force you to change.”