“I was just about to leave when I saw the two of you kissing! You and Christian are
perfect
together! I’m so happy for you. Now, hold still while I do your makeup. And, no arguing. You already ducked out of this once today. And you know it’s my dream come true to get to make you up more than once a year.”
This time, Paige let her sister work her magic. And when Morgan was done, Paige took a look at herself and couldn’t stop a small gasp of pleasure. She was wearing much less makeup than she had on Christmas Eve, but she still could hardly believe how deftly her sister had transformed her with only a little blush, mascara, and lipstick.
“Have fun,” Morgan said, pushing her out in the direction of the studio.
Christian was waiting for her already, looking as gorgeous as ever in his street clothes. “Like I said, you’re the most beautiful woman in the world.”
Flushed with pleasure, she loved the way he took her hand as they headed out into the crisp evening air. Later, the stars would be out, shining brightly. For now, it was enough to feel as if
she
was shining beside Christian.
They walked down to the harbor, and he led them through the doors of a small Asian fusion restaurant with an upper balcony that had a clear view out over the water. No one seemed to care that the two of them were dressed casually. In fact, their waiter even commented on how beautiful Paige looked that evening.
Paige smiled at that, knowing it was because she was all but glowing with happiness. “I love the restaurant you chose for us. I can’t believe you found us a table. It’s packed tonight!”
“They were more than happy to help out a couple of starved dancers.”
“That’s very kind of them, although I suspect they also wanted to be able to tell their friends that Christian Greer ate in their restaurant.”
He looked at her seriously. “Do you mind?”
She was surprised to find that she didn’t. Not then. Not when it meant they could spend time alone together having a romantic dinner after a day that had already been perfect in almost every conceivable way.
“No, I don’t mind at all.”
“I’m glad because, believe me, none of that matters right now.”
“What does matter to you, Christian?” she asked in a voice that was just a little huskier than normal.
“You do, Paige.” He reached for her hand and stroked his thumb across her palm, sending more thrill bumps across her skin. “Just you.”
And though the restaurant had a spectacular view, Christian kept his eyes on her the whole time they were eating dinner. His hand also reached out to brush hers more than once as they ate, and she found that she could barely remember what she’d ordered or eaten. But just as he’d said, right then none of that mattered.
Only him.
When they stepped outside after dinner, the stars were just starting to come out, clear pinpoints of light against the blackness. Paige walked beside Christian, snuggling close to him against the cool of the night air. They walked past bars and restaurants and houses where parties were still going, music spilling out into the night.
Christian held his hand out to her. “Dance with me.”
Unable to resist, she took his hand, and he pulled her smoothly into a waltz as naturally as if they’d been dancing together beneath the starlight their entire lives. When she realized he was leading them back toward her house, she shook her head.
“Let’s go to your hotel tonight.”
He paused then, holding her tightly in his arms. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” She’d never been more sure about anything in her life.
They were all propriety and decorum as they walked past the man at the front desk, but the elevator was another matter. Christian kissed her passionately as they traveled upward, breaking off just in time when an older woman got in. She looked at them suspiciously until they reached Christian’s floor. Paige managed to keep a straight face until the elevator doors closed behind them, but then had to bury her face against Christian’s chest to keep from laughing too loud.
“Are you absolutely sure about this, Paige?” he asked again a few moments later. “I know how easy it is to get caught up in the moment, but I want our first time together to be more than that. So much more.”
Of course she was caught up in the moment. How could she not be after a day like this? Yet Paige knew that it was more than that. She wanted—
needed—
to be with him. Even closer than they’d already been on the dance floor.
So much closer.
“Does this answer your question?” she said as she closed the door to his suite and began to rain kisses all along his jaw.
He stroked her hair, brushing it away from her face as he traced a soft line of kisses along her cheekbones. And then he was lifting her with the same ease he’d used all week during practice and carrying her to the bedroom to lay her down in the center of the bed.
“You’re so beautiful, Paige. So lovely you take my breath away.”
“You’re sweet, but you don’t have to keep saying that.”
“Why don’t you believe me when I tell you how beautiful you are?”
“Because I’ve always been the forgettable one in my family.”
He touched her cheek, bringing her eyes up to meet his. “Trust me, there is no way that anyone could ever forget you.”
And when he kissed her again with such sweet passion—and emotion that felt wonderfully deep and true—she finally let herself believe that he meant every word he said.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Paige blinked her way back to wakefulness slowly and dreamily, smiling as memories of last night came flooding back. She was in Christian’s hotel suite after a night that had been…
Her smile broadened as she thought of the perfect word:
magical.
Their night together had been simply
magical.
She could hear him on the phone in the other room and decided to leave the bed to join him. When he saw her walk in, wrapped only in a sheet, Paige wasn’t sure which she loved more—his gorgeous and welcoming smile or the way his eyes moved heatedly over her.
“Good morning,” she whispered.
He told his caller to hold on for a moment and then kissed her. A “proper good morning” as he liked to call it...and she had to agree that it was the perfect way to start the day. Their kiss was sweet and lingering, the way so much of their lovemaking had been, but eventually Christian had to break it off to go back to his phone call.
“It’s my agent,” he explained in an apologetic voice, but Paige could understand that he wasn’t truly on vacation while on the island, even if a part of her wanted to toss his phone aside and pull him back in the direction of the bedroom.
She sat beside him instead. His gaze never left her as he spoke to his agent, and he couldn’t seem to stop running his hand over her hair and across her bare shoulder, either. She quite liked the idea of being able to distract the likes of Christian Greer, she thought with a grin she didn’t bother to hold back.
And then, suddenly, something his agent said clearly surprised him. “That’s what they really said? That the part’s mine if I want it?” He kissed Paige again, a quick, and very happy, kiss. “It’s a lead role in a big fantasy movie,” he explained in a whisper with his hand over the receiver.
“Congratulations,” she whispered back as she squeezed his hand tight. “I’m so happy for you.”
He made a sign to her with his fingers that he was planning to wrap up his call immediately so that they could celebrate. “It all sounds great,” he told his agent. “I’ve got to get going now, so why don’t you get the contracts in place and make sure they send me an early copy of the script? Although since I’ve never used a sword before, we’re going to have to find a sword-fighting instructor.” Christian listened for a moment and then smiled at Paige again. “They think that because I did such a quick job of learning to dance, I’ll learn to sword fight in no time? That’s great.” He mouthed a quick
thank you
to Paige before going back to finishing his phone call.
“Why don’t you get in touch with that woman who worked on that HBO series playing a wandering swordswoman? Zana Lizski, I think. I’m pretty sure she choreographed a lot of the sword work.” He paused as he listened to his agent on the other end. “I’ve really enjoyed being Paige’s student. Hopefully, I can have just as pleasurable an experience with Zana.”
Paige managed to keep smiling. Barely. In that moment, though, it was all she could do not to run to the bathroom to be sick. She’d known all along, of course, that when the remake of
Shall We Dance
was finished filming, Christian would go off to make another movie, giving it every ounce of his focus, the way he should. But hearing that he was going to get a sword-fighting instructor for his new movie?
Well, it was all she needed to hear to know that he was soon going to forget all about her...no matter what he’d said to the contrary.
As she got up on rubbery legs and headed back into the bedroom, she thought about the previous night when she’d been so sure that she was special to him. All week he’d made her feel special, but when they’d finally made love, it had been as if she was the only woman in the world who mattered to him. Yet he was already making arrangements to have exactly the same kind of one-on-one tutoring for his next movie.
Rationally, she knew that just because his possible sword-fighting instructor was a beautiful woman who had starred in a TV show didn’t mean she would end up in his bed after a week of teaching him swordplay. The odds were that it wouldn’t happen like that, when all was said and done.
Probably.
Most likely.
And yet…
That wasn’t even really the point, was it? It didn’t matter if Christian ended up getting romantic with his next instructor for his next film. What mattered was that there would
be
a next instructor. And that to him, even after last night, Paige would never ultimately be anything more than just the latest in a long line of teachers for the skills he needed to learn as an actor. He might have been temporarily infatuated with her, but he would soon be moving on. Gone, never to come back to Walker Island...or the girl who had so foolishly lost her heart to him in only one short week of dancing together.
The worst part of all was that she’d known it all along, but had been so swept up in the fantasy of being with him that she’d forced herself to push away reality.
Well, it looked like reality had just come storming back, whether she wanted it to or not.
Paige choked back the beginnings of tears, but they spilled down her cheeks anyway. She’d tried to remind herself throughout the week that Christian was too big a star and that letting him into her heart would be a mistake. Of course he was going to move on. His career as an actor was always going to demand that he should, and she would never ask him to give up his life for her.
She loved him too much to even dream of doing that.
When Patrice had left her all those years ago, she’d had nothing. Not him, not her dreams, not even her dignity. It had felt like tumbling into a black pit from which there was no way out. But she wouldn’t fall apart like that again. After all, she was the one who had chosen to be with Christian last night—a night that she would never, ever regret—so she needed to be the one to suck it up and be a big girl about accepting that it would be their one and only time together.
Quickly wiping away her tears, she put on the clothes she’d worn last night and even took the time to tie her hair back neatly before stepping back into the other room, where Christian was just hanging up the phone.
He turned around, smiling at her. “I thought I was going to be coming in there after you, yet here you are dressed. What’s wrong, sweetheart? Did you change your mind about lingering in bed a bit longer this morning?”
Paige simply nodded because she didn’t trust herself to say anything.
“I know, you’re right. If we went back to bed now, who knows when we might get back to the studio to squeeze in a little more practice? Of course, I’ll be looking forward to tonight every single second we’re dancing together today.”
She tried to keep her voice steady. “We don’t need to go back to the studio today.”
“We don’t?”
“No.” Despite how hard she was trying to keep it together, her voice almost broke on the two-letter word, and she had to take a deep breath to continue. “Your lessons are complete.”
“Paige.” He moved closer, but she took a step back, knowing that if he touched her, she’d shatter into a million little pieces. “What’s wrong?”
“I...I need to go now.”
“Maybe you’re right,” he said slowly, and it felt as if her heart actually fell out of her chest to thud on the floor. “We should pack up and head out to LA today so that you can meet the rest of Lynn’s choreography team before our dance at the charity gala. And my family, too. I’d love for you to meet them—and I know they’d love to meet you, too.”
Oh God
, she’d forgotten about the charity gala. And he was talking about her meeting his family? How could he not realize what a mistake that would be?
Paige felt dizzy with emotion as she said, “I’m not going to be able to dance with you in Los Angeles.”
“Yesterday you said you’d love to do it.” Christian’s brow furrowed. “Why have you changed your mind?” He sounded not just confused, but hurt, too.
“I just can’t do it.”
“There
has
to be a reason.” He reached for her again, and she wasn’t quick enough to move away this time. She could feel his heart thudding fast and hard against hers as he said, “Tell me what’s wrong. Five minutes ago you were glowing with happiness...and now you’re as pale as a ghost. Did I do something to hurt you?”
No, he hadn’t. Not yet. But he would when he left. So she needed to rip off the Band-Aid now instead of getting even deeper into his life by staying involved with his dancing and his movie.
“You can find another partner. Your choreographer, Lynn, could do it. Or your co-star, Liana, could take one day out of her world championship preparations. I’m sure she’d do a much better job at the charity dance than I could anyway.”