The Trouble with Marrying a Movie Star (9 page)

Keira and I flew into LA and headed straight into our first meeting. Not only was I excited that Keira had accepted my offer, but having her with me was invaluable. Her insight and suggestions helped greatly. I respected her not only for her incredible editing skills and handling my ass, but also as a friend and confidant. As excited as I was to be a part of the pre-production meetings, Keira and I were ready for that meeting to end so that we both could see our men. When Owen flew out last week to meet Andrew, they had clicked, and Owen had given his notice to Elena. Because he was going to be working for Andrew, Elena waived the two-week notice requirement, and even assisted Owen with his move. Elena doesn't do anything out of the goodness of her heart, and Owen and I both knew that she would want something in return.

She called me that same week and asked if I could help her out by doing a few more book signings and personal appearances in LA. I declined—it first—until she threw Owen's new position in my face. She reiterated all that she had done to accommodate Andrew, even if it meant that she was down by one assistant. I could have mentioned that the other two assistants could divvy up the work until a replacement is found, but I conceded and agreed to come back to LA next month to do the appearances.

We met Andrew at his home, and it was my first time seeing it. There was so much about it that I loved, and it confirmed Andrew's freakish neat side. The thing that grabbed my attention the most—not including the gigantic king size bed—was the master bathroom with a marble Jacuzzi tub, and shower that looked as if it could hold a party of ten. It was love at first sight. Andrew's house was on the edge of the hilltop and the bathroom's view overlooked the city. There was an attached private walk out with lounge chairs, and I visualized myself living in that room for days.

Owen had moved into Andrew's guesthouse located across from the pool. It's a mini apartment in which his housekeeper used to reside. She wanted to spend more time with her grandchildren in Kentucky, and it's been vacant since December of last year.

Owen was a typical guy. He had packed all of his belongings in trash bags and had driven to LA in a small U-Haul. When Keira and I walked into his place, we both thought it was the trash room. Watching Keira and Owen together was so cute. You could tell how much they loved each other just by the way they spoke to one another. Keira was not one to giggle, but she giggled and cooed at Owen's every word.

I didn't know her when she was married to her late husband, Porter. The women in the office said that she was devastated when he died during his military service. They were high school sweethearts and were married straight after graduation. Keira deserved to be happy, and watching the two of them, well….it looked as if she was able to find love again.

Owen had stated that he was going to leave everything in the bags because it was pointless to unpack them only to pack them up again. That's when the giggly Keira left the house, and the woman who I knew came back. I left them to their little spat, knowing Keira would win that argument. There was no way Owen was leaving his clothes in garbage bags.

Keira and Owen would be moving with Andrew and me to Virginia. Andrew had made arrangements for the two of them to use an empty unit in his building until they could find a place of their own.

I came up with the bright idea of going out to get yogurt with Andrew, and I wished I had never made the suggestion. I didn't notice the paps outside of the house, but when Andrew said we had a tail, I thought it was by the cops. When a man pulled up next to us taking pictures, Andrew instructed me to look straight ahead and to not engage them in any way.

When we pulled into the yogurt shop, some more paps jumped out of their cars, along with the man we had seen beside us. They took pictures of us while we walked. A few of the men asked how I liked LA, and if I was going to move here permanently. It was only when one of them asked Andrew, "How does it feel to date a military brat?" that I spun around, and asked if he had spoken to Dad.

"Don't engage them," Andrew said under his breath, wrapping his arm around me as he opened the shop's door.

The men followed us up to the door and lingered outside after we had entered. I felt a sense of relief when the door shut, and turned to Andrew and asked, "They know where you live?"

"Yes." He answered as he walked up to the counter.

"Does this happen all of the time?"

"Yes, Andria." He said as he looked over the flavors of yogurt.

"Can you pee in peace?"

Andrew looked at me and laughed. "Not anymore," he said, and kissed my forehead.

It's been two weeks of paps hounding us everywhere we go. Keira and I couldn't even go to the grocery store in peace. Most of them stood at a distance taking pictures, but there were a few who would heckle us or attempt small talk while they took our photos. Those were the ones that baffled me. You want me to like you while you sell my image to the highest bidder?

We were heading to a charity event to help bring clean water to people throughout the world. It was supposed to be a star-studded event that would bring awareness to this particular cause.

When Andrew had asked me to attend it with him, I was thrilled to help in any way that I could. When he reminded me that this would be our first public appearance together, I had to rethink that. I would happily give away my money, but I wasn't sure about the public appearance thing. Andrew had assured me that everything would go smoothly and that we were going to have to do this eventually. He was right. So, I put back on my big girl panties and said that I would go.

The dress attire was casual, but we agreed to dress up a bit. For me, that meant throwing on a dress, and for Andrew, that meant wearing a suit without a tie—and it was one hell of a suit. Andrew in anything could turn me on, but Andrew in a suit…well, that was my kryptonite.

I wore a gray sheath dress hitting mid-knee, and Andrew wore a gray suit with a white dress shirt. His hair was a mess—but the man looked like sex on a stick. I loved the way Andrew always found a way to touch me. It didn't matter where, or whom we were with, he always touched me. If it was a gentle stroke of my hand, an arm draped around my waist, or a little peck on my forehead, he always found ways.

But this time, I was the one who couldn't keep my hands off of him. I had to feel physically connected to him. I wasn't sure if it was due to the building anxiety, but I had to feel him in any way that I could. This feeling made me a very needy girl that day, and when we pulled up to the red carpet, I tightly grabbed his hand. "Hey, you're going to do great." He smiled at me, squeezing my hand. I nodded at him.

"Uh, Andria. You're going to have to release me, baby so that I can get out of the car."

I looked down at our joined hands, and let go. He then grabbed the same hand, kissed it, and opened his car door. The moment that he stepped out, there was a piercing collective scream that penetrated the air. Fans were lined up behind the barricades, while photographers lined the velvet rope along the red carpet that led up to the venue. The event was being televised, and television reporters, as well as their crew, were scattered along the way. I took a deep breath, chanting to myself that I can do this, and placed a smile on my face as Andrew opened my car door. Connor and Wade stood at Andrew's side as I stepped out. He offered his hand, closed the door and wrapped his arm around my waist as he waved to the crowd.

We stood there while fans screamed and called out his name, and photographers took an infinite amount of pictures. Flash bulbs lit up the day sky while the screams increased.

"Are you okay?" Andrew leaned over asking me.

"I'm good."

"Andria, are you ready?" Keira came to my side, tablet in hand along with Owen. They had been in the car behind us.

I nodded, and Owen stood by Andrew going through a list of questions. When they finished, Andrew took my hand and led me down the red carpet. The first stop was in front of a large group of photographers. We stood there smiling, while they took a boatload of pictures. While Andrew was calm as this was happening, I was a nervous wreck. He squeezed my hand, smiled, repositioned his arm around me, talked to me about nothing and made fun of one guy whose toupee was falling off. He tried to help me relax in front of the hundreds of cameras, and I loved him more for it.