Capture Me: Alpha Billionaire Romance (Hollywood Dreams) (9 page)

“Only the best.”

“No wonder you like this place.”

“If you’re a regular, they’ll throw in a couple cheese rolls for free.”

“I’ll remember that.”
For what, the next few weeks?

Thinking about what happened to Tessa had kept the visa issues from my thoughts. The whole question of whether or not I’d be in the country after this month was definitely not something to keep from her, but she had enough to worry about.

I wasn’t going to add to her burden tonight.

I looked up when I noticed she hadn’t taken a bite yet. A tear rolled down her cheek.

I wanted to stop the world to help her.

I pulled my chair beside hers, just close enough for our thighs to touch like they had at dinner last weekend. This time, instead of electricity, I wanted to give her comfort.

Half a pizza and several photography horror stories later, I’d lost count of the number of times I’d made Tessa smile. She hadn’t full-on belly laughed, but I would take what I could get. The spark in her eyes hadn’t returned, but I knew from my own experience that it could take some time. After what just happened, Tessa was not ready to be vulnerable and I reminded myself to not push her.

Tonight wasn’t about me.

Tessa shook her head as she popped a pepperoni into her mouth. “So you just kept shooting?”

“What else was I going to do? I’d reserved the fountain for that one hour and had to be on a plane to Milan that afternoon.”

“Wasn’t she freezing?”

“Sure she was, but she was a professional. And getting a spread in any top fashion magazine is a big deal.” I took a sip of wine. “Don’t look at me that way. She was the one who fell in the fountain in January.”

“Did the pictures even turn out?”

“You tell me.” I pointed to my wall of prints. “See the one in the corner?”

It was one of my favorite shots from last year. With her back to the camera, the model had crouched in the fountain, then quickly stood, hair arched over her head, water cascading down her body. She had breathed out just before I took the shot, creating an eerie swirl of smoke around her head like a demon’s halo. That, along with a few black and white filters, gave the whole shot an intense, supernatural vibe.

Tessa stood, catching me off guard.

“You okay?” Had I said something? She’d been doing so much better from when she first walked through my door.

She squeezed my shoulder as she passed by. The simple gesture eased more tension than a full-body deep tissue massage. “Thanks, I just wanted to take a closer look.”

I watched her for a time, looking from photo to photo, studying each as though going through an art gallery. I wanted to ask her what she saw but she seemed content, and with everything going on, I didn’t want her to lose that feeling.

Without turning to me, she said, “So what made you get into photography?”

Usually women completely skipped over my passion and asked how I made all my money. But this was the second time Tessa asked, since I never answered on Saturday night, interrupted as we were by dinner. This time, I took the opportunity to share with her how I found photography.

I stood and walked to Tessa, wanting to be beside her. “My dad wanted me to get into something that had less potential of sending me to the hospital. I always enjoyed the rush of extreme sports.”

That made her turn to me. “So, let me guess, broken arm? Neck?”

“Face.” I shook my head. “You should have seen me before.”

She squinted at me playfully, examining every detail, then pressed her lips together to keep herself from smiling.

Just her gaze got me hard. I wanted to take her over my shoulder and show her what kind of rush I really enjoyed—something to really make her smile.

With her mock study of my face now complete, she finally shook her head. “Hmm. Maybe you should have gotten a second opinion.”

“Hey!” With that knock, I took the chance to put my arm around her. When she didn’t pull away, I gave her a little squeeze and figured I better set the record straight. “Broke my femur. Had to do something while it healed. During one of her visits, my mom left her camera at the hospital.”

Tessa raised a finely tweezed eyebrow. “And what, exactly, did you do?”

“I wheeled myself around and took pics of people sleeping . . . who may or may not have been sporting new fashion statements.”

“Like . . .”

“I thought for sure bedpan hats would catch on.” I shrugged. “Hey, I was ten.”

She laughed—a sound I’d never get tired of.

“More wine?” I asked, then noticed the empty bottle.

“Guess your doorman will have to go without.”

I chuckled and put an arm around her. Her hair smelled of vanilla and lavender, and damn if I didn’t feel soothed. “I’ll probably bring him one at the end of his shift.”

“For putting up with you? Better bring him two.”

I dipped my face to hers, put on my best serious face, and nodded. “You’re probably right.”

Tessa tilted her chin up to nip my bottom lip. She tasted like the wine and I wanted another drink.

I cupped my hand around the back of her head, ready to pull her against me, but stopped. I didn’t want it to happen like this. She meant more to me than that and I wanted to be more than just her escape from what was sure to have been the worst week of her life.

“Is there anything I can do for you?” I knew even before I asked the question that the trance of the evening would be gone. She needed something.

Three years ago, I’d been in her shoes and even if she didn’t want to admit it, there was something I could do for her. More than this.

Without looking away, she said, “Will you come with me to the funeral tomorrow?”

“Of course.” The words came out before I’d thought them through. I’d made it a point not to go to funerals since my parents died. They were uncomfortable, difficult . . . all good reasons I should be there with her.

But I also couldn’t help but think that this might be one huge mistake, too.

CHAPTER 15

Tessa

“Can the caskets be moved closer together?” I asked the funeral director, then leaned against Liam and sighed when the guy didn’t acknowledge I’d said anything. “Do you think he heard me?” I asked Liam and couldn’t help but smile when he peered down at me. We’d only been on one real date, and yet, he’d really been there for me.

Liam frowned at the man, seemingly as surprised as I was about his inattentiveness. “Who knows.”

Earlier this week, Dani and I had decided a combined funeral for Mom and Dad would be best, but as I’d been trying to tell the director for the last ten minutes, having the caskets at the corners of the room didn’t feel right. They should be together. Just like Mom and Dad always had been.

Even in the end.

“Excuse me—”

Instead of giving me a response, the director bent down behind the stage to do God knows what. Before today, if anyone had asked me to picture a funeral director, I’d describe someone calm and helpful to families as they grieved. This man had barely spent two minutes with Dani and me to discuss what we wanted—and that was to sell us the matching hand-polished cherry wood caskets that he couldn’t be bothered to pull together.

I walked to the edge of the stage and tried to raise my voice. “Excuse me.” The words came out cracked and hoarse. I guess that was what nearly a week of crying would do to you.

Before he could even look in my direction, the florist, with her sleek hair and pressed pantsuit, pulled him the other way, pointing to a row of uneven arrangements in the sea of flowers covering the whole back wall. Given my father’s position and my mother’s outreach in the community, I’d say half the state sent a plant of some sort.

I pressed my palms to the stage, leaning my weight on them, telling myself to breathe. Every time I did, the overpowering scent of lilies assaulted my nose, reminding me exactly where we were.

“Wait here,” Liam said to me, then walked over to take care of things himself. His broad shoulders flexed under his tailored suit as he carefully wheeled my parents to the center of the sanctuary.

I smoothed the hem of my black skirt down. “Thank you,” I said and sighed—something I’d been doing a lot this week as well. “Always something else, isn’t there?”

Liam stepped beside me and rubbed my back. His hand felt warm and comforting. Being here with him seemed so natural.

“I spent all week making arrangements so I wouldn’t have to worry about anything today. Just come here and . . .” I shook my head. “I don’t know why I expected it to not be so hard.”

“It’s okay. This isn’t something you ever plan for. Actually, this seems to be going smoother than my parents’ funeral.”

My chest felt tight as his words hit me. “I’m sorry for asking you to come here. This has to bring back some tough memories.”

He took my shoulders in his hands and gently turned me to face him. “Don’t think for a second that I’m not here for you. I’m glad you asked me. If there’s anything else I can do, just say the word.”

My breath caught in my throat and a tear streamed down my cheek. He wiped it away. “I’m surprised I’m not all cried out.” I meant it to be funny but it didn’t come out that way. Making jokes in stressful situations had always been my go-to way to cope. Sometimes people caught on and gave a sympathy chuckle, but usually it fell flat.

Liam smiled. “That won’t last forever. Might not feel like it now.” He kissed my forehead. “You have me.” He nodded to Dani and her boyfriend, Jason, as they walked down the side aisle toward us. “And you have your sister.”

As Dani stepped beside me, I saw that she appeared about as haggard as I felt. I wrapped her in my arms and wished we could freeze this moment. Looking up, I caught Jason’s eye, and mouthed, “Thank you.”

He and Dani had been on again, off again for over four years—an eternity for teenagers. Even though he was only nineteen, a year older than Dani, he’d been her rock this past week. I didn’t know why I figured he would’ve bolted. Maybe I should give the guy more credit.

Dani pulled away and looked down at the caskets. She reached out to one, then pulled her hand back. “Are we supposed to say something at the service?”

“You can, or I will for us both.”

She turned to me. The look of surprise on her face pained me. “Really? You’re the best.”

“We’re in this together.”

The overhead lights reflected off the polished wood. Dozens of smeared fingerprints littered the surface.

“God, I’m sorry.” Liam looked around to find something to wipe it down with.

I shook my head. “There’s no way all those could be yours.”

Jason stepped beside the first casket and began rubbing it down with his handkerchief. Liam joined him and they kept looking at different angles to make sure they hit every spot.

Considering what Dani said, seeing their coffins now, barely two feet apart, I reconsidered what I’d planned to say. Somehow talking about Dad’s love for his company and Mom’s garden parties didn’t feel like the right way to say goodbye.

When Dani laid her head on my shoulder, I said, “So, if you
were
going to say something, which you’re not, but if you were, what sort of thing would you say?”

She put her arm around my back and stood there for a time like we had when we were little. “You remember that winter we got snowed in for like three weeks?”

“That freak-of-nature storm that came out of nowhere and the whole city shut down?”

Her head bobbed against my shoulder. “That’s the one.” Thank God Mom had collected food-drive cans the month before. She’d apologized to the committee for weeks that we had eaten so much.

“I swear I’ll never eat peaches again.”

“We all kept getting sick, passing whatever it was back and forth.”

“I’m telling you it was the peaches.”

She laughed. “Remember seeing Mom and Dad sitting at the fireplace together, kissing and holding hands like they were just married?”

“I kept covering your mouth to keep you from coughing and interrupting them.”

Dani nodded. “That night we saw what we hoped we’d have one day.” She looked over at Jason, who was pointing out another spot for Liam to wipe down. “That’s what you should talk about today.”

The ceremony was standing room only, and though the funeral director drove me nuts to the point that I was ready to hire some random person off the street, I could not have asked for a better service. Dani’s advice on what to say was spot on and there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. Or a face without a smile.

Afterward, Liam and I stood in front of his Land Rover, leaves blowing across the mostly-empty parking lot.

He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear and smiled at me. “I’m happy to spend the rest of the day with you.”

I shook my head and he gave me one final hug. I’d had more hugs today—some from people I didn’t even recognize—to last several lifetimes. Yet, in Liam’s arms, I could stand having several lifetimes worth of hugs.