Laurelin Paige - Take Two

“Oh, and, Maddie?” Bree gave her two thumbs up. “Yay!”

“Yay” didn’t begin to describe how Maddie felt inside, but it would have to do since there were no words for the grand, earth-shattering emotions that consumed her as she walked to her car. Her horrible sadness had been, in a matter of seconds, completely diffused in the same way shadows disappeared at the switch of a light. She loved Micah, a fact she had thought would remained buried inside her for the rest of her life. But now she was on her way to see him, to tell him how much she adored him and wanted him and yearned for him.

Tears rushed her eyes. Micah Preston loved her.

Maddie’s chest constricted when Fudge didn’t answer his phone. She left a frazzled voice message saying she needed to find Micah and she was already on her way to the Nokia. But what if she couldn’t get a hold of him?

Thank God, he texted her half a minute after she hung up. Of course. He was probably in a place where he couldn’t take a phone call. Idiot.

She glanced at his message while stopped at a light. Park at the Ritz. Text me when you arrive.

She tossed her phone down on the passenger seat and turned onto Olympic Boulevard. With the few minutes left of her drive, she centered her thoughts. Micah said he loved her. On national television. But had he changed his mind about the future? Did he believe they might actually have a shot, even in Hollywood?

Micah loved her. And she loved Micah. Still she couldn’t relax in that knowledge without more information.

Though still a block away, Maddie slowed her car as the Ritz came into view, hoping the change in speed would calm her sudden anxiety. But when she turned into the hotel’s driveway, her heart seemed to beat even faster.

“You’re in luck,” the valet attendant said. “A parking spot just came available.” He opened her door. “Are you staying in the hotel?”

“Visiting someone who is,” she lied.

As the valet drove her car away, she texted Fudge. Just parked.

I’m in the hotel lobby.

Smoothing down her dress—as if that would help her disheveled state—Maddie pushed through the revolving doors and stepped into the cool lobby.

Fudge saw her first. “Hey, you.” He was dressed in a black T-shirt and black jeans, his “on duty” attire. He enveloped her in a bear hug. “You saw the show? What did you think?”

Man, was that a loaded question. It would take an hour to run through all her thoughts and feelings. She settled on the dominating one. “I’m shocked.”

He took her hand, leading her toward the main elevators. “But it was good, right?”

She nodded as he pushed the up arrow on the call panel.

Her brow furrowed. They were staying in the hotel?

Fudge didn’t notice her confusion. “I just knew you’d show up after that. Micah wasn’t so sure. He was really nervous about it, actually. He’s gonna be real happy to see you. I’m real happy to see you. He’s been an ass since Colorado.”

“An ass?”

“Total ass. Moody. Mean. I’ve never seen him like that.” An elevator opened behind them and a formally dressed couple stepped out. Was that the guy who just won best screenwriter? Fudge ushered her in the empty car before she could look again.

“But good for you,” he continued. “Not letting him force you into less than you both deserve.” He pushed the number four on the panel and the doors shut.

Maybe Micah was waiting for her in a hotel room. With nothing on. Yummy. She grinned at the thought. “Does he know I’m here?”

“Nah. We’re surprising him.” Fudge tapped his foot, watching the dial as they climbed.

So no naked in a hotel room. “Um, where are we going? Is Micah here or at the Nokia?”

Fudge hit his head as if he just realized he were in idiot. “Duh. Sorry. He’s here in the hotel.” The doors opened and he led her down a hall, following a sign that pointed toward the hotel ballrooms. “All the presenters and award winners are sent over here to the press room for pics and interviews and stuff.”

Maddie halted, panic setting in. “There won’t be pictures of me, right?”

“Maybe. Everyone wants to know who the mysterious Maddie Bauers is, after all. Is that not cool?”

She gestured at her outfit. “Look at me. I’m a mess. I’m wearing an Old Navy jersey. I have a big old chocolate stain on my boobs.”

Fudge scanned her over, as if seeing her for the first time. “Hmm. Yeah, we’ll keep you out of the limelight then. No worries.”

He resumed his trek down the hall. Hesitantly, Maddie followed. He stopped outside a corridor where two security guards stood. Several feet behind them, a sign on a set of heavy double doors read Ballroom A.

Fudge flashed a badge and pulled her past the guards and through the double doors. “Micah was up next when I left him.”

Inside the room was abuzz with activity. At least two hundred people were spread around the small ballroom. Light bulbs flashed and boom mics bobbed above the photo area at the end of the room. Maddie stood on her tiptoes to see above the heads of the press. There. Posed in front of the America’s Choice Awards logo, looking like the hot god he was.

“I haven’t had a girlfriend in years,” Micah said in answer to a question Maddie hadn’t heard. “I have a lot to learn.”

“Micah, where did you meet Maddie?” a reporter near the front asked.

They were talking about her.

“You’ll dig it up soon enough.” Micah was all suave and charming. “Some of you are especially talented with that kind of thing.”

A few people laughed.

Fudge waved his arm, signaling to Micah.

Maddie, raised herself on her toes again and nearly choked on her own spit as she briefly met his glance. Her stomach flip-flopped at the look he gave her, his eyes wide, full of longing and love.

Fudge tugged at her sleeve. “We gotta get outta here if you don’t want to get photographed.”

Maddie followed as he crossed behind the crowd to a small room off the ballroom. “This is a lounge for while the stars wait for their turn with press.” He gestured for her to enter. “But no one’s been using it. I’ll tell Micah you’re here.”

Maddie entered the room, and found it furnished in old Hollywood décor. A white couch and two armchairs created a sitting area around a television showing a live feed of the award show next door. The winner of Best Director was giving his award speech. And it wasn’t Beaumont. This night’s getting better and better.

After several minutes of unsuccessfully trying to concentrate on the show, Maddie paced the room. Where was Micah? What would he say when he saw her? What would she say when she saw him?

After spotting a sink at the bar on the opposite side of the room, she crossed to wash her hands, sticky from nerves and chocolate ice cream. While drying, she had the eerie feeling she was being watched. She turned and saw him, leaning against the door frame. Excitement and desire rushed through her and the only reason she wasn’t running into his arms was fear that her knees would collapse before she reached him.

Micah looked her over from head to toe. Her body trembled under his ravenous gaze. When his eyes reached her chocolate stain, he chuckled. Maddie cringed. Of course he’d notice all of her. He stepped into the room, still saying nothing.

She had an idea. In what she hoped sounded like a reporter’s voice, she said, “Micah Preston.”

He cocked his head.

She took a step toward him. “Rumor has it that you don’t believe you can have a successful movie career and a girlfriend. Do you care to comment?”

He relaxed, understanding settling on his face. “This is true.”

She tensed. Did this mean he still believed they had no future?

“I have historically stood my ground on the idea that romance has no place in Hollywood.” He stepped toward her. “But recently I’ve had a change of heart.”

She swallowed, taking another step. “A change of heart?”

“I still think it’s a difficult situation, don’t get me wrong there.” He moved again toward her. “But relationships are about sacrifice and compromise. And as long as we choose each other more often than we choose our careers, I think we might have a shot.” He furrowed his brow. “I’m not sure if she’s completely thought about the sacrifices she’ll have to make for her own career.”

Maddie took a deep breath. She’d thought about it, but she knew that wasn’t the same as experiencing it. It wouldn’t be easy, especially facing her Beaumont past again, but Micah had given up a way of thinking for her. She could give up things for him as well. It takes two.

“Do you care what the press says about you? About her?”

“Not in the slightest.” He suddenly seemed to remember she was pretending to be a reporter herself. “No offense to you and your kind. But usually whatever you have to say is a bunch of bullshit.”

Another step toward him. “No offense taken. I’m sure she knows that as well. And if you can ignore them, I bet she can too. Since she loves you and all.”

His eyes twinkled. “You think she still loves me? Even after I’ve been such a dick?”

“I’d bet my life on it,” she said softly.

He beamed. Then his delight was replaced with a mischievous grin. “I’m not so sure.” He took two more slow steps toward her. “She can be pretty hotheaded. And stubborn. And non-compromising. Sometimes she runs away. Oh, and she can be a bit of a tease, so there’s that.”

Maddie raised a brow. “A tease? No way.”