The Trouble with Marrying a Movie Star (17 page)

I looked straight ahead and said. "I'm not mad."

"Your body is saying otherwise. I'm going to call Grant and tell him we are going to pass on the offer."

I turned to look at him. The man was hot when he was frustrated. And he wasn't truly pleased with that decision. "I'm not angry. I said I would think about it, and I did. Just give me a moment to let it settle."

"Then why are you hiding from me?"

That statement surprised me. I had seen him every day since I'd been back. "I'm not hiding from you."

"You've been busy every day, and when I come home, you're already in bed."

"I have a busy schedule this week, you just heard Keira going over it."

"I know, but…even when I come home late, you've always been ready to…"

I looked into his eyes, and I thought I actually saw that his feelings were hurt. I didn't want to be the cause of that expression. "Hey, why don't we plan on having dinner tonight and then dessert afterward?" I placed a grin on my face before kissing him.

He seemed satisfied with our set time to
roll in the hay
.

That night we didn't have
dessert
.

I said that I would
think
about having a large, studio wedding, and I needed time. Yet, Andrew thought my 'thinking' about it was a solid yes; and told the studio I had agreed to their offer.

Even though Andrew tried everything to appease me, after the fact, that night we fought worse than we had before. When I decided to just give in, I thought that would handle the problem.

It only festered.

I loved Andrew, and did everything in my power to get out of my head. But, I was starting to dread planning our wedding. I said that I would do everything I could to go with the flow, but everything and everyone was getting on my nerves.

Because we were having it this year and in the fall, it was late in the game. The date had to be confirmed that week, and we decided to have it in LA. Easier for everyone involved, I was told. That's what I did that week—everything I was told.

The one good thing was that Rebeca and Erin were fighting my battles for me with the wedding planner the studio had hired—we agreed to have one magazine cover our wedding exclusively. Then, I handed it all over to them. When the wedding planner called to ask me about fireworks, I hung up on her.

I didn't want to bother Erin as she had her own upcoming nuptials to plan, but she insisted that she had everything mostly finished. Mine, surprisingly, was more of a challenge for her.

"How?" I asked.

She said the world wasn't going to see her wedding.

That didn't help my suppressed anger, or our nonexistent sex life.

The weekend was upon us. Miles was gearing up for his bachelor's party, and Erin was ready for her girl’s weekend. Their wedding was in five weeks.

The moment that I opened the hotel room door, I was embraced with cries of joy and laughter. There would be fifteen of us, occupying the entire top floor of the hotel I had reserved. The guys were doing the same at the adjacent hotel across the way.

I would say that seeing some of my old friends was great, but it was awkward at first. I hadn't seen most of them since I had started dating Andrew. Now that we had announced our engagement, they treated me differently; awkwardly, at times. Making small talk was like pulling teeth, but as the weekend progressed, things got better.

I wished I could say the same for Andrew and me. I tried. I really did, but every time I received a text or email regarding a decision for our wedding, I became more upset. Erin suggested that maybe Andrew and I should push back the date, and when I mentioned this to him, he blew up at me. This only caused us to spend the remainder of the weekend arguing. We went back and forth, something I had tried to avoid by considering this fiasco in the first place. But, with every moment that passed, it became harder to hide my discontent. And for some reason, Andrew was making it harder to do so with his attitude. He needed an attitude adjustment, and I told him so. "Maybe if you would decide on one thing, versus flip flopping on everything Andria, we wouldn't have to keep going back and forth."

"Maybe that wouldn’t happen if you would have given me a chance to think about things, versus rushing the hell out of me!" I tried to lower my voice discreetly. We were getting ready for dinner before we headed out to the club.

"You picked the date."

"We picked it! Based on your damn schedule. You were the one who wanted it earlier...I'm starting to think later is a better idea."

"What are you trying to say? That we should postpone it?"

"No! ...No, not at all." The last thing I wanted to do was postpone marrying Andrew. I took a moment to calm myself, and said, "Why don't we talk this over after the weekend."

"Will you actually talk, Andria?"

Lately, Andrew had accused me of not expressing myself. I thought I had been pretty clear. "I will if you will finally listen."

I sat through dinner fake smiling and laughing, thinking that I deserved a best actress award, until Erin called me out on it when we arrived back to the suite to pick up a few things. "Erin, I'm fine."

"Whatever. You always say that when you're far from it," she said rolling her eyes. "I know you and Andrew are fighting. I heard you earlier. Miles even said something about Andrew being upset, before he put a few shots in him."

"It's the same crap about our wedding. But, that is not important right now. My best friend is getting married to the man of her dreams, and we will celebrate that fact. Go and finish getting dressed. We can't have your groom having a better party than you."

She smiled widely, clapped her hands, and giggled back to her room to finish getting dressed. I smiled, knowing that she was happy. I was going to make this the best bachelorette party ever. Even if it killed me.

Erin's bachelorette party was in full swing, and we had gone at it non-stop for two days. This was our last night, and I must say that it did almost kill me. Erin mixed with liquor could be toxic for one's health. My BFF knew how to party, and hard.

I sat in a darkened booth in the VIP section of the hottest club in LA, trying to catch my breath. That was a no go when a few of Erin's friends dragged me back onto the dance floor. I was the meat to their bump and grind sandwich. Thank goodness Erin pulled me away from them as she jumped up and down to one of our favorite songs.

"This has been the greatest weekend," she yelled over the beat.

I was happy that she was happy. This was her special time, and I wanted to make it something for her to remember. Even though Andrew was a constant thought in my mind, I acted happily for her sake. I wasn't sure how to resolve everything between us. Yet, one thing was certain. I missed him, and I was sure the lack of sex wasn't helping either of us.

"Hey, are you spacing out on me again?" Erin yelled over the music, bringing me back to the present. I placed a smile on my face, but she wasn't fooled, and glared at me shaking her head. "You are going to have a good time," she said singing out.

"I am." I assured her.

She grabbed my hand and twirled me around. "We can deal with everything later." Erin winked and smirked at me, which told me I wasn't fooling anybody, including her. I shook the thoughts of Andrew out of my head and started to dance.

It felt great for a moment not to think about anything and to let loose. I embraced the beat drumming through my body, feeling something other than agony.

"Some guy keeps staring at you." One of Erin's friends yelled over towards me.

We were all dancing in a circle, and I really didn't care that someone was watching me. Someone always seemed to be watching me in public, so I brushed it off and kept dancing.

I looked over at Erin, who was looking behind me with one brow raised and got my attention, before I felt it. Someone had their body pressed against my back. This was normal in a club, but the person kept their body pressed against mine. I moved forward away from them, but they kept pressing against me.

I turned around to say, "What the hell," but the blue eyes threw me. Along with that smirk that was now placed upon his face. "Do I know you?"

"Not yet, but I know who you are. You're Alexandria Moore."