When Dreams Come True (The Star Series Book 1) (10 page)

“And you? What if you didn’t like the house?”

“There were a few other houses in the neighborhood and knowing her, she would’ve bought me one so we could be close. But I like the modern lines, and I have the whole other side of the house to myself. Especially these last two months.”

He turned toward her, focusing all of his attention on her and what she was going to say. She could completely understand how Lissa had fallen under his spell before they’d even met. People rarely completely focused on the person they were talking to any more.

“She is either in her office or here. I stock her mini-fridge in her office, but there are times the only thing missing is the sodas, the things which help her stay awake.” She sat down in one of the chairs by the fireplace. “We’ve had a great working relationship, and it hasn’t just been about work. We’re great friends. We divided everything… well, everything she’d let me do. We’d take turns going to the grocery store, cleaning and cooking. That way, both of us felt we weren’t taking advantage of the other. It took us a while to find the balance, what with me wanting to do everything for her since this is my job and her not wanting to ask me to do anything since we’re friends.

“I come and go as needed since most of my work is done during the day anyway, so my nights are free. I prefer to go work out in a gym with other people, but she prefers to work out here, alone. We’d time our work-outs, mostly to keep her motivated since she stayed home. Now, she goes through the motions, but she’s been spending more and more time alone. More and more time working. If I had to guess, I’d say she’s missing you more than she ever thought she would and trying to keep her mind off you.”

“This won’t do. It won’t do at all.”

“I know.”

“We’ve got to come up with something. First off, you’ll hire a cleaning crew and someone to go to the market for you. We need to take things off your plate so you can focus more on her and making her take care of herself.”

“That’s all fine and dandy, but this is just going to continue. Every time you have to go away or are apart from her for a long time, she’ll fall back into this funk. And quite frankly, I’d hate to see what would happen when you break her heart.”

He stood up taller. “What do you mean,
when
I break her heart?”

“Will, I won’t deny you two have something going on, but we can’t predict the future. No matter how strongly you feel right now, you
are
a movie star. Now tell me, how many movie stars cheat? How long do the marriages last? Even the ones who were sure they were going to make it? It’s not very optimistic.”

“Yes, but they aren’t me.”

“No, they aren’t. But how many of
them
said the same thing you just did? Will, I’m not trying to be mean. I’m just looking out for my best friend. I met her right before her first book was published, while we were still in college, and I’ve been with her ever since. The ups
and
the downs. The happiness
and
the heartbreak. We’ve grown together; we’re like sisters. No one is happier than I am when she gets the praise and accolades she deserves for her work. I only want the best for her, and I’m here to help her as much as she helps me.”

“What does she do for you?”

He didn’t ask to be mean. He genuinely wanted to know what Lissa helped her with, which was why she didn’t kick him out. “That’s a story for another time. Everyone she has hired to help her write is a friend, and she’d do anything for any of them.”

Crossing over to Hannah, Will kneeled in front of her, taking her hands in his. “I promise you, Hannah. Everything I have, I give to her. To make her happy, to give her everything she needs, for as long as she’ll have me. And even after, I will still be there for her, as she will still be in my heart.”

Hannah searched his eyes. She wanted to believe him, but after all, he
was
an actor. She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, at least at that point. “I figure she’s been up for almost twenty-four hours now. She needs to sleep.”

“I’ll make sure she does. I’ve had a long flight and am still on different time, so I’ll see if I can get her to go to bed with me.”

Hannah nodded and stood up, showing him to Lissa’s office. He didn’t go in but leaned against the doorframe, watching her work. Hannah knew her routine: she’d spend minutes in a frenzy banging out words on her keyboard then all of a sudden go still and relax back in her chair, staring out at the beautiful landscape while lost in thought. Then a few minutes later, she’d start the whole thing all over again. There were times she’d sing along with the radio she had playing while typing, and other times she was completely silent except for her foot tapping to the beat of the music.

Hannah moved away. She wanted to observe him as he watched without him knowing. At one point, she wasn’t able to resist any longer and she snapped a picture of him with her phone. The look on his face made her sigh. To have a man look at her like that, she’d give just about anything… well, maybe at one point in her past she would have. She knew Lissa wouldn’t believe her unless she had proof. He sure looked as if he loved her. Maybe he really did truly care about her, maybe their relationship would be different. With his old-fashioned values and how he treated women,
all
women, they might have a chance. Lissa wasn’t an actor, but she
was
in the entertainment business, so it would give them common ground, but they had enough was differences to make it work.

Hannah walked back over to him and he raised a finger to his lips. He knew she was there, but didn’t want Lissa to know yet. “She could be like that for hours,” she whispered.

Without taking his eyes off Lissa, he whispered back, “And I could spend hours watching her.”

Her eyes misted; she couldn’t help it. Obviously they both cared a great deal about each other, and she was willing to bet they actually were in love. Knowing Lissa, she was going to have to come up with some kind of plan for the relationship. Lucky for them, she could write anywhere, as long as she could charge her laptop. Making a mental note to talk to Beau about Will’s schedule, she decided she was going to help the two lovebirds spend more time together. It was the least she could do for Lissa. She’d helped Hannah through the darkest time in her life when she’d put her love and faith into the wrong man, a man who had tried his best to kill her. Hannah shook her head. She didn’t want to go there.

Soon enough, Hannah could tell Lissa was falling asleep in her chair, and she knew it was only a matter of time when she heard Lissa switch the stereo to Bon Iver . Whenever she was writing an intense scene or wanted something on to soothe her nerves, she played him. It was the only music she could fall asleep to; Lissa said it calmed her.

“She’s asleep,” Hannah told him.

“I hate to see her like this. Why is she pushing herself so?”

“She doesn’t like the fact she doesn’t have control over her emotions.
You
have them.”

“Well, we’re going to have to see what we can do to bring her balance.” He turned to Hannah. “Can you get her bed ready? I’ll carry her.”

“Sure.” Hannah turned and walked down the hall, turning down the lights and the bed. Seeing her best friend asleep and so trusting in Will’s arms started to melt her jaded heart. As he placed her in the bed and covered her up, there was no hiding the fact that Lissa had control of his emotions, as well.

“Do you need anything?” she asked.

He didn’t take his eyes off Lissa, brushing her hair back from her face. “No, I have everything I need.”

“Well then, make yourself at home. I have the kitchen stocked with the items Beau told me about, so if you need anything, please either call me or help yourself.”

“Thank you, Hannah. I’m sure I can take care of myself.”

Hannah left them, taking one last look before she closed the door behind her. Going back through the house, she turned down the rest of the lights and made sure Lissa’s work was saved on her laptop before going back to her side of the house and closing herself in her room.

On the one hand, she was so happy for her friend, because all of her dreams were coming true. Dreams she knew Lissa never even began to think would ever happen. But on the other, she couldn’t help but feel a little left out. They had been a team for so many years, and then there was Will. Everything was going to change, and she’d have no one.

Standing up, she crossed to her windows. The opposite of Lissa’s, they looked out over the valley and to the west, where she could see all of Tucson laid out. She was the people person, and seeing all those lights made her feel connected to them, even if she was up on the mountainside. She craved her solitude as much as Lissa did, but Hannah needed interaction with people. Lissa could go weeks without talking to anyone but her. If Hannah did that, she’d end up going crazy.

Laying her head against the glass, she wondered if he was out there. The one for her. After all these years, she finally started thinking about her life and having a relationship again. After the last one, she’d sworn she’d never have another one, which was why it worked out so well with Lissa. But after seeing Lissa fall and reading all of her books, Hannah began to think, to hope, that maybe romance was still alive, and maybe, just maybe it was out there for her, too. Maybe she was worthy of love. Maybe it was time to open her heart again.

Lissa stretched and froze. Someone was in bed with her, and she didn’t remember how she’d gotten to bed in the first place. Should she try to sneak out? See who was there with her? Or just scream? Maybe Hannah would hear her. She peeked out from under her eyelashes, looking at the shadows on the rock wall. She knew it was early in the day; the sun hadn’t been up for long.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm her nerves and when she did, she immediately realized who it was. She could smell Will’s scent, his cologne. Wondering if she was losing her mind and it was all wishful thinking that he was there with her, she slowly turned her head and saw him lying there, sleeping next to her with his face relaxed in slumber.

He was there, sleeping in her bed. Her fingers itched to reach out and touch him, but he looked so peaceful laying there. She was so happy he was there she got out of bed and ran out of her room, down the hall and into the kitchen, skidding to a stop when Hannah wasn’t in there. Changing course, she ran into the living room, but when she wasn’t there either she started to get worried. Going down the other hall and into Hannah’s wing, she knocked on her door but got no answer. Heading to the lower level, she checked the garage and saw her car was still there, so she continued on to their exercise room, and finally found Hannah beating on the heavy bag they had.

“Hannah.”

She stopped and turned to look at Lissa, her eyes haunted.

“No, no, Hannah, no.” Lissa was by her side in a flash, hugging her. “Stop it. Stop it right now.”

“I’m trying.”

“Why didn’t you wake me?”

“You need your sleep. Besides, Will is here.”

Lissa framed Hannah’s face with her hands. “You listen to me. I will always be here for you. It doesn’t matter what else in my life is going on. You come get me. You tell me, and I’ll be here for you. You know how I am. I constantly get wrapped up in the writing and lose track of everything. Stop me, make me look and I am here.” She hugged her hard again. “Now tell me.”

“So after Will got here last night, I started thinking about things. When I came back here looking out over the city, I started thinking about the two of you and how things were going to change. I thought about everything we’d been through and I began to wonder if maybe there was someone out there for me.”

“That’s good, all of that is good. So what happened to change that?”

“I had a nightmare. I relived everything that happened that night. Maybe I’m not as ready as I thought.”

“Oh, honey, you’re closer than you know.” She hugged her again. “Maybe you needed to relive it one last time to move forward. It’s been a long time since you had a nightmare.”

“Maybe.”

“Hannah, you didn’t die. You’re alive. He couldn’t kill you. You’ve taken the pieces he scattered around and put them back together. You know it’s okay to have a relationship again. Not every man is like that piece of shit. There
are
good men out there.”

“I know. I know. Anyway, I’m fine. I’m going to go and beat this bag up for a while. You should get back to Will.”

“Will, shit.” She kissed her on the cheek quickly. “Thank you,” and ran out of the room, right into Will. Looking up at him, she smiled. “Oops.”

“Good morning. I was hoping for a leisurely wake-up with you wrapped in my arms.”

“Oh, that sounds nice.” She grabbed his hand. “It’s not too late. I’m all for getting back in bed and being wrapped in your arms.”

They stopped in the kitchen and grabbed some pastries and coffee for her and tea for him before heading back to the bedroom. Sitting together on the bed, they filled each other in on everything that had happened since the last time they’d seen each other. It had been so long since they’d been in the same room together they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. It felt so good to be able to touch him again.