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  Steven hadn’t sent out a search party, but he was getting close. “I heard what happened. I was worried you two weren’t coming back in time.”

  Valerie smiled. “We’re professionals. Just took a little longer at the police station than we’d thought.”

  Steven put a hand on Valerie’s arm and smiled, before turning to Jesse. “I’ve hired an extra six security guards. Two more per shift.”

  “Good. I don’t want Curtis getting on this set at all.”

  “A guard will be outside Valerie’s trailer at all times.”

  Valerie sighed. “I never thought I’d say this, but I’m looking forward to the Night Show. At least we won’t be stuck here waiting for him to do something.”

  Their last scene of the day was a hot and heavy kissing scene at the ranch house where Jo lived.

  When Dylan took Jo into his arms, on a blanket spread on the floor in front of the fireplace, Valerie completely forgot she was acting. Always before, some part of her mind had retained the knowledge that people were watching them, but this time was different.

  Jesse’s arms moved around her, and his mouth descended on hers. Her arms moved around his torso, her hands going under his shirt without thinking about it. Always before, she’d had to be told how deep to get into character, and she’d been told where to place her hands. No direction was needed this time.

  Her hands explored his back as she clutched him to her. She felt him lower her onto her back on the blanket, and one leg wrapped around his. When the phone rang on cue, she jerked away from Jesse, startled.

  The look of passion was still on her face as she answered it. “Hello?” She paused a moment to listen. “Yes, he’s here. I’ll put him on.” She held the phone out to Dylan, doing her best to stay in character.

  He kissed her again as he took the phone from her, an unscripted kiss. “This is Dr. Drake.” He paused, his hand stroking up and down her arm as he listened. “Yes, I’ll be right there.”

  He dropped the house phone back into the cradle and pulled her to him once more. “I’m sorry for the interruption,” he whispered against her lips. “Lunch tomorrow?”

  She nodded, her eyes never leaving his. “I’ll cook.”

  He nodded, hurrying toward the door.

  When Steven yelled, “Cut,” Valerie didn’t wait. She hurried out the door after Jesse, taking his hand and dragging him off toward the trailer they were sharing.

  Jesse asked no questions, understanding her need. As soon as they were inside, he closed and locked the door, holding her against it as he kissed her. “I need you!”

  Valerie wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, never taking her mouth from his. He carried her to the bedroom and lowered her onto the bed, coming down atop her, stripping off his shirt along the way.

  “Everyone knows exactly what we’re doing,” she said, breathlessly.

  “I can’t care about that right now. Don’t ask me to!”

  She shook her head. “I won’t!” She caught him around the neck, pulling his lips back to hers. Nothing mattered but getting them both naked. Nothing.

  * * *

  An hour later, Jesse lifted his head from the pillow. “I’m going to ask for more kissing scenes to be written into the script.”

  Valerie laughed. “This was so much better than a cold shower.”

  He shook his head at her. “What would the press say about Valerie the Virgin if they could see her now.”

  She blushed. “I don’t know, and I don’t want to. I hope no one thinks to interview the cast and crew about how things have been different between us since we married.”

  He chuckled, picturing it. “Well, they used to run off after their kissing scenes and they’d each take a cold shower. They’d show up later with their skin all blue from the ice water they dumped over their heads. Now, they head back to her trailer, and you wouldn’t believe the sounds we hear!”

  Valerie giggled. “Yeah, I don’t want to see that write-up.”

  He grinned at her. “I hope you know you’ve made me the happiest man alive!”

  “Because I dragged you back to the trailer after our kissing scene?”

  “Because you’ve agreed to share your life with me. I still can’t believe how lucky I am to have to beside me.”

  She shook her head. “I’m the lucky one, Jess. Your love makes me so much more than I’ve ever been.”

  He leaned down and kissed her softly. “We complete each other. I think I knew it before we even kissed, when I saw you read the lines for Jo.”

  “It took me longer. I didn’t know it until you’d kissed me.”

  “Just keep on believing it.”

  * * *

  The crew wrapped early on Friday afternoon, so Jesse and Valerie could catch their flight to New York. She had tucked her hair under a ball cap, hoping to avoid recognition, and he’d put on a pair of glasses. True fans would still spot them, but maybe they would be able to avoid having to sign autographs on the plane.

  “The show is filmed at ten, so we’ll have just enough time to land and get to the studio. The network will have a car waiting to drive us there.” Jesse leaned over the partition between the seats as he talked to her.

  She nodded. “I’m still really nervous about this one.”

  “Isn’t this the show where you said you were going to stay a virgin ‘til you married?”

  “Don’t remind me!”

  He grinned. “I watched that night, and I was so happy to hear you say that. It meant you weren’t sleeping with Curtis. I think I’d have had to kill him if you had been.”

  She shook her head. “You would not.”

  “Probably not. But I’d have considered it!”

  She pulled her script out of her purse. “I’m going to work on learning my lines for next week. I want to be able to enjoy our time in New York.”

  “Oh, I guarantee, we’ll enjoy our time in New York.” He ran his hand down her arm, leaving her no doubt as to his thoughts.

  “I do want to see a show.”

  “There’s television in the hotel room. We’ll watch a show after.”

  She laughed. “Jesse, you really are naughty at times.”

  “Only with you!”

  * * *

  Valerie paced back and forth nervously back stage while she waited for their names to be called. Jesse finally caught her by the hand and held her still. “You’re making me dizzy.”

  “Will you promise to grab me and kiss me if I start to say something stupid?” she asked, her eyes wide.

  “I have permission to stop you from talking by kissing you?” He raised an eyebrow letting her know that there was no question of his taking advantage. He would.

  “Only if I say something stupid.”

  “Well, if you start talking, I won’t know what you’re going to say, so I’ll just have to keep kissing you!”

  She sighed, shaking her head. “Forget I said anything.”

  One of the backstage attendants came to them. “One minute before you’re on.”

  Valerie started breathing quickly, getting more nervous by the second. Jesse pulled her to him and kissed her, not to shut her up, but to calm her down. Of course, it just served to stir them both up in a different way.

  “Next we have our special guests, Valerie Dobson and Jesse Savoy, the stars of Lazy Love!”

  Jesse pulled her out onto the main stage, their hands gripping each other’s tightly. They took the two seats next to the desk where the host sat, and each of them pinned on a microphone.

  “So, I hear you two crazy kids ran off and got married.”

  Jesse grinned, bringing Valerie’s hand to his lips and kissing it softly before answering, much to the appreciation of the audience who gave a joint, “Aww.”

  “We did. We’ve been married for a week today.” He wrapped his arm around Valerie’s shoulder’s, feeling her lean against him. “She’s made me the happiest man on earth.”

  The host, Matt Wi
nters, smiled at that. “There have been rumors for years that you were in love with Valerie, even though she was dating another man. What do you have to say to that?”

  Jesse kept his face passive. “I married her the day she broke off her relationship with that other man. What do you think?”

  The audience laughed, and as Valerie looked out at them, she saw many of the women looking at the two of them with sappy expressions.

  “Valerie, you famously came on this show four years ago and said you’d be a virgin until the day you married. Did you make it?”

  She smiled, having anticipated the question. “I did. Though some of those scenes with Jesse made it hard.”

  “In more ways than one,” Jesse said, a grin transforming his face as he looked at Valerie.

  “Jesse!” she said with a blush. “I’m sorry, Matt. He hasn’t quite learned to behave yet when he doesn’t have someone give him the words to say. I think I’m going to have to start giving him a script before every public appearance.” She had thought the same about herself just a few minutes before, so it was nice to be able to tease Jesse about that.

  Matt grinned, looking back and forth between them. “You look very happy, Valerie. I guess married life agrees with you.”

  “Being married to Jesse agrees with me. I couldn’t ask for a more attentive, sweet husband. And he’s even sappy in a very manly way.”

  Jesse glared at her. “You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone!”

  “I did say it was manly sap.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek.

  The audience roared with laughter. Matt waited a moment for them to quiet down. “Audiences have been tuning in to Lazy Love for four years now, just to see you two kiss onscreen. How much of that chemistry that’s between you two is just show?”

  Valerie shook her head. “Not one iota. It’s all been as real as you see on the television from the first time we kissed.”

  “Well, then, I think that calls for a live kiss for my audience.” Matt turned to the big crowd. “What do you all think?”

  “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” the audience chanted.

  Valerie looked at Jesse, her eyes wide. He shrugged back at her, taking her hand and pulling her to her feet. Lowering his head, he captured her lips with his, kissing her with all the passion that was raging through him after hours of them being in public together.

  Valerie wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back, clinging to his shoulders.

  When Jesse raised his head, his eyes were darker as they always were after a kiss. “No acting necessary.”

  There were catcalls from the audience.

  Jesse sat back down, but this time, he tugged her onto his lap instead of letting her take her own chair. “We’re newlyweds. You’ll all indulge us, right?”

  Matt laughed. “Well, you two seem genuinely happy. We wish you all the best.”

  “Thank you,” Valerie said softly. “I do need to point out there was an error when you introduced us, though.”

  “An error? What kind of error?” Matt was obviously perplexed.

  “My name is Valerie Savoy now. Dobson was my maiden name.”

  Matt chuckled at that. “So you’re going to be old-fashioned and take his name, are you?”

  “I think I made it clear the last time I was on the show that I’m an old-fashioned kind of girl.”

  “You did at that!” Matt shook his head. “So, are you hoping for kids right off? Or are you going to wait?”

  Valerie looked at Jesse with wide eyes. “You know we’ve never even discussed it. We were too busy enjoying being married.”

  Jesse shrugged. “I think we’d both like to have children, so if they happen right off, it won’t disappoint us. The writers may have some trouble writing them into the show, but hopefully the next time Dylan proposes to Jo, she’ll say yes.”

  “How many times has your character proposed to hers now?” Matt asked.

  “Three,” Jesse said. “I’m glad Valerie didn’t make me ask her over and over again. It’s hard enough to do it for a show. In real life, I think I’d go insane.”

  “Do you know if they plan to marry them off this season? Or next?”

  Valerie grinned while shaking her head. “You know we can’t tell you that, even if we know!” The truth was, she had no idea if they were planning to marry them off, but she had a feeling they’d do it soon. They wouldn’t want an unplanned pregnancy for Jo.

  “Well, we’ve got a clip here to show. Can you set it up for us?”

  Valerie and Jesse exchanged looks. “I have no idea what they sent you,” Valerie said, with her eyes wide.

  “I guess we’ll all be surprised.” Matt pointed to the big screen in the middle of the stage. “Let’s see.”

  Valerie slipped off Jesse’s lap and back into her own chair, so she could see better. She rarely watched the show, because she got too worked up. Her eyes on the screen, she grinned when she saw the scene.

  It was the one they’d filmed right before she’d noticed Curtis was on the set a week before. As she watched, Jesse kissed her and his hands were under her shirt. She had a leg wrapped around his waist, and she was sitting on the kitchen counter. When he tried to talk her into going to the bedroom, she pulled back, her face red and flushed.

  As the scene faded away, she felt herself blushing. The whole world saw incredibly intimate scenes between her and her husband on a weekly basis.

  Matt picked up the papers with his questions on them and fanned his face with them. “Whooey. You two outdid yourselves on that one.” He looked at Jesse. “You get paid to do that?”

  Jesse grinned. “We agreed to get married not an hour later.”

  “I can see why!” Matt shook her head. “That’s why people tune in for your show. You two have some incredible chemistry. I hope they let your characters marry soon.”

  “I’m just glad we didn’t have to wait for the writers to decide it was time!” Jesse said with a wink at Valerie.

  Matt got to his feet and shook hands with first Jesse and then Valerie. “I want to thank Jesse and Valerie Savoy for joining us tonight.”

  Valerie lifted a hand in a wave to the audience as they exited the stage. As soon as they were behind the curtain she let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “We did it!”

  “You were awesome! You didn’t seem at all bothered by the questions he asked.”

  She rested her head against his shoulder. “Thank you for lending me your courage.”

  He wrapped his arm around her, and they walked out to the car the network had waiting to take them to their hotel. “Do we really have to play tourist this weekend?” he asked as they settled into the back seat.

  “One play is all I ask.”

  He nodded. “Sure.” He didn’t mind taking her to a play on Broadway, but he felt much safer when they stayed in. He’d take care of her, though.

  CHAPTER 8

  The next week’s filming went by without incident, and Friday evening Jesse and Valerie flew to LA for their week off. “I’m really nervous about going back to LA.”

  “Why?” Jesse asked. “All of your stuff is at my house now, and Curtis doesn’t know where that is.” He didn’t want her to worry about her ex. That was his job.

  “It’s not that hard to find you.”

  He shrugged. “I live in a house with a wall surrounding it, and there will be security guards posted at the gate by the time I get home. My agent arranged it. He’s not going to risk anything happening to either of us.”

  “You don’t think?” She didn’t trust Curtis. She’d known him to do some crazy things.

  “No, I don’t. I think he’s going to try to get at you on the set.”

  “Does that mean I don’t need a babysitter in LA?” she asked. She loved the time they got together, but she hated to feel like she needed to be watched at all times.

  Jesse sighed, moving her hand to his lips and kissing it softly. “It’s only for a little while.”

  �
��Why?” She looked at him in confusion. “Do you think he’s going to give up soon? Or do you think he’s going to make a move?”

  Jesse shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t think he’ll ever give up. I think you’ll be hiding from him for the rest of your life if he isn’t caught.”

  Valerie sighed. “I hate that. I’ll be an old grandmother someday, and still watching over my shoulder for him.”

  “Nope. He’s up to something. We just have to wait him out.” He turned to her more fully. “But about children…are you wanting kids right away? We’ve never talked about it.”

  She shrugged. “I haven’t thought about it a lot, but it wouldn’t upset me to have them. I love kids.”

  “Well, it’s something we need to talk about, because I’m not using any protection, and I’m assuming you aren’t either.”

  She shook her head. “I guess I never thought of that.”

  “We’ve both had a lot on our minds lately.”

  “Yeah, ending a relationship of eight years, getting married, working every day, and flying all over the country every weekend can do that to you.” She rubbed the back of her neck with her free hand. “Do you realize we have been on both coasts and in the middle of the country all in the space of a week?”

  “You were the one who wanted to be a famous actress…”

  She shook her head. “Actually, I’m not sure that I ever wanted to be famous. Small parts here and there were all I was really looking for. I wanted to make a living with acting, but I figured I’d have the kind of role Amber does.”

  “Ah. Yeah, the kid sister to the star. Didn’t work out that way for you, did it?” He rubbed his thumb over her lips, wishing they were alone.

  She recognized the look in his eyes and patted his shoulder as if to tell him to calm down. “No, but I think it would have if you hadn’t been there auditioning the same day I was.”

  He shrugged. “I’m not so sure. You’re a wonderful actress.”

  Valerie smiled at that. “I’m decent. But the magic we create onscreen together is what everyone wants. If either of us left the show, it wouldn’t last another season.”