Take Two (The Jilted Bride #1)(51)

“What paparazzi?”

“Turn around in ten seconds. On your three o’ clock, up there behind that truck.”

I glared at him and slowly turned around. I looked up and saw three shadowy figures looking down at us.

That is so creepy!

“You still didn’t have to act like you didn’t know me,” I turned back around. “I honestly regret sleeping with you now. I don’t even know how I’m going to effectively write about your wedding.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“I really do.”

“Which part?”

“All of it.”

Matt walked me to my apartment door and waited for me to say something.

“I’m shocked you remember where I live,” I hissed.

“Are you really that upset with me?”

“Yes.”

He sighed. “I’m sorry. I should’ve arranged for a private tour as soon as you told me you had to go there. Then we could have had sex on the deck for all I care.”

“Whatever,” I placed my key in the door. “Keep lying to yourself.”

He grabbed me by my waist and spun me around. “I said I’m sorry. Would you like to go back tomorrow?”

“That’s not the point...”

“I really had a wonderful weekend with you. I wish it didn’t have to end.”

“I wish I could believe you.”

“Melody,” he cut himself short and pushed me against the door. “Let me make it up to you.”

I was sitting in the conference room with staff members, waiting to speak to Selena Ross.

Normally, I conducted meetings like this alone, at Central Park or in the lobby of a hotel, but since she was an A-list celebrity the rules had to be changed.

The staff had been notified of her love for one hundred dollar chocolates, freshly cut sonata lilies, and the color black. In the two hours they had to put something together, they brought in a black linen table cloth for the conference table and two vases of sonata lilies. They hoped she would overlook the missing chocolates—there was only so much they could do with such short notice.

Selena entered the room an hour past our meeting time, something I would never accept from any other client. If it hadn’t been for the other staffers in the room, I would’ve said, “My time is very valuable Miss Ross, and I don’t appreciate the way you’ve made me spend it. Talk to my assistant about rescheduling and try to be on time to our next visit.”

Instead I heard myself say, “Good afternoon, Miss Ross. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Same here, Miss Carter. I’m so happy you agreed to write about our wedding,” she took a seat and plucked a lily from the vase.

The rest of the staff smiled and introduced themselves. She nodded her head at each one of them, blinking her light gray eyes, looking more stunning as the seconds ticked by.

I admired her perfect white teeth and her perfectly styled hair—she was wearing it in long black ringlets. She was pretty without even trying to be.

“How would you like me to write about your wedding, Miss Ross?” I asked.

“I want it to be romantic you know? I brought some notes,” she pulled a folder out of her bag. “These are a couple of my diary entries from when Matt and I first started dating. I want you to include some of these, you know, like a love story.”

“Okay. Is there any particular part of the wedding you want me to hone in on? Besides the vows?”

“Yes. I want you to capture me walking down the aisle, Matt’s face as I’m approaching him, and of course our first kiss as a married couple.”

My heart sank.

“Okay, I can do that Miss Ross. I’ll send you a draft of the article six hours before it goes to print and you can call up to two hours before publishing for any changes.”

“You’re the best Miss Carter,” she stood and shook my hand. She walked around the table and personally thanked all of the staff, signing autographs for whoever asked.

I locked the door to my office and flipped through Selena’s diaries. I flipped to the last page, dated for the past December: “Dear Journal, Matt and I have been dating for almost two years. I wish he would hurry up and propose. We would be so perfect together.

“Can you picture it? Two of Hollywood’s brightest stars at the altar? I really hope he proposes soon…I can’t believe I fell in love with him…This is the most amazing feeling in the world.”

I closed the journal. I didn’t want to read anymore until the day I started writing the article.

I sat in the doctor’s office, concentrating on the black and white Van Gogh painting on the door.

I heard the laser buzzing against my skin, but I didn’t look at it directly. I didn’t want to see. It was the last phase of removal, the last part of Sean I needed to get rid of.

Matt offered to pick me up afterwards, but I successfully lied and told him that Jen and I had plans. I didn’t want to see him.

I’d agreed to let him make me an “I’m sorry” dinner at his apartment later, and I was having second thoughts.

Sure, Matt was sexy, charming, and nice, but I was tired of hearing about his marriage to Selena—tired of smiling in his face and breaking down on the inside.

All the red flags had been there from the beginning: the over the top chase, his unwillingness to really discuss that “contract,” and the “crazy fiancé” he kept around for the press.