She stared at him, her mouth open in surprise. She forgot the cameras, forgot the excited reporters, and the gaping train station employees. She forgot everyone, except Clark. There was so much love flooding her throat that she couldn't speak.
Clark mistook her silence for hesitation. His expression fell, and he gripped her hands and urged, “Yesterday, you gave me a taste of what it would be like to have you in my life, and I can't go back to how it was without you. I'll break my water heater if you want, and I always have indigestion. I can be real for you. Just give me a chance. Tell me you want me, too, Liv. I know you hate the industry, but not everything about it is bad. I'll cut back on the number of films I do, I've always wanted to do independent films. .. . We can make it work, just tell me what to do, and I'll do it—”
"I love you, Clark,” she blurted out then laughed at the wide smile that crossed his face. “I don't want to change anything about you. Not one arrogant inch.”
He laughed, then framed her face with his hands and rained kisses on her cheeks and forehead. She wrapped her arms around his neck and the two kissed, prompting a round of applause and hoots from the crowd. As soon as they parted, the reporters proceeded to shout incomprehensible questions at them. It was madness and Olivia loved every second of it because she was with Clark.
"Come with me to Scotland,” he pleaded, as if the two stood alone in the room. His arms moved around her waist like a clamp, as if she had any intention of ever leaving him. “I heard it's beautiful. It can be our honeymoon. You can return to the states, in time to start fall classes at the college.”
"Honeymoon?” She giggled in absolute glee and happiness.
"Marry me, Liv. Let's live in this fantasy for the rest of our lives.”
Olivia laughed then bobbed her head up and down in response, too overwhelmed by emotion to speak. She would have never thought that after spending twenty-four hours with a man she thought she despised, all of her dreams would come true. Dreams that she hadn't even realized she had. Clark whooped like a true Red Creek cowboy, which prompted the other Red Creek citizens—friends and neighbors who had heard about the drama and poured into the station—to follow his lead. The station filled with the sounds of flashing cameras, cowboys yelling, and laughter.
Olivia laughed at the mayhem, then whispered into Clark's ear, “Somehow, I doubt this is what my brother had in mind when he told me to make certain that you keep a low profile this weekend.”
Clark laughed and kissed her again, just to make certain that all the cameras got the shot.
An All Night Man Page 27
