Just Like in the Movies

by Heidi Rice

  ‘I’m scared …’ The words choked off in his throat. ‘I’m scared I can’t give you what you need, that I’m not that guy. That’s why I wanted to save The Royale. Because I guess, underneath everything else, I wasn’t sure I could give you more than that.’

  Her smile was sweet and sad, but also confused as she tilted her head and stared back at him. ‘Oh, Luke. Can’t you see what I’m trying to tell you? You’ve already given me everything I need.’

  ‘Like what?’ he asked, because he still didn’t get it. But the damp from the early summer rain, which had started to seep into his bones, didn’t feel so cold anymore.

  Probably because of the naked tenderness in her expression, which was full of hope and understanding, uncomplicated truth, compassion instead of judgement, and something more …

  Something he wanted, more than anything else he’d ever wanted in his life. And he’d wanted a lot of stuff once. Stability, security, a house with a picket fence, a dad who showed up when he said he would and didn’t look through him like he wasn’t there, a mom who didn’t draw the attention of every photographer within a twenty mile radius and would tell Becca to brush her teeth and Jack not to jump off that roof so he didn’t have to. Funny to think that none of that stuff seemed to matter so much anymore.

  ‘Well, orgasms.’ Ruby’s cheeks lit up brighter than the fairy lights in her bedroom. ‘You gave me lots of orgasms. And then there’s your amazing DIY skills.’

  ‘DI-what skills?’ he asked.

  ‘Repair skills,’ she clarified. ‘And having your arms around me when I needed a hug …’ Her smile quivered and he knew she was thinking of Matty. ‘And I’ve needed a lot of those lately. You got me almond croissants in the morning because you knew they’re my favourites. You cooked me grilled cheese sandwiches, and gave me the sexiest hair wash I’ll ever have. You fixed my boiler and sat all the way through The Wizard of Oz even though you hate singalongs and flying monkeys. You watched About a Boy even though you don’t fancy Hugh Grant and …’ She leaned into him, bringing her rose scent with her and whispered: ‘And there was a scene in it that reminded you of something absolutely terrible.’

  His gaze got stuck on the lush, sexy mouth he’d feasted on for days, and dreamed about often, but had never gotten enough of.

  It was what came out of it next, though, that was the hottest thing he’d ever heard.

  ‘You don’t have to save me, Luke. I can save myself. Just like Cora under that waterfall.’

  ‘I know,’ he said, even getting the movie reference. For once.

  She dropped her head. Examined the puddle forming at his feet.

  ‘I could get your suit dry cleaned, before you go?’

  She was giving him an easy out. But he could hear the courage and the strength it was taking her to make the offer sound casual. When he knew it was anything but.

  And it was the only thing he needed to finally break the seal on all of his insecurities. And step up to the plate.

  His mother was right. Love was a gift, and he’d be nuts not to grab it with both hands – simply because he was too scared he might not be up to the job.

  Taking her arms, he dragged her towards him, dampening her T-shirt and making her eyes pop wide.

  ‘Fuck the suit,’ he said.

  And then he kissed her, like he meant it. Deeper than Babs and Bob, more desperate than Jake and Heath, curiouser than Judy, and even more selfish than Hugh the asshat, because he’d finally found his own Cora under her waterfall. But he’d be damned if he was ever going to let her go.

  Epilogue

  Three hours later.

  ‘I spoke to Gwen. I figured I could relocate to London, leave her in charge of the New York office, buy that house in Chepstow Villas, seeing as you’ll need a new place to live …’

  ‘But Luke, are you sure?’ Ruby asked, leaning up on her elbow, the sight of the man she loved lying casually in her bed making her heart race into her throat. Surely the choking sensation would eventually ease once she got used to the wonder of everything that had happened in the last three hours?

  They’d gone straight to her flat, and after striping Luke out of his wet suit they’d made love – fast and furious at first, as if their lives depended on making up for the six lost days, and then slow and languid. Her body was still humming from the orgasms, but more than that, her heart was humming as if he’d somehow plugged her into an electric socket charged with happiness.

  The only problem was all the happy hormones and humming heartbeats – not to mention the sight of his naked chest and those dark blue eyes searching her face so full of sincerity – were making it next to impossible to have a coherent conversation about practical considerations. Such as their future plans.

  But Luke being Luke, he was insisting on having that conversation now.

  She loved how he needed to have order in his life. But right now she loved his left nipple a bit more. And she was finding it super hard not to give into the urge to kiss it.

  ‘Of course I’m sure,’ he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her back against his side so she couldn’t give in to her nipple fixation.

  ‘But we don’t need to stay in London,’ she said, yawning, as she snuggled against his chest. Was there anything more glorious than having him in her bed and knowing he wanted to stay?

  ‘You relocating to London seems pretty extreme,’ she added.

  ‘Not really,’ he said, his fingers playing with her hair in that absent way he had that made her feel so cherished. ‘I’m doing a lot of business in Europe. It kind of makes sense for me to open an office this side of the Atlantic.’

  ‘But I won’t be tied to the city, anymore,’ she offered. ‘Not after I sign the sale agreement with Rialto tomorrow.’

  He tensed, and she knew he was having to bite his tongue to stop the offer to save The Royale coming out of his mouth again. But she was proud of him when he asked instead. ‘Do you have to sign the deal tomorrow? There might be a way to find other financing so you can keep the theatre.’

  ‘Financing that isn’t yours?’ she asked, just to be clear that they’d had this argument already and she’d won.

  She tilted her head up, and the joy exploded in her heart when he nodded. ‘I still think you should accept my help. But yeah, financing that isn’t mine.’

  She smiled and pressed a kiss into his left pec. ‘I don’t know if I can hold them off,’ she said, honestly, pushing away the pang of regret. ‘Gallagher has agreed to keep all my staff on and he wants to redevelop the site for a big relaunch in December.’

  ‘But if we could find other investment, you’d want to keep The Royale?’

  She swallowed, the emotion making her eyes sting at the passionate intensity in his gaze. Luke didn’t do things by halves, and she was his responsibility now, whether she wanted to be or not. And she realized she did want to be. As long as they both knew that didn’t come with strings attached.

  So she nodded. ‘Yes, I’d want to keep it.’

  ‘Okay, then,’ he said, leaning closer, his lips skimming hers. ‘Then we need to investigate and come up with a financial plan you can accept.’

  ‘Uh-huh,’ she murmured against his lips, feeling her happy hormones turn hot and achy. ‘But maybe we could do that tomorrow,’ she said. ‘I’ve got other things I want to investigate tonight.’

  He chuckled, the sound low and deep and gloriously self-satisfied, but just as they sunk further into the bed, his lips finally connecting with hers, there was a sharp rap on the bedroom door.

  They both jumped.

  ‘Ruby? Luke? Sorry to cock block you both but you need to come downstairs.’

  ‘Jace?’ Ruby felt her face ignite at her assistant manager’s shout.

  What on earth? What time was it? She had assumed Jacie and the rest of the crew had packed up and gone home hours ago. The whole theatre had ended up witnessing her and Luke’s reunion, and it had been wonderful to have everyone there, but th
ey’d gone back to watch the rest of the movie, while she and Luke sneaked upstairs.

  She scrambled out of bed as Luke let out a rueful chuckle and rolled on to his side, muttering: ‘I always knew that woman hates me.’ But it was said with wry affection.

  Ruby grabbed her robe, slung it on, then opened the door. No way would Jace have interrupted them unless there was a real problem.

  ‘What is it, Jace? Is something wrong?’

  ‘Not wrong, exactly,’ Jace said, leaning round her and then sending Ruby a cheeky smirk at the sight of Luke lounging in her bed. ‘I just thought you should know, Helena Devlin arrived approximately half an hour ago. And now she’s asking to see you and Luke.’

  ‘What the hell! You have got to be kidding me?’ This from Luke, who suddenly wasn’t lounging anymore. ‘What the hell is my mom doing here?’

  He didn’t sound pleased. But as Ruby slipped out of the room and closed the door behind her so he could get dressed, she couldn’t help the grin that spread over her face.

  She was finally going to meet Helena Devlin. The stage legend … and Luke’s mum. ‘I can’t believe it,’ she said to Jace, not quite able to keep the awe out of her voice. ‘Helena Devlin’s in The Royale?’

  Her throat got a little raw. Somehow she knew Matty would have been so pleased to have his sister here at last. The place he’d built out of the wreckage of his relationship with Rafael Falcone. And Helena. This was huge.

  ‘She’s not just here,’ Jace said, beaming back at her. ‘She’s been holding court since she arrived. Beryl and Brynn are practically genuflecting. Gerry has had several spontaneous orgasms and even gramps is charmed,’ she said. ‘But I couldn’t hold off coming to get you any longer. Sorry,’ she said, not looking all that sorry. ‘I hope I didn’t interrupt anything important.’ She all but chuckled.

  ‘You know perfectly well you did,’ Ruby said, grabbing a set of sweats from the airing cupboard and dropping the robe to tug them on. ‘But it’s nothing we can’t take a rain check on,’ she added, grinning back at Jacie.

  ‘I’ll bet,’ Jacie said, lifting her eyebrows.

  Ruby checked her hair in the hall mirror. Balls. She looked as if she’d been electrocuted. But it would have to do. She didn’t have time to get it in any semblance of order. And she wanted to get down to greet Helena before Luke got dressed and started giving his mother a hard time.

  Helena was Matty’s sister. And Matty had forgiven her, she knew he had. Whatever Luke’s issues were with his mother – and she didn’t doubt he had them, and there was a good reason for them, and they were probably deep and complex – she still wanted Matty’s sister to know she was welcome at The Royale.

  Not least because Ruby was bursting with so much happiness right now, she wanted everyone to be happy.

  But even so, as she made her way down the stairs to the foyer, the doubts set in. If only she could have met Helena after her stage show, when she had been wearing her green silk dress and had her hair properly tamed and her wits about her, instead of in shapeless sweats with bed hair, her mind still frazzled from shagging Helena’s son to within an inch of his life.

  Awkward, much?

  But as she stepped into the foyer, and Brynn and Errol and Beryl and Gerry all turned, to reveal the woman in their midst, Ruby’s heart rammed her throat.

  Helena stood in the newly redecorated foyer, her dark red hair piled on top of her head in an elaborate chignon, her face one Ruby had seen so many times, but somehow different. Not regale, or reserved, but warm and soft and full of joy when a smile spread across it and she marched over the faded carpeting towards her.

  ‘My dear,’ she said, her clipped smoky voice bringing back a thousand beautiful movie memories for Ruby. ‘You must be Ruby, I’m so so overjoyed to meet you at last.’

  She grasped Ruby’s fingers and tugged her into a hug, which felt so natural, the silly sting of tears returned. She became enveloped in the scent of patchouli perfume and the warmth of affection, and acceptance.

  For goodness sake, get a grip.

  Ruby sniffed as she hugged Helena back and the older woman whispered, for only her to hear: ‘I don’t know how you did it, my dear, but I will always be in your debt. Luke has needed someone like you his whole life, and I’m so glad he’s found you at last.’

  Helena knew, she realised, about her and Luke, and she approved.

  And suddenly, Ruby’s bed hair, and the sweats and what she’d been doing with Helena’s son not five minutes ago didn’t matter nearly as much as all the wonderful emotions suffusing her heart.

  She’d always known she couldn’t have Matty back, but having Helena here felt almost like the next best thing.

  Helena stepped back and smiled. ‘Your wonderful team have been showing me round the theatre,’ she said, switching from intense emotion to practicalities in a heartbeat, like a pro. ‘It really is such a marvellous place. I can feel Matty here in every nook and cranny. And I know this is where he healed. So, I have a proposition for you that I hope you will accept.’

  Ruby wiped her eyes, the tears having welled over at some point. ‘You … you do?’ she said, still struggling to get a grip on the conversation.

  Clearly Luke and his mother had one crucial thing in common that she really needed to learn: how to be pragmatic when your heart was overwhelmed.

  ‘Mom, what are you doing here?’

  Ruby swung round to see Luke standing behind her, leaning back against the concession stand, his arms crossed in a stubborn gesture over his broad chest, his damp suit trousers and shirt and the wary frown on his face only making him look more gorgeous. And more hers.

  Strangely though, she couldn’t feel the animosity pumping off him she’d noticed before in his conversation with his mother on the phone all those weeks ago.

  Her heart did the giddy little leap it always did when Luke was near.

  Jeez, she was going to have to get that under control, too.

  Had Helena said something about a proposition? What could that mean?

  ‘Actually, my darling boy,’ Helena said, with all the pomp and circumstance of a woman who had made a living being a legend. ‘I’ve come to buy your share of The Royale.’ She took Ruby’s trembling fingers in hers and squeezed, before turning back to her son. ‘So Ruby doesn’t have to sell it, and I hope …’ Her gaze shifted back to Ruby. ‘I hope I can help her run it, as a silent partner of course, the way I’m sure Matty would have wanted.’

  ***

  Luke jerked upright and released his arms.

  What the actual …? His mom was coming through with the finance now, after she’d told him she wasn’t going to?

  Even though they’d come to a definite understanding in her dressing room four hours ago, and the end result had been nothing but good, he couldn’t help being kind of pissed by her contrary decision and her terrible timing. So he blurted out the first thing that came into his head.

  ‘You’re gonna let me loan you the money after all to buy Ruby out?’

  He knew it was the wrong thing to say as soon as it had come out of his mouth. Because the look of pure joy on Ruby’s face turned quizzical. It wouldn’t take her long to guess what he’d tried to do, but before he could correct his mistake his mother stepped in to rescue him.

  ‘No, I’m not letting you loan me the money, because that’s not what Ruby wants.’ She glanced at Ruby. ‘Am I right, dear?’

  ‘Yes, yes you are. I can’t accept Luke’s money, he knows that,’ Ruby said, sending him a glance over her shoulder that told him she would be having words with him later about trying to trick her into accepting his help, and then staring at his mother as if she were a legend.

  And, okay, maybe she was – but she was still his mom and now he had no idea what the hell was going on. And what she was even doing here.

  ‘So, how are you going to get your hands on the two million pounds The Royale needs to pay off Matty’s debts?’ he asked, because everyone else seemed to be frozen
in place, waiting for an explanation.

  He knew how that felt, because he’d been dealing with his mom and her grandstanding gestures for a lot longer than they had.

  ‘I’ve spoken to my financial team and I made a few calls,’ his mother said, sounding more practical and forthright than he’d ever heard her. ‘It actually wasn’t that hard putting the finances together once I set my mind to it. Does that satisfy you, Luke?’ she said, snapping slightly.

  He blinked, realizing he’d been put in his place. Okay, maybe he had underestimated her. But before he could get up the guts to admit as much, Ruby had intervened.

  ‘Ms Devlin, if you’d like to invest in The Royale, we’d love to accept you as an equal partner.’

  ‘That’s all settled then, my dear,’ his mom said, positively beaming. ‘And don’t you dare call me Ms Devlin, it’s Helena.’

  The theatre’s crew – Jacie and Errol and Gerry and Brynn and Beryl – all stepped up to congratulate them both on the new partnership, Jacie making a pointed comment that she couldn’t wait to tell Gallagher where he could shove his buy-out offer tomorrow, which Luke had to agree with.

  He crossed the foyer, propelled by the need to rope his arm around Ruby’s waist and anchor her to his side as he turned to his mother and said, ‘Just in case anyone’s interested, I’ll agree to sell to you, Mom.’

  He felt an odd wrench in his chest as he took his mom’s hand to shake on the deal. Glancing around the theatre, he took in the moulding he’d spent hours repairing, the new baseboards he’d hammered into place a week ago, the fresh paint and gleaming brasswork on the concession stand, and sighed.

  It would actually be kind of hard not to have a part of this place anymore. But as Ruby leaned up to kiss his cheek he could feel the joy vibrating through her, and she murmured, ‘Thank you.’ He had no regrets.

  Matty Devlin had given him half of his dream.