Away From the Spotlight by Tamara Carlisle Page B

love.  Speak to you later.”  He hung up the phone.
    Will’s eyes bored into mine.  “Do you believe me now ?”
    “Then why all the lies?” Katherine had only dealt with one of my reasons for being upset.
    Will sat down on the bed next to me.  “They were more omissions than lies.  I’m so sorry that you had to find out this way.  I was going to tell you , eventually , but it was just so nice to be in a normal relationship for a while .  I didn’t want that part to end.  My life hasn’t remotely resembled normal for so long no matter how hard I try.  You have no idea how happy I was t hat you didn’t know who I was.”
    “You mean you like d me because I didn’t know who you were?”
    “ No , I . . . like you because of who you are and still would have even if you did know what I did for a living.  But it was nice to know you liked me for me and not the movie star.”
    “That’s really why you didn’t t ell me?” I asked incredulously.
    He looked down.  “ For the most part .  I also didn’t want you to have to dea l with the bad part of my job.”
    “The bad part?”   I couldn’t imagine what he meant.
    “Yes.  Well, you saw the results of some of it.  The paparazzi follow me around from time-to-time and the tabloids make up stuff all the time.  At one point, the paparazzi even followed Kate and Gemma around, thinking they were my girlfriends.  Once the paparazzi figured out they weren’t and they weren’t going to get any juicy pictures, the y went away , but not before the girls’ pictures were published along with articles saying I was ch eating on Katherine with them.
    “ I try to minimize the impa ct by not hanging out at ‘ Hollywood’ sort of places anymore unless Katherine and I are doing it for publicity. I was going to tell you about me soon though because, when my new movie gets released before Memorial Day W eekend, the p hotographers will start stalking me again.  As much as I would love to show you off to the whole world, I don’t think you w ould a ppreciate the lack of privacy.”
    “So you were going to continue to lie to me until you had no choice?”
    “I’m sorry, yes.”  He looked down , realizing that I wouldn ’ t like the answer.   “I wanted you to get to know the real me and for us to be a normal couple for as long as possible.  I know you’re angry with me but , if you can forgive me, you will understand soon why I did what I did.”
    “ So that’s all of it - all of your reasons?” I was still s keptical .
    “Yes.  Will you please forgive me?” he asked as he put his hand on my lef t leg and leaned in for a kiss.
    Everything he had said had made sense and I couldn’t resist him when he touched me.  I responded, “I guess, but you have a lot of making up to do.” I then let him kiss me.
    There’s nothing like makeup sex.  I think it’s the relief from not being in a fight anymore and the high after such a huge low that makes it more powerful .   As we were spooning afterward, I heard him say very quietly in my ear with a little bit of fear in his voice, “I love you.”
    I was surprised by his declaration.  I thought my heart had stopped beating and I’m sure I stopped breathing.  At that moment, I realized with certainty why I had been so upset and why I had been so invested in the relationship so fast.  I was in love with him too.  I turned around to face him and looked deeply into his eyes.  “I love you.”
    We just lay there facing each other for a while and star ed at each other, probably both in shock over what we had just said to each other.

Chapter Ten
    If there was ever a day that I wished I could blow off class, this was th e one.  But I had to go since there was only a little over two weeks of school and work before finals.
    I tried desperately not to wake Will as I got ready.  Will told me that he hadn’t slept at all the prior night, first worried when he didn’t hear from me and then upset over my