Chapter 87
“Liz!” Shawn called out, waving to her. She looked over at Charisma, surprised to have the man calling for her.
“Me?”
“Yes, you, come over here, I’d love to ask you a few questions about your husband.” He smiled pleasantly, seeing that she was nervous. Charisma gently nudged her forward, nodding for her to go.
“Go on, it’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, sure,” she grumbled, walking over to them. She glanced at Lucky and saw him grinning at her. She’d have to remember to kill him later.
“So,” Shawn said, quickly sizing up the situation. “Do you realize you’re probably one of the most envied women in the country, even the world, right now?”
Liz blushed and shook her head. “I never really thought about that.”
“How did you do it? How did you get one of the most eligible bachelors around the marry you?”
“Well, I wouldn’t really say I ‘got’ him...” she stammered, looking over at Lucky for help. He just smiled back, waiting for her to finish. “We’ve known each other we were teenagers, so I don’t really think of him as a celebrity.”
“You were high school sweethearts, then?” he asked, intrigued by the news. He had figured Lucky just met her somewhere and married her the next day, like many stars tend to do.
“No, actually, we hate...hated each other,” she explained, shooting another look back at Lucky, wishing he would jump in and help her.
“So what happened? What made you realize you were in love?”
“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “It just sort of happened, right honey?” She turned and smiled at Lucky, figuring it was the only way to get him to talk. Now he had to say something!
“Yeah, it was all very sudden,” he confirmed with a small laugh. He held out his hand and Liz walked over to him to take it. “But I’ve never been happier,” he added, smiling up at her, hamming it up for the guy.
“Yes, you do look rather blissful, both of you do,” he said with a smile, jotting down a note to himself. He scanned some of his earlier notes. “From what I have here, you’ve been married for only a week, is that right?”
They looked at one another in surprise for a moment, trying to think back to when the wedding was. It was right around midnight, but on the marriage certificate, the date was listed as the 19th, which was Saturday.
“Yeah, it was one week yesterday,” Lucky said, letting go of Liz’s hand so he could stand up from the chair. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer, looking every bit the happily married man.
“And you’re already back on tour, now that’s dedication,” Shawn said, impressed. “Well, I guess we should get started with the photos. You know what would be great? If we got some with both of you!”
“Um....” Liz stammered, looking up at Lucky fearfully. She really didn’t want to be in any pictures with him, not for a national magazine like that!
“Come on, it’ll be fun,” Lucky urged, trying not to laugh at the look of terror on her face.
“But I’m not dressed right, and my hair...” she started to argue, trying desperately to find a way out of it.
“You look perfect,” Lucky assured her a little too quickly and sincerely. She eyed him for a moment, surprised by his sudden compliment, then sighed.
“Fine, I guess it won’t be that bad.”
“Wonderful!” Shawn exclaimed, clapping his hands together for the photographer to come over.
“Hi, I’m Nathan,” he introduced himself, shaking both Lucky and Liz’s hands. He looked them over for a moment, deciding what he wanted to do. “Okay, why don’t we have Lucky go first, take some of just him, then we’ll add Liz?”
Relieved to be off the hook for the moment, Liz smiled and stood back, watching as Nathan proceeded to take two rolls of film of Lucky. He seemed so comfortable in front of the camera, posing and smiling away like a professional model. She found herself entranced as she watched him, pulled in by his dazzling smile.
“Okay, Liz, come over here and stand by Lucky,” Nathan ordered, waving for her to join them. She gulped nervously and walked over, glaring discreetly at Lucky.
“Let’s see...stand in front of him...Lucky, wrap your arms around her...” Nathan walked around them, positioning them the way he wanted, moving their hands so that their wedding rings were clearly visible. He then took a series of pictures of them, then had them change positions. Some of the shots had them sitting together on a bench, others had them standing with their arms around each other, one even had them laying on a picnic blanket together. Liz slowly got over her nervousness at having her picture taken, but was continually distracted by being so close to Lucky.
“All right, last roll,” Nathan said, reloading his camera. Lucky started to sit up from the blanket, but he motioned for him to stay down. “Don’t get up yet. We need something that really brings out how much you two are in love. Kiss her.”
“What?” they both asked automatically.
“Trust me, it’ll look great. Liz, keep laying like you are, and Lucky, move over her and kiss her, then I’ll snap a few. Then, I’ll have you get up and do some more that way.”
Lucky sighed, seeing that there was no way out of this without blowing their cover. He looked down at Liz and shrugged. “He knows what he’s doing, we might as well go along with it.”
“There you go. Come on, I’m all loaded up now. Just lean over her and let nature take over,” he teased, moving into position next to them and raising the camera to his eye. Charisma chuckled softly behind him, thinking how much Luke would love to be there for this.
Lucky braced his hands on both sides of her and lowered his face to hers, meeting her lips softly at first. then with more intensity as Nathan started to snap photos, calling out directions to them, for Liz to run her hands through his hair or for him to touch her face. After using half the roll, he cleared his throat to get their attention.
“Okay, now if you can stand up, we’ll do the last one.”
Lucky slowly sat up, shaken by their kiss. For a few moments there, he had forgotten where they were, and now he was completely disoriented. Liz shook her head slightly, trying to bring herself back to reality. It seemed like the more he kissed her, the more confused she got, and this photo session wasn’t helping at all!
Once they were standing, Nathan motioned for them to get closer. “Do the same thing as before, I just wanted a couple of different settings for this. Go ahead.”
“You heard him, it’s the last one,” Lucky whispered, trying to convince himself he could do this, that it was all just an act. Liz nodded slightly, avoiding his gaze so she wouldn’t be too distracted. He reached up and took her face in his hands, bringing his mouth to hers. She wrapped her arms around him in response and returned the kiss, suddenly oblivious to the rapid clicking and flashing of the camera next to them.
“That’s perfect,” Nathan said, moving around them for a better angle. “You guys are adorable!” He quickly finished the roll and sighed. “Okay, all done.”
Charisma covered her moth to keep from laughing as she watched them continue to kiss, obviously off in their own world. Nathan chuckled and reached over, tapping Lucky on the shoulder.
“Guys, you can stop now.”
Liz broke away and blushed, silently scolding herself for getting caught up like that. Lucky cleared his throat and ran a hand nervously through his hair. They really had to stop kissing like that. Things were getting much too complicated!
