I felt like the audition went well, but no final decision was made. Matt promised he would call me as soon as he heard anything. We both went to pack and were soon aboard our flight to Venice. I was dreading the eighteen-hour flight but still excited about the trip, having never been overseas before. We had a brief layover in Boston and had just gotten back on the plane for the longest part of the flight. Our next layover was in Paris. As he sat in the aisle seat beside me, blocking me in, he gave me a mischievous smile. "Well, now that you can't get away from me for the next few hours, why don't we talk about that little 'half the women in the world' comment." I rolled my eyes. "There's nothing to talk about. You heard exactly what I said, so you don't need me to repeat it... What else is there to talk about?" He chewed his lip as he looked at me. "Why don't we talk about the way you keep assuming things about me." I was surprised. "Assuming things? Such as?" "Such as... Well, let's see. First you called me a philanderer. Then there was the remark about every other woman in the world being in love with me. Now it's the thing about half the women in the world fantasizing about me. There seems to be a pattern here..." "Well... I fail to see the problem. Maybe there is a pattern but if there is it's because all of those things are true." He looked exasperated. "They're all true?" He shook his head slowly. "Why is it that I thought you were over this?" I tilted my head and looked at him affectionately. "I don't know Robert. Did you think that just because I've learned to like you that somehow makes you less of a philanderer?" He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you like me? When did this happen?" "Well, you do have certain likeable qualities." A half smile played at his lips. "Wow, this is news coming from you. So what are these likeable qualities?" I leaned in, putting my lips next to his ear. "You mean aside from being incredibly sexy?" He smiled and glanced sideways at me without turning his head. "How about... in addition to that?" I stifled a smile as I looked down. "Okay. In addition to that." I paused for a minute and he looked at me with raised eyebrows. "Is that it? That's the only thing you find likeable about me?" I smiled softly. "No... You're also pretty good at building snowmen." "And you find that likeable?" "Yes. That and you can be really sweet when you want to, you don't know how to take no for an answer... and you never back down no matter how abusive I am." He watched me carefully and held back a laugh. "You? Abusive?" I smiled but didn't say anything so he continued. "You know, that's actually quite a list from someone who considered me nothing more than a spoiled filmmaker's son." "I guess I might've been wrong about that..." "Okay. So if you were wrong about that, couldn't you be wrong about these other things?" "Hmm. You're right. I could be." I looked up just long enough to see the relieved look on his face and then continued. "But I'm not." He let out a frustrated sound that was loud enough to catch the attention of the people around us and I laughed. "Alright, Danielle. Let's try a different approach to this problem. You think that half the women in the world fantasize about me." "Yes." "So if that's true, it would stand to reason that half the women on this plane are fantasizing about me." "Sure, that makes sense." "Great. Let's start with you. Do you fantasize about me?" I laughed again. "I don't have to." We were continuing along those lines when an attractive woman who looked to be in her fifties paused beside him as she walked by. "Excuse me. I'm sorry to bother you, but could I trouble you for your autograph?" I raised my eyebrows and stifled a smile as I handed him a pen. He gave me a stern look before turning back to her. When he handed her the paper with the autograph on it, she also handed him a folded piece of paper. She looked him over slowly and actually ran her hand over his arm before returning to her seat. I had to turn my head and bite my lip to keep from laughing as he gazed after her with a shocked look on his face. "She's old enough to be my mother!" I was grinning widely. "Well, looks like I'm not always wrong after all, huh?" He looked at me suspiciously. "You set that up!" I laughed. "I swear I didn't. So... what's on the paper?" "I'm a little afraid to look." I rolled my eyes and took it out of his hand. "Hmm. looks like a home address and phone number." "You're joking." "Nope. Along with her hotel room number in Paris. And some... other things I'd prefer not to read to you." I handed the note back to him and giggled as he read it and made a face. "I don't even know what that means..." "Oh, please. Well, anyway, at least now you know I'm right." He shook his head. "One crazy woman proves nothing." I sighed. "Okay. Turn slowly and look a few rows back to your left. You'll notice a girl who looks about sixteen to me. She keeps staring at you. I want you to turn around and smile at her and see what happens." He rolled his eyes but did it anyway. When he smiled at her, the girl's eyes widened and she immediately blushed and looked away. He turned back to me and I smiled. He frowned and shook his head again. "Coincidence. She probably doesn't even know who I am." "Fine. Live in denial." I pulled a book out of my carry-on bag and tried to focus on it. He watched me for a minute and then took the book away from me. "What about you?" "I'm sorry?" "Assuming that you're right. If every other woman in the world is in love with me, what's your problem?" "I know you better than they do." "I see. So when that Andrew guy asked if you were in love with me, you didn't say no because?" "Well, it was none of his business, and I was doing my best to send him away. It's not like I told him I am in love you." He nodded silently and handed my book back. I read for a little while but soon fell asleep. I woke up a couple of hours later in what was becoming a familiar sleeping position for me, with Robert's arm around me and my head resting against his shoulder. Hmm. There's a good quality I forgot to mention. How much I love the way it feels to wake up in his arms. His head was leaned against mine and I judged from the sound of his breathing that he must've fallen asleep also. In fact, the lights were dimmed on the plane and the majority of the passengers seemed to be sleeping. I tilted my head slightly to softly kiss his neck, startled when he tightened his arm around me. “I thought you were asleep.” I spoke softly to avoid waking anyone around us. “Not yet. I was pretty close, though.” “Oh. Well… I didn’t mean to disturb you.” “No?” He smiled softly. “Then why did you kiss me?” “I don’t know. Just because I wanted to, I guess. Why did you put your arm around me when I fell asleep?” "Because I like the way you feel in my arms." "Oh." I smiled. At least one of us was being honest. I leaned my head back again and fell back asleep thinking how strange it was that I got so much comfort simply from being this close to him. I'm not sure what time it was when we were both finally awake again. All I know is that he must've been awake for awhile because it was obvious that he'd been thinking. I hadn't been awake for five minutes when he started asking questions. They started off innocent enough, but... "Did you sleep okay?" I nodded. "About as well as I can on a plane." "Did you dream about me?" I glanced sideways at him. "Not that I remember..." "Danni..." He paused and studied me for a minute. I'm not liking the sound of this. I looked back at him with slightly raised eyebrows, waiting for him to continue. "Are we going to see each other after the movie's finished?" I thought quickly. "I'm sure we'll see each other at the Premier. We can even go together if you want." He raised an eyebrow as he stared at me. "You know that's not what I meant. How about answering the question instead of dodging it?" I sighed and looked away. "I thought we resolved this in the beginning when we said it was just sex between us." "And you don't think anything has changed since then?" I shook my head still not looking at him. He put his hand on my cheek and turned my face toward him. "Danni, you admitted earlier that you like me. That's something you never would have said the first time we slept together." "Yes, Robert, I like you. But that still doesn't mean..." "You kissed me earlier. You thought I was asleep and you kissed me for no apparent reason. That's not something you do when all you're interested in is sex. You also don't spend as much time as you have curled up against me. It's not just sex anymore and you know it, so if you're not planning on seeing me after this is over then tell me the real reason." "Robert, New York is a long way from Los Angeles." He gave me a strange look. "Was that supposed to be an explanation or a geography lesson?" I sighed. "Okay. But if you don't like this, just remember, you wanted to hear it." He didn't say anything and I continued. "There's two things. The first one is that I really don't think I can carry on a long distance relationship with you. To be honest with you, I don't think I trust you enough to believe that you could be faithful to someone who's so far away." He nodded but he looked a little hurt. "Okay, you don't trust me. I guess that kind of makes your other reason irrelevant." I closed my eyes briefly. "Robert, your career is already established. People know your name and they're always offering you parts. Not to mention that with your talent you can probably get any role you want. But I have a lot of work to do and it doesn't come as easily for me. Relationships can be distracting. Especially when you'd be so far away and I'd constantly be missing you." "You know, you could solve both those problems by moving to LA" I smiled slightly. "You don't think it might be a little difficult for me to do Broadway from there, do you?" He sighed as he looked at me and I looked away, unable to hold his gaze. He looked... I don't know. Disappointed? Slightly confused? I really couldn't blame him. I must be out of my mind to refuse to see him. I just couldn't see good things coming from it. And I knew it couldn't possibly make sense to him that I liked him but didn't want to see him. The rest of the flight was pretty quiet. We talked some during our layover in Paris but it was just small talk and the time until we reached our hotel in Venice seemed to drag by. But the hotel was beautiful. The producers had already reserved rooms for everyone so it didn't take long to get our keys and be on the way to our rooms. My suite was on the top floor and so was Robert's which didn't really surprise me. What did surprise me was that when we stepped off the elevator, there were only two doors. I turned to Robert with raised eyebrows. "There are only two suites up here?" He smiled slightly at my surprise. "Well, I... may have had something to do with that. Not that there are only two suites up here but that we have them." I smiled softly to try and mask the way my heart jumped to my throat. "And what exactly did you have in mind?" He shook his head. "Nothing. I just wanted you to myself as often as possible." He was standing so close and I was sure he was going to kiss me, but he turned away at the last second. "Um, it's pretty late and we have an early day tomorrow." He paused to brush a strand of hair away from my face. "See you in the morning, okay?" I nodded but was unable to speak so I just turned and went to my room.
It wasn't long before Nicolo joined me. I had met him first thing this morning. They had hired him to help with a little bit of everything while we were in Venice. So far this morning he had played interpreter and historian but he seemed to be enjoying himself. He walked up to stand beside me and smiled brightly. "This is your first trip to Venice?" I nodded. "It is. And I think it's the most beautiful place I've ever seen." He laughed. "But you've only seen a small piece of it!" I smiled. "That's true. You think I'm too easily impressed?" He smiled but didn't say anything. I don't know why but I found that the way he was looking at me was making me blush. We were still talking when Greg called me. "Danielle! Let's go ahead and get some photos of you while you're not busy." Nicolo smiled as he turned to Greg. "You must take her picture by the Basilica." "The Basilica?" His smile widened. "The Basilica di San Marco. It's a cathedral. It was built to honor St. Mark after his bones were kidnapped from Alexandria in the ninth century." I raised an eyebrow. "Well that's... interesting." He shook his head. "Come on, I'll show you." He took my hand and led me to a large beautiful building as Greg followed with his camera. Greg took several pictures of me around the building and raised an eyebrow at me as Nicolo hovered around me between shots, rearranging my hair and patting my shoulders.
We had accomplished quite a bit and everyone was tired. Nicolo caught up to me as I headed toward Robert. We had come to the piazza together this morning and I wanted to see if he was ready to go. "Danielle, I'd like to show you some of other beautiful places in Venice. Do you have some time? I know a wonderful restaurant." I was hesitant. "Oh, I don't know, I..." I glanced over at Robert and Nicolo smiled. "Danielle, I've been watching you today. I know there's more here than meets the eye. Just sight seeing. I promise." I smiled and relaxed a little. "Am I that transparent?" He grinned back at me with a sparkle in his eyes. "Do you want me to answer that?" I shook my head. "Give me just a few minutes, okay?" I walked over to where Robert was and put my hand on his arm to get his attention. When he turned, I spoke quickly. "Um, I just wanted to let you know that I'm not heading back to the hotel. Nicolo wants to take me sight seeing." He tilted his head and gave me a strange look. "Are you asking my permission to go on a date?" I sighed and pulled him slightly away from the others who were beginning to look very interested in the conversation. I spoke softly. "Robert, first, I'm not asking your permission, I was just letting you know because I came here with you and I didn't want you to wonder where I went. Second, it's not a date, he just wants to show me around." He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Nicolo and I could tell he had something else to say, but he didn't say it. "Okay. Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then." As I nodded and walked off I felt my heart sink, although I couldn't say exactly why.
He went back to his hotel room afterward and sat flipping channels on the television, not paying much attention to what was on. He had gotten a glimpse of Nicolo and me earlier, when Greg was taking pictures, and was not happy with what he saw. He eventually turned the television off and tried to sleep but found it was futile. He couldn't seem to get away from his thoughts. I can't figure her out at all. She keeps saying it's just sex, but then she does the strangest things. Like kissing me on the plane. If she doesn't love me then what was that about? And the way she smiles at me sometimes... Last night I could have sworn she was disappointed that I didn't go to her room with her. But then tonight she goes off to spend the evening with some Italian guy who's been flirting with her all day! Is she trying to re-assert to me that it's nothing but sex? And there's no way that's true. So many things just don't fit. I think it's possible that she does love me, or at least she likes me a lot more than she's willing to admit. I just have to do what I can to make her admit it. Knowing he wasn't going to get any sleep with all these thoughts, he decided to take action. He threw on some jeans and a shirt and headed down to the front desk.
He trailed his fingers lightly across my abdomen. "I lied." "You lied?" "Yeah. I, ah, told the desk clerk that you locked yourself out of your room and you were too embarrassed to come get the key yourself." I turned to face him and opened my mouth to object, but he quickly covered it with his and my objection was forgotten. I felt like it had been forever since the last time he kissed me. When he was sure he had quieted my objection, he let go of me and raised an eyebrow. "So how was your date?" "Robert, it wasn't a date. And it was fine." "Well, he couldn't have made too much of an impression on you if you're still dreaming about me." I smiled slowly. "Talking in my sleep again?" He nodded. "Want to tell me about it?" I shook my head. "Not really. Want to tell me why you're here?" "Nothing important, really. I was just wondering if you enjoyed your tour of Venice." "Well... I didn't go." "You didn't go?" "I went to dinner with him. But then I asked him to bring me back here." "Did he do something to upset you?" I smiled at the sudden protective tone in his voice. "No. But all through dinner he kept talking about all these wonderful places he wanted to take me to." I paused, not sure I wanted to finish that thought but he just waited expectantly so I hesitantly continued. "I just really wanted to see Venice for the first time with you." He didn't say anything, but a moment later he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close against him. I leaned my head against him and was still for just a minute but that's about all I could stand. I began to plant soft kisses across his chest. He pushed me away just enough to look at me and smiled. "Could you behave? I'm trying to have a moment here." I smiled back sweetly. "Could we have a moment later? I've really missed you these last few days." "Okay. But Danni, if you've been missing me already then how can you..." "Robert? Shh..." I kissed him very softly and wrapped my arms around his neck, twining my fingers through his hair. He had removed everything except his boxers before getting into bed with me and I quickly began working on those. He turned me to my back and leaned over me with an amused smile. "Are you in a hurry?" I grinned back at him. "If you want me to take it slow, you shouldn't deprive me for so long!" He chuckled softly as he began to unbutton the top to the pajamas I was wearing. "It's only been a couple of days..." "Is that all? It seems much longer." I leaned up slightly so that he could slide the top off my arms as he began to softly kiss my shoulder blades.
As I got up and walked out of the bedroom and into the main area of the suite, I noticed that he had opened the doors between our suites and I could faintly hear the shower running in his room. I started to walk in that direction, but something on the coffee table caught my eye. It was an open envelope. Inside was a piece of hotel stationary with something written in Robert's handwriting. "You are cordially invited to attend a private dinner in room 502 tonight at seven o'clock." At least, that's what it said originally. Now 'cordially invited' was crossed out and had been replaced with 'required' and a smiley face. I had to laugh out loud at his attempt at formality. I shook my head as I headed toward his room to find him, note in hand. He was still in the shower and I opened the door just far enough to stick my head in and see him rubbing shampoo into his hair. His eyes were closed, but he opened them when he heard me open the door. I smiled slightly at the sight of him but quickly remembered why I was there and gave him a stern look. I held the invitation where he could see it. "What is this?" He gave me an innocent look. "I don't know. What is it?" I narrowed my eyes and tried to look even more stern. "Don't play innocent with me. It's in your handwriting and inviting me to your room." I paused to take a breath and tilted my head. "What are you up to?" He shrugged his shoulders. "I just thought it might be nice to have dinner." "And you felt the need to send me an invitation?" He leaned his head back to begin to rinse his hair and squinted at me. "I wanted to be sure you didn't make other plans." I looked away for a moment before looking back at him. "Okay, I deserved that. And I'm sorry." He just shook his head and smiled. "So, you're gonna come, right?" I returned the smile. "Yes, I'll come. As long as you tell me what it is you're up to." He smirked at me. "Well, you know me. I'm just going to keep pushing until I make you fall in love with me." I sighed and shook my head. "Robert, you're wasting your time." He rinsed his hair, blinked the water out of his eyes, and looked at me. "Am I?" I nodded slowly. "I'm afraid so. I've been in love with you for weeks now." He studied me momentarily before grabbing me by the wrist and pulling me into the shower with him. I giggled and glanced down as the water began soaking through my, um... Robert's shirt. He smiled slightly. "Hmm. If I'd known that was my favorite shirt you had on... Why are you wearing my shirt?" I shrugged. "It was handy." He gently slipped the shirt over my head and, after tossing it out of the shower, looked me in the eye. "Now. Are you serious?" "About your shirt?" He gave me a look. "No... About being in love with me." I kissed him softly and sighed. "As unfortunate as it is, yes, I'm afraid I am." He slipped his arms around me and pulled me against him as he began rubbing soap over my back. "And why is it unfortunate?" I leaned my head against him and kissed his shoulder. "It's unfortunate because I haven't been in love in a really long time. And I've never been this much in love." I felt his arms tighten around me just slightly when I said that. "And you're not just anybody... you're you." I lifted my head to look at him and he smiled. "Was that supposed to make sense?" "Robert, whether you realize it or not, whether you want to admit it or not, you're complicated. If I date you, I'm going to have people constantly contacting me to ask about you. I'll have to contend with the thousands of other women out there who are in love with you, just like the one on the plane. I..." "Danni..." He interrupted me as he brought his soapy hands up my back, across my shoulders and started down my arms. "There's not as many women as you think. And even if there are, most of them aren't as bold as the woman on the plane. Besides that, you don't have to 'contend' with anyone." He paused and waited for me to look him in the eyes before continuing. "You're the only one I want." He grinned at me. "Now, turn around." "Turn around?" He nodded. "Yeah. I want to wash your hair. You don't want to be late for work, do you?" "You want to wash my hair?" He rolled his eyes as he took me by the shoulders and gently turned me around. I was silent as he leaned my head back into the stream of water and softly ran his hands over my hair. He began to gently massage the shampoo into my scalp and I closed my eyes and concentrated on being able to stand. By the time he began to rinse the shampoo out of my hair I'd had all I could take. I turned to face him and kissed him deeply, backing him against the shower door and sliding my hands over him. He groaned softly. "Danni... you're going to make us late for work." I shrugged and didn't relent. "What are they going to do? Fire us?" He chuckled as he lifted me and pressed me against the side of the shower stall, my legs wrapping around him. "I think I've corrupted you."
They wanted to start with me this morning, working on a scene where I was walking along the canals with my father. I walked over toward the canal and Robert followed, still holding my hand. I turned to face him with a smile. "Are you planning on following me around all day?" "Well, I wouldn't, it's just that I can't seem to let go of your hand." "Hmm. That could be a problem." I held his hand up and examined it closely, then softly placed kisses along his knuckles. He smiled and moved his hand, catching my lips with his. "Robert!" I jumped as I heard Don's extremely loud voice beckoning. When he had our attention he continued. "As much as I appreciate that you're getting along with your co-star, you're in my shot! The morning light is quickly fading, so if you would kindly move aside..." "Oh. Sure, no problem." Robert turned and walked away from me but didn't let go of my hand and almost fell down, dragging me with him. I bit my lip and stifled a giggle as I glanced over at Don, who was didn't seem amused. Several others on the set didn't bother to hide their laughter. Robert shrugged his shoulders and gave Don an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. We seem to be attached." He walked back over to me and took my hand in his other hand, examining it before moving in closer to kiss me again. This time even Don had a smile on his face. "Please. Are you trying to give me an ulcer?" I leaned in and put my lips to Robert's ear. "The sooner we can get finished today, the sooner we can have that dinner you're planning." He kissed me once more and walked away, staying as close as he could get away with without being in the shot.
I was taken by surprise. "What?" Robert grinned. "Dinner? At seven? Did you forget already?" "No... I didn't forget, but..." I gave him my best pleading look. "A lot can happen in an hour..." He kissed me deeply, still grinning. "I'm counting on that. Because I have a lot to do." I gave him a defeated look and walked into my room, heading straight for the door between our suites. It was still open and I walked through, sitting down on the couch just as he opened his door. He crossed his arms and shook his head. "Danni..." I was wide-eyed. "You didn't say I had to stay in my room." He smiled softly. "Uh-huh. Well, you have to stay in your room." I sighed and stuck out my lower lip, which only seemed to amuse him. "Are you going to make me?” His eyes sparkled. "If I have to..." He leaned down to kiss me and, as I wrapped my arms around his neck to pull him closer, he lifted me off of the couch, one arm under my knees. I gave up and leaned my head against him as he carried me to my room. "That's not fair. You tricked me." He sat me gently on the couch in my room and kissed me. "I promise to make it up to you. Now stay here for just a little while, please?" I couldn't say no so I simply nodded and watched him walk through the door, closing and locking the door to his suite behind him.
I stared at my options, trying to decide what to put on, and finally decided on a slim-fitting black dress with spaghetti straps. I was thankful that, by the time I finished, it was past seven. I went to the door between our suites and knocked. A minute later he opened the door just a crack and looked at me, surprised by what he saw. "Wow. Well, I wasn't quite finished yet, but... I guess you can come in." He put his hands on my waist and then moved them up my mostly bare back as he kissed me slowly. As he pulled away I smiled. "Okay, that was worth the wait." "Oh, there's much more." I looked around as he walked around and lit the several candles he had placed around the room. There was a fire burning in the fireplace and what looked like to-go plates from one of the local restaurants. He finished with the candles and turned on the CD player. I shook my head in astonishment as he held out his arms to me. "Dance?" I walked over and put my hands on his shoulders as he wrapped his arms around me and leaned his forehead against mine. "Have I mentioned that you look absolutely beautiful?" I ran my fingers up his neck and through his hair. "No... but I figured that was implied by the 'wow'." He tilted his head to softly kiss my neck. "Mmm. You smell really good too. I think we should probably eat before you distract me and our food gets cold." "But I didn't do anything!" He smiled. "You don't have to do anything to be distracting." We walked over and sat down in the floor beside the fireplace. He seemed to have chosen a theme of finger foods for dinner, beginning with an absolutely wonderful bruschetta. I couldn't pronounce the name of what he told me the main course was, but it was shrimp that had been breaded in something and was resting in lemon butter sauce. I laughed when I saw it. "We're going to eat this without any utensils?" "That's the whole fun of it!" He picked one up and held it out to me, holding his other hand underneath it to catch the dripping lemon butter sauce. I hesitated, then leaned forward to take it from him. As careful as he tried to be, he still ended up dripping sauce down my chin. I giggled as I reached for a napkin to keep it from dripping on my dress. His eyes never left my face as I carefully wiped the butter from my chin. I smiled at the look in his eyes and took his hand, using my tongue to clean the sauce that had dripped on it. When I was finished, I tugged on his hand to pull him closer and kissed him softly. The soft kiss quickly deepened and I began to lean him backward. He returned the kiss and lay back against the couch, pulling me into his arms. "Um, Danni, before you... distract me... there's something I need to tell you." I had been softly kissing his neck as he spoke and stopped to look at him, not liking the sound of what he said. "What?" He looked into my eyes and ran his hand along the side of my face. "I talked to Matt today." I was slightly confused. "You talked to Matt? My Matt? Why?" He smiled slightly. "Well, I didn't realize he was your Matt, but he called me because he thought I might want to be the one to tell you that you got the part..." I searched his eyes as I took in what he said. "I got the part. I... I got the part?" He nodded. "Of course. I knew you would. I just thought I'd wait until Matt called to confirm it to tell you." He kissed me softly. "Congratulations." "Wow." I was nearly speechless. He gave me a curious look. "I really thought you'd be more excited than that." "I am excited. I'm just a little surprised." He smiled. "I'm not. I knew you'd get it. Now why don't we finish our shrimp before it gets cold." We did manage to finish the shrimp but we didn't make it to dessert. The shrimp was just too messy and the temptation to clean each other off was too strong. By the time he hand-fed me the last piece he had me leaned back against the couch and was gently nibbling at my neck. He softly ran his hand over my thigh as he found his way back to my lips and I wrapped my arms around him, pulling up against him. He slipped an arm around my back and very slowly unzipped my dress. We made love in the floor, in front of the fire. If possible, I believe it was more passionate than ever before. And I think that probably had a lot to do with both of us finally be honest with each other. Afterward, we sat in front of the fire, leaned up against the couch and wrapped in a blanket that he had taken from the bed. He had also gotten our dessert, chocolate dipped strawberries, out of the refrigerator and was once again attempting to hand feed me as I sat between his legs, leaned back against his chest. I say he was attempting to hand feed me because with him sitting behind me and the only light coming from the fire, he didn't seem to be finding my mouth very well. I squirmed as I felt the cold juice from a strawberry drip down my chin and onto my chest. "Robert! You're getting juice all over me! I'm going to be sticky!" "Oh. Here, let me get that for you." He gently turned me sideways and began to kiss a trail down my chin and neck where the strawberry had dripped. Even as I sighed with contentment, I rolled my eyes at him. "You're impossible." He finished with the juice and kissed me softly before leaning back and pulling me back into his arms again. "You're right. I am. But I don't know why you're concerned about being sticky. We could just take another shower..." "Hmm... I won't argue with that." I leaned my head back against his shoulder and closed my eyes. His arms wrapped tightly around me, he began to run his fingers softly up and down my arm. "Danni?" "Yes?" My eyes were still closed as I began drifting into some impossible fantasy about spending the rest of my life wrapped up in his arms like this. "Did you enjoy your dinner?" I turned my head to try and see his profile, but couldn't. "Mmm. Very much." He sighed and continued running his fingers over my arm. "Good. And the rest of the evening?" I pulled away and turned to look at him. "Immensely." I searched his eyes. "Robert, are you getting at something?" A smile tugged at his lips. "Yeah. I... had an ulterior motive." I raised an eyebrow and grinned at him. "Well, I knew that. I just assumed the motive was sex. Is there something else?" He tilted his head. "Oh, that's clever. But why would I go to so much trouble for sex when I can have you any time I want you?" I looked at him pointedly but after a few seconds of silence decided not to comment. Probably because I knew he was right and I had a strong feeling that he knew it too. "So what is it that you want?" "I want... to continue seeing you after this movie is finished. And I think it's only fair to warn you that I'm not going to leave you alone until you agree." I smiled at the determined look on his face and soon began to laugh. He looked puzzled. I composed myself and touched his cheek softly. "I'm sorry, Robert. I'm just surprised you bought that the first time I said it." "Bought what, exactly?" "That I wouldn't see you after this is over. I was sure you'd see through me." "So you're saying that none of what you said was true." "No. All the reasons I gave you for not wanting to see you were real. But I knew then that I was in love with you." I shook my head as I smiled at him. "I knew that the first time you called and wanted to see me I would have been anywhere you asked me to be and as quickly as possible." He smiled with that amused twinkle in his eyes. "I might know how to respond to that if something so sweet didn't sound so foreign coming from you." "Well, if that's the best you can do, maybe you should forget about responding and just kiss me and take me to bed." He did take me to bed and we made love once again. All in all, it had been a wonderful yet exhausting evening and I slept soundly, never leaving his arms.
I gave him a sleepy smile and received my kiss. "You showered without me." "Well, I was beginning to think you were going to sleep all day." I glanced over at the clock and sat up, startled. "Robert, it's after eight! We were supposed to be at the set at 7:30! Why didn't you wake me up?" I jumped out of bed and took off toward the shower but Robert grabbed my arm, pulling me into his with a wide smile. "Hey! What's your rush? What happened to, 'What are they going to do, fire us?'" I relaxed a little in his arms but I was still wide-eyed. "Robert! Yesterday we were five minutes late. Today we're going to be an hour late or worse if you don't let me go get a shower!" He smiled. "Okay. I just want to tell you this one thing and then I'll let you go take a shower." I looked at him expectantly and he continued. "We're not...exactly...going to the set today." I stared at him for a moment, trying to discern what he meant, but it didn't help. "What are you talking about?" "Well... I talked Don into letting us have the day off. You did say you wanted me to show you Venice, right?" I was already beginning to smile at the thought of having Robert to myself for an entire day in Venice. "And how in the world did you manage that?" "Um, I sorta promised Don that if we could have today off we would promise to be really good tomorrow. I promised him that we wouldn't cut up and we'd get so much work done that it would put us ahead of schedule." "What? What is this 'we'? I'm not the one who wasted so much time yesterday!" He tilted his head. "Hmm. Not exactly the response I was expecting. I was thinking more along the lines of you being thankful that I arranged this." I smiled at him. "Oh, you wanted thankful! Well, since I'm not late for work, I think I can manage that." Without another word, I kissed him and pulled him back into bed.
"Danielle... I love you." I sighed as I softly touched his face. "I love you too, Robert." He nodded but didn't smile. "But you don't trust me." "What?" "On the airplane you said you don't trust me enough to carry on a long distance relationship with me. You don't believe that I'll be faithful to you. Has that changed?" It broke my heart to see the hurt look in his eyes but I didn't think I'd make things any better by lying to him. "I wish I could say yes..." He looked confused. "Did I do something?" I shook my head. "No, it's... it's not you. Or at least it's mostly not you. It's..." I paused and looked at him through squinted eyes. "I'm trying Robert. I want to trust you. Does that make it any better?" He smiled. "It might. It might help more if you could tell me why you have to try to trust me. Isn't this one of those situations where I'm supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, or at least suspected guilty?" I shook my head. "It's nothing astonishing, Robert, it's just... I have issues with men." "You have issues? What does that mean? What kind of issues?" I looked at the ceiling as I spoke. "Well... I don't like them." He studied me curiously for a moment until I finally cracked a smile, then rolled his eyes. "Cute. Now let's have the real reason." I shrugged. "Okay. Yes, I've been cheated on. Yes, it was by someone I loved and trusted. But I'm not naive enough to think that I'm the only person who's ever been cheated on or that all men are going to be like the one who cheated on me. And yet somehow, even knowing those things, I... Robert, no matter how much I love you, I still see you as a philanderer. I'm afraid that no matter how much you may want to be faithful, you just don't have it in you." He didn't look happy. "I think I liked the first answer better." I nodded. "I know. But let me re-assert that it's really more about me than it is about you." "You know, it really did sound like it's about me." "Oh, Robert. Do you realize that you're the first person I've slept with in nearly five years?" He looked surprised but didn't respond. "For five years I put people off and you came along and had me in bed in, what, less than a month? And yes, it was partially because of how physically attracted I am to you, but it was more than that too. I think part of me fell in love with you the first day we met. I couldn't believe the way you saw right through me. Remember when you commented on my need to be in control? I think that need was magnified by how out of control I felt when you kissed me, or even when you smiled at me." I smiled slightly at the memory of that first day. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that the fact that I can't say I completely trust you says a lot less about you than the fact that I love you enough to be willing to take a chance anyway. And the trusting part... I'll get there. I just need a little more time." He was finally smiling again, if only slightly. "Wow. That's the best speech I've ever heard." "Robert, it's not..." He interrupted. "I know. And it actually does make me feel better. Now, go get your shower. I have a big day planned." He kissed me softly and sent me off to the shower.
I nodded slowly. "I can see where that would be true." We walked slowly through the museum and he pointed out several pieces that he particularly liked. I was surprised at how much he knew about the art. The next museum was the Collezione Peggy Guggenheim, which houses several famous pieces from Picasso, Kandinsky, Ernst and other famous artists. I was just as impressed with the Guggenheim as I had been with the Galleria. It wasn't just the art. The buildings themselves were incredible. Of course, a lot of it also had to do with the person leading me around the city. Robert alternated between holding my hand and walking with his arm around me, but he never once let go. As we walked through the museums, he would lean in and whisper to me when he saw something that particularly interested him. I wouldn't have thought it was possible to be any more in love with him than I already was, but this was something new for us, spending so much of the day in public places. I think I just saw a whole different side of him. After the museums, we went to the Campanile, which is a tall brick bell tower. It has an absolutely incredible view of the entire city. As I stood and looked out over the city, Robert stood behind me, arms around my waist, chin resting on my shoulder. After a few moments of silence, he spoke softly in my ear. "So, what do you think?" I sighed and leaned my head back against him. "I think I'll never forget this moment. It's incredible." He nodded and kissed my cheek. "Yeah. I was thinking the same thing." I turned to smile at him. "Haven't you seen this before?" "Yeah. But this is the first time I've seen it with you." I smiled but rolled my eyes as he continued. "Seen enough? It's getting late and I want to stop one more place before dinner. We have reservations at 7:30." As we walked down the tower, I turned to him questioningly. "So where are we going now?" He turned to me with a cryptic smile. "If I haven't told you anywhere we were going up to this point, why would I start now?" "Hmm..." I turned to face him and smiled brightly. "Because I'm really curious and willing to bribe you?" He laughed. "Bribe me?! With what?" I pressed in closer to him and looked up with wide eyes. "I don't know... What do you want?" He raised an eyebrow as he gave me a smile that melted me. "Hmm. I think we should save that topic for later. Right now we have places to go." He gently kissed my forehead. "And I'm not telling." I shook my head in frustration as we headed to our next stop, which turned out to be the Rialto Bridge. There was a sort of farmer's market on one side, with fresh fruit, vegetables and fish, but it was already closed for the day. The other side was a shopping district, almost like a mall. We walked through the tiny shops full of mostly silk, jewelry and glass before we went on to dinner. The restaurant was within walking distance and the view was incredible. After we walked in silence for a few minutes, Robert turned to me with a curious look on his face. “Are you okay, Danni?” I looked up at him. “Sure. Why?” “I don’t know. You just have this really strange look on your face.” I stopped walking and turned to look at him. “Oh… A strange look?” I sighed as I looked into his eyes. “Does it resemble fear?” He looked surprised. “Well, now that you mention it, it does.” He pulled me into his arms and looked at me with concern. “What’s wrong?” I ran a hand through my hair and gave him a slight nervous smile. “It’s you.” “Me? What did I do?” I nodded slowly. “You’re becoming too perfect.” He shifted his eyes to the side as if wondering if he’d heard me correctly. “I’m sorry?” “Well, you know, this was so much easier when you were such a jerk. After that dinner last night and now today… No one is this perfect, Robert, what’s the catch?” He stopped looking confused and smirked at me. “I’m the same person I was the first day we met, Danielle. I’m not acting any differently.” He paused and the smirk grew wider. “And I’m certainly not becoming perfect.” He tilted his head. “Would you like me to remind you of the very descriptive list of adjectives you used to have for me?” I smiled and shook my head. “That could take awhile. Maybe we should just go have dinner.” The evening only got more perfect after that. After dinner, we took a gondola ride down the canals that was almost surreal. Overall, it had to be the most romantic day I had ever had. All that romance and perfection made the next day even more difficult. Robert and I were working on different scenes, in different parts of the city. I was having a really hard time with him leaving the hotel room, knowing that I wouldn’t see him until who knows what time this evening. I clung tightly to his hand with both of mine as he walked toward the door. When he got to the door, he turned to smile at me, pulling me into his arms. “Danielle, explain something to me. In less than two months, you have gone from not being able to stand being in the same room with me to not wanting to let me out of your sight. How did that happen?” “Hmm. That is a good question. Maybe it has to do with you being irresistible.” He smiled wider and shook his head. “So basically, somewhere along the way I got lucky and did just the right thing to make you fall in love with me.” I shook my head. “No. Not somewhere along the way. You’ve been doing the right thing all along, I just didn’t want you to know it at the time. Actually, I didn’t even want to admit it to myself at the time. And, I really don’t think it was luck.” He kissed me deeply, pulling me in as close to him as possible. “I need to go. But if I’m not here when you get back this evening, call my cell phone and let me know you’re here, okay?” I nodded silently and watched him walk to the elevator before closing the door.
“Hello?” “Hi.” I spoke softly, not really knowing what to say. All I really wanted to know was how much longer it would be before he got here. Robert smiled and walked a few feet away from Lori, another actress in the movie that he had been talking to. “Hi. Look, I don’t know what you’ve done, but I’m really missing you. I think I was getting really used to having you around twenty-four hours a day.” I smiled. “That’s sweet. But what I was really hoping to hear you say is that you’re on your way.” “Well…” I immediately felt the urge to pout, but fought it. “Oh, Robert, what is it? You can’t possibly still be filming!” “No, we just finished up a few minutes ago but… Okay, before I say this, I want you to remember how much you love me.” “Robert, I don’t like the sound of this…” “Well, this morning I promised Lori that when we got done filming today I’d go with her to look at this gift she’s thinking of buying for her boyfriend. When I agreed to it, I had no idea we’d be filming this late. I thought I’d have time to go look at the gift with her and still beat you back.” He paused but I didn’t say anything. “Baby, I’m really sorry, but we’re leaving now and I’ll be there within an hour, I promise.” Between the husky tone of his voice and him calling me Baby, I just couldn’t be mad at him. “Okay. Well, I guess I’ll just sit here and wait patiently.” “Thank you. And Danni?” “Yes?” “I love you.” I smiled again. How is it that he can make my heart beat so fast over the phone? “I love you too.” I hung up the phone and tried to find something to occupy me for the next hour. I flipped channels on the television for a few minutes and then decided to take a bath. I got out at about eight, anticipating that he would walk through the door any minute. At eight-thirty, I considered calling to give him a hard time for being late but decided not to. By nine-thirty, I was worried enough to call. I dialed his cell phone and got the voicemail. I dialed it every ten minutes for the next hour and continued to get the voicemail. I didn’t know what else to do, so I decided to go to bed and try to keep from worrying. I was sure there must be a very reasonable explanation for why he was still out with Lori. I just couldn’t think of what it could possibly be.
They were on their way back to the hotel when Lori tripped over something (her own feet from what Robert could tell) and twisted her ankle so badly that she couldn’t walk. Robert realized that it was probably his fault that she had tripped because he had been rushing her. The lines at the store had been long and it had taken longer than he anticipated, already making him later than what he had told Danni he would be. Once he got Lori to the hospital, he tried to call Danni and discovered that the battery in his cell phone was dead. He went to use the pay phone and found that it was out of order. Now, Lori watched him sympathetically as he paced the floor. Her injury was considered minor and they were taking their time getting to her. Lori tried to get Robert’s attention to try and calm him down, but he seemed immersed in his own thoughts. I don’t believe this. Things were going so well. I was working so hard to make her able to trust me and now…Great. I call her and tell her that I’m going somewhere with another woman and now I’m more than two hours later than I said I would be. What is she supposed to think? It was almost midnight when Robert reached the hotel, trying to decide on the best way to make her listen to him. He assumed she had gone to her room by this time to go to sleep so he went to that door and started knocking. When she didn’t answer, he knocked a little louder.
“Danni, are you awake? Open the door, please!” I was relieved to hear his voice but puzzled as to why he was banging on my door. He called my name again and it dawned on me. From the tone of his voice, he must expect me to be mad. I opened the door but he was still banging on the other one and didn’t hear me. Thank God we’re the only two people on this floor. I shook my head and smiled slightly at the sight of him. I tilted my head and spoke just loud enough to be heard over the knocking. “Robert… What are you doing?” He looked up, surprised, and walked slowly toward the door, as if afraid I was going to slam it in his face. When he got to me, I silently opened the door wide enough for him to get in and closed it behind him. He was still looking at me apprehensively. “Danielle… I’m really sorry I’m so late. I really do have an explanation…” I decided to take advantage of his nervousness and walked toward him, backing him into a wall. “Oh, you have an explanation?” He nodded as he backed away. I raised an eyebrow. “And who asked you for an explanation, Robert? What makes you think I haven’t already made up my own explanation?” He cringed. “That’s kinda what I was afraid of. Danni, I knew you’d be worried and I promise, I…” I put my hand to his mouth. “I was worried. And I’m really glad you’re here.” It seemed to catch him off guard as I moved in closer and kissed him softly, but he put his arms around me anyway and seemed to realize for the first time that I was only wearing the sheet off the bed. When I broke off the kiss, he looked at me with amazement. “You’re not mad at me?” I smiled softly and shook my head. “Nope. I’m not mad. I would, however, like to remind you of the purpose of that little phone you carry around.” He furrowed his brow and reached into his pocket to hand me the phone. “Um… I forgot to charge it…” “Hmm. I can see where that would be a problem. So… are you okay?” He nodded. “I’m fine. Lori twisted her ankle and I had to wait with her in the emergency room.” He paused and looked me over slowly. “So… If you’re not mad at me, is there a reason why you’re still wearing that sheet?” I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck letting the sheet fall to the floor. He shook his head in amazement, still not believing that I wasn’t mad, and wrapped his arms around my waist. He kissed me firmly yet gently and ran his hand up my back and into my hair. I broke away gently as my knees started to give. I took a step back and looked at him with a half smile. “I think one of us is a little over-dressed…” He looked me over slowly, his desire showing in his eyes. “I guess that wouldn’t be you, huh?” I shook my head and stepped forward again to push his jacket off his shoulders, but he stopped me. “I’ll get that. Go to bed. I’ll meet you there.” I looked at him suspiciously but he nodded his head toward the bedroom and I went. A few minutes later he turned off the light in the main part of the suite and I could only see his outline as he walked into the bedroom. He sat down beside me on the bed and leaned in to kiss me gently. “Close your eyes.” I looked around the dark room and really couldn’t see much anyway. “Why?” He chuckled softly. “Do you have to know everything? Just close your eyes.” I closed them and he switched on the small lamp beside the bed. I started to peek but he caught me. "Keep them closed”, he warned sternly. He gently took my hand and slipped something on my wrist, saying simply, “Okay.” I opened my eyes to see the bracelet that I had looked at for several minutes the night before. “Robert! I told you not to buy this!” “I know. But if you would have let me buy it yesterday it would have saved me the trouble of having to go back today without you.” I smiled softly and took his face in my hands, pulling him into a deep kiss. “Thank you, Robert. It’s beautiful.” I looked up at him with what I hoped was my sexiest smile. “Now quit stalling and make love to me before I go crazy!” He turned off the light and slipped into bed beside me whispering in my ear and making me shiver. “Those are the kind of demands I like.”
I tilted my head to look up at him, even though I couldn’t see him in the dark room. “Really. Why tonight? Anything in particular?” He chuckled softly and shook his head. “Uh… that’s not what I meant. I mean, that too. It’s pretty much a given. But I was talking about the way you handled me being so late and not being able to call.” “Oh.” I smiled and blushed. “I mean, you didn’t jump to conclusions, you didn’t act jealous, you didn’t once question me when I told you what had happened… That’s pretty good for someone who doesn’t trust me.” I tilted my head to softly kiss his chin as I thought about it. “You’re right. I guess I must trust you more than I thought I did.” I shook my head. “I don’t know what you’ve done to me Downey. Matt’s not going to recognize me when I get home.” “Is that a bad thing?” “Oh, I think he’ll be happy with the change.”
I was having such a great time, in fact, that I was already beginning to be plagued with thoughts of having to go back home. Of course, to be honest, it wasn’t going back home that bothered me as much as going back home without Robert. We weren’t even on the same flight because his flight was taking him back to Los Angeles. I was terrified by the idea of a long distance relationship but there just wasn’t any other way. I had my play to do and he had other projects he wanted to work on, none of which seemed to involve New York. I had tried a long distance relationship once before, when I first moved to New York. Needless to say, it didn’t work out. And although I would never mention it to Robert, I still wasn’t confident that he would want to remain faithful to someone on the opposite side of the country when there were so many women in the very same city chasing after him. The day that our flights were scheduled to leave we lay in bed even longer than usual, neither of us even wanting to think about leaving. Actually, I hadn’t even slept much the night before because I’d been thinking so much about it. Robert seemed to sleep pretty well, but he woke up at six to find me staring at him. Instead of asking why I was watching him sleep, he just gave me a sleepy smile and wrapped his arms around me, almost reassuringly. “Last day, huh?” he whispered softly. I frowned. “Last half day you mean.” My flight was leaving around two and his only a couple of hours later. He pulled back a little and looked me in the eye. “Are you trying to tell me that you’re going to miss a spoiled, philandering, presumptuous, annoying addict who always had everything handed to him and took every opportunity to waste his talent?” I looked at him with wide eyes, not believing those words had once come from my mouth. “Why did you put up with me?” He smirked at me, assuming I was joking and I shook my head. “No, I’m serious. You knew I was wrong about you, well, all except the philandering thing, and you had every opportunity to put me in my place but you never did. Why?” “Well… aside from wanting to get you into bed…” He grinned and hugged me softly. “Honestly Danni, I didn’t know what to do with you at first. I’ve always thought of myself as a pretty likeable person and I didn’t know what to think about the way you seemed to hate me so instantly. But I liked you from the beginning. You were incredibly beautiful, you weren’t the least bit intimidated by me or any of your surroundings, even though it was your first movie. I’d never met anyone so fearless. I knew there had to be an incredible person somewhere in that shell, I was just clueless as to how to bring it out of you.” “I don’t think you were that clueless… I mean, there was the snowman, holding me while I slept, rubbing my temples when I had a headache… You sure seemed to know all the right things to do.” He shook his head. “I got lucky. All those things… I didn’t do them to try and win you over. I just wanted to be close to you. Holding you, rubbing your temples… don’t you remember when we were building the snowman how I held your hands when I was showing you how to pack the snow or how I grabbed you to wrestle the snowball away from you? I just wanted to be touching you.” I looked at him in disbelief. “If there’s anything sweeter than doing those things to win me over, that would be it. You know, I must be crazy. If I was in my right mind I’d be following you back to LA.” He ran his hand along the side of my face and smiled. “You’re not crazy. You just have a play to rehearse for. And you’d better get back to New York to rehearse for it because I fully intend to be in the audience on opening night.” I kissed him softly, my eyes never leaving his. I had so many thoughts going through my head and they all had to do with not wanting to be away from him. “Robert…” I don’t know what I had been going to say, but that’s all I got out before my breath caught in my throat. As I continued to stare into his eyes, I knew I didn’t have to say anything; I could tell that he was thinking the same things I was. When I couldn’t hold his gaze any longer, I leaned my head against his shoulder for a moment before I began to gently kiss his neck. He placed his hand at the back of my head and began to softly caress my hair. Neither of us knew for sure how long it would be before we could be together again and we wanted to savor the moment as long as possible. We made love slowly, more so than we ever had. I was trying desperately to memorize everything about how it felt to be with him. And yet somehow, no matter how slowly we took it or how much we tried to savor each moment, it was all over much too soon. It seemed only moments later that I was on the plane to New York. Without him.
Oh, it wasn’t like we weren’t together. Or at least, we pretended we were. The first week we had talked every day, sometimes more than once. Halfway through the second week he had gotten tied up in a project he was working on and, between both of our busy schedules and the time difference, we had difficulty finding the time to talk, especially for more than five minutes at a time. I was really looking forward to the premier of our movie just so that I could see him, however briefly. I also wondered quite often if we could really maintain a relationship under these circumstances. It was after nine on Thursday night when I left rehearsal and it had not gone well. I had gotten cornered into a conversation with Andrew, who had gotten a smaller part in the play. He was obviously still upset over his confrontation with Robert and took the opportunity to remind me of how badly he felt I had treated him. It wasn’t that I felt bad about what had happened with Andrew. I hadn’t lied to him or mislead him in any way. If he was still bitter over what happened, I kind of figured it was his problem. The problem, I think, was that being reminded about when Robert was here made me miss him all that much more. I left the auditorium and sat in my car, trying to call him. I called his cell phone and got the voice mail. I could’ve left a message, but I really wanted to hear his voice so I hung up and tried his apartment. I was surprised to hear a female voice answer the phone. “I… I’m sorry. I must have dialed the wrong number.” The woman paused for a moment and then spoke again. “Danielle?” I was startled. “Yes, this is Danielle. Who’s this?” “Oh, this is Karyn. I’m a friend of Robert’s. I’ve heard a lot about you.” I frowned. That’s funny. I don’t remember hearing anything about you... “Well, um… is Robert busy?” She paused again. Longer than I felt was necessary. “No, he’s uh… I mean yes. Well… he’s not here right now.” “I see.” My mind was running a million miles a minute trying to find meaning behind her jumbled words and the strange sound of her voice. “Well… just tell him I called, okay?” She agreed and I hung up. I tossed the phone into the passenger seat and sighed, leaning my head against the steering wheel and chastising myself for even wondering about Karyn. It’s no big deal; she’s just a friend. If she were more than a friend, she wouldn’t know about me. But why in the world was she at his apartment if he wasn’t even there? After a few minutes, I decided to stop trying to analyze and just go home and get some sleep. I was just exhausted and missing Robert. It had been almost a week since we had actually been able to talk instead of just leaving messages on each other’s voicemail. Everything would make sense once I had a chance to talk to him. Despite my efforts to put Karyn out of my mind, I was still thinking about her when I parked and gathered my things. Who the heck is she? Why hasn’t Robert ever mentioned her before? If she’s such a good friend, shouldn’t her name have come up at least once? I mean why… I stopped as I rounded the corner and my door came into view. There was someone seated on the doormat, leaning against my door. I stared for a moment, not sure what to do, and he stood. My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open as he slid the ball cap off his head and began to walk toward me. A couple more steps and I was wrapped in his arms. I pressed my face into his neck and inhaled deeply, not able to stop the few tears that slipped from my eyes. Eventually I found my voice again. “What are you doing here?” He searched my eyes. “I needed to be with you.” I was overwhelmed. “For how long?” He shrugged, still studying my face. “I don’t know the answer to that just yet. I mean, I can’t promise to be around all the time, but I was kind of thinking of moving up here.” I suddenly realized that we were still standing outside my apartment. I ushered him inside and, after kissing him relentlessly and holding on for dear life awhile longer, I began to wonder some more. “But Robert, how can you possibly move here? What about the projects you were working on?” “Well, I finished one of them yesterday and I put the other on hold for awhile.” He paused. “And stop looking at me like that. It’s not like Los Angeles is the only place I can work out of.” I smiled and moved closer to him, if that was even possible at this point. “Don’t get me wrong, Robert. I’m extremely glad you’re here. I’ve missed you - you have no idea. It’s just that I don’t want you to put your career on hold for me.” “Who said anything about putting my career on hold? It’s just one project. I’m sure I can find a lot of things to do in New York. Maybe even a play…” He smiled. “There’s time to think about all that. Right now all I know is… You’re here. And I need to be with you.” I glanced sideways as something occurred to me. “So…you’re letting a friend stay in your apartment until your lease is up.” He looked confused. “How did you know that?” “I was really missing you when I left the auditorium tonight, so I tried to call. Karyn answered the phone. She acted a little weird when I asked if you were busy.” I laughed a little as it began to make sense. He frowned. “I was afraid that might happen. You didn’t jump to all sorts of conclusions, did you?” I smiled sheepishly. “Well…" He just smiled, shook his head, and didn’t press the subject any further. We sat and simply enjoyed each other’s presence for a few minutes before he spoke again. “So, do you think you could help me find an apartment?” I looked up at him. “You’re kidding, right? Do you actually think for a second that I’m going to let you out of my sight?” He tilted his head as he looked at me. “All this time and you still don’t trust me, huh?” I smiled softly. “I trust you, Robert.”
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Author: Ariane
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Robert Downey Jr.
or any other real people mentioned in the story.