Page 77 of Nothing to the Wedding

“You think I apologize for loving you?”

“No!I’m just a little more complicated.”

“A little?”

Okay, buddy, laugh it up.“You wouldn’t want this if you didn’t want complicated,” she said.“You’re not so straightforward yourself.”

“We’re talking about you here.”

“Oh, are we?My mistake.”

“You want to get married again, Lola B?We’ll get married again.Hell, we’ll do it every other day if it makes you happy.Jane deserves that.You deserve that too.”

“Nothing wrong with my self-esteem.”

“You don’t like praise either.”

The sterner note of his gaze hailed back to the very moment she’d said something similar to him.

“Oh my God, you’re clapping back to something I said—when did I say that?”

“Vegas.”

“That’s right,” the agreement left on her breath.“Come to the fiftieth.”

“Mm hmm.”

“And you, oh, oh, you said you had a condition.”Her nose wrinkled.“Were you telling me to get tested?”

“We hadn’t had sex then.”

“No, we had not…” Although… “Not in real life, maybe in my head a few times.”

His laugh was always a reward.“Liar.I was fantasizing about fucking you long before you thought it about me.”

“Hey, I was never against sleeping with you, I was just less… eager than some of your fans.”Like her BFFs.Hamming it up, she batted her eyelashes at him.“Don’t I make up for that now?”

“Hmm…”

“Now I think about having sex with you all the time.I’m thinking about it right now.”

“That dress does have quick access.Shouldn’t have shown me that if you didn’t want it exploited.”

“Exploit it any time, Scroogey.I’m your number one fan.”

“Don’t forget I’m yours after Roxiverse airs and your popularity soars.Number one topic, rain or shine, everywhere I go it’s ‘Roxie this…’ ‘Roxie that…’ You’ll get bigger when you rule mainstream media.”

“Ah, so that’s why you married me.”

“For the street cred?You figured me out, baby.”

“If I was straightforward like Jane, you wouldn’t have your in with all my girls and their gossip.I know how you love to chat about their issues and get involved fixing their lives and their loves.Talking into the wee hours, sharing their hair and makeup tips has to be one of the highlights you get with me.We should do that more often.”

“Grand romantic gestures would be so much easier.”

“Nah, they’re exhausting.”On a bluster of breath, her forehead dropped against him for a beat.“You trying to decipher crazy hints, me upset when you don’t hear them.You plan some big thing and I have to react, oooh, ahh…” she mocked herself.“Then there’s the people and the press… Can’t we just have sex in public or something if you need a big gesture?Wouldn’t that be simpler?”

“Been talking to Roux?”