“Always breaking the rules.”
“The rules are worth breaking for you.” He kissed me long and hard, making me dizzy with longing. Someone backstage wolf whistled, and he broke the kiss, leaving me breathless. “The things I want to do to you when we get home.” He groaned, staring down at me.
I beamed at him, burying my fingers in the thick black skirts of my dress so I wouldn’t be tempted to grab him and kiss him again. “Is that so?”
Ben turned me away from him, whispering in my ear. “I’d take you home right now if I thought they’d let me.”
My eyes fell on my friends standing several feet away. Olivia was teary-eyed, David held a dozen red roses, and Brian was checking out Blake across the stage.
I breathed out a laugh of disbelief, pulling Ben toward them. “You snuck them back here, too?”
He shrugged. “They followed me.”
I hugged Olivia, and she wiped her eyes. “You were so good, Eve. I’m still crying from the finale.”
David handed me the dozen roses. “Chills. You gave me actual chills, woman!”
I gave David a bright smile. “Really?” David wasn’t easy to impress, music expert that he was. His accolades meant more than anyone else’s.
“Truly. You were phenomenal.”
“You did alright,” Brian said with a smirk.
I punched his arm lightly before pulling him into a hug. “I’m glad you came.”
“That’s what she said,” he muttered in my ear.
I barked out another laugh, feeling utterly giddy.
“Come on, princess,” Ben said. “Go get changed and wash off your makeup. Jack and Nora left to save us a table.”
“Thank God. I’ve hardly eaten today with the nerves.”
Once I’d changed into my street clothes and scrubbed the paint from my face, I emerged from my dressing room, red-faced and eager to have a night out with my friends after two weeks of 12-hour rehearsal days.
Ben leaned against the wall outside of the dressing rooms, scrolling through his phone. He looked up and watched me bound toward him, sliding his phone back into his pocket and catching me with a grunt as I jumped into his arms.
He squeezed my ass before setting me back on my feet. “How’d I get so lucky?”
I grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the exit, feeling like I could fly, still buzzing with excitement from the performance. “Your persistence paid off.”
He chuckled, intertwining our fingers as we walked past the Broadway lights. “I wasn’t about to give up on something as good as you, even if you are as stubborn as a mule."
I swatted at him playfully.
"Are you happy?” he asked while his thumb drew circles over mine.
“I’m so happy I want to laugh and cry and dance and scream all at once. I still can’t believe this is all real. It’s like a dream come true.You’rea dream come true.”
“The handsome prince that swept you off your feet?”
“If I say yes, will it give you a bigger head than you already have?” I teased.
“I’m not sure that’s possible,” he said, grinning down at me.
I giggled, still feeling weightless. “If anyone had told me six months ago that this is where I’d be, I would have laughed in their faces. An actress in a major Broadway musical and madly in love withyou?” I shook my head in disbelief. “Never in a million years did I think I’d end up here. But I love where I am. And I love you.”
Ben brushed his lips over the back of my hand. “I love you, too,mi reina.”
