He whispered, “Mind if I distract them?”
I stared numbly up at his hard, freshly-shaven jaw, his neck, his Adam’s apple. “How?”
He swallowed, hard, his pupils blown wide. The way he was breathing sounded nervous, almost shaky, but when he cleared his throat and spoke, his voice was as solid as ever. “You good with a kiss?”
I peeked out at the crowd, caught sight of that one man laughing—the creep with the mustache who’d shouted at me—and, without thinking it through, nodded. Before I had time to prepare, Zion said. “Tilt your head back.”
And then he leaned in for the kiss.
Except it was more than just that. God, so much more.
First, there was the look. It wasn’t steady the way I’d seen him on-screen. It was a quick, almost eager flickering over my face. Beneath me, his chest moved up and down, the cadence almost wild. When his gaze finally settled on mine, there was intensity there, so much emotion.
“Watch me,” he urged. “Come on.”
His eyes were so fierce and possessive it hurt to hold his stare. And then there was the way his gaze slid down to my lips, where it lingered, getting hungry, hungry…
When he leaned in, my whole body tightened up in anticipation of the kiss I knew was coming.
Except it didn’t. Not right then.
That’s when I remembered that he was a master seducer. A man who knew his way around a camera like no other.
But when he put his nose to that place in the crook of my neck—between my ear and my shoulder—and sniffed, I couldn’t help but get goose bumps. It was stronger than me. More visceral than anything I remember experiencing. And I knew, beyond a doubt, that the moment would stay imprinted on my brain forever.
And ever.
I swear everything went silent. Not a sound from the fans, the paps, even passing cars faded to nothing. In the hush, Zion Mason turned and brushed his mouth to mine, waited, and pressed deeper. Lush lips, warm tongue, the oh-so-human scrape of a tooth.
I felt iteverywhere. Because the man knew what he was doing. And he most certainly knew how to sell it for the cameras.
When he pulled away, in contrast, I felt alone, cold. His expression was so soft, so real… I knew better than to believe it. When he gave me his signature grin, I dredged up a smile of my own and let him carry me inside like some prize he’d caught in the wild.
Later, when my friend and agent Gigi and I pored over every video out there, Zion’s mastery became even clearer. With my back to the photogs and the way he swooped in to hide me, the cameras didn’t catch a single shot of my nip slip.
And the kiss?
It was the most movie-worthy moment I’ve ever seen. The kiss that launched a million TikToks, that spawned a full-fledged career for me and, well, a fake marriage for the two of us.
There’s not a bad angle, not a body part out of place. Our embrace was smoldering hot and seemed planned and rehearsed and shot eighty times before being retouched in some studio and also somehow totally spur-of-the moment.
It looked like true love. Zion was the hero, I was the damsel. He was all hard muscles and I was lush, flushed innocence and the two of us together were pure, pure romance.
It felt…good. I mean, fine. You know, a screen kiss. Nothing more.
Right.
So, that was the moment. No doubt about it.
The very next day, I got offers, interviews, designers offering—no,beggingfor—collaborations where they’d design whole plus-size lines in my image.
How could I say no to that?
Everything changed because of that kiss. And not just for me. I got inundated with messages from kids, telling me I’d changed their lives. Little fat girls, Latina teens. Moms and dads telling me I’d made all the difference in their babies’ lives. Just by being me. By being beautiful.
And, yeah, the idea that it all stemmed from a kiss still doesn’t sit right, but, as Gigi said: We’d be fools to turn away from this chance to do something good.
Even Zion’s career wasn’t immune to that red carpet miracle magic. His people went on and on about ratings, about reputation, about how that kiss—and the idea that the two of us were together—turned his dubious personal reputation squeaky clean. And the roles he was being offered suddenly changed.
