She nodded and something tugged at the corner of her lips. He also saw a glint of what might be excitement in her eyes. “Good,” he said before kissing her softly, and then he pushed her down on the seat, thankful for the bench seats that his classic car provided. “You’re mine, Nellie. And now that we’ve confirmed this, because we have, right?” He needed to be clear on this. He wasn’t leaving anything to be misinterpreted. She nodded, chewing on her lower lip with a smile, her eyes still twinkling with unshed tears. It was all his tortured heart needed. He didn’t care how busy his life was. Come hell or high water, he’d make time for Nellie no matter what. With a groan, he dove in, kissing her passionately. “But it’s not official until . . .” He started pulling her shorts down.

“Abel!” she nudged at his chest, pulling herself up and looking out at the deserted exit in the middle of nowhere. “Are you crazy? We’re right off the exit.”

“Good point,” he said, sitting up and starting the engine again.

He pulled off the side and started further down the deserted road. “If we drive out further, I can take you outside against the car, under the desert sky.”

Her jaw dropped, but he saw the excitement mixed with fear in her eyes. “You can’t be serious.”

With a wicked smirk, he turned his attention back to the desolate road. “I’ve always wanted to do this. Who better to have my first time out on the open road with than the only girl I’ve ever been in love with.”

Staring straight ahead, he dared not look her way. It hadn’t exactly slipped, and telling her he was in love with her wasn’t on a whim. The whole time that he’d been tormented this past week, he’d considered showing up at her house and just spilling it. If there was ever anything he’d been certain of, it was this.

He finally glanced at Nellie, her silence scaring the hell out of him. She was staring at him with her hand over her mouth. Her eyes completely welled again and her brows pinched. “It’s true,” he smiled, “not just in love, Nell, but hopeless, there’s-no-helping-this-guy kind of in love with you.”

The second he stopped the car, she opened the door and jumped out, startling him. He watched her rush around the front of the car as relief and excitement overwhelmed him. Rushing out just in time, he caught her as she jumped in his arms. “I am so in love with you too, Abel Ayala,” she said, kissed him madly, then stopped and pulled away to look at him. Her expression was torn between a smile and almost breaking down again. “I’ve been so afraid to admit it even to myself, but I am completely and utterly in love with you.”

A part of him almost hated ruining such an incredibly romantic moment with sex. But an even bigger, throbbing part of him now wanted to f**k the hell out of his girl. He tugged at her shorts as he let her feet touch the ground. “Pull these down.” He spun her around, pinning her against his car, and dove into the side of her neck from behind sucking hard. “Mine,” he whispered forcefully into her ear as he pulled his zipper down. Her sudden gasp but zero resistance only made him more insane with urgency. “Now let’s make this official.”

~*~

Winston Reynolds was obviously a big fan of his own voice. The man could talk non-stop; often times he repeated what he’d just spent extensive time explaining in a different way. But Nellie had to hand it to him. The man knew his stuff. Unlike Andy, he disagreed that any publicity was good publicity.

“You don’t want to lose the respect of your public,” he insisted. “Sure, getting caught up in any kind of scandal will get your name in all the headlines, but what is that doing to your career? Sometimes—and this is more often than not—less is more.”

Nellie smiled, nodding. She couldn’t agree more. He wouldn’t even have to try to convince Abel of that. After he’d officially made her his earlier that day, Abel had explained in more depth about Rachel. One thing that she’d noticed about Abel even early on was his inability to fake or hide what he was feeling. So often she’d chalked up what she thought she’d felt from him to be nothing more than lust: the way he kissed her with so much passion even from the very start. The way he looked deep into her eyes and held her so possessively every single time had been so telling of what he’d wholly admitted to her now—that just as she’d been, he’d been drawn to her for months before they ever kissed on the cruise and that ever since then he hadn’t been able to get her off his mind.

So his annoyed expression when he spoke of the stories about him and Rachel that had gone viral was absolutely genuine. He’d also called himself a fool for waiting so long to come clean, but her constant reminders to him that she was great with their agreement had held him back from doing so. Of course, Nellie felt like an idiot now for having done so and so often, but she also explained why she had. They both agreed to be completely honest about their feelings from here on and that the tabloid stories would have zero effect on their relationship. Their relationship. Even thinking about it now made her smile silly.

With her meeting finally over and her ears still ringing from all the talking Reynolds had done, she was finally on her way back to her room--their room or suite rather. The MGM had, of course, put Abel in a penthouse suite with a much needed and much appreciated private elevator. There was a private entrance and exit that, judging by the amount of media coverage already at the hotel, Nellie had to admit was more of a necessity than a luxury for someone as private as Abel.