He asks, making me reconsider the whole legal position.
“I do… I mean, I did, your fees… the court cases…” I wonder aloud.
“Oh, Tony! How could you even think that?” he exclaims. “You should know by now, after all these years, that I do a certain amount of pro bono work per year, have to, some legally binding contract of my own.”
“What about the paparazzi cases, the business with Ashlee’s mother?” I ask, feeling lighter by the second.
“Call it… an engagement present,” he guffaws. “You have asked her, haven’t you?” he asks, trying his best to sound like he’s scolding me.
“No. No I haven’t,” I realize aloud.
“Then do it, and for god’s sake, send me my car and that poor secretary her autograph, will you? I’m a busy man!”
He hangs up so fast, leaving the room silent with only Ashlee and me in it like a breath of fresh air.
“What happened?” Ashlee asks. “What’s going on? Tell me!” she squeaks nervously.
“How would you like to be an unemployed actress… dating the most famous unemployed actor in this week’s headlines?” I ask her, watching as her face counts off the idea in her mind.
“I’d like that of all things!” she says finally in her best Shakespeare play voice, and I hold her so tight I feel the air squeezing out of her until I kiss her again, hearing her taking it all back in.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Ashlee
“You really don’t mind?” he asks me.
And I shake my head without thinking about it. Without needing to think about it.
I only know I’m his and now he’s mine. Everything else is just playing catch up.
“But, what’s happened,” I have to ask, worried I might be the cause of more problems than he already had.
“It’s nothing baby, but it looks like my attorney is gonna have his work cut out for him. I just broke my movie contract, and I’m pretty sure he wants to go after all those photographers too,” he adds.
“But I thought…?” I start to ask, meaning I thought he wanted to sue them all, even my mom.
But Tony only shakes his head, smiling as he hooks his hands behind my waist and pulls me towards him.
“I thought a lot of things yesterday… before you, Ashlee, before us,” he says. “Max Schubert, attorney at law, can do whatever he wants. Right now, today, all I want is my girl on my arm and the sun on our faces,” he says, sounding like something from one of his movies, and for my benefit, I know.
But I don’t care, it’s exactly how I feel.
“What about my mom?” I hear myself asking, not wanting to even go there when it comes to the legal stuff, but needing to know what will happen next. I can let her go for now, maybe one day we can speak again, once she accepts who I am and how I feel about Tony.
“I can let Max know to ease off when it comes to her if you want. He runs his cases his own way, but I don’t mind at all if Stacy gets left out of the whole thing,” he says.
“Even though she started the whole thing?” I add.
Tony smiles, kissing me again and drawing me closer, whispering into my ear.
“Your foster mom brought you to me, I owe her everything, really… don’t I?” he asks, and we both laugh softly before we kiss again.
As much as my mom can be a pain in the ass, she did bring us together, and her own plans to bring Tony down will never work, not with his legal team and his attitude of live and let live, not with his own special power. I just know it.
“You’re not just for show, are you Tony Fontana?” I ask him, looking up, admiring him for more than his good looks.
“Nor are you, Ashlee,” he reminds me, kissing me tenderly again before he suddenly realizes he wants to ask me something.
“Say? You didn’t happen to bring your passport when you got your bag of tricks, did you?” he asks with that mischievous twinkle in his eye.
I tell him immediately, I have my passport, and all the money I’ve saved since I was seven, making him get a little emotional again as he kisses me harder.
“How much have you saved?” he asks, and I know it’s only curiosity, but I want to pay my own way too.
“About four thousand dollars,” I mumble, suddenly remembering I’m talking to a millionaire.
His smile shines like his eyes.
He’s proud of me, he’s not comparing bank balances.
“I love you Ashlee. I really do. How do you feel about coming to Paris with me? I think it might be best given the legal storm brewing, all the upcoming publicity. I have most of my assets there anyway,” he murmurs, looking at me with hopeful, expectant eyes.
“Paris!” I exclaim, feeling like a princess already.
“How will we get there? When will we-” I try to add, but his mouth is on mine again, his hands on my body and his firm tone in my ear soon enough, telling me not to worry about details.
“Just say yes,” he tells me, and I hesitate for a moment more.
“You mean about Paris?” I ask, cocking my brow.
“About Paris,” he confirms, and I push down the feeling, the wanting for him to ask me something else… for now.
“I can still wangle the jet from the studio, I know the pilot,” he tells me. “Plus, I have my passport right here. We can pick up anything we need once we get there but I have an apartment there, what D’ya say?” he asks me again, with so much enthusiasm I’m almost scared I won’t be able to keep up.
I’ve never been out of the state, let alone out of the country. I only got my
