Free Brit Flick Sweethearts: A Rom-Com With Spanking by Samantha Hyde Page A

Retire ? You can’t be serious?”
    “Between us,
we’ve made more money than most people do in a lifetime. We could
have a very good life together.”
    “That’s not
what I meant.”
    “I thought you
felt the same. I’ve got to know the real you, Doris. I know
you hate this celebrity, merry-go-round as much as I do.”
    “You don’t know
shit.”
    His words stung
as surely as a slap across the face. “Well, there’s the Dahlia we
all know and hate. ”
    “Oh, come on Curt, if this is a joke I don’t think it’s very funny.
I’ve spent my adult life chasing this career. Am I supposed to give
it all up because a man asks me to?”
    “No. You’re
supposed to give it all up because you are as disgusted with the
industry as much as I am. You’re supposed to give it up because you
want out as much as I do. I know how much you regret taking the
drugs. I know you hate what this industry is turning you into.”
    “Baby, you’re
obviously having a bad day, like, getting all disillusioned and
stuff. I love acting, it’s who I am. And I’m clean now, I
promise.”
    He frowned at
her slightly, deeply confused.
    Had he really
misjudged her to such an extent? And perhaps it was too much of him
to expect her to give up acting.
    It was just
that he felt so sure she felt the same as him.
    “Don’t look so
sad, baby,” she purred in cutesy-cute little girl voice that grated
on his nerves. “I love you too, and of course I want to marry you.
But we have to finish this film, it’s not like we can walk out on
it at this stage.”
    Curt begged to
differ. Everyone was replaceable, he was under no illusions about
that. Even the fabulous Dahlia Dean.
    But not to him.
He loved her fiercely. Fair enough, she wanted a career, who was he
to take that away from her?
    It just
would’ve been so nice, to disappear with her off into the
sunset…
    But who was he
kidding? Real life wasn’t like that. He smiled grimly to
himself.
    I am a hopeless
romantic. Who’d have thought it….
    “What are you
smiling at?”
    “The irony of
life.”
    “Huh?”
    “Never mind.
Come here, beautiful.”
    He pulled her
back into his arms, kissing her hard on the mouth.
    Then he broke
off the kiss, frowning in confusion.
    “What’s the
matter, baby?” Dahlia purred in that same, irritating voice.
    The truth was,
Curt didn’t know. Her mouth felt inexplicably different. She
smelled different, she even tasted different… It just didn’t make
any sense.
    “Have you
changed the perfume you usually wear?”
    Dahlia giggled
girlishly. “Maybe.”
    Curt was
confused. For some unknown reason, the woman to whom he had just
proposed, he did not have the urge to kiss.
    “Do you mind
leaving? I have a migraine coming on,” he said.
    “Shouldn’t that
be my line?”
    “I’m sorry
Doris, but would you mind leaving?”
    Dahlia shrugged
and exited the trailer, blowing him a theatrical kiss as she left.
“Later, baby. I’m going now to tell everyone the news. I just wish
you’d thought to buy me a huge diamond ring.”
    There was that
God-awful giggle that made him wince, and then she was gone.
    Curt slumped on
a plastic chair, elbows on the table and his head in his hands.
What the hell was wrong with him, he wondered? He had just proposed
to the only woman he had ever fallen in love with, but instead of
elation, he just felt sadness.
    It doesn’t make
sense. I love Doris, I really, really do.
    So then why do
you feel like you’ve just made the biggest mistake of your
life?
    He groaned
aloud and clawed his cheeks so that the reds under his eyes showed.
Then he stood up.
    “I’m being a
prick. I love her,” he said to the empty trailer.
    He was going to
go and see her right now, sort this out once and for all. Maybe he
was just getting cold feet or something, and looking for problems
that weren’t there.
    “Where’s
Dahlia?” he asked the nearest crew member when he stepped out of
the trailer onto the set.
    “In her
trailer. Getting