Page 2 of Once Upon a Star

“It is when you love someone,” Sebastian whispered.

Aracely leaned back and looked up at him. “You . . . you love me?” she stammered.

“Yes. Of course, I do. Wait. Don’t you?”

“I have always loved myself. My therapist says it is one of my self-destructive traits,” she teased. At the look of horror on Sebastian’s face, she put her hand on his chest and quickly said, “I love you. I’ve loved you since the moment I met you. I will love you until the day I die.”

Sebastian pulled her back to him and his mouth found hers. He kissed her greedily, his tongue pushing inside her mouth as his hands went to her ass and squeezed it. Aracely dug her nails into his arms as she kissed him back. She had needed to hear how much he cared about her; but she had never thought he would say he loved her. It was more than she had ever thought and more than she could ever have dreamed of. Still, her worries and insecurities came to the surface.

“How do I know you won’t forget me when you become a famous actor?” she asked as she broke from the kiss.

Sebastian let out a sigh, reached down, and lifted her chin with his finger. “You are everything to me. You are my everything. I will not forget you. I could never forget you. You are all that I want, you are all that I need. What we have? This is forever; you are the only one for me.”

“Sebastian. You are the only one for me, too,” Aracely said.

“Good,” Sebastian said and brought his lips back down to hers.

Chapter 1

Sebastian

Present day

“Sebastian. You are the only one for me, too.”

Had it been twelve years since I had heard those words from Ara’s mouth? Had it been that long since I had kissed her and held her in my arms? Had she meant those words all those years ago? Would she still mean them now? Had she forgotten all about me? Or did she still love me as much as I loved her?

“Hello? Are you even listening to me?” Casey, my agent asked, breaking me from my thoughts.

“No. Not really. Did I need to be?” I replied.

“It’s a good thing you’re cute, and talented, and pay me well,” she countered.

“And it’s a good thing that you’re so good at your job so I can have a reason to pay you.”

I leaned back on the couch and watched my agent of over ten years pace my living room. The sun streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows and cast an almost angelic glow as she paced around my living room. She had shown up unannounced and had spent the last twenty minutes berating me.

We respected each other immensely; it didn’t mean that we didn’t bicker like siblings more often than not. She was the one person that told me like it was. She had been doing it since the first day I walked into her office, telling me everything I needed to change if I was going to succeed in Hollywood. It hadn’t been easy to hear but she had been right and I owed a lot of my success to her.

Even with all of that, it didn’t mean that I liked listening to her tell me something we had gone over ad nauseam for weeks now.

“It isn’t too late. I can get you out of this deal. It would take just one phone call,” Casey said. She lifted one finger to emphasize the point.

“No. Thank you, but no. I want to do this play, I’m doing this play, and that’s all there is to it. We’ve started rehearsals; I’ve moved to New York City. It’s happening.”

“Actors bow out of shows all the time. That is why they have an understudy,” she said.

“I think they have them in case you get sick, not if you decide to bail on the show.”

“Whatever. This is beneath you. You shouldn’t be doing some shitty Off-Broadway show that no one has ever heard of. You should be off in Switzerland, shooting the movie with Eleanor Carter.”

“While I am flattered by the offer, I must decline,”

Casey hadn’t wanted me to come to New York. In the months before I left, she had done everything she could to get me to change my mind. She had dangled movies, television shows, even book deals. I could understand her concern, it was a risk, one she didn’t want me to take. Broadway and its audiences had a way of not being kind to Hollywood actors.

I might have proven myself in California. I might be considered a sought-after A-list celebrity there, but in New York, I was nothing. I was starting from square one. I understood it. Casey did too; she just didn’t like it. As my agent, she was doing what she thought was best for me. I thought we had finished having this discussion but she apparently didn’t agree.

“The chance with Ms. Carter hadn’t come up before. It’s a juicy role. A role of a lifetime. You would be stupid to pass it up,” Casey said.