A spin-off book from Miss Mercury about Ben Hardy and Brianna Macey's story: if you haven't already, I would highly recommend reading Miss Mercury before reading this book.
Ben and Brianna are in Los Angeles for Allen and Jessica's wedding tomorrow and for the Golden Globe Awards two days following but today they are celebrating Ben's birthday.
His birthday was yesterday but they were on a plane for several hours so they couldn't do much celebrating, "What do you want to do today?" Brianna exits the bathroom and jumps back into bed cuddling into him.
He thinks over her question as they both drift in and out of sleep, they're both pretty jet-lagged and they don't want to be worn out at the wedding tomorrow, "What about the beach?"
They haven't had a holiday together yet so they're treating this trip as their first holiday together. Brianna seems to click as to what he's getting at, "You just want to see me in a bikini."
When they talked about making this trip a proper holiday he voiced out loud that he'd yet to see her in a bikini. He smirks thinking about what a beautiful belated birthday gift that will be.
She decides to get the upper hand in this situation, "Fine, the beach it is."
She rummages through her suitcase to find said bikini and something to go over the top. Ben had fallen back to sleep no idea she meant for them to go in a few minutes.
"Ready," She announces.
"Hmm..." Ben pecks open eye open looking her up and down and groans, "Bloody hell."
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"Wait, we're going now?"
"Yep, the best way to get over jet lag is to adjust to the new time zone by sticking to the times locals would get up and go to bed," He doesn't move at that which she anticipated so she grabs her bag and prescription sunglasses heading towards the door, "I'll meet you down there shall I? Don't worry I'm sure they'll be plenty of other helpful gentlemen that will be willing to rub in my sunscreen."
The sound of bed sheets being ripped aside comes from the bedroom as he rushes about the room to get changed, tripping over something on the floor. She stands just outside their room door letting him believe she'd gone without him.
He rushes out of the room and sees her standing there, he realises what she was doing. She giggles running a hand through his bedhead hair to neaten it and presses a kiss to his lip, "Shall we go get breakfast before we go and it finishes soon?"
He nods, "Give me two minutes, I forgot my sunglasses," He goes back into the room shaking his head.
She waits for him in the hallway then they walk towards the elevator, once inside she notes he's a little quiet and wraps her arms around his shoulders, "Hey I was joking, I wouldn't want anyone else and I certainly wouldn't want some random creep rubbing in my sunscreen."
Smirking he slips his arms around her waist kissing her hairline, "I'd punch any dude that lays a finger on you. You look gorgeous but I was joking when I said I wanted to go to the beach just to see you in a bikini. I love you for so much more than just your body."
Keeping one arm around her waist he escorts her to breakfast and then the beach where they spend most of the day.
Allen and Jessica's wedding the next day was beautiful and Bohemian Rhapsody won two awards at the Golden Globe Awards.
Following that in February the film won another six awards, two at the Baftas and four at the Oscars.
In March, Ben spent most of his time in Ireland filming and Brianna launched her third fashion line as well as taking on Tessa full-time.
When April came around the pair decided to have a quiet month leading up to the wedding just making sure everything was ready and spending some time together.
On the 4th of April Ben and Brianna were cuddled up on the sofa after enjoying a takeaway when there's a knock at the door.
Ben holds back Frankie as she barks while Brianna gets up to answer, "Milly?" She smiles surprised to see her friend having spent most of the day with her at the spa, a birthday treat and baby shower gift to Amelia from her, Rosie, Anita, Ceinwen (Gwilym's mum), Rhiannon (Gwilym's sister) and Rory Taylor.
Her smile drops at the tears running down Amelia's face, "Come in, what's happened?" She guides her friend in and closes the door.
Amelia sobs, "I got into a stupid argument with Gwilym and I walked out."
Brianna grabs a throw from the sofa in the living room, telling Ben she'll be in the kitchen with Amelia, and leads her friend to the kitchen where they have two chairs and a coffee table by the back patio doors.
She wraps the throw around Amelia's shoulders and sits opposite, "Start from the top and tell me exactly what happened after I dropped you off?"
"I got in and saw Gwil had eaten without me, I hadn't seen him all day and I was looking forward to coming home and having a nice meal with him."
"Okay, but we never told him what time you'd be back he was probably hungry."
"I know," Amelia sniffles.
"What happened next?" She knows there's more to this.
"I saw my tub of Ben and Jerry's Phish food on the coffee table," Saying it out loud she feels stupid, "He ate it. I flew off the handle at him, I accused him of implying that I'm fat and preferring the company of that skinny brunette girl that's his on-screen wife in The Great. I grabbed my car keys and stormed out pulling off the driveway before he came to his senses."
She knows she overreacted but she's tired, heavy and in the last month of her pregnancy so she's fed up.
Brianna moves to sit beside her friend and hugs her, "Do you want me to call Gwilym and tell him where you are?"
"No let him find me, I know I overreacted but I am still annoyed about my ice cream. I need to cool off..."
"Well take your time to cool off, I'll be in the living room with Ben, but at the risk of you hitting me you might have to apologise to him a little," Brianna leaves her friend alone, rejoining Ben on the sofa explaining what's happened.
"Gwilym should have known better than to eat her ice cream, especially if it's all she's been craving," Ben laughs letting go of Frankie, who ventures to the kitchen to comfort Amelia, "Want me to text him to tell him she's here. I know he's probably panicking by now," He knows how much Gwilym adores Amelia, just as much as he does Brianna, Gwilym would never want to hurt her.
"Give him half an hour then message him."
About fifteen minutes after Amelia arrived there's another knock at the door, Ben once again kept hold of Frankie who'd come back from the kitchen while Brianna gets the door.
Brianna opens the door but doesn't get a chance to speak, "Please tell me she's here?" Gwilym pleads.
"Yeah, come in," She steps aside letting him in, "She's not angry any more but was too upset to drive. She's in the kitchen, I'll be in the living room with Ben if you need me."
Thanking her, he went through to the kitchen.
They give them their space to work it out then Ben goes to check on the situation. He walks in on them kissing, a sure sign they've made up so he clears his throat reminding them where they are, "You two alright now?"
Both of them blushing Gwilym links his hand in Amelia's and pulls her towards the door, "Yes, thank you. But a word of advice mate, when Brie gets pregnant don't eat the ice cream she's been craving for the past week."
"Noted," Ben snickers. The thought of Brianna getting pregnant lingers in his mind until they go to bed that night, he looks forward to the day there's a mini version of them running around.
