His arms tightened around me and he mumbled, “I’m very happy where I am.”
“So am I, but we do have to go.”
He released me and turned onto his back. I propped myself up on one elbow to look at him. He yawned and then stretched, his shirt hiking up. I very much enjoyed that particular view.
“I was going to call room service this morning,” he said, “but I didn’t wake up when I expected to. You’re like a real-life Ambien.”
“Are you saying I’m boring?”
He cracked open his eyes to squint at me. “No, that you knocked me out. I haven’t slept that well in a long time.”
“Me neither,” I confessed. I leaned down and kissed his neck. “It’s going to be weird to go back to our real lives.”
“Things don’t have to change from how they are now.”
Things didn’t have to change? What things? Us sharing a bed from now on? Did that mean what I thought it meant? Should I be concerned here?
I hated that I was so inexperienced with relationships and didn’t know how to interpret the things he said.
Or was that a reference to our friendship? That despite what Shelby thought and what I was maybe sort of in some small way hoping for, this was never going beyond the parameters I’d set up in the beginning?
Shouldn’t that make me happy, that he only wanted to be friends? It didn’t.
Plus, there was still that small matter of telling him that I’d lied to him the first night we’d met. I’d been planning on telling him when Shelby was done with his house, but maybe this trip was proof that my hypothesis was mistaken. He must have cared about Shelby if he was willing to do all this for her. Maybe he wouldn’t fire her. Maybe he would even forgive me quickly and we’d move on.
Then I remembered how much he hated lying and realized a snowball in Arizona had a greater chance than I did of coming out of this unscathed.
Before I could ask him to clarify, he kissed me quickly and left to go use the bathroom. Confused by what was going on and feeling a little freaked out, I retreated to my own room to pack up my things and get ready. Which mostly consisted of me throwing things into my suitcase while trying not to panic. I got everything in my bag and put it by the front door. Then I wandered around to make sure that I hadn’t left anything behind.
I had to tell him. I had to. I couldn’t let things get more serious without him knowing the truth.
That sent a spike of pain through me so intense that it literally felt like I’d been stabbed. I doubled over, grabbing on to the back of the couch to keep from falling.
You’re going to lose him.
That was what I feared most. Him being out of my life. Never having another morning like the one I’d experienced today.
There was a knock at the door, and I took in a deep breath, practicing the exercises that Noah and I had worked on, and made my way over to open it. It was both Shelby and Allan, and I could tell that she wanted to question me but didn’t because she knew I wouldn’t say much with Allan standing there.
“Are you ready?” she asked, her eyes bright with unasked questions. “The concierge called and said the car was ready.”
“Yep.” I grabbed my suitcase and walked out into the hallway.
Noah stepped out of his room with his bag at the same time, and I didn’t know what to say. But he, either missing my awkwardness or deciding to ignore it, came over to take me by the hand, which was a relief.
Outside the hotel there was a bit of a traffic jam, and one of the valets apologized and said our car would be up front in a minute.
But a minute was all it took.
I heard murmuring and noticed people taking out their phones. Their voices became louder. “Isn’t that the guy who plays Malec Shadowfire?” “It’s Noah Douglas!” “Hey, can I get a picture with you?”
Then there were bright flashes. It wasn’t just hotel guests. There were paparazzi, and they started crowding in on us. Just a tsunami of strangers coming straight at us. Somebody must have tipped them off that Noah was here and would be leaving this morning. They were shouting questions at him, some of them about me.
“Get behind me,” Noah said, stepping in front of me, shielding me.
He turned to the paparazzi and barked a single word: “Back!” He was so furious sounding and so intimidating that they did exactly as he commanded them. That didn’t stop them from taking photos or all the other people from shooting videos.
The valets sprang into action and assisted in keeping the crowd at bay and helped us to get over to our waiting SUV.
Once we were safely inside, Shelby let out a loud breath. “That was insane! I thought they were going to crush us.”
But Noah only had eyes for me. “Reina’s right. It’s time for me to get a bodyguard. The idea that someone might have hurt you . . .” His voice trailed off, and he kissed me as if to reassure himself that I was okay.
Meanwhile, he was the one I was worried about. We’d been happy in our little bubble for so long, behaving like normal people, that I’d forgotten myself. I’d forgotten who he was and how those pictures were probably going to end up on the ENZ website and in my favorite magazines with everybody wondering who I was.
But the thing that concerned me most was how he could have gotten hurt. I’d already seen a fan physically attack him in the name of adoration—what if the next one had a knife? Or a gun? “I definitely think you should look into getting more security,” I said.
Shelby added, “We can get somebody out to your house to install a state-of-the-art home system, too.”
As we drove to the airport, Noah’s arm around me and holding me tightly against him, I wondered if I could always live like this. Zoe Covington was doing it, but even she’d admitted it was hard.
I squeezed his hand. I could do it for him. I could find a way to cope with all of this craziness, if that’s what it took.
Problem was, I didn’t think I was going to get that chance. Not once I told him everything.
So I did what I’d been doing—I didn’t say anything. It was so much easier to pretend I didn’t have this secret looming over our heads and to just continue life like normal. Gladys came back and paid me the rest of my fee, and I realized that I was going to really miss Sunshine. I asked if I could come by and visit sometime, and she replied by shutting the door in my face.
I was also going to miss being so close to Noah. But me moving back to my now-empty apartment didn’t change much. Either I went to his place or he came to see me every night. Then about a week after Las Vegas, he asked me if I had plans.
“Depends. There’s this movie star I hang out with, and he might want to do something.”
“Forget that guy,” he said. “There’s this film festival I have to go to. I’m getting an award for Best Actor for The Last Goodbye. You should come hang out with me instead.”
“I could do that.”
“There’s going to be press. And fans,” he warned me.
“I’ve already been through all that with you before. I can handle it. You don’t have to worry about me. I’d enjoy seeing you win an award.”
He told me it was casual; he was going to wear just jeans and a T-shirt. I got a little more dressed up by putting on one of my nicer button-up shirts and my fanciest pair of jeans. The ones I only broke out for special occasions. Just in case I was photographed again.