We powered through five songs and I made the announcement written on the card Gwen had handed to me. The silent auction would be closing soon and I threw in a few extra prizes of my own, letting them know about the all-expenses trip to any of my upcoming concerts and front row seats that were up for grabs.
I glanced at the side of the stage. Holden rolled his eyes and laughed, leaning down to whisper to Emily, who launched into action to get whatever needed to be done to make it happen. That was why they were the best.
There may have been a small rush of people heading toward the silent auction area between the skee-ball and basketball shoot out with an adult-sized unicorn and taco hanging between them as the ultimate prizes.
The crowd cheered for another encore after I’d blown through two already. Checking in with the band, we came up with one other they all knew. Sweaty from my performance, rather than anxiety, I left the stage breathless and humming with excitement and relief. Another successful show with a satisfied crowd.
Emily shoved a bottle of water into my hand and Holden handed me a towel.
I dabbed so I wouldn’t mess up my makeup and drained the plastic water bottle until it collapsed in my hand.
“You’ve got the meet-and-greet and then we’re done.” Holden flipped the cover closed on his tablet. “Great job out there. They had to add two extra sheets to your tour package auction item. People kept bidding.”
“Awesome.” I braced my hands on my hips and scanned the outdoor backstage area for Keyton, but the man who stood a head above everyone else wasn’t here.
He had a lot going on tonight, and I didn’t need my hand held.
With my energy setting cranked up, we walked into the meet-and-greet area for hundreds of pictures. Giving all the fans tons of shots to take with them, my cheeks ached by the end of the hour. It had been a long day and I couldn’t ignore the throbbing in my feet any longer.
I collapsed into the chair in the now-deserted green room area. There had been no sign of Keyton since he’d introduced me on stage. I wanted to say goodbye. Maybe it was my way of being the one to leave first this time. We both had a way of making pretty dramatic exits.
I didn’t want to disappear on him.
Holden and Emily kept pointing at each other’s tablets. I sunk down in the chair enough to rest my head on the low back and closed my eyes. “The driver is on his way to the side entrance.”
If I kicked my shoes off now, I’d have to walk out barefoot. My toes would mutiny if I tried to shove them back in. Decisions, decisions.
The door opened and the muted sounds of the party increased.
“Sorry.” It was Keyton.
The melodic, rumbling timbre of his voice did crazy, dirty things to me. I shot up straight and opened my eyes. “Hey.”
“Hey.” He glanced over at Emily and Holden. “Were you leaving already or did you want to check out the party?”
An excited glow was quickly extinguished. As fun as it looked from the stage, I was a one-woman wrecking crew when it came to quiet enjoyment. “It’s okay. I don’t want to create a scene out there. I’m not exactly inconspicuous.” Especially after standing on stage in this costume earlier tonight.
The door opened behind him and Gwen came in. She, Holden and Emily must have gone to a special celebrity handler school to pull off looking like they always knew what to do next.
“There won’t be any issues.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Gwen, do we have some extra costumes? Something Bay could use to go out incognito?”
She nodded. “I can make it happen.”
“Really. You don’t have to. I know you’re so busy already.” I called after her, but she was gone already. “I’d love to hang out longer, but I don’t want to make extra work for everyone else. There are hundreds of people out there and lots of fires I’m sure she’s putting out already. She doesn’t have to. I’m sure she’s got her hands full.”
“I know. Gwen is more than capable and the event planning company is handling all the fires—big and small. You did us a massive favor, the least you can do is have some fun tonight, if that’s okay…” His gaze drifted from me to Holden.
“I’d love to.” I stood and winced. My toes angry at my premature celebration of near freedom. I wish I’d brought some more comfortable shoes.
Holden stepped forward and nodded toward Keyton now standing beside the couches on the far end of the room. “Are you sure about this?” He glanced over his shoulder. “The last time I left you two alone, you didn’t look so happy when I came back.” All the protective big brother instincts I loved about him were rearing their heads.
“I know. But Holden, if I don’t go with him tonight, I’ll look back and regret this moment. As scary at it might be. As hurt as I might end up. I can’t not do this.” My heart rate picked up, the anticipation of being on my own with Keyton making me a little dizzy.
“As long as you don’t look back and regret not getting into the car with me and Emily.”
I peered over at Keyton who did his best to pretend he wasn’t watching us from ten feet away. “I won’t.” I sounded a lot surer than I felt. I might regret it, but there was no other choice. I’d have to take the leap and worry about the rest later.
“That’s what I thought.” He held out my phone. “You’ll need this.”
Gwen returned with a few different costume options. There were a couple half-face Venetian masquerade masks, a cat woman mask, and one plastic mask with a fluffy zippered onesie to match. It was soft and warm and comfortable—Wonder Woman in pajama form, complete with the costume and nude-colored fabric on the arms and legs. Maybe all my concert costumes should be in Snuggie form from now on. “This one.”
Rushing into the bathroom, I stripped off my costume and hopped into the other. It was a warm hug. I slid my phone into the pocket—yes, there were pockets! —and zipped it up fully. Using a hair tie from Emily’s bag of tricks, I put my hair up. My feet screamed at being shoved back into my heels, but maybe I’d slip them out later and let the cold ground numb them.
I peeled off the large glitter decorations around my face and scrubbed with soap and water to get the makeup off, but I’d learned a long time ago, glitter was forever. I did the best I could without the industrial makeup remover I had back in my hotel room.
Opening the door, I stopped short.
Keyton stood inside the alcove. His broad shoulders seeming to fill the whole space. His presence never failed to send my heart into overdrive. He dropped down in front of me, kneeling. “I thought you could use these.” In his left hand, he had a pair of flats.
I could have cried.
He took my right foot in one hand and slid the heels off. The rush of relief was back.
His strong fingers kneaded the sole of my foot in a far-too-short massage. My toes got a little attention, too.
He slid the black, cushioned flat onto my right foot and repeated the pleasurable torture on my left. Picking up my heels, he stepped back with his arm out, letting me past.
I didn’t want to walk past. I wanted to stay in this darkened cubby of a space with him.
But there was a room full of people on the other side of the wall and I didn’t have much time before something came up and I couldn’t stay.