Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 168121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 841(@200wpm)___ 672(@250wpm)___ 560(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 168121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 841(@200wpm)___ 672(@250wpm)___ 560(@300wpm)
Damn, he loved her fire. “Good, because Roy Oxford knows where you are, and he’s going to watch you walk out of here on whatever camera shit his men have set—” He faltered when she closed her eyes. Fuck, he forgot about the cameras in the penthouse. He raised her chin and waited for her to look at him. “He’s going to watch you walk out of here and there’s not a damned thing he’ll be able to do about it.”
Her lips pinched in a line and the wheels spun behind her watchful eyes. Then she sucked in a breath. “The Craigs can’t nab me if we’re at the center of paparazzi attention.”
“That’s right.” He nodded to Tony.
She pulled out her phone and dialed. She’d called them before, giving them false locations so they could move around effortlessly. This time would be legit. He stood taller, lengthened his backbone.
A frown scrunched Charlee’s face. “You’ll be mobbed. Exactly the kind of thing you avoid.”
He knew she was thinking about his trigger. It was a valid concern, but she would be there to help him transform his stardom from oppressive to useful. “Avoiding isn’t living. I want to live, Charlee, and I want to do so deeply.” With her.
“You don’t have to battle the shit in my life to live yours.”
He pushed the hair from the side of her face, careful of her injuries, and settled his hands on her hips. “Won’t I be battling my own shit at the same time?”
“Yes, but—”
“Do you know what happens when you open up?”
She closed her eyes and inhaled through her nose. “It makes you strong.”
He kissed each lid and whispered against them, “Dare to be vulnerable with me?”
She opened her eyes, looked up into his, and smiled so brightly, he knew the glow from it would stay with him forever.
He decided to push his luck. “Come to L.A. with me.”
She rolled her eyes to Nathan, who was rubbing his jaw, watching her. His reaction was pivotal. Better be the right one. Jay didn’t want to beat the shit out of the man who had protected her for three years.
Nathan chewed on his lip, stared at his sneakers, glanced at Tony, and sighed. Then he raised his eyes to Charlee. “You might be free of your chain, sweetheart, but we both know you aren’t really free. Your life is yours to live your way. If Jay is offering you that freedom…” Nathan glared at him. “Under the protection of his security team…”
No wonder she listened to him. The dude knew how to woo her. Jay wanted to hate him for it, but he couldn’t. And of course, Jay would protect her with the best security money could buy. He nodded his agreement.
Nathan looked back at her. “Then nothing else matters.”
She smiled and mouthed, “Thank you.” Then she directed that smile at Jay, and it was pure vibration in his body. “Let’s go battle some crowds and Craigs.”
If he had a fraction of her courage, he could battle anything.
39
Unseen commotion bumped and rattled the apartment door. Charlee stood before the looming thing, fingering the bandage on her ear, waiting to be escorted into chaos.
Dread gurgled in her stomach and tried to rob the strength in her legs. Her outlook wavered by the minute, so she distracted her nerves by perusing a mental checklist.
Five-man protective team plus Nathan? Check. Bodyguard 380 wedged in her butt crack? Check. Paparazzi vultures gathered outside? Check. Hot rock star with more balls than sense?
She bent her neck to look at him. He rocked on his heels beside her, clutching her hand and humming the tune he’d written in the bathroom, though the undercurrent to this rendition was darker, more subdued. His hand was sweaty and trembling, but his balls were present, outlined in his spray-on leather pants. Check.
What else would she need to accompany an agoraphobic-ish celebrity into the sights of cameras and sniper rifles?
Courage? Any bravado she was trying to hold onto would be left behind with their luggage in the melee of the evacuation attempt. “I can’t believe you called in the paparazzi.” Her voice choked on a mass of fear. She swallowed. She understood why exposing her to the paparazzi might work. The public eye would protect her a hell of a lot better than the dark corners she’d been hiding in. But as she stood there, preparing to walk into it, she was shaking in her Doc Martens.
He kissed the top of her head. “Yeah. I’m starting to second guess myself. How will I be able to protect you while they’re blinding me with flashbulbs? Especially when the beautiful girl at my side works them into a frenzyfuck.” He flashed a cheeky grin.
Beautiful girl. How many times had she recoiled when Roy called her that? Yet as it filled her ears in Jay’s deep timbre, it recreated itself. “Will I have my own Wikipedia page after this?”