Page 87 of Nothing to No One

Roman was afraid. That’s what the anger was: fear. Without answers, they all lived with a dose of that.

The car slowed. “Get ready to smile.”

A mass of people outside, bright and glowing and beautiful, stole every other concern from her life.

“I’ve never done this before,” she said.

He threaded their fingers together. “Just smile. Stand with me a minute, then I’ll walk you off to the side. Wait there. They’ll take a few more pics, and then we go inside.”

Wow, so the guy could be patient when he wanted to be. She’d never heard him be so… gentle.

The door opened to a hail of intrusive sound; a melee of madness waited to consume her. No going back now. She filled her lungs and widened her lips. Thank God she wasn’t the star; that didn’t mean no one would be looking at her.

They were doing this together.

If she’d thought the day outside her apartment, when Magnus came to get her, was a frenzy, that was nothing to what felt like thousands of people there, crammed behind barriers and security guards. Fans screamed for autographs, flashes wentoff, and reporters held outstretched microphones and smart devices toward them.

People screamed for Roman.

Really screamed.

Fans and reporters alike.

He was kind enough to slow and sign a few autographs. Then he took her hand again, and just as he’d said, they went to stand in the gallery. Putting an arm around her waist, he held her other hand loose in front of them.

She wanted to believe the contact was his way of reassuring her, reminding her he was there with her, supporting her. Yet the slight moves this way and that to improve the angle for the paps painted a different picture.

Although it was probably less than a minute, it felt like a lifetime. Not soon enough, he led her to the other side, near the door, and returned for a few solo pictures. If the presses wanted to go with the latter shots, she’d be happy for that. More than happy. Elated.

He came back and scooped her in at his side. Thinking it was over, she was ready to exhale and relax.

Except rather than go inside, he walked them straight over to a pool of reporters, heading for one woman in particular.

“Roman! Oh, wow, you look fantastic.”

“You too, Cassie, how you been?”

The woman blushed, not that it mattered, the guy holding a camera over the woman’s shoulder was more interested in them than his colleague.

This was bad. Oh, so bad. All she could do was hold her smile in place. Smile. Smile. Smile. Everything would be okay.

“Me? What about you? Wow, the Pacific agrees with you, Mr. Lowe. How did you ever tear yourself away?”

“Well, you know.” With a hand on Bambi’s hip, he gave her a shake like maybe she was somehow involved in that decision.And why would that be? Because he couldn’t keep away from her or because she was the jealous nag back at home telling him to put down the silicone boobs in bikinis? “Duty called.”

“Yes,Undercover Ops, we’re all so excited to see you in action. How is the set?”

“Full of great people. This is going to be a smash. You’ll love it!”

“And love…” Cassie said, still smiling as she gave Bambi the once-over. “You fell fast.”

“When it’s right, you know it.” Another shake. Oh, no, this wasn’t going well, what was he doing? “She’s the love of my life.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet.”

Yeah, except—his hand slid onto her face, tipping it up as he came down and—she froze the moment his lips touched hers. Every atom of her being wanted to shove him away, to slap him in the face, to scream and run.

She couldn’t. Why? Struan. Except he was exactly the reason this was so wrong.

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