Page 29 of Royally Knocked Up
“All right,” she said. “Let’s do a picture.”
They walked over to the red carpet, which had been unrolled from the entryway toward the door that led to the event space. It was long, giving lots of space for the guests to take a leisurely stroll later. There were promotional posters from the movie standing in the resort lobby on either side of the carpet, encouraging people to stop and take pictures with stills of the film’s heroes. And, of course, Mae Terrington would be here posing for pictures too.
Enzo led the way all the way over to the door and stood with his back to it so that the wide oak paneling would serve them as a backdrop. “Right here,” he said. “This is a great spot.”
Hailey joined him as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and hit the button to reverse the camera. He held it at arm’s length. “Go on, give us a smile.”
He put his arm around her.
Hailey’s heart beat double-time as she leaned into him. She was just trying to fit in the frame, she told herself firmly. There was nothing over the line about this. She was just getting close for the picture.
So why did it feel as if she couldn’t quite breathe properly?
She forced herself to inhale, then let it go and hoisted a smile onto her face.
The truth was that she almost felt like crying.
It was such a relief to be close to him — to break through the tension she had been feeling all this time. She wanted nothing more than to stay right where she was. And yet, she couldn’t — and who knew if she would ever be able to allow herself this kind of closeness again? These seconds were exquisite. They were precious.
He took the picture.
“You have to send me that,” she said immediately. Already, though they hadn’t even separated from one another yet, she was feeling a sense of loss, and she knew that she would return to that picture again and again to remind herself of the way she had felt in the few precious moments when they had been so close. When his arm had been around her, when they had been celebrating a mutual achievement together.
I can’t let myself feel this now.
Someday in the future, when she had gone back to Baltimore and Enzo was nothing but a memory, she would look at this picture and remember what it had been like to share these days with him. When that moment arrived, she would allow herself to feel everything to the fullest. But until then, she knew that there was no choice but to keep it under control. They were friends. And for now, that was all they could be.
Enzo fired off a quick text. Hailey felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and struggled not to reach down and pull it out so that she could look at the picture right then and there. It was sochildish of her, needing to stare at her crush, especially when he was standing right next to her.
It was childish of her to have developed a crush at all. She was here to do a job.
She didn’t take out her phone. She also resisted the urge to smile at Enzo. For all she knew, that smile would come across looking flirtatious. She didn’t trust herself to keep things under control.
“We should head back to the event space,” she said. “We need to make sure the tables are set and all the place cards are in order.”
She turned and hurried away, assuming that he would follow, unable to bring herself to turn back and make sure of it. If she had to see him, she wasn’t sure she would be able to bring herself to look away for a second time.
What they had accomplished here was amazing. It was something to be proud of, and Hailey knew that.
But at the same time, she had no idea how she was going to move forward with Enzo when she could hardly look him in the eye without losing all control of herself.
CHAPTER 12
ENZO
“All right,” Enzo said to Hailey once the last of the event guests had disappeared to their rooms, once the staff had finished clearing the tables and putting away the food — tasks that Enzo had gleefully helped with, for once. In the past, he had considered himself above such things, but today he had to admit that it had felt good to lend his hand to making sure this event went as it was supposed to. This washisin a way nothing else had ever seemed to be, and he was proud of it and pleased with it.
“All right?” Hailey repeated.
“All right,” he said. “Now youhaveto come to Vista Grande with me.”
He could see that it was the last thing she’d expected to hear. She burst out laughing. “You’re still thinking about Vista Grande?”
“You did say that you would come with me at some point,” he reasoned. “And we’ve just accomplished something amazing. I want to take you out for drinks. Come on. Why not?”
She shook her head, smiling. “You’re incorrigible, do you know that? What do you suppose your father would say if he found out you were leaving La Fantasia to go out partying?”
“Oh, he isn’t going to find out.”
