Page 71 of Wishing for La Luna
I try to move past him, but he blocks my way, forcing me to retreat a step. And another until I’m back in the bathroom.
“I don’t think it looks right that we’re in here.”
He waves a hand. “I don’t care. Why are you upset?”
“I’m not.”
“Don’t lie to me. You walked away from me, and now you’re trying to act like you’re not hiding?—”
“I’m not hiding. I needed a minute, so I took it.”
Fire roars in his eyes. “So you took your minute. Now tell me so we can talk about it.”
“What is there to talk about, Rio?”
I move toward the door. He leans against it and crosses his arms. “You tell me.”
I sigh. “Can we not do this now? Today?”
“If we kill it now, it won’t fester.”
“It’s your day. I want it to be perfect.”
He moves from the wall, and now we are close again. “How can my day be perfect when you’re not happy?”
His soft tone makes me feel so dumb for thinking about all this shit with Adina, but my feelings are my feelings. “I hate that she walks into our spaces so easily. No one questions that she’s here after what she pulled this morning. Not even you.”
He opens his mouth, but I stop him with my hand in the air.
“And I’m fully aware that you’re in an impossible situation. They came like every single one of your fans, to support and show you love. And that’s good for me. I’m just annoyed that I’m annoyed.”
“Luna, I don’t want her or her people here. This is the fucked-up thing about the business. We have to play politics and sometimes pretend, but I don’t forget. The fans mean the world to me. They really showed me love.” He rests his hands on my shoulders and pulls me closer. “But you…you’ve been my support, my anchor, everything.”
The air escapes me. Words won’t form, so I just shake my head to try to break myself from the spell of his eyes on mine.
He leans and brushes my mouth. My breath becomes one with his. “Before I took the stage, all I could think about was you. Your confession last night. I was so caught up in my feelings that I didn’t tell you my truth. I didn’t say that I’m already in love with you. I’ve been fighting these feelings for a long time. The night we met, I instantly felt that connection, but then you turned on me. I forced myself to hate you because you’ve mess with my head and my heart after you blocked me.”
“Rio—”
He shakes his head. “No. Let me finish.” He pushes me against the wall and trails kisses from my ear to my chin. “Every song tonight, I kept looking into the audience, around where you were sitting, trying to make you out in the crowd. I didn’t see you, but I felt you. It made me so happy when they put you on the Jumbotron. You looked happy and so fucking hot dancing. Tell me you believe me.”
He says all this between kisses, with his hand on my waist. His words are making me drunk. His heated touch gets me high.
“I believe you.”
I crush my mouth to his, and he presses himself against me. My nails dig into his skin, and I buck against him.
He groans, pulling back.
“I need a shower.”
“Okay,” I say but kiss him again and don’t move.
“You’re going to join me?” He tilts his head to the shower.
“Not here.”
“Come home with me tonight when we are done with the after-party.”
