Page 43 of Lovestruck at Sundown
“Oh, no, no, no,” Nina said, retreating a few steps with panic-filled eyes until she hit the wall behind her. “I’mslightlyclaustrophobic.”
“Don’t worry,” I said, trying to ease her anxiety. “Aaron, can we do this out in the hall?”
“Let me handle this, Miss Murphy.”
“Oh! You’re Billie Murphy?” The woman pulled off her sunglasses with a smile and tucked them in her shirt. She extended her hand, ignoring Aaron’s presence altogether. “I’m Naomi Lieberman, William’s new publicist.”
“Oh my gosh, yes! William told me about you, but I didn’t know you were coming today. Nice to meet you, Naomi.” I shook her hand with a smile. “This is my friend Nina.”
Nina waved a quick T-Rex hand at her and tried smiling but failed miserably.
“Okay, you have enough intel on her, Aaron,” Nina said in a shaky voice. “She’s Naomi Lieberman. She’s William’s publicist. And she has a great fashion sense.”
“Aw! You’re so sweet, Nina,” Naomi said, sliding her phone into her bag.
Nina stared at Aaron, who kept staring at Naomi.
“Now jot her name down on your phone and open the goddamned doors, Aaron,” Nina said through her teeth. “You can run a full background check in the comfort of your apartment.”
“Aaron.” I stared at him and widened my eyes, but he wouldn’t budge. “Enough. You heard her. She’s William’s publicist, which means she’s authorized to come up. Nina is going to hyperventilate any second now.”
“No one comes up to the ninth floor without providing an ID, Miss Lieberman. It’s protocol,” he said while resting his hands in a single fist in front of him, his powerful frame toweringover Naomi’s presence. “Mr. Sjöberg agreed to this procedure and didn’t notify me of your visit. So I have to escort you back to the lobby until that’s settled.”
Aaron wasn’t lying. Since the day of the shooting, William agreed to cooperate with this simple task: providing Aaron with the names and IDs of his guests. It was done as a precaution. But William’s guests couldn’t be denied access because Aaron said so without evidence of them being armed, suspicious, or dangerous.
William agreed because he rarely had anyone over at his place besides close family members and a few friends on his permanent guest list. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t forget to do so. It had happened before, and Aaron would request the guest’s ID upon arrival, and that was that. It never was a big deal, but Aaron was being difficult and excessive today.
The woman cursed under her breath as she rummaged through her bag. “Hold this.” She gave Aaron her laptop to free her other hand so she could pull out her ID from her wallet.
Aaron passed the laptop to me and grabbed his phone to snap a photo of her ID from both sides.
This situation was lagging, and all I wanted was to get off the elevator before Nina had a panic attack. But she took matters into her own hands. Since Aaron was distracted, she seized the opportunity and pressed the emergency stop switch back in place in an almost comical, frantic way, making the doors slide open again.
“Thank God!” Nina ran out, and I followed her. She bent over, resting her hands on her thighs and taking a few deep, calming breaths.
Aaron returned Naomi’s ID to her with two fingers as one would hold a cigarette.
“That one time I spent the night in jail in Budapest wasn’t my fault,” Naomi warned, walking toward the elevator’s buttonpanel. “This drunk woman at a nightclub confused me with someone else, threw a punch at me, and things got out of hand.” She pointed a finger at the panel. “Three, right?” She clicked away and strutted out of the elevator. “Other than that, my life is pretty boring and predictable. But have fun investigating me.”
Aaron glared at her as the doors shut before him and then he was taken down to the third floor, where he would probably spend a considerable chunk of his time doing just that.
“Fuck, that was intense,” Nina said to herself, brushing the sweat off her face with the back of her hand.
“I’m so sorry about all that,” I said to Naomi, handing her back her laptop. “Aaron and I have been through some ugly stuff together, and he can be paranoid and exaggerated sometimes. I’ll make sure something like that never happens again.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Naomi replied in a sincere and carefree tone, starting toward William’s door. “I’ve been around my fair share of security agents due to the nature of my clients’ field of work. They’re all the same. Cocky, paranoid, and at least a foot taller than me.”
“Aaron’s all right,” Nina intervened. “I mean, I hate him right now for trapping us inside the elevator, but he’s a good guy. We were saying how he probably needs a good fuck.”
“Nina!” I shoved her shoulder playfully, and she laughed.
The olive skin on Naomi’s cheeks turned slightly pink. But she raised a brow, clicked her tongue, and knocked on William’s door before saying, “Don’t we all?”
A moment later, William opened the door and seemed surprised about seeing the three of us together. “Hi?” He chuckled. His hands were stained with white frosting. He was probably finishing up his mom’s birthday cake.
“We saved Naomi from Aaron’s wrath,” I said, taking a step forward and pressing a quick kiss on his lips.
“Oh, shit. I forgot to send your information to Aaron,” William said to her in an apologetic tone. “I’m so sorry. Please come in. Let me wash up, and I’ll be back in a second.”
