Page 68 of Hollywood Undercover
He suggested they were destined to meet each other. The very idea was scary and exciting at the same time. Bash had been there for her in the past few weeks. He had kept her company, and kept her from going insane with worry about her father. Alexandra showed up in Tucson intent on escaping her crazy yet lonely LA life, and had a perfect friendship placed right in herlap.
The appreciation rushed over her as she looked into his handsome face, the chiseled slant of his jaw, the glint of gold in his hair, and his dark eyes searching hers. Appreciation…and desire that she needed to get a handle on right now. Butterflies crowded her stomach. She got ready to say what needed to besaid.
“Bash, there’s something I have to tell you,” she blurtedout.
She had to do it. She would tell him now. He needed to know who she was. She was so tired of keeping him at arm’s length with her disguise. If he hated her forever after this, at least she would know she didn’t lie to him. There was always the possibility she was wrong about him. Maybe he wasnot…
Bash quietly slipped his fingers around hers and rubbed his thumb along her inner palm. Those butterflies inside her turned into a hurricane. He leaned towards her like they were the only people in the waiting room. They might as well have been. Everything else was a fuzzy haze. He had her completelyundone.
“Yes?” hewhispered.
His lips were so close, and all she wanted to do was taste them. She shifted in her chair. Bash was once again coming on to ‘Alex’, the guy. She squeezed her eyes shut, and lost her resolve. She eased her hand away from him and satback.
“I need a place to stay,” she told himinstead.
Where the hell did that comefrom?
“I can’t afford a hotel,” she lied. “My wallet, ID and credit cards were in thehouse.”
That part wasn’t a lie. She couldn’t check into a hotel. All that would do was leave an obvious trail to Lexxi Rock. It was the reason she didn’t rent a car when she first got here. The paparazzi were often tipped off by hotel and car rental staff, no matter how discreet the institution claimed to be. An idea was taking shape. This was her chance to find out if Bash was really into her, not Alex. With only maybe another week or two with him, she could take her time to make the reveal. After that, she would make good on her promise to Rick and fly back to LosAngeles.
“Did you just say you want to stay at my place?” Bash asked, with a shocked expression on hisface.
“I know. It’s a big ask, bro, but I don’t have a lot of alternatives right now. It’s only a few days, maybe a couple weeks at most. It will take a week or so to get my cards and ID replaced. I can’t fly back home until I’m sure my uncle will be fine. If I can crash on your couch, or wherever, it would help a lot. I won’t be a bother. I’ll be here at the hospital most of thetime.”
She started to question her request before he answered. Bash had been the source of several heated dreams. She fantasized about the man enoughalready.
Can I handle living in the same place with Bash, even for a couple ofweeks?
Am I asking too much of him? Ofmyself?
She remembered she didn’t have a choice. Rosa lived in a tiny one-bedroom condo on the other side of town. If she checked into a hotel after her cards were replaced, it would be as Lexxi, and that would be it. Cover blown, paparazzo invasioninevitable.
“Hey. It’s fine. I don’t mind, Alex,” he said. “There’s lots ofroom.”
Bash tapped on her shoulder to cut into her jumbled thoughts. “Hey. Don’t look so worried. It’s just a few days, right? A week ortwo?”
“Yes,” she saidsoftly.
A few days…sleeping in the same house…withBash.
God helpme.
