Page 224 of The Nanny and the Heartthrob

“Please, tell them that Harper says to turn up the thermostat a few notches. Oh, and ask them to say hello to a big burly bellman and one of the hostesses with long silver hair for me. I wished I had caught their names. They were truly kind on my last visit to the hotel.”

“We’ll pass along the temperature suggestion and the sentiments,” Donna replied with a coy grin.

What was up with the coy grins today?

First, Madelyn had busted out one, and now Donna. But before she could ponder the puzzling expressions, a young woman in the front row raised her hand.

“This question is for Harper,” a young woman with pink braids trailing past her shoulders asked. “Are you the online music teacher Bonbon Barbie?”

Oh, boy.

“I only ask, well, we’re asking,” the girl continued and looked to her left toward a group of young women, “because we follow Bonbon Barbie on LookyLoo.”

What a crazy coincidence!

“You’re kidding.”

“That’s how we learned to read music before coming to New Beats. And when we saw Landy Candy fill in a few weeks ago, we figured you had to be Bonbon Barbie or else…” The gal trailed off.

“Or else Landon was messing around with another bonbon,” she supplied.

The girls giggled.

“Something like that,” the one with pink braids answered.

“You figured it out. I’m Bonbon Barbie.”

“And the only bonbon I’m messing around with,” Landon chimed with a twinkle in his eyes.

The audience was eating this up.

“Is there a lesson that stood out to you?” she asked the young woman.

The girls leaned in toward each other and conducted a brief tête-à tête.

“We like your videos,” the pink-haired woman replied. “You’ve taught us so much, but Landy Candy is…wow.”

Landy Candy.

Harper nodded, knowing that it wasn’t Landon’s killer good looks that impressed the young women. “He’s an excellent teacher, isn’t he?” she replied because he was. She’d watched his video at least a dozen times. He’d pulled off a phenomenal lesson with zero prep and no teaching experience.

Landon waved her off, but the grin stretched across his face couldn’t hide his delight. “I don’t know if I’d call it excellent, but I enjoyed filling in.”

The woman seated next to the girl with pink braids raised her hand. “Are you two writing music together?”

“We are,” she answered, unable to hold back a coquettish grin.

“More pop music tracks?” came a young man’s voice from the other side of the hall.

Landon met her eye, and she nodded, letting him know she had no issue with him sharing about the new music—that is, if he didn’t mind. It couldn’t hurt to let the students know what was coming from Landon Paige. This event was being livestreamed. The publicity could be good for him.

And possibly for her.

Is that what she wanted—to be in the spotlight?

To be a star?

She knew the answer. It had lived in her heart for as long as she could remember.

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