James leaned against the bar on the far side of the living room as he eyed the scene before him.
“And she’s supposed to attend this gala tomorrow night?” Alice’s brow was furrowed in concentration as she looked at the phone Liam was holding.
“Yeah, she should be but…” He growled in frustration.
James could commiserate. He felt like growling, too. Maybe even shouting, or shoving or—
“What do you think, James?” Alice’s gazed was fixed on him and he realized he’d tuned out.
“Excuse me?”
“Should we split up?” she asked. “You and I could take this list of places to check that Claire and Katy put together while Liam checks in with her co-workers and agent.”
He straightened, his mood lifting for the first time since Liam had arrived on their doorstep and ruined their perfectly nice—perfectly just the two of them—day.
James loved this plan. And not just because he would get her alone...and far away from Liam. Nope. He was just doing his duty to help find this Hannah lady.
“Katy thinks we should start here.” Alice held up her own phone.
She’d been texting with Katy and Claire for the past twenty minutes after she’d filled them in on the latest.
Claire was friends with Hannah as well and between the two they were just as worried about Hannah as Liam was. Probably more so because they were worried about their friend, not just a client.
Katy had brought up a good point. They had to find Hannah and make sure she was all right before this photo was picked up by the bigger celebrity news stations and became common knowledge.
Right now, it was still relatively minor news, but once it became the stuff of tabloid covers and graced every magazine cover, Hannah’s nightmare was bound to get a million times worse.
Alice’s brows arched. She was still waiting for a response.
“Yeah. Of course. Whatever you think is best,” he said.
He was rewarded with a smile that made his chest feel like he’d been kicked by a pony.
After she shepherded Liam out the door with promises of checking in later, she closed the door behind him with a sigh. “I’m so glad you’re doing this with me,” she said.
He watched her as she hurried into action, seemingly not noticing that she’d just arrived in a new town, had yet to shower, change, or brush her hair, let alone unpack.
She was already bursting with activity, calling up a map on her phone so she could drop pins in all of Hannah’s regular hangout spots they were to check out. “I hope we find her before Liam does,” she called over her shoulder to him as she tossed him the keys.
“We’re strangers to her,” he reminded her.
“Yes, but we’re nice, understanding strangers,” she said with a wink. “I can’t imagine Liam would be the best person to listen if she needs to talk.”
He let out a huff of a laugh as he followed her out the door. “You have a good point.”
“Besides…” She cast him an angelic little smile that made him forget his name. “You’re the best listener I know.”
The best listener, that was him. Good friend, good listener…
Yup, I might as well be just another girl friend she could gossip with.
The cynical voice refused to go away, even as they shifted their focus to finding Hannah.
He wasn’t entirely sure who he was looking for until Alice thought to call up a picture from her latest TV show and showed it to him.
Pretty, tall, slim, brunette. Got it.
Too bad he only had eyes for a certain blonde pixie.
A blonde pixie who thought he was such a good ‘friend’ that they could have a slumber party together and he wouldn’t be fazed. A blonde sweetheart who looked to him like he was her knight in shining armor one moment and her completely asexual best bud the next.
The blonde love of his life who had know idea how much this trip was killing him!
He grunted in annoyance as his inner voice took on a life of its own as he navigated the congested streets and ludicrously busy highways.
“What are you grunting about over there?” she asked as they climbed back into his truck after striking out at a hair salon that had smelled like wealth and looked like something out of a futuristic sci-fi movie.
“Just thinking about how I’ll be leaving soon,” he said. This was sort of the truth. In all honesty, he’d been disgusted with himself for moping over how much he’d miss her when he hadn’t even left her yet.
But she didn’t need to hear all that. Especially not now when she was so preoccupied by her star client going rogue.
Her face fell. “I'm sorry I’m making you stick around—”
“No way. Are you kidding?” He scoffed at her look of guilt. “It wasn’t like I was going to turn right back around the second I dropped you off.”
Her brows arched. “You weren’t?”
“No. I figured I’d help you move your stuff in and make sure you’re settled and…” He cleared his throat, his words trailing off as her gaze landed on him like a weight.
“You know I’m not a kid anymore, right?” She didn’t sound angry or confrontational. More like she was...resigned.
He nodded. “Of course you’re not.”
She turned to stare out the window. “You could stay longer, you know. You could…” He watched her shoulders rise and fall with an inhale before she finished with, “You could stay as long as you like.”
He laughed despite the ache in his chest. “I’m not sure Dax would like that plan. I might not have a home to come back to.”
He’d been hoping to make her laugh, to lighten the mood which had been tense all day, ever since they’d woken at the motel together and had an awkward morning exchange during which he was fairly certain they’d both lied to one another.
How’d you sleep?
Great. How about you?
Great.
Sure, they’d both slept really great. Which was why they both looked exhausted this afternoon.
“You know that’s not true,” she said.
Her serious tone had him glancing over with a start. “What’s not true?”
She shifted to face him and he caught the tension that was written all over. Maybe it was even...sadness.
He wouldn’t blame her for feeling low. This was hardly the way she’d expected her first day on the job to go. She hadn’t even had a chance to celebrate her new home and adventure before being thrown into a wild goose chase.
She shifted to face him better. “You know he’d never fire you,” she said. “And you’d always be welcome at Twilight, whether you worked there or not.”
He stiffened behind the wheel. Something about her voice grated on him.
He didn’t need her pity, even if he’d been doing a heck of a job feeling sorry for himself lately.
If she noticed the tension in his silence, she ignored it. “It’s your home, too, James. You have just as much a right—”
“No, I don’t.” His voice came out harsher than intended and he readjusted his hands on the wheel, trying to ignore the feel of her stare. He barely held back a sigh. She was waiting him out, dang it.
It was one thing when he did it to her, but he hated when she turned the tables on him. One minute passed, then two. After five minutes of excruciating silence, her phone broke it to direct him off this highway to the spa that was next on their list.
“We’re almost there,” he said.
This place was similar to the last except that it was even more high-end. How did he know? They’d had to get through Fort Knox-level security just to speak to the receptionist.
It didn’t take long to realize this was another dead end. The icy receptionist looked two seconds away from calling the cops on them when a group of older women passed through the doors behind her.
One of them stopped in her tracks and eyed him from head to toe. “Hey there, cowboy,” she drawled.
He tipped his hat. “Ma’am.”
“Ma’am,” the woman said with a shocked laugh. “You ought to know better than to call an old lady ‘ma’am.’”
He dipped his head with a grin. She was teasing, that much was clear. She was also fishing for compliments and he was happy to oblige. “I don’t see any old ladies around here...ma’am.”
She tipped her head back with a sharp laugh and the other women around her burst out in girlish giggles. “Oh, I like him.”
“I just love cowboys,” another one said.
The first lady opened her mouth to say something else but Alice was already dragging him out of there by his arm. “Come on, before they eat you alive.”
“Eat me alive?” he laughed. “I didn’t think I was in danger back there.”
“Hmph.” She huffed loudly as they escaped the air-conditioned, quiet spa and headed back into the real world with its heat and the distant sound of traffic. “They were eyeing you like meat. It’s not right.”
He grinned down at her. “You’re not jealous, are you?”
She tensed. Even looking down at her he could see her tension, and he kicked himself for having opened his mouth. For a second there he’d forgotten his rule about flirting. He had a strict policy about not inferring any sort of intimacy between them and in one moment of thoughtlessness he’d forgotten all about it. The words had just slipped out and—
“Don’t be stupid,” she muttered.
He gave a humorless laugh. Right. Of course. There was no way she was jealous. Only an idiot would think she was.
It was the reminder he needed. Well, that and her comment earlier about how Twilight was his home.
If there was any doubt before, it was cleared up for him nicely now.
“Right,” he muttered.
“I just don’t want you being ogled like that,” she continued. “It’s demeaning.”
“Uh huh.”
“You sound like you don’t believe me.”
He kept quiet, his gaze fixed on the truck as they approached. He did believe her. That was the problem.
No, not the problem. It was the reminder he’d needed.
Her phone rang the minute they got into the truck and when she saw it was Katy, Alice put it on speaker. “No luck, I’m afraid,” Alice said.
Katy sighed with disappointment.
“Any other ideas on where she might be hiding out?” Alice asked.
“None that come to mind,” Katy said. “I think our best bet is to try and track her down at the gala tomorrow night.”
“You think she’ll go when she hasn’t appeared at any of her appointments or obligations for the last few days?” Alice asked, doubt clear in her voice.
“I think it’s worth a shot,” Katy said slowly. “This gala is a fundraiser for a children’s charity that she’s very involved in. If she surfaces for anything, it’ll likely be this event.”
Alice nodded, nibbling at her lip.
He tried not to notice. He tried his best to ignore her lips entirely.
Impossible. He wasn’t even sure why he bothered to try.
“Okay, well then I’ll have Liam let us know if she shows. He’s going tonight so—”
“You should go too,” Katy cut in.
Alice stared at the phone and then lifted her gaze to meet his. He met her gaze evenly, smiling just a little when she arched her brows and glanced down at herself in clear disgust.
It had been an intense two days on the road and she wasn’t at her finest.
Still gorgeous in his book, but he couldn’t help but laugh at her horror.
“I, uh...I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Oh come on,” Katy said. Her voice turned no-nonsense and he was reminded once again how she’d created and grew her own business.
When she wanted to get something done, she made it happen.
And she clearly wanted Alice to go to this event.
“Please, Alice,” Katy continued over the speaker. “I like Liam, but I don’t trust him to put Hannah first if he sees her there. He’s not exactly empathetic, and he’ll be looking out for his own interests, not Hannah’s.”
“He seemed like he cared,” Alice said.
The fact that she was defending a guy she barely knew shouldn’t have surprised him.
It also shouldn’t have made his entire body tight with jealousy.
“Yeah, well. He’s not a bad guy, but trust me when I say he’ll be worrying about his own career more than her.” After a brief pause, Katy’s tone was tinged with cynical amusement. “Welcome to LA, where it’s every man for himself.”
Alice’s flinch was so quick he almost missed it. “I’m not sure I’m ready to represent you at a party like this…”
“I am,” Katy said, her voice filled with confidence. “And honestly, this is all part of the job. We need to look out for Hannah’s best interests. If she does show, she’ll need someone in her corner, and if she doesn’t she’ll need someone to spin a story for why she couldn’t make it.”
“Isn’t that Liam’s job?”
“As her manager, yes? As her friend, that falls on me,” Katy said.
James had always liked Katy but in that moment he understood completely why she and Dax worked so well together. They were both loyal to a fault.
He watched Alice’s features tighten in concern. “But I’m not on the list—”
“I’ll have them add you.”
“But I don’t have anything to wear—”
“You have my entire closet filled with gowns. One of them is bound to fit well enough.”
“But—” Her eyes were filled with fear when she turned to face James with wide eyes.
He gave her a little smile of encouragement.
This was what she’d come here for, after all. To attend these high-society functions and learn how to put on a shindig like this herself.
“I...I guess…” She licked her lips. “I guess I’ll do it.”
Chapter Seven
The next day Alice stared at the contents of Katy’s closet with a weary sigh.
“You okay in there?” James’s voice in the doorway had her spinning to face him and she immediately knew she ought to have braced herself.
This guy was too handsome to sneak up on a girl. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. “I’m fine, just…” She waved a hand at the shimmery clothes that were crammed in there. “Not sure where to start.”
He leaned against the doorframe looking just as relaxed as if he was back home in Lulu. So why was she so on edge?
Well, she supposed she had some rather valid reasons.
She hadn’t realized she’d sighed again until James shifted, moving forward to stand next to her. “Want to talk about it?”
“No.”
He let her stew in silence and she broke it first—of course she did—with a moan that was admittedly melodramatic. “James, what am I even doing here?”
His answer was a low chuckle. “We’ve been over this, Alice. You’re here because this is where you belong.”
She smiled at the confidence in his voice. Who’d have ever thought that James the chill cowboy would turn out to be her biggest, loudest, most enthusiastic cheerleader?
He tipped his chin up as he studied. “What’s bothering you?”
She gave her head a shake. “I’m being silly, I guess. I’m just...not feeling great.”
He narrowed his eyes as he nodded thoughtfully. “Maybe you shouldn’t have had that second croissant at that frou-frou bakery this morning.”
She laughed and his answering grin made the ball of anxiety in her belly melt away. Teasingly she tossed her hair back. “I have no regrets.” She turned back to the closet. “At least, I won’t have any regrets unless I can’t fit into one of these dresses.”
His low laugh let her know he was standing right behind her. “Try that blue one,” he said.
She spun around, more shocked than if he’d struck her with a cattle prod. “Excuse me?”
He shifted, s
cratching at the back of his neck in obvious embarrassment. “You look good in blue.”
She blinked rapidly as her heart tripped over itself. It didn’t mean anything.
It didn’t mean anything. It didn’t mean anything. It didn’t mean any—
“You look good in every color,” he continued, as if this wasn’t some weird sort of torture for her heart. “But I especially like you in blue.”
Her heart melted into goo. If she wasn’t careful, her legs would be next and she’d turn into a pile of jelly at his feet. “Okay, thanks.”
She snagged it and headed into the bathroom, keeping it cracked so they could talk.
“I know you’re nervous, Alice, but you’re going to do great,” he said as she shimmied into the silky fabric. “You deserve this. You deserve to see the world, and the world needs to see you.”
She stilled, one arm in the right arm hole and the other bent at an awkward angle. She met her own reflection in the mirror. There it was again—deserve.
She hurriedly shoved her arm in and opened the door wider so she could see him. “And what about you?” she asked.
“What?” He looked stumped.
“What do you deserve?”
He made a scoffing sound, like he thought she was joking.
“You keep using that word,” she continued, walking out of the bathroom to confront him.
“What are you even talking about?” His gaze dropped, like he was seeing her for the first time and he stilled. He froze so thoroughly she thought maybe he’d hurt himself or something. “Alice, you look…” He cleared his throat and looked away.
She frowned, coming out to look at herself in the mirror. A smile tugged at her lips. Even without her hair and makeup done, this dress transformed her. It was such a far stretch from her normal tees and torn-up jeans she wore on the ranch she had to blink a few times to register what she was seeing.
“You look amazing.” His voice was so low, so husky, so…
She shivered, shaking off the compliment and focusing instead on what had driven her out here. “You’re always talking about what I deserve,” she said. “But what about what you deserve?”
His brows drew down. “What do you mean?”
She shrugged, already feeling ridiculous for bringing it up. Maybe she was reading too much into his words, or maybe she was overreacting, but ever since she’d told him about her plans to move here she’d noticed it.
Promise Me Forever (Sweet Beginnings Book 3) Page 6