When she finished with her call and came out of the bathroom, he turned to her. “We have two hours before I have to be downstairs in the conference room. If you want some time to yourself, now would be a good time to take it.”
Her footsteps slowed. “No, I don’t need any time. I can run your laundry to the cleaners, or get you something else.”
Wow. He’d been stupid all this time hiring errand boys to help him with gigs. He should have been hiring people like Riley. Heck, he should offer to hire her full-time and have her travel around with him. She was the best assistant he’d ever had. “I don’t need laundry done yet, but thanks for offering.” He sat down on the couch and winced as pain shot through his tailbone.
“What? Did you really hurt yourself when you fell over?” She rushed to sit next to him, her hands wringing.
This was perfect. Now he really did feel like a grandpa. “It’s nothing.”
“Didn’t look like nothing. You winced. Like you were in pain.”
How very perceptive of her. He knew she was going to get him into trouble. “Barely hurts at all.”
She frowned. “I shouldn’t have laughed when you fell. I’m sorry.”
Sweet Riley. He wanted to cup her face in his hands and tell her she didn’t have to worry about him. That he was fine, and she was a kind soul for caring. But that felt like it was too intimate, so he simply smiled at her. “I’m seriously fine. Why don’t you go take a break? I’ll message you when I’m ready to go down to the conference room.”
Remorse for sending her away filled him as soon as the words were out of his mouth, but he didn’t know how to take them back. Besides, he knew she had personal stuff going on with her father and felt guilty for monopolizing her time.
“Okay,” she said, standing. “If you’re sure you don’t need anything else.”
“I’m good.” Lie. He was embarrassed for falling on his butt and bruising his tailbone and disappointed with himself for not thinking of some errand to send Riley on so she would be back soon.
“I’ll see you in a couple of hours then.” She left, and he immediately felt the loss of her. Oh, this was bad. He was quickly falling for Riley, and there wasn’t anything he could do about it. He couldn’t have a relationship. As soon as he took off his mask, everything would go south.
And yet, he couldn’t help but think maybe Riley was different. Maybe she was the one woman who could see past his scars to the man he really was.
Chapter 7
The ocean water rushed over Riley’s feet as she walked along the beach. She had to admit to being disappointed when Shadow dismissed her. She wasn’t going to find out who he was by sitting in her room listening to Sir Barks through the wall. And she had enjoyed spending time with him this morning. He was different from what she expected. Warmer, somehow. And he had a sense of humor.
The sun beat down on her, and she turned her face to the warmth. Her father’s call had upset her, but there wasn’t much she could do about it right now. Her mother had done what Riley had expected. The cash she left was now gone, and so was her mother.
The hurt from years of the same thing washed over her like the sea foam bubbling over her feet. Other people had mothers who nurtured and loved them. Why did she end up with the one mother who would rather steal from her than give her any kind of affection?
It wasn’t fair, and Riley swallowed back the bitter rise of emotion in her throat. As she grew up, it had been painful not knowing when her mother would show up next. But now, when her father was struggling with his health and she was working her butt off for every dime to help pay the bills, it was salt in an already open wound.
As an adult, Riley knew her mother had an addiction, and that was why she was the way she was. But that didn’t make it any easier. In her head she knew it wasn’t personal. Her mother was sick. But in her heart it was like a knife cutting her open. And especially now, when there wasn’t much hope of digging out of the hole they were in.
She walked the shoreline for another thirty minutes to clear her head before she started back to her room. She had to get all her anger out and let it go. It wasn’t good to dwell on things she couldn’t deal with currently.
After rinsing her feet from the spout outside her room, she shook the water off and slid open the glass door. The first thing she did was list out all the things she’d learned about Shadow. His age, the death of his parents at the age of ten, and how he’d entered the foster care system. If only there was a search engine for famous people she could type all this into. She imagined her computer whirring for a few minutes before spitting out his name on a small piece of paper.
Unfortunately it didn’t work that way, and after Googling for thirty minutes she had a list of people who matched one thing or another, but no one who matched everything. As the clock ticked and the time grew closer for her to leave, she wondered if unmasking Shadow was even going to be possible. All her prospects were either way too old, their body type didn’t match his, or they were already so busy working that there was no possibility they’d have time to do singing gigs on top of everything.
But then another thought snuck in her brain, and she pushed herself away from the computer. Shadow was elusive, but maybe one of his security guards had seen something or heard something. Maybe she could dig up information from them.
She ran a brush through her hair and pulled it back into the bun again, then grabbed her fake glasses and bag. Shadow hadn’t texted yet. There was still time to do some digging. It was time to act like a real reporter instead of hoping the information would just spit out of her computer.
Riley opened her door and exited to the hallway. The guard at Shadow’s door gave her a nod before stepping out of the way. Riley paused, staring up at him. “You look like you’re bored. How long have you been standing here?”
The man looked to be in his thirties. He had a close-cut beard and a tattoo of a bird on his massive bicep. He seemed surprised Riley had spoken to him. “Almost three hours.”
“How long is a shift?”
“Eight, but we get breaks. We trade off.”
“Eight hours? That seems long to me. Do you need a chair? I think my knees would lock up if I stood for that long.” She flashed him a grin.
He chuckled and scrubbed his hand over his jaw. “No, I don’t need a chair.”
She stuck out her hand. “I’m Riley.”
“Evan.” He shook her hand, and she couldn’t help but think that she was glad he wasn’t tossing her out of Shadow’s room. He could do some damage. Of course, if her job as a tabloid reporter was revealed, she really could be on the tossing end of that stick. She frowned at the thought.
“Have you traveled a lot of places with Shadow?”
“Quite a few. I’ve been on tour with him five times, twice out of the country. It’s a good job. We get paid well, and he and Jalen are easy to work for.”
Score. Riley was so excited to find someone who had worked closely with Shadow for so long that she forgot her schoolmarm persona and grinned like a fool. “That’s good. Do you see a lot of crazy people trying to get close to Shadow? Or is it a pretty tame job?”
The door opened, and Shadow poked his head out. “Riley? I thought I heard your voice. Are you ready?”
Was he upset that she was talking to Evan? It kind of looked like it, but with his mask on she couldn’t be sure.
“I’m ready,” she said to Shadow. With her face heated from a massive blush, she shot a glance at Evan. “We should chat later.”
Evan simply nodded.
Shadow walked with her down the hallway toward the conference room. He glanced at her as they entered the room. “Do you know Evan?”
“No, we were just talking. I hope that’s okay. I didn’t want to distract him from doing his job. I was just curious what it was like standing there like that. It would be uncomfortable for me, but he didn’t seem to want a chair.” She laughed at the silliness of the suggestion.
Shadow cocked hi
s head to the side, like he couldn’t quite figure her out. “You really care about people, don’t you?”
A fair amount of guilt rose up in her throat as she tried to think of what to respond with. Of course, she cared about people. She wasn’t totally heartless. But in all honesty, she was just digging for information. Trying to find out who he really was. And that made her feel pretty low.
Another member of his security team stood outside of the conference room. Shadow nodded to him as they passed.
“Hey, look. You have a canvas at the front of the room.” Distraction was probably best right now, as she could feel the blush deepen over her face. Luckily, no one had come in yet, so they were still alone.
Shadow smiled, like he knew she was deflecting, and took a step closer to her. She could feel the heat of him, or maybe it was simply her embarrassment. Whatever it was, it was making her heart beat funny.
He leaned down a bit, which made her have the crazy notion that he was going to kiss her. How odd. Why did she think that? He slowly brushed back a strand of her hair that had come loose from her bun. “Can you check and see where they want us to rinse out our brushes?”
“Sure.” Riley rushed out of the room. Thank goodness. Maybe she could get herself together before having to go back in there. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she get her breathing under control?
And was Shadow actually flirting with her, or was she blowing his actions out of proportion?
Chapter 8
Jalen stared at the blank canvas that was set up at the front of the room. What exactly was he going to show the class? Why had he said it would be okay for him to lead a class on painting, anyway? He really didn’t know what he was doing. And he’d acted so cocky in front of Riley that now he was sure to embarrass himself.
Riley came back in the room. Her face was still flushed, probably from his comment to her about how much she cared about people. He hadn’t meant to fluster her, but her blush made him like her even more.
“They said if we need water to use the restroom sink down the hall. All the cups are already full, though, so we only have to do that when we’re done.”
Jalen nodded and turned back to the canvas. “Okay. Thanks.”
“Still not sure what you’re going to paint?” She absentmindedly picked up a paintbrush from one of the stations.
“Nope.”
“Winging it?”
He couldn’t help but grin. “Yep.”
Since no one had come in yet, he took a few steps closer to Riley. He wasn’t sure what she was talking about with his security guard, but he had to admit a surge of jealousy had come over him, and he wasn’t quite over it yet. Which was a bit silly. Riley could talk to anyone she wanted to. But it made him a bit possessive.
The urge to ask Riley out rose in him. Would that be okay? He wasn’t sure if she was interested in him. He debated for a moment, then figured he should just go for it. “So, are you doing anything this evening?”
“No. Do you need me to do something? I can run some errands.”
Well, that didn’t work. She’d totally misunderstood. He debated letting it go, but something inside him couldn’t let him do it. “I was thinking we could go out to dinner.”
Her eyes widened and she stilled. “Like, a date?” Her cheeks deepened in color. “Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t know why I assumed that.”
He took a step closer to her. “Exactly like a date.” Wow. He was not normally like this at all. Maybe it was his mask. It was making him feel more confident or something.
She met his gaze, a questioning look in her eye. “You want to go on a date? With me?” Her voice rose to a high squeak.
He smiled. “Yes.” Something flashed across her face, and for a brief second he wondered if he was making her feel awkward. Technically, Jalen hired her, not him, so it wasn’t like her boss was asking her out, right? But now he was second guessing his decision. He quickly tacked on, “If that’s okay. Tell me if I’m overstepping or making you uncomfortable.”
She fiddled with the paintbrush in her hand. After stalling for a moment, she finally said, “I’m not uncomfortable.”
“Then you’ll go to dinner with me?”
She swallowed, and her gaze intensified. “You, as Shadow?” she asked quietly. “Or you…as you?” He barely heard the last part with the loud buzzing in his ears.
Jalen’s heart lodged itself into his throat, and he took a step back from her. She wanted him to unmask? Before he even thought about it, he knew what the answer had to be. He couldn’t do it. Not only was unmasking out of the question because he couldn’t let the world know who he was, but he also couldn’t stand to see the look of disappointment that would surely come if she saw he was just Jalen, Shadow’s unimportant manager.
And then he thought of the sunburn. If anyone saw him with his masked-shaped burn, his secret would be revealed to everyone. He grabbed onto that thought, because that meant he wasn’t being cowardly. He absolutely couldn’t go out without his mask. For some reason, that made him feel better.
She waited for his answer, her fingers twisting the bristles of the paintbrush. He had to say something. Nerves shot through him like zaps of electricity. “Me, as Shadow. Is that all right?”
A look of disappointment colored her features for an instant, but it melted into a smile so fast, he wasn’t sure he’d seen it in the first place. “Of course.”
Before he could say anything else, a pair of women entered the room and took seats in the front row. He recognized them from the schooner. The taller one smiled at him. “I’m excited for this. I’ve always wanted to learn how to paint.”
He cleared his throat and pointed to the canvas. “Hopefully I can teach you something. But I have to admit, I’m a much better singer than painter.”
“I’m sure you’re just being humble,” the other woman said.
The room filled over the next few minutes, and Riley took a seat after putting a fresh bottle of water on the table beside his paints. She gave him two thumbs up when it was time for him to start the class.
He tugged at his black shirt. Why did it feel like it was constricting his neck? It had fit fine earlier. He picked up his brush and turned to the class. “I’m so glad you all came to my class today. We’re going to paint a landscape. So, first thing we’re going to do is paint the sky.”
Sky would be easy, right? He dipped his brush in the blue and began spreading it back and forth. The paint was creamy, and it spread easily. He painted the entire top half of the canvas blue before he realized he probably wanted some different shades. Most paintings didn’t have solid blocks of color. He pointed to his painting. “Now, we’re going to add in some shading.”
He dipped into the white and began spreading that around, but it didn’t blend into the top parts because the paint was too dry, so he ended up adding more blue, and then more white. What he ended up with looked more like a mess than a well-blended sky. He fumbled with his water bottle to get the cap off. “Well, this isn’t as easy as Bob Ross makes it look, is it?”
The crowd laughed, and he grinned at them, glad he could at least add some levity to the room. “Hopefully your sky is more blended than mine. Let’s move on to the land part.”
He spread brown around the bottom half of his painting. His brush slipped as he was painting, which make it look like a blob of paint was sitting on the ground. A brown blob. Dang. He tried to fix it by painting the ground higher in that area. It looked bad, so he created an arc to make it look smoother. He couldn’t say that looked any better, but at least it didn’t look like a dog did his business in the middle of a muddy field. Happy accident his foot. Bob Ross was a liar.
“Feel free to make your land green if you’re wanting a grassy hillside. Mine’s looking more like it’s a large mound of dirt.” Again he got laughter from the crowd, and he decided the only way he was going to get through this was to make everyone smile and have some fun.
“If your land has flowers, dab on s
ome color. I’m going to add on some red and yellow.” He dipped his brush into the water and added the colors. Except it didn’t look anything like flowers. It looked like lemon drops and blood splatters. He studied his painting. “Okay, I’m changing this into an abstract painting.” He turned it upside down and added more red and yellow to the messed-up sky. That got more giggles.
“I like it!” someone yelled from the back of the room.
“Thank you. A pity compliment, but I’ll take it.”
He spent the rest of the time splashing colors on his canvas until it looked like a complete mess, but the crowd seemed to love it. When the class was over, he let the students take selfies with him in front of his painting. Then he signed the painting and held a drawing to give it away.
After everyone had dispersed, he turned to Riley. “Don’t say it. I know I should have listened to you and planned this better.”
She shrugged and laughed, pulling the strap of her bag over her shoulder. “It turned out great. Everyone loved your humor.”
“Yeah, but no one learned how to paint.”
“No, but you were right. They weren’t really here to learn to paint anyway.” She motioned to his outfit. “They were here to spend time with Shadow.”
He slowly nodded, suddenly feeling unsure of himself. It hit him that no one cared about Jalen, they only cared about Shadow. The persona he’d imagined up had become famous, but no one knew his real self. It was a bit unnerving. He decided not to think too much about it. “Are you ready to go to dinner? I thought maybe we could walk down the restaurant district and look around. Whatever looks good to you is fine with me.”
“Perfect.”
Before they left, he opened the door and pulled his security guard aside. “I’m going to take Riley out to eat. You don’t need to come. Just stay at the room and make sure no one does anything funny.”
A Deception of Massive Proportion: A Romantic Comedy (The Billionaire Club Book 3) Page 5