“Alyx?” Nathan offered his hand. “Shall we go?”
I scowled. “Do I have to?”
“Yes.” And this time, he didn’t let me argue, his hand reaching for mine. As our fingers twined with each other, he said wickedly, “Whether you like it or not, you still need me.”
There was no chance to rebut his words, with his bodyguards throwing the double doors of the station open at Nathan’s nod.
A throng of reporters immediately greeted us, their yelled-out questions punctuated by the loud clicks and flashes of their cameras.
This was normal, something I was used to.
But then a larger crowd swelled, fighting through the ranks of the paparazzi, and along with it came shrieks of Nathan’s name and words that totally confused me. Protect? Endangered species? I actually found myself looking around, trying to see if we happened to have walked past some kind of strange animal that had escaped from the zoo.
“Naaaaaaaathan, you can’t---” One woman actually tried to throw herself at the ex-model, and I stiffened in shock, thinking she would really fall on us.
Nathan pulled me closer to him. “Just look down, sweetheart.” He forced me to keep moving even as his bodyguards stepped in to obstruct the woman’s descent. Walking away, I heard the woman wailing in seeming despair, and my confusion grew.
Don’t go!
Stay single!
More impassioned pleas of the like dogged us, and Nathan’s fingers tightened its grip. “Hang in there,” he said under his breath.
After what seemed like an eternity, we finally made it to his limousine. The door slammed shut, ensconcing us in silence, a stark contrast to the chaos we had just escaped from. I looked outside the window. As the limousine started to move, I glanced back at Nathan, wondering what had changed between now and the last time I saw him. Since I worked for a newspaper for several years, the sight of paparazzi stalking their favorite subjects was nothing new. But what happened outside the station?
“That was just mad.”
“I know,” Nathan acknowledged with a grimace, “and I can only apologize for it. There was this…thing…that came out recently, and it’s stirred up a ridiculous frenzy.”
His words ignited a spark of curiosity inside of me, and I reached for my bag, intent on Googling it. When he saw me taking my phone out, Nathan winced. “Don’t bother looking it up. It’s garbage.”
His words only made me even more interested, and I hurriedly typed his name on the search tab. The top hits came up a second later, and I knew immediately what he was talking about.
Halfway to skimming through the article, and I could no longer keep myself from laughing.
“Oh my God, you’re the endangered species?” I shook my head even as the words made me laugh harder. “How did that even happen? Are you being hunted to extinction?”
Nathan sighed. “May we please change the subject?”
“Nope. This is the funniest thing I’ve heard in a while so if you don’t mind, I’m going to take my time enjoying it.” I went back to Google, and armed with the right keywords this time, more memes showed up---
I burst into a fit of giggles when I saw a meme where Nathan’s photo was crudely Photoshopped over the bodies of a tiger, rhinoceros, gorilla, and what seemed like a giant salamander.
“Have you seen this?”
Nathan barely spared the meme a glance. “Yes.” His tone was extra polite.
I pulled out another interesting snippet to show him. “What about this?” A group of enterprising women had come up with a genius fundraising campaign: for every dollar donated to their favorite charity, half of it will be spent making graphics that promote Nathan Callis and Christien di Luca’s status as endangered species.
“You’re really having fun with this,” Nathan murmured dryly.
“Yes, I am.” I looked up, about to tease him some more---
Oh.
The light in his gray eyes made my grin fade.
It was almost…tender.
Almost like he knew I badly needed a laugh, almost like he understood exactly what I needed.
I whipped my gaze away, muttering, “Stop looking at me like that. Your overprotective fans might think tonight’s rumors are real.”
“Isn’t it?”
My gaze whipped back to him. “Excuse me?”
Nathan smiled at me lazily. “You’re my girlfriend.”
Nathan
The restaurant that Nathan had selected for their dinner was upscale and quirky at the same time, its carnival theme skillfully merging both feels with red and blue silk drapes on the ceiling and an abundant array of vintage light bulbs suspended from bamboo ropes. The table setup was just as gorgeously contrasting: napkins and cutlery were placed in a miniature tin watering can while stunningly plated dishes were served on fine bone china that bore the restaurant’s name in elaborately carved letters.
“Lobster nachos for the gentleman,” the server announced, “and cheeseburger with truffle fries for the lady.” After pouring sparkling water in their glasses, the server excused himself with a bow, murmuring, “We hope you enjoy your dinner.”