Hollywood Princess (Hollywood Royalty 2)

“I thought with us leaving tomorrow, it would be best if we talked a bit.” Her hands go to the label around the water bottle, her eyes going down and then coming back up again to look at me.

“I thought we went over this already,” I say, standing up straight now with my arms crossed over my chest. “And you agreed.”

She holds up one hand. “Calm down. I wanted to talk about the elephant in the room.” She smiles and then looks down. “You know, when I flirted with you.” I don’t say anything because I don’t know what to say to that. “Anyway, this is super awkward for me, so thanks for making it even more awkward by standing there not saying anything.”

“What do you want me to say, Kellie?” I ask her. “What exactly is there for me to say?” She lets out a breath and starts.

“I flirted with you, and you did nothing about it,” she says, “so I just want to maybe forget that happened and move on.”

“You mean you flirted with me while you were dating someone else and expected me to jump on it?” I ask, cocking my head to the side.

“That is so not what happened!” she shrieks. “I was barely dating him, and by the end, I was definitely not dating him.”

I swallow down and calm my nerves when I say, “So you’re telling me that you hired me to bring you to your boyfriend’s house, but he really wasn’t your boyfriend?”

“Oh my God,” she says, throwing her hands up and looking up at the sky. “Listen, can we just forget it happened?”

“Done,” I say to her. “Forgotten.”

“You are so annoying it’s not even funny.” She pushes the stool away from the island. Grabbing the water bottle, she says, “I don’t know why I expected us to have an actual conversation.” I don’t know if she’s asking me or talking to herself. Walking to her purse, she picks it up and turns back. “Thanks for the talk.” She turns and storms toward the door, but I’m faster than her, so as soon as she opens the door, my hand is on it over her head, holding it shut. I should have let her go, should have just let her walk out the door, but I didn’t. My stupid body moved faster than my brain. She turns around, and she is way too close. Close enough that I see the tiny freckles she has on her nose. I’m close enough to see the vein in her neck move while she swallows.

“We don’t have time to get into this.” My voice is lower than it was before. “And it doesn’t help that for the next ninety days, I’m going to be your shadow. But”—I lean in a touch closer, and her chest stops moving as she holds her breath—“when we get back, if this thing is still here, the gloves are coming off.” My hands itch to touch her, to run my thumb around her jaw and feel her skin under mine.

“What?” she whispers.

“In ninety days, we get back home. If this thing is still going on between us, I’m making my move.”

“Your move?” She just blinks.

“My move to make you mine,” I tell her, and the need to lean in just a tad and feel her is so great. Instead, I push off the door and watch her not say anything. She just swallows and then turns around and walks out of the house. My eyes follow her to the white Range Rover where she gets in and drives away. I watch her until she turns the corner and I can’t see her anymore.

I turn and walk back into the house, locking the door behind me. I can still faintly smell her perfume. “Well,” I say to the empty room, “that went well.”

Chapter Seven

Kellie

“It’s go time.” I hear in my earpiece and get up from my makeup chair. Looking into the mirror, I make sure my first costume is on properly, and it is. My hair is down in thick curls, and I know the minute I get on stage with the lights and the dancing, I’ll be a sweaty mess and not one curl will be left.

“You got this,” Cori says from behind me, and I just look at her reflection in the mirror.

Turning, I walk out of the makeshift dressing room. The minute I walk out of the door, I see him leaning against the cement wall. Brian’s wearing black jeans and a white polo shirt. His arms are bare with just a watch on. He walks behind me, and I start doing my vocal exercises while I think of our last conversation. When he said he was going to make me his, I should have told him no, that it was too late and that it was just a crush, but I didn’t. I just swallowed and rushed out of there before I could jump into his arms and wrap my hands around his neck. It was the first time he even acknowledged that something was between us. I went there to tell him to forget what happened, and instead, I walked away with a ninety-day ticker.