I hurry in the direction the man traveled, hoping I can catch him or see where he went. Or just get a better view. Darting around a corner I’m now at the endcap that covers several aisles, but the man is nowhere to be found, and considering he was quite tall, he’s either ducked down or just gone. Maybe this was all my imagination anyway. Maybe Gio’s disappearance and my deep-rooted need to control all that’s around me, no doubt inherited from my mother, has me looking to take it to places where there is nothing to be found.
I rotate and run smack into a hard body, gasping with the impact and jolting away from the connection, only to be pulled into Kace’s arms. “Easy, baby. I didn’t mean to become a brick wall that all but knocked you over, but I saw you barreling down the aisle and was worried.”
“I just—I thought you were waiting in the car?”
“The paparazzi are still on the hunt. They must have followed us from your place. We need to get out of here before you end up as their target.”
A small degree of relief washes over me. That man wasn’t about me or Gio. He was hunting gossip about Kace, which is a whole other problem for later.
“There was a man staring at me, but the minute he knew I knew he was there, he took off. I was concerned he might be somehow connected to Gio disappearing, so I tried to catch him and get a photo and see where he went, but he vanished.”
Something I can’t quite name flickers in his eyes. “You thought he was watching you and you tried to confront him?”
“Yes. No. No, I’m not that stupid. I wouldn’t confront him.”
His jaw clenches, his lashes lowering two beats before he steps closer, the very action protective. “It’s your life I’m worried about. What if he would have been luring you somewhere to grab you?”
“I was in the store.”
“Until you weren’t, Aria. Gio is missing.” His jaw sets hard. “I shouldn’t have let you come in alone.”
I frown. “Since when do paparazzi kidnap people, Kace?”
“We don’t know he was paparazzi.”
“You think he was here for me, not you?”
“I don’t know and neither do you. Do you have what you came for?”
“Yes.” I hold up the package. “I’m set.”
“Then let’s get out of here because they’ll find us.” I don’t know if he means the press or someone else and he doesn’t give me time to ask. He takes the bag and sets us in motion, but not toward the front door. We’re heading to the rear of the building.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Ditching the press. I dropped my car at a hotel a block down and paid them to park it. Walker is picking it up and giving us a ride home.” He cuts us down a hallway leading to the bathroom and directly to an exit, which leads us to an alleyway where an SUV is waiting.
Kace opens the door and helps me inside, before following, sealing us inside. He speaks to the driver who sets us moving. “I can’t believe you just pulled that off in a blink of an eye.”
“Experience and I was ready for them. I pay Walker to be on standby, especially now. The charity events got some press and I knew that would put me on the radar again. And I knew you wouldn’t want to be in the press.” His eyes meet mine and I know he sees the concern in mine when he adds, “The attention will fade.”
And then return, I think, and I don’t doubt that he thinks so as well, because it’s true. We’ve both been hiding from the problem his career and my birthright represent. We are like two sides of a coin. One side is the two of us together soaring as beautiful and high as an eagle, with wings spread in the lift of a perfect wind. On the other side, we are the same eagle crashing into a turbulent storm riddled with unexpected blasts of hail. We can no longer pretend those two sides are only one.
We have to talk about this. We have to consider the risk to him and me alike, and we have to do it tonight. He knows it. I know it.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
With what feels like a question of our future together in the air between me and Kace, I rotate and sink lower into my seat. The problematic mix of his career and my past is a topic we’ve avoided for a reason. It could be the end of us and we both know it. And perhaps selfishly, I don’t want to let go of Kace. Minutes pass and awkwardly—when we are never awkward together—neither of us touches the other. I want him to touch me. I want to touch him, but there is an invisible wall between us. Perhaps that wall has always been there, but we had climbed it, scaled right over, and jumped right into all things me and him.