I know he’s right, but I’m still not quite ready to let go of the panic. “There’s a lot of them.” Twenty that I can count just standing here, and that doesn’t include magazines and newspapers the shop doesn’t cover. Or all the online gossip sites that are carrying the story too.
“There are. But the good news is, we’re getting a ton of exposure right out of the gate. We’ll be old hat in a couple of weeks.”
“A couple of weeks?” I squawk. Right now a couple of hours seems like too long.
“A couple of days?” he tries, but this time he sounds a lot less confident.
I snatch a packet of two Tylenol off the shelf and tear it open right in the middle of the store. I down them with a water bottle from the glass-fronted refrigerator in the corner, then tell the shop’s assistant to charge the Presidential Suite. The least Garrett can do after getting me into this mess is to keep me in headache medication.
“I can’t go upstairs right now,” I tell him as he leads me from the store. “I need to walk.”
For a second it looks like he wants to argue, but then he just nods. “Okay. We can walk.”
“No. Not we.” I take a step back. “Me.”
“What? You mean alone?” He sounds horrified.
I roll my eyes. “No, I mean with your whole entourage, so we can attract as much attention as humanly possible.”
“I’m not my entourage.”
“No, but didn’t you just get through explaining to me how important security is for you when you’re abroad? Besides, I’ve paid attention the last few days. There’s no way you’re leaving this hotel without a five-man security detail and we both know it. That’s not what I want.”
“We can go for a drive—”
“I don’t want to go for a drive. I want to walk. By myself. Like a normal person.” I push onto my tiptoes and press a hard kiss to his very displeased mouth. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours, and then we can do the whole gazillion-foot-long bathtub thing. I promise.”
He looks like he wants to argue, but in the end he just sighs. “There’s no way I’m going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?”
“Nope. Sorry.” I give him my most charming grin.
“Okay. Xavier’s going with you.” When he sees I’m about to argue, he presses a finger to my lips. “Didn’t we just finish discussing how many websites and magazine covers your beautiful face is gracing right now? It’s not safe for you to wander around on your own.”
I’m pretty sure that no one will even look twice at me if he’s not with me—especially if I do something to tame down my crazy hair. But Garrett’s got that look in his eyes, the same one he had in the car when we were talking about his abduction, and I don’t have it in me to push him any farther. Not when the nightmare is still so real to him.
“Fine. Xavier can come. But that’s it.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
He lifts a brow. “Are you going to keep saying that? Because I would suggest you get going before I change my mind.”
“Change your mind? I’m a grown woman! You can’t tell me what to do.”
“I’d never dream of telling you what to do. But I might just decide that I need a walk too. In the same exact direction that you’re planning on going, and then where will you be?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “You are a very sneaky man, Gorgeous Garrett.”
“Only because you are a very stubborn woman, Luscious Lola.”
“Luscious Lola?” Suddenly I’m torn between horror and amusement—which is what he was aiming for. The bastard.
“Yeah. It’s my new nickname for you. What do you think?”
“I think you should leave the nicknaming to someone with a talent for it.”
“Wow. Critical much?”