Hollywood Princess (Hollywood Royalty 2)

I stare at him. “Well, what are we doing?” I look over at the luggage cart overflowing with bags. I make a mental note to have Cori send back half of them. I haven’t even touched a couple.

“Making out,” he says, and I look back up at him, “a lot.”

I try not to smile, but I lose the battle. “Then I’m ready,” I tell him and then look down at my crazy loose sweats and big shirt. Maybe I should dress up a bit, so I grab my bag and go into the bathroom. I put on my fitted gray sweats and white T-shirt, tying the hem in a knot on the side. My hair is all over the place since I didn’t dry it after and he spent the night with his hands in said hair. I pin it to the top of my head and then walk out. “Okay, now I’m ready.”

I look over at him, and he has his bag next to him. When he gets up, I see he’s dressed now. He is wearing fitted dark blue pants and a gray long-sleeved sweater pulled up to the elbows. His eyes fly up, and he spots me. “Is there anything that you don’t look beautiful in?” he mumbles. I smile, the butterflies all forming in my stomach. I’m a grown-ass woman, and I’ve been called beautiful my whole life, but from him, it’s just that much better. His phone beeps. “Okay, the car is downstairs. I texted Cori about what was going on. I am going to have someone pick her up and bring her to us.”

I nod at him and then walk out of the hotel room with him. He holds my hand the whole time until we step next to the black Range Rover waiting for him at the curb. He opens the front passenger door for me, and after I step in, I watch him walk around the car, open the back door, and throw our bags into the back. He gets in the driver’s seat and sets the address on his phone, and I watch the tall building fade as we make our way to the secret house. We pull up to a gate, and he enters a code, and the gates open. We make our way down the gravel driveway, and I see the vast green lawn and the house in the back. “Where are we?” I look at the two-story white house with black shutters. Columns line the front, holding up the second-floor balcony.

Brian pulls up to the side of the house where there are two garage doors. I get out of the car and wait for him as he gets our bags from the back of the SUV. He walks over to one of the garage doors and flips open a cover over a keypad. He enters the four numbers, and the door starts to open, showing us that it’s empty. I follow Brian who walks to the three wooden steps leading to a brown door. He opens it, and we step into what is the kitchen and family room. I look up to see the wooden beams on all the ceilings. The whole kitchen is an oak color. The L-shaped light beige counter with stools has six trays on it.

“Good, the food arrived,” Brian says, walking to the green couch and putting our bags on them. The whole room has so many colors it doesn’t make sense, but then when you look back and forth, it looks really cozy. I walk over to the counter, and when he takes off the covers, I see they have a feast for more than two.

“How many people are you expecting?” I ask him, and he shakes his head but then my phone rings from my bag. I walk over to it and see that Tommy’s trying to FaceTime me. “It’s Tommy.” I look at Brian, and he nods, so I press connect. The little round circle goes around and around while connecting, and then Tommy’s face fills the screen.

“There is my beautiful girl.” He smiles, and I see that he is sitting on a couch somewhere. “How are you holding up?” I walk to the couch and sit down on it, tucking my legs under me.

“I’m good. I was freaking out a little this morning, but I’m good now,” I tell him.

“What did he send?” he asks me, worry all over his face.

“It was a heart-shaped stone, which wasn’t that bad, but it was the note and that he was able to get so close to me,” I tell him. The fact that he could have gotten to me so easily just makes the danger so much more in my face.

“Where the fuck was Brian?” he hisses. “How the fuck did he let that happen?”