AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She flicked her warm eyes to him and a soft smile touched her lips. “Just because I shelve something doesn’t take away its value to me. The value was always in the creation in the first place. And making it settled the itch I had at the time. Sharing it lives in a different space in my heart. Not everything I make needs to be shared.”
“But you wanted to share it once,” he pointed out.
She nodded. “And then I changed my mind.”
“That easy, huh?” he asked, his mouth relaxing into a crooked smile.
Zara’s own mouth stretched into a knowing smile. “Speaking of changing your mind…”
Asa chuckled. He’d walked right into that one.
But he couldn’t live with Zara Lorna. The offer was too good. Not just because of the timing and the location but because it wasZara. He couldn’t separate that from the offer.
If one person saw them together one time, lives would be turned upside down. Again.
His gaze flicked to Johnny.
He’d told Johnny there wasn’t anything significant between him and Zara. Roommates would absolutely register on the “significant” spectrum.
See? And this was the danger of returning to Zara’s orbit. It was warm and cozy and wonderful. But he needed to remember why he’d cut off contact with her in the first place.
Because it would start all over again. Shelby talking to the press, people calling the studio asking for him, lies about him using her, Zara’s reputation smeared and scandalized on every website. And his middle of the night anxiety attacks that he hadn’t told anyone about.
Johnny and Hannah had already gone to so much effort to hide him so he could keep working there.
He took a deep breath and glanced at his watch.
Speaking of work.
He finished his coffee, rinsed his cup, and headed for the door.
“Bye?” Nikki called.
He flicked two fingers her direction but otherwise didn’t look back.
Distance.
Distance from Zara Lorna was the only way to make sure nothing exploded.
ZARA
“If I smelled like b.o. you’d tell me, right?” Zara asked the room.
Nikki snickered. Johnny and Justin smiled.
But no one answered her question.
She lifted her arm and sniffed her armpit. Then she checked the other one.
Nikki barked a laugh.
“I don’t get it,” Zara said honestly. “That is the second time he’s left so fast, I’m surprised there’s not flames shooting out his backside.”
Nikki shrugged. “I don’t know. Asa’s been a little on edge since…” She stopped speaking and cleared her throat.
Hmm.
Since what had happened after the NMAs?
