Page 43 of My Real Love Affair

“Well,” I said. “That was fun.”

“That was terrifying.”

I grinned. “You did great. Very natural.”

“I was internally screaming the entire time.”

“Couldn’t tell.” I merged into traffic, heading toward her neighborhood. “You’re a natural at this.”

“At pretending to date you?”

“At handling the spotlight. You’ve been doing it for years with your platform. This isn’t that different.”

“Except when I control my platform, I control the narrative. This?” She gestured vaguely. “This is chaos.”

“Controlled chaos. The best kind.” I glanced at her. “Besides, you’ll get used to it. Give it a week and paparazzi will just be annoying background noise.”

“Is that supposed to be comforting?”

“Little bit.”

She laughed, shaking her head. “You know what you’re missing, Austin Bancroft?”

“What’s that?”

“Domestic bliss. Normal life. Quiet evenings without cameras. Home-cooked meals. All of that.”

“I have no idea what that looks like,” I admitted. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a normal home-cooked meal. My family is chaos incarnate. I’m the youngest. Our house was always loud. The dining table even louder. Not that we all sat down at the same time. I can’t even imagine what that would have been like.”

Her face lit up with something like delight. “Oh, I’m definitely going to have to fix that.”

“Yeah?”

“Absolutely. Consider it part of the arrangement. I’ll teach you what it’s like to have an actual home. Not just a place you sleep.”

“My current place is nice.”

“I’m sure it is. But I bet it doesn’t feel like home.”

She was right. It didn’t. It was a hotel suite. Temporary. Cold despite the expensive furnishings.

“And what does home feel like?” I asked.

“Like you can breathe. Like you don’t have to perform. Like you can justbe.” She smiled at me. “I’ll show you. It’ll be fun.”

“You’re offering to domesticate me?”

“I’m offering to show you there’s more to life than fancy restaurants and nightclubs. Not that those things are bad. But you need balance.”

“Is this you already trying to fix me?”

Melody grinned and shook her head. “This is me thinking that even billionaires don’t have it all. And maybe you’re missing something important without even knowing it.”

I pulled up in front of her townhouse, put the car in park, and turned to face her. “Don’t you think that counts as flirting?” I asked softly.

Her cheeks flushed that pretty pink I was starting to really enjoy. “What?”

“Telling me I’m missing something. That you want to show me what home feels like. That you think I need balance.” I leaned slightly closer. “Sounds an awful lot like you care, Melody.”