Page 68 of Love On and Off Set

“Okay.” He surveyed the room. “I’m going to go down to speak with security. You’re going to pack all your personal stuff and have a shower. We’ll get your stuff down to your car. I have two parking spots at my townhouse, including one in my garage, so your car will actually be safer at my place. Huh…” He frowned. “That should’ve occurred to me when we were first working out logistics. Oh well, whatever.” He stalked to the door. “Don’t open it for fucking anybody. Call me if there’s a problem.” Then he was gone.

For a heartbeat, I breathed.

After that breath, I scurried to put my sex toys at the bottom of one of the suitcases, then raced to fill the others. Last on my list, once just about everything was ready to go, was my shower.

As much as I wanted to dally and carefully wipe away all the gross sweat from the day, I was under the distinct impression Freddie wasn’t going to wait patiently.

Once all my bits were clean and I felt vaguely refreshed, I shut off the shower, dried myself off, and put on my shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. I tried to style my hair, but finally gave up. It would air dry. I’d do my best magic in the morning.

A knock sounded at the door. “Andreas?”

“Yep?”

“Do you need me to step out of the room while you…?”

I opened the door. “All ready to go.”

Freddie held up one hand. He opened the suite door and ushered in a petite woman in a suit. She wore her hair in a ponytail so I was able to clearly spot her earpiece.

“Mr. Elliott.” She nodded. “On behalf of the entire staff, I want to apologize. What happened was completely unacceptable. I’ve instituted a full security review—”

“Really, it’s okay.”

“No, Andreas, it’s not okay. It’s as far from okay as we can get.” Freddie glowered.

I jutted my chin up.

He didn’t back down.

The woman cleared her throat. “The initial review of camera footage shows the perpetrator using a swipe card. We’ve downloaded the reader information and found it belongs to an employee who has left for the day. They have been recalled, and they will be questioned—”

“I don’t want anyone to get into trouble—”

“Do you want another guest to find someone in their room? A woman guest, perhaps.” Freddie held my gaze.

“No.” Easy one.

“Then let them do their investigation.”

“I really would have preferred if we could have questioned the, uh, other party.” The woman pursed her lips.

Freddie’s nose twitched.

“Look, Chaz was just…he misread the situation.” Right. See? I can shovel BS too.

“You know his name?” Freddie looked ready to kill me, with his furrowed brow. “You said you didn’t know him.”

“I didn’t.” I pivoted to the woman, who had yet to identify herself. “He told me his name. Now, I don’t know if that’s really it.”

“That, along with the video footage, will be very helpful. Although we like to keep investigations internal, he was trespassing and, as your security guard pointed out, he might do this to other people. The police might want to take a statement—”

“Nope.” I shook my head. “Look, I’m sorry the guy did all that… But you know he did it because of me. Because of who I am. And the last thing I need is my name being leaked to the press because some guy broke into my room and was naked.” I gazed pleadingly at Freddie. “Let’s go, okay? I just need to put this day behind me.” Because nothing would be worse than reliving this over and over again.

The nice woman nodded. “May I assist you with your bags?”

“Nope.” I tossed my shaving kit into the last open suitcase, zipped it up, laid it on the floor, and directed myself toward the door. “Nice meeting you. I hope you sort out your…issues.” I met Freddie’s gaze. “Take me home?”

Slowly, he nodded. “Yeah, I can do that.”