Page 41 of About Last Night

He lifted his hand, cupping my cheek, his thumb brushing away an errant tear. “Don’t cry, baby.”

Another sob escaped at the pet name, and all the words I’d held in came tumbling out. “I’m so sorry, Wyatt. I didn’t mean any of the things I said in Tahoe. I miss you so much. I don’t want to be apart and I know that risks your job and being with me is most people’s literal nightmare because the press are vultures and you’ll never know a moment’s peace again and⁠—”

He pressed a finger to my lips as his mouth split into a wide grin. “You’re worth it, Brynn. You’re worth all the crazy I’ll have to put up with. You’re worth everything.”

“I love you,” I whispered. It was probably too soon to say those words, but that didn’t make them any less true. His smile only broadened.

“Good, because I love you too.”

I was closing the distance between us to kiss him again when the door opened and Rafferty Carmichael walked through. I recognized him instantly from the Carmichael Security website Stella had showed me when she hired them as my protection. He was imposing with his height and that stern, hawk-like gaze. Not many people intimidated me, but Rafferty Carmichael did. His gaze dropped to where my fingers were intertwined with Wyatt’s, and his dark brow arched. His gaze focused on Wyatt, and something passed silently between them. Wyatt’s smile was nowhere to be found now.

He squeezed my hand once before breaking the stare off with Rafferty to look at me. “Can you give me and Raf a minute alone?”

I nodded and then quietly walked out, hoping I hadn’t just screwed things up for Wyatt already.

YOUR BOSS CAN’T ALSO BE YOUR FRIEND

Wyatt

The door had barely shut behind Brynn when Raf spoke. “Were you planning on telling me that you’d broken my number one rule?”

“In fact, I was.”

“When? Before your service with her ended, or after? Because I’m assuming this didn’t all happen after you were shot.”

His tone was even, but I knew him well enough to know he was pissed. His tone was always curt and to the point whenever he was well and truly pissed off. I wasn’t sure if it was from his upper-class breeding or because he’d been told to never show emotions, but it was a trait he always wielded to his advantage.

“It happened in Tahoe.” I wasn’t going to lie to him. “That’s when we crossed the line, although feelings had been growing on both sides from the start.” At least for me. I wasn’t entirely sure when Brynn’s feelings started. I knew she’d been sexually attracted to me early on—catching her with my name on her lips while she masturbated had given that one away. But it was clear in Tahoe that what we had was more than just attraction.

There was a bone-deep chemistry between us that had been impossible to deny.

“I’ll resign,” I said.

“You sure you want to give this up for her? She could drop you tomorrow and then what would you have?”

His response surprised me. “You mean, you aren’t firing me?”

He moved over to the chair Brynn had occupied and dropped down, his body seemingly weighted down with the burdens he carried. He rubbed a hand over his face. “I should. I absolutely should fire you immediately for breach of contract at the bare minimum, but no, Wyatt. I wouldn’t fire you. If you want to leave on your own accord, I can’t stop you. But I do want you to ask yourself if she’s worth it. You know what comes with being with her?”

Yeah, I knew. I’d been living it in the background, watching the chaos she had to deal with on a daily basis. It had only shown me how strong she really was to put up with that day in and day out. I knew our relationship would bring an even more insane deluge of media coverage.

I also knew she was worth it, and that she deserved to have someone who wanted her for her. Someone who didn’t care about her money, her fame, or anything else. Just her.

Raf frowned, but before he could scold me anymore I had one critical question.

“Who was it?”

“That shot you?” At my nod, he continued. “Her name is Eliza.”

My eyes widened. “It was a woman?” While not unheard of, it was certainly rare, especially in this case. Women stalkers usually stalked men, not other women.

“She’s a crazed fan of Brynn’s ex. She didn’t like that Brynn hurt him.” He rolled his eyes. We both knew how the media had let that one play out. Despite both parties saying it was an amicable split, he’d let rumors circulate that Brynn had broken his heart.

“You got her? For real this time.”

He winced but nodded. “The fans around her tackled her to the ground once they realized what she’d tried to do. They didn’t take kindly to her trying to kill their favorite singer.”

Brynn was so much more than that, but I wasn’t going to argue about semantics. I was just grateful the whole ordeal was done. I didn’t doubt there might be others in the future, but at least this one we could put firmly behind us.