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“Lisa Frank! Are you eating more popcorn?” the woman drawled with a thick Texas accent.
Lisa Frank? This lady had to be a good time if she named her daughter after a nineteen eighties school supplies icon. I reached for the bucket of popcorn sitting between us. “Oh, no, she was just holding it for me. But I gotta be going now. Thanks, Lisa.” I winked at her, and her little face lit up with a big smile. She thought she had gotten away with it, but we rarely got away with secrets we tried to keep from people. But today wasn’t the day to break that bad news to her.
It seemed like an eternity had passed by the time I made it back to our room. I was hoping Ryzen would be asleep so I wouldn’t have to explain why I was dragging this giant milkshake plushie around. The lights were off when I opened the bedroom door, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I shut the door gently just as Ryzen turned on the lamp on the nightstand.
He lay in bed with no shirt on, and I would bet one hundred dollars the rest of him under the blanket was naked as well. He eyed the plushie up and down and raised his eyebrows. “Where did you get that?”
“Oh, this?” I held the plushie out in front of me. “Some little girl, Lisa Frank. Maybe you know her?” He shook his head, his eyes cold. I ignored his reaction and walked over to my suitcase. “Well, funny thing, she was going to throw it in the trash, so I gave her my popcorn for it.” The key to getting away with a lie was to stay as close to the truth as possible—one of the top five tips from my Grams, of course. I set the plushie down and grabbed a pair of pajamas.
“It should have stayed in the trash.” His voice had an edge to it. Did he know Cian had given it to me? Which was probably why Cian had done it, to get a rise out of Ryzen.
“Oh, yeah? Well, I like to recycle responsibly, Ryzen. You should know that.” I chuckled and eyed the shared bathroom. I didn’t know what was worse, staying in the room with Ryzen, who obviously knew I was lying, or risking possibly running into Cian. I opted for the latter.
There was no light coming from under the door from Cian’s side of the room, and I rushed over and locked it. No chance he was going to slip in here while I was changing. The warm water washed over me in the shower, and after a few more minutes, I deemed it safe enough to get out and go to bed.
I tiptoed in the darkness and slipped under the covers. I faced the door, my back to Ryzen, and after a few moments, a warm arm draped over my stomach. My back stiffened as his hand roamed up and under my shirt, where he traced soft circles.
What the actual fuck? Did he really think after the way he’d acted all day and night that he was going to get laid? I realized, as his hand moved lower over my thigh, that he thought it was a possibility. Of course he did. Because he was the type of man who never had to deal with consequences. Well, he was in for a rude awakening.
“I’m tired, Ryzen.” I scooted out of his reach until I was lying at the edge of the bed. “Get some rest. We have a lot of fake fiancéeing to do tomorrow.”
He sighed over-dramatically, and the mattress bounced from his jerky movements. After a few minutes, his breathing evened out, and I shut my eyes. I didn’t like the way things were going. It wasn’t at all how I had pictured. All I knew was that I wanted this to be over as soon as possible, so if that meant kissing some Texas-sized ass so Ryzen could get these hotels, then that was what I was going to have to do.
I dreamed of a giant milkshake chasing me through downtown Chicago, trying to eat me, and I had to fight it off with a giant dildo. I woke with a start as the bedroom door clicked closed. My phone read three a.m., and I glanced over my shoulder.
The bed was empty.
********
The next day was fairly calm and peaceful, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy being left alone for most of it. Ryzen was in meetings with Covington and the others all morning, then they played golf on Covington’s course. Luckily, I wasn’t asked to take part and could catch up on work.
I had finally mustered up the courage to return the phone call from my mother, who wanted to know every single detail and then spent twenty minutes telling me not “mess up” with Ryzen like I usually did. Grace was in the background whining the entire time that I was trying to steal her thunder, and by the time I hung up, I was emotionally drained. I talked to Grams briefly and then FaceTimed Juliet so she could cheer me and tell me what I was missing back home. Thora was doing what she did best and had gotten us packed and organized weeks earlier than expected. Juliet talked a mile a minute, and I chuckled when she finally stopped and sighed.
“You OK, Jules?” I leaned back against the headboard. “You know you can tell me anything.”
She rubbed the spot between her eyebrows. “Everything’s good. Just a lot on my mind.”
That could be anything from man trouble to which season ofGilmore Girlsshe wanted to rewatch.
Ryzen opened the door to the bedroom and grinned. Oh, good, he must be in a better mood now that he’d gotten to spend all day with Covington.
“I’ll call you back tonight, OK?” I said. She nodded, and I hit end on my phone screen. I turned my attention to Ryzen as he leaned against the bedpost. “How did it go today?”
“Good. Great. Making a lot of progress with Covington.” He undid his tie and threw it next to me on the bed. “Look, about yesterday.” He came and sat next to me on the bed and grabbed my hand. “I was an asshole. I’ve been taking my stress out on you, and that is unacceptable.” He lifted my hand and kissed my knuckles. “I’m sorry, and it won’t happen again.”
My face warmed as he rubbed his thumb over my knuckles. See, this was the Ryzen I could get on board with. The sincere one. The one who wasn’t trying to control everything. “Look, it’s OK. We all get stressed. I mean, things will work out the way they are supposed to.” I smiled and put my hand on his chest. “Apology accepted.”
He leaned closer, and I shut my eyes as his lips grazed mine. God, he was so good at that, making me forget every reason I was annoyed with him in a split second. “You’re starting to become a very important person to me, Nova, please know that,” he mumbled against my lips, and I sank further into him. His hand moved up my back and he pulled me tight against his chest, kissing me until it felt like I had no air left in my lungs.
His phone vibrated from across the bed. “Fuck,” he muttered, and reached for it. “I have to take this.” He held his phone up and I saw Riddick’s name on the caller ID.
He stepped out into the hallway. I didn’t know what kind of news Riddick had for him, but based on the volume of Ryzen’s voice, I was guessing it wasn’t good. I walked to the closet and started skimming through my dresses hanging there. Tonight, Covington was hosting an art auction in his grand ballroom. Yes, he had a damn ballroom on the property, because why the hell wouldn’t he? I stopped at a glittery red piece Gianna had put in my bag last-minute and pulled it out.
Ryzen came back into the room and slammed the door, making me clutch the dress against my chest. He walked over to the nightstand and punched a code into the safe at the bottom. That was weird. I hadn’t even known there was a safe in the room. He pulled out a stack of papers and stuffed them into his briefcase. “Riddick fucked up with one of our investors. I have to go to Chicago.”
I opened my mouth to object, but he held his hand up to stop me. “I have no choice, Nova. I’ll be back in twenty-four hours.” He checked his phone again and turned his back to me.
OK, I guessed the conversation was over.
