“Dwayne and West went on a supply run to Walmart with some of the crew. Not sure where Andrew and Jackie are.”
Liana had a pretty good idea, but their secret wasn’t hers to share. It wasn’t even hers to know, but she’d caught enough hints to have a pretty good guess they were somewhere inside the arena.
Alone.
Like she was with Dean.
Suddenly the bus was stuffy even though the air conditioning was running.
“Ah.” She leaned against the wall and tucked her hands into the pockets of her cut-off jean shorts.
He looked at her, which made sense, because they were talking, but they were alone and she was aware of her bare legs and the way her t-shirt pulled across her breasts, which suddenly felt heavy and hot.
She worked out. Paid a lot of money to people to keep her skin bare, her hair shiny. She knew how to dress for cameras and red carpets.
But Liana never, ever felt sexy.
Not deep down. Not in the powerful,hell ya he wants mekind of way. Because real men didn’t want her most of the time. They passed her over as too high-maintenance or aloof. Too busy. Not doting or domestic enough. Too much, not enough, never quite right for the kind of guy she wanted.
She’d found it easier to date other celebrities. Actors, musicians. The occasional industry professional.
And in order for a man to see her naked…there were pretty significant mental hoops she had to jump through to be in the right place forthatto happen.
Right now, with Dean looking at her legs?
Liana was suddenly aware that helikedher. He thought she washot.
She liked that so, so much.
She licked her lips and wiggled her hands deeper into the pockets of her jean shorts. Her t-shirt pulled tighter around her curves and his eyes followed the welcoming path she created for his gaze. And then she jerked his attention back to her face by opening her mouth. “So…you’re just reading.”
He was good. He didn’t miss a beat. “Yeah.”
“I might go do the same.” She pointed behind her to her bedroom.
He nodded.
She didn’t move. Heat sizzled beneath her skin.
He didn’t disappoint. With a lazy, wide sweep of his arm, he gestured to the compact couch. “You could sit out here.”
Yes, her boobs begged. She crossed her arms over her chest. It didn’t pay to be too obvious.
“Or we could go for a walk?”
“No.” She smiled, a slow, sweet curl of her mouth that matched the way he was looking at her. “Reading sounds lovely.”
She went and got her book, and a light cotton hoodie because she was pretty sure her nipples were going to slice through her bra and t-shirt any second.
When she returned, he’d grabbed one of the chairs and propped his feet up on that, leaving lots of room on the couch for her. She grabbed a sparkling water for herself and offered him one before settling in next to him. She pressed her back against the arm of the couch so she was facing him and bent her knees to set her bare feet on the seat between them. Her book rested on her thighs, so she could sort of read and mostly watch him.
She was hopeless.
But he was really good-looking, which seemed like a reasonable defense, especially when his brow furrowed and he chewed on the corner of his lip as he read.
She forced her attention back to her own book, and the black-ops mission underway on the pages. She loved thrillers for the over-the-top action and macho heroes, but today the quiet man in front of her was way more interesting.
“How’d you sleep last night?” she asked, interrupting the silence.
