“Gotta go! Let me know how it goes. Love you.”
******
“Remind me,” Hayes said, voice low as he pulled the truck into the bookstore parking lot, “why we’re here an hour early when I am the keeper of the itinerary?”
I squared my shoulders. I had no idea how Hayes would take this whole thing. “My agent has arranged for a popular book influencer to meet us out front before the signing to ask us a few questions.”
“Like an interview?” he asked, turning his head toward me in a slow, creepy way that only horror movie characters could usually achieve.
The rumble of his voice did things to my pulse I did not appreciate. I could already see the influencer and a camera person out front. We had maybe thirty seconds before they spotted us.
“Okay, don’t freak out,” I said quickly. “They want us to lean into the whole book-boyfriend-bodyguard thing. It’ll only be a few questions. This is for social media, so it can’t be more than a few minutes.”
I hoped.
His jaw tightened, and he cursed under his breath.
“Let’s get this done,” I said, reaching for some confidence I didn’t feel. Before either of us could chicken out and have Anastasia up my ass, I grabbed my bag, opened the truck door, and hopped out.
Chapter Eight
Hayes
“Luna—” I called after her.
Fuck.
Too late. Faces were already swiveling in our direction.
I jumped from the truck and ran to catch up. I settled my hand against the small of her back as I always did. That little point of contact was so I wouldn’t lose her in the crowd, and more and more just because I wanted to.
“You could have warned me,” I said out of the corner of my mouth, trying to keep my face even.
“I did,” she whispered back, smiling tightly for the cameras like a politician caught in a scandal.
“Yeah, five seconds ago.” My gaze flicked toward the influencer, then back to her.
“I’ll apologize later,” she said sweetly, teeth clenched in a fake smile. “But for now, pretend you adore me.”
“Not a problem,” I muttered, wishing my words were as sarcastic as they sounded.
A woman who couldn’t have been more than twenty-five smiled at us as we approached. She had one of those little clip-on microphones attached to the front of her sweatshirt, which saidEven though I Dust Them, My Book Shelves are Still Dirty.
“Luna Darling and the book boyfriend, thanks for agreeing to an interview.”
“Hayes,” I said, reaching out a hand to shake hers. She seemed a little taken aback but ultimately returned the gesture.
“I’m Jenn, a.k.a. The Book Boyfriend Dealer, and this is my cameraperson, Darren.”
The man behind her nodded but didn’t make a move to shake my hand.
Much like at the book signing, the woman turned her back to us, and the person with her pointed the camera at her face. He nodded, and she started to speak. “Hey, Addicts, it’s me, The Book Boyfriend Dealer, standing in front of a Luna Darling book signing in Waco. I have Luna Darling and the real-life book boyfriend here with me, ready to answer your questions, so stick around.”
Darren panned the camera to focus on Luna and me. It took a lot to rattle me, but being the center of attention wasn’t something I was used to. “Luna, everyone loved your speech about the perfect man, and then you showed up to a book signing with Hayes. Fans went crazy with speculation that he was who you were talking about in your interview. What do you say to that?”
She froze up for a moment. I moved my hand to her back and rested it there again, hoping the camera was too focused on our faces for anyone to notice. Luna recovered and answered. “Uh,well… I can understand why fans are curious about Hayes.”
Less unhinged than some of the things I’d heard from her mouth. We were off to a good start.
