As they took the last steps, his hand found the small of her back. She stiffened.
It had been one thing when she was fully focused on making it to her reading in time. Now, with nothing else to distract her, she was ridiculously aware of his touch, convinced she would mess it up—walktoo fast, too slow, make it weird. But he steadily kept pace beside her, his palm certain against her spine.
He’s just tactile, she told herself, recalling her observation from yesterday.He likes touching things. Nothing to read into it. She just happened to be the closest thing around.
A tall guard spotted them as they approached, nodded coolly to Darren, and waved them through without a word.
“See? Told you,” he murmured as they slipped inside.
“It would’ve been so awkward for you if that hadn’t worked,” Emma said under her breath.
He shook his head. “Oh, ye of little faith.”
They crossed the lobby and walked onto the exhibition floor. The cavernous labyrinth stretched out before them, giant display booths rising like small kingdoms. Countless signs hung from the ceiling, fighting for attention in explosions of color.
No fans. No chaos. Just the occasional squeak of sneakers against the gray linoleum floor and the mechanical hum of electronics waking up: generators, projectors, lighting rigs.
A janitor pushed a cart past, humming theJawstheme. Someone tested the speaker system: “Check, check, one-two...” The sound bounced against the ceiling, too big for the near-empty hall.
“I love this time of day,” Darren said. “It’s like being on set. All the gears and wires exposed.”
Emma looked up at the vast expanse surrounding them. “It’s kind of like writing, too. Designing a space that needs to be filled with life. Most people think the magic just happens. No one wants to see the first draft full of frustrated tears and two hundred repetitions of the word ‘gaze.’”
He glanced sidelong. “Don’t be so sure.”
She looked away, too slow to hide her smile.
They wandered deeper in. Promotional banners loomed overhead, famous faces staring down at them wherever they looked. Darren pointed out actors on the posters as they passed, dropping stories about who was surprisingly lovely and who was impossible to work with.
Everywhere they went, the Con was still preparing for the day. T-shirts were being hung on racks; merch tables still hidden under black cloths.
A crew member was testing a VR rig in one of the Star Wars setups, arms slicing randomly through the air at unseen foes. Behind him, rows and rows of stormtrooper helmets shone on their shelves.
Emma slowed for a moment, taking it all in. The quiet before the storm of fans, the worlds built from ink and imagination. “It’s surreal,” she said, almost reverent. “All of this—based on stories that could’ve stayed in someone’s head forever. And now it’s here, alive. Bringing people together.”
When she turned, Darren was watching her again, with that intense, unguarded gleam in his eyes.
“That’s the least cynical take I’ve heard on this business in years.”
She smiled over her shoulder. “Still new and naive.”
His voice came low as he answered. “Stay that way. As long as you can.”
The sweet scent of donuts hit them as they crossed into a new aisle. Emma let herself breathe, grateful for the rare quiet. Every so often, it struck her: she was walking next to Darren Cole. The more time she spent with him, the easier it was to forget about the movie star part. She debated whether she should bring up the casting again.
She probably should.
But the thought of steering this stolen time into business left a faint sense of resistance. Especially after what he’d shared in the car—those raw edges about choosing to be the villain. She didn’t want to prod at another of those masks. Not when she’d just started to glimpse the man underneath.
“So,” she said instead, glancing over. “Earliest favorite movie?”
“Jurassic Park,”he said without hesitation. “I spent an entire summer pretending my bicycle was a velociraptor. Terrified the neighbors.”
Emma nearly snorted. “That is . . . weirdly on brand.”
“Hey, it had everything—drama, survival, chaos theory. Made me fall in love with storytelling, honestly.”
“Dinosaurs made you want to be an actor?”
