I smile to myself. “Well, I never met a pop star brave enough to go out in public wearing something like that”—I point to the wig in her lap—“just so she can live it up a little.”
She laughs, turning the wig over in her hands. “That particular look is now immortalized for eternity.” But then she sighs. “People are gonna think I had a mental breakdown.”
My heart aches at her words. Of course, I thought the same thing too. For a little while.
When I look toward her, she meets my eyes.
“But I don’t care.” She gives me a crooked smile. “I’m glad we did it.”
For some reason, I love the way she sayswe. Like it was an adventure we decided to go on together.
Maybe it was.
I nod slowly. “Yeah, me too.”
Even if it didn’t work out the way she’d hoped, I haven’t had fun like that in a long time. I haven’t let go and danced like that in forever. Being with Harper makes me feel alive in a way I didn’t even think was possible anymore.
I look over again, and she’s giving me a wide smile that makes my whole body warm.
“What’s this safe house like? Is it fancy?”
I chuckle. “No, it’s not fancy. It’s a one-bedroom safe house. But it’s secure.”
“Mmm.” She bounces her eyebrows. “Only one bed, huh?”
I take a deep breath to steady myself, then let it out slowly.
I don’t sleep around. That’s not how I am, but God knows I’d take her up on that offer if the circumstances were different. I know I could get serious about her.
Fuck, maybe I’m already serious about her.
But it’s not possible. It could never work. And besides, I’m also the only thing standing between her and some crazedstalker running around town. I have a responsibility to keep her safe tonight, and I can’t do that if I’m balls deep inside her.
God, what I wouldn’t give to be balls deep inside her…
But I shake my head.
“I’m sleeping on the couch.”
Chapter 10
Chase
It’s bad.
There are photos of Harper all over the internet, and not just the ones from the ball. There are pictures of her around town. Out on the iron bridge. At herrental property.
It makes my blood run cold.
There’s even one shot of her using a towel to put out the fire this morning.
She was right. Someone was there, right outside the house, and I know who it was: the tall man with the gray hair from the department store parking lot. There’s an image of Harper leaving that store taken from his exact location.
This isn’t some paparazzo asshole taking photos to make a buck either; there’s one thing conspicuously absent in every one of the images, and that’s me.
I’ve been at her side for the last thirty-six hours, but in every picture he posted, she’s alone.
This man is obsessed. Dangerous. He doesn’t like the idea of her being with anyone else.
