“I hope it will. Liam is one of my favourite people. I’m gutted he’s stopped performing. I can’t see how he’ll cope without touring either – that was as much of a surprise as him getting married.” She looked me up and down. “He’s always gone for brunettes in the past.”
“Really?” I smiled. “Fancy a cocktail at a cute bar I know? It’s happy hour.”
“Sure.”
She followed me out into the main area, heading to the cash till there to pay whatever it was for the room.
Liam was on his phone near the exit, his battered leather jacket doing nothing to disguise who he was.
He stopped his call when he saw me and for a moment it felt like I was the absolute centre of his world.
It had done when he’d kissed me too. And how he’d been touching me while Amber was asking her questions. He’d been playing the part that my exes had never aspired to – someone who was there, but also let me be. When he’d first told me about the interview, I’d predicted he would try to control the answers to get across whatever image he wanted to portray, but he hadn’t.
“You okay?”
His hand went to my shoulder and then brushed my jaw with his thumb. I caught his wrist and brought his palm to my lips, kissing it briefly. The public display of affection wasn’t my norm.
“Good. Going to take Amber for a drink in Whisky Ginger. Seph should be there.”
His face broke into a wide grin. “Canny plan. I’d love to come with you, but I need to meet Wes.”
I’d heard him talk about Wes, his manager. I hadn’t met him yet and when I did, I expected a grilling, an interrogation. I could understand that.
“Okay, fiancé, I’ll let you off. Are we looking at a place to rent tomorrow?”
He nodded. We’d agreed we needed to properly look the part and although I’d been happy to rent my apartment and temporarily move in with him, he hadn’t even contemplated the idea.
“We won’t agree on anything quickly. You know that, don’t you?”
I nodded. “But I’ll get my way in the end.”
“You’ll be disappointed.”
“I’m pretty sure that’ll be you, but we’ll discover it tomorrow.” I stood on my toes and kissed the side of cheek as platonically as possible. “Just like you discovered today that my acting skills can be on point when they need to be, including making you think I’d be shit at pretending to be a couple.”
He shook his head. “All that was for show? The revolting looks you were giving me before Amber got there?”
“Totally. And you tried to cure it the only way you know how – with a kiss. You just want any excuse to put your hands on me.” I gave him a wink and stepped backwards.
Liam pushed his hands into his pockets and tried – and failed – to stifle a smile.
“Go play nice with the journalist. And don’t give our game away.”
“No chance, lover.”
He walked away, still shaking his head and muttering something that was probably to do with how he’d hide my murdered body.
* * *
Whisky Ginger was two streets away, its magnetic powers pulling me towards it. Powers that had been reinforced by having a fairly difficult week at work thanks to one of my managers and a poor appointment of a masseuse, plus an interview by a journalist I was getting serious hate vibes from.
Being interviewed by the press wasn’t a new thing. I was somewhat of a unicorn; female, self-made millionaire, bossed by no one, so there had been media interest at various points, but never as the fiancée of someone who was a bit more than famous.
A burst of nerves flickered from my stomach up to my throat as I tried not to contemplate it. This was putting myself out there a bit more than I was used to and it was going to take me right out of my comfort zone where I really was in control of everything.
“What’s this bar like?”
I realised Amber was struggling to keep up with me. She had long legs but didn’t seem to be into her cardio.
