The bodyguard jumps out and walks around to open my door. I turn to say a firm goodbye to Sebastian, but he’s already out of the car. He pops the trunk, grabs my overnight bag, and leans to help me out.
“I can do it.” I point to the bag that Daisy assembled for me from my apartment on my first full day in the hospital. Sebastian wanted to go with her, but I prevailed in that argument. Praise the saints. Because I didn’t need him rifling through my underwear drawer or skin creams. Or bringing me tampons. I shudder at the thought.
He ignores me, swings it easily over his shoulder, and strides to my building, while Duncan waits and stands watch over the fancy car in my parking lot.
The elevator is still broken, and my former boss’s arm anchors me as I walk up the steep flight of stairs, despite my irritation at his high-handedness. I’ve barely done anythingtoday, but the concussion has stripped me of energy and, worse, the wrong movement triggers nausea.
As we make it to my hallway, the smells from half a dozen kitchens cooking in poorly ventilated spaces assault our senses.
The couple in Apartment 408 is fighting, as usual. I like her. She’s studying to be a beautician and has given me lots of hair-care tips. I’m not as fond of him. As I’ve overheard these last few months, he doesn’t fight fair.
We stop in front of my door. I dig into my purse to find my key. A loud pounding thunders overhead, followed by high-pitched screeching.
“Damn. It sounds like the gates of hell,” Sebastian observes.
I laugh. He’s so appalled. “The kids must be playing chase.”
“That’s unacceptable. They’re screaming.”
“No louder than one of your parties. And much more wholesome.”
Giggling and more squealing filter down through the thin floorboards above. “They’re a little loud, but the family is awesome.”
“Please tell me you’re moving,” Sebastian mutters.
Not anytime soon, I think, reaching down to the bottom of my bag for my key. And after that recent—and, I’m sure, very expensive—hospital visit, it looks like I’ll be in this apartment for the long haul, or at least until my business turns profitable. I don’t even know what the final cost was because Sebastian had somehow taken care of that portion of the paperwork, citing fiancé privileges, which I know are not a thing. But even if he was crazy enough to settle my medical bill, I’ll have to pay him back.
A wave of panic threatens at the thought of the money and not having a steady job.
I can do anything I set my mind to. The only way out is through. I’m smart and capable.I repeat my mantra.
I fully acknowledge the cringe of motivational phrases. But I’ll do anything that works. If I thought it would help me land my first client, I’d recite an incantation. Burn sage. Dance naked in the moonlight. Whatever it takes.
A door opens down the hall, and I see it’s my neighbor, a single mother with two adorable daughters. Her divorce settlement just came through, and she’s hoping to buy a small house in a better neighborhood so her girls can get into a good school system.
“Hi, Teresa.” I smile in greeting to the cute and curvy woman in a waitress uniform.
“Hey, Emma,” she says. She’s distracted, looking at her phone as she speaks. “I wanted to thank you for helping with my paperwork for my mortgage. The man at the bank complimented me on being so organized, which is all on you. I should know more by the end of the wee—” She freezes when she gets a look at the star standing at my side.
“Holy shit,” she whispers.
“Hi,” Sebastian says with a wide smile. It’s his meet-and-greet grin. Warm. Charming. Devastating.
And it affects my neighbor the way it affects everyone. “Oh,” she breathes. “You’re Sebastian Blake.I love you!”
“Guilty as charged,” he agrees easily.
She giggles and smooths her hair. “Now I know why you weren’t interested in dating my brother,” she says wryly. “Not when you have a real live movie star.”
“I don’thavea movie star. I just work for one. Or, at least, I did,” I falter.
Sebastian pulls me close. I’m too surprised to move.
“Sure,” Teresa says, her eyes twinkling in amusement.
His slash of dimples makes an appearance. “It looks like the secret’s out, darling,” he drawls.
I finally shrug away from him with a glare, ignoring how his touch causes my pulse to quicken.
