With that, Prancer plopped down like I was Santa Claus and gasped. “Are you serious?”
“And that’s the one and only duke right there,” I told her, selling Nolan out.
She clapped a hand over her mouth, but that didn’t stop the words from tumbling out in quick succession. “I knew it! I heard Nolan Shaw was starring in a Hope Channel movie, and I thought it was you when I was up there onstage, but I’ve never seen a famous person in real life before and my sister looks like a discount-bin Jennifer Lawrence and clueless people are always asking her for pictures and I didn’t want to be one of those people, because if Nolan Shaw was actually here in Christmas Notch, why would he even come to the North Pole to begin with?”
“Why indeed?” he asked with a laugh.
“But you’re here! In my club! You’ve seen my boobs—I’m so honored! Could I get a picture?” she gushed. “Please!”
Nolan nodded almost automatically, and I could tell he was used to saying yes to pictures even when he didn’t feel up to it.
Prancer pulled a cell phone out of her bustier and held it up for a selfie. “You too,” she said to me. “I’m sorry I didn’t get your name.”
“Bee,” I told her as I leaned into Nolan. “And would it be okay if you just kept these photos to yourself? The Hope Channel is super intense about their brand and stuff.”
“Oh, yeah, yeah,” she said. “This is totally going in the vault, I promise.”
After she took several pictures and quickly scrolled through them, the DJ’s voice crackled through the speakers. “Last trolley back into town leaves in two minutes. After that you’re on your own or at the mercy of whoever’s got a vehicle left in the parking lot at closing time. Last call, folks.”
Prancer, still in my lap, looked to both of us, her lower lip protruding. “I didn’t finish your dance! And I didn’t even get to yours,” she said to Nolan. “Here. I can refund you.”
“No, no, no,” I said as I began to scoot forward and she stood up. “We’re good. Your company alone was worth the price of admission.”
Nolan stood. “She’s right. Thanks, Prancer.”
“It was so nice to meet you both. Good luck with the movie! And if you want to make the tabloids think one of you is dating Jennifer Lawrence, I could get my sister to pose for a photo with you from far away. And maybe at night would be best.”
“We’ll certainly let you know,” Nolan said as he held the curtain open for me.
My phone lit up with a text.
Luca:We’re getting a ride home with Peppermint.
I held the phone up for Nolan to see.
“At least tomorrow is our off day, so we don’t have to worry about another early morning no-show,” he said.
On the trolley, we sat in silence across the aisle from each other as the driver watched us suspiciously with a giant smirk on his face from his huge rearview mirror.
In the soft, dark silence of our drive back into town, all I could think of were Nolan’s eyes on me all night and the gravelly tone in his voice as he said, “Fuck.Bee.”
For a moment, none of it mattered. The movie. My secret. His reputation. All I wanted was his body pressed into mine, satisfying nearly a decade of lust.
The trolley lurched to a stop, and Nolan waited for me to exit. He helped me off the trolley’s narrow steps and then escorted me inside the warm, well-lit inn. My heart did a little twirl of joy when I saw that the Out of Order sign was off the elevator.
Nolan followed close behind as I stepped inside and pushed the button for our floor, standing near enough to touch me as the doors closed and the elevator heaved itself upward. Either the elevator was older than porn itself or time was moving like molasses, because the ride up felt torturously slow. The moment the doors opened to our floor, he stepped into the hallway and as far from me as he possibly could, like he was finally coming up for air.
I tried to be flattered instead of offended. We didn’t have very much luck with keeping our hands off each other, but still it made me feel like a pariah.
“Good night, Nolan Shaw.”
“Kowalczk. It’s Polish. The, uh, label thought Shaw was more accessible,” he said dryly.
“Kowalczk,” I repeated carefully. “I like it. I like multiple syllables.”
He half smiled and let himself into his room. “Good night, Bee.”
After unlocking my door, I sank down to the edge of the bed and pulled out my phone, flipping to my camera reel full of photos I’d taken for Sunny. A few of them showed me looking at the phone and the others captured me as my eyes darted away from the camera and to Nolan.
