“I’m sorry. I have to get that.” He reached for his phone, and I saw Olivia’s name on the display. He accepted the call.
Olivia’s face appeared on the screen. She seemed briefly surprised to see me, then she grinned. “Hey, you two,” she purred smugly.
Henry rolled over onto his back and pulled me with him so that my head rested on his chest. With one hand, he stroked the skin under my shirt. “Hey. Have you sobered up yet?”
Olivia waved a hand dismissively, still lying in bed with her hair twisted up in a messy knot. Even barely awake and without makeup, she was effortlessly stunning—and showed no signs of a hangover. “So-so. I woke up five minutes ago to go to the bathroom, and I was planning to go back to sleep when I saw that Shannon had sent me an interesting link.”
Henry groaned. “What is it this time?”
Olivia’s gaze flicked to me. “There are new photos of the two of you.”
Henry stopped stroking me. “What? Where?”
“I’ve sent you the link.”
Henry swiftly opened his chat with Olivia and tapped the link. It led to one of theINsider’s social media pages, where several photos of me and Henry on the balcony had been posted. Although the images were slightly grainy, it was unmistakably us. The photos had captured not just our kiss but also showed the moments leading up to and following it, including Henry removing my mask to reveal my face. Below the photos was a single sensational headline, as if the reporter had been too impatient to write a full article to accompany the images.
“Fuck,” Henry mumbled, and returned to the call with Olivia. Her expression was concerned. “Thanks for the warning,” Henry said. “I’ll call you back later.”
She nodded. “OK. But don’t let this ruin your day. Fuck the paparazzi. You look happy, and I love that for you.”
I smiled. “Thank you. See you later.”
“Bye,” Henry said.
He ended the call and flicked back to the photos. The post already had thousands of likes and hundreds of comments. I was curious about what people had written, but Henry didn’t open the comments. He zoomed in on the photos, studying each one carefully. We looked very close. And in love.
“What do you think?”
I looked up. “About the photos?”
“Yes.”
I wasn’t particularly bothered by them. I found it slightly unsettling to know someone had been watching us kiss, but if peoplewanted to waste their time like that, it wasn’t my problem. I was living my best life. “I think we look pretty good in them,” I said with a shrug.
Henry laughed, and I could feel the vibration of his chest in my head. “We really do.”
“Does it bother you that someone caught us on camera?” I asked, curious.
“It bothers me that those clowns don’t give a shit about our privacy.” Henry tossed his phone onto the bedside table with the carelessness of someone who could easily afford a replacement. “It was a private event, no press allowed, and they’ve got nothing better to do than hide in the bushes with a two-hundred-millimetre lens.”
“Do you think you’ll get in trouble?” I asked, tilting my head to look at him.
“Who with?”
“Your parents.” I turned in his arms to see him better. He looked back at me, and his fingers began to move across my back again, tracing gentle circles that brought the heat flooding back. “I’m sure they won’t be pleased.”
“So what? I’m not pleased with them either.”
“I just don’t want you to be in trouble because of me.”
Henry snorted. “I’m not afraid of my parents. And there’s no way I’m letting a man accused of rape meddle in my love life—whether he’s my dad or not.”
“And this won’t damage your reputation?” I couldn’t forgive myself if Henry’s image suffered because of me. A few wealthy snobs gossiping about me was one thing, but if the whole nation jumped on the bandwagon, that was something else entirely. “What if people think that you pressured me or forced me into something? Most of your dad’s victims were hotel employees, weren’t they?”
“True, but everyone with any sense will see that our kiss was consensual. And if anyone does kick up a fuss, you can always issue a statement as a last resort, though I’d rather avoid that.”
I nodded. “All right. I just don’t want us to damage the hotel’s reputation.”
