But… I froze.I couldn’t doit.
I was wearing a too-tight Wookiee costume at one of London’s most exclusive events, about to publicly accost the man I loved—again—but that wasn’t even what was holding me back.
Yes, I loved him. I’d known it for a while now.
I’d known it since France, maybe before that. All the little times he’d protected me, smoothed things over for me, made me feel safe…
It was just who he was—a really good man.
What held me back was fear.
What if he looked at me now and felt nothing at all? What if I’d been the only one falling this whole time? What if it was just me who thought this meant something more than either of us had said, something real, that could last? What if this was when he finally stopped being kind and turned away?
“What counts is doing what you need to do anyway, even if you’re afraid. Especially if you are, actually.”
Where had I heard that?A sweet, funny gym instructor, lying in my bed, who’d saved me when a lift fell, and bought me lunch on the wayhome.
Being scared was just an excuse. It always had been.
I tried to look through the heads in front of me—he was still there, but he was moving. Security had opened a clean path through the crowd toward the stairs on the other side of the hall.
I started walking faster, but the suit was so tight I could barely bend my legs. If he made it to those double doors, he’dbe in a car, then Heathrow, then gone. But he was already halfway there.
I could hear my own panting inside the helmet as the sound of clapping faded out behind me.
He was at the edge of the room, three steps up, almost at the doors. Someone stepped into my path. I moved left. They did too. Then right. Shit. I stuck my stiff, furry arms out and darted around them, but it was too late. He was already stepping through the doors.
“Liam!”
A wounded Wookiee sound echoed across the hall like a dying animal.
The clapping slowed.
Liam paused but didn’t turn.
I tried again, quieter. “Liam.” A mournful, broken growl.
A security guard’s head snapped toward me. Liam turned, scanning the crowd.
“It’s me. It’s Andrea.” I stepped into Liam’s line of sight as the voice screeched painfully through the modulator.
Was this what actors felt like when they were badly dubbed into a foreign film?
“I think it’s part of the show,” someone whispered on my left.
I grappled with the helmet, but the gloves were too thick to find the clasp.
“Security—” Bonnie said.
Liam watched for a second, then pushed open the door, the guard closing in behind him.
No. He was going. He couldn’t. Not now.
“Liam!” I shouted. “It’s Andrea! I wanted to tell you I was sorry, that I made a mistake. And now I’m stuck inside thisferal fucking fur bag and I can’t even—” My voice cracked. “Please… just… don’t go.”
The Wookiee voice resonated across the room, loud, pleading, painful.
He stopped and turned back.
