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His eyebrows dipped down and he started to say something.


I held out my hand. “Please, can we just go?”


After a moment’s hesitation, Madden relented. “I’ll have someone come and pack your things and I’ll call for the car. I need to take care of a few last minute things before we leave.” When the door closed behind him, I walked out onto the balcony.


I hated to leave this place. It was a world away from my real life, one that I’d be returning to after a short flight. Would Madden leave me at the airport, send me along in a cab? Part of me hoped so because being around him made things too hazy. Most of the time he was a controlling, arrogant businessman, but I’d caught glimpses of a man under the exterior and he was nothing like I expected.


I liked the Madden who laughed over dinner, who stood and watched the sunset with me and who had made my body respond more than I ever thought possible. Trying to figure out which version was the most dangerous was futile. The woman who finally tamed him, not in a fake engagement sort of way, but the real thing, was in for the ride of her life.


But that woman could never be me. For so many reasons.


It only took fifteen minutes for the housekeeper to pack up all the clothes that Madden had bought for me to wear. I had no intention of keeping any of them. They were part of the weekend, the fantasy. Hopefully his driver kept my bag and didn’t throw it in the nearest garbage can.


“Are you ready?” Madden asked from behind me.


I knew he’d come into the room a few seconds before, not by the click of the door, but because the room felt smaller all of a sudden. I turned and he stood only a foot behind me. He looked far too handsome in his suit. It fit him perfectly, I’m sure because it was made for him.


He looked even better out of it.


I shook my head to clear the image and took one last look at the ocean. It was the same one in Boston, but it looked different here and I wanted to remember it.


“Thank you,” I said, finally turning back around. It should have felt weird thanking him for a weekend that he’d paid me to participate in, but I really was thankful. I never would have been able to do something like this on my own.


“If there’s something going on, Skylar, I can help you. But you need to tell me what it is.” His jaw was tense with determination. The hard planes of his face were more pronounced and even though he was wearing a designer suit, the coiled tension in his frame bespoke something dangerous lurking just underneath the surface.


But just because we spent two days together didn’t mean that my problems were his now. Despite everything that happened, we were still pretty much two strangers. I didn’t trust him enough to tell him the truth.


“There’s nothing. I’m ready to go.” I ignored the way his mouth tightened and pushed past him.


We were less than two hours away from being back in Boston and then, I could disappear.


Chapter 2


A slick black town car was waiting for us when we landed just after noon.


A different driver loaded our bags into the car and I slid onto the plush leather seat. Madden was right behind me, and the car seemed to grow smaller when he settled into it.


I kept my gaze focused on the passing scenery as the driver made his way back to the motel. Nice houses faded to run down apartments until the one story building came into view. In the light of day, it was even worse looking. It didn’t matter though, because I wasn’t going to be there much longer.


There were a lot more of cars in the parking lot of the motel, and about a dozen people milled around outside.


I wondered what the commotion was about.


It wasn’t the best area and maybe someone had gotten hurt, mugged—perhaps a car had even hit someone. The driver slowed the car to a crawl, getting as close to the building as possible before stopping.


The crowd turned as one and then rushed our vehicle, encircling it.


“What’s happening?” I said, feeling like they were going to rip the doors off like zombies in a horror movie.


“It’s a circus,” he said. “They must’ve found out where you were staying.”


“They?”


“The media,” Madden clarified, looking at his phone, typing into it as he spoke. “Everyone.”


Everyone. I couldn’t believe it had gotten this bad, this fast.


“What the hell?” Madden growled. He pushed a few buttons on his phone. “Shit. This is what brought them out in force.”


I turned from the faces pressed against the glass, trying to see into the blacked out windows. Madden turned his phone toward me slowly, revealing a large headline from the Daily Globe.


Cinderella and Prince Charming! How An Ordinary Girl Landed the World’s Most Eligible Bachelor!

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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