His eyes searched my face, as if he could memorize every piece of me. “There’s this thing,” he started, voice low. “A red carpet event. Nothing big, just press for the new project from ‘The Way We Move’s director. And I was wondering if…” He paused, smiled faintly, almost sheepishly. “If you’d come with me.”
My chest squeezed. “As your fake girlfriend?”
His grin turned downward slowly. “Sure. If that’s what you want to call it.”
I bit my lip, heat rushing to my cheeks. “I don’t have a dress for something like that.”
His free hand came up, brushing a stray curl away from my face with the lightest touch. “I already bought you one.”
I blinked. “Youwhat?”
“Couldn’t help myself,” he admitted, thumb grazing my cheekbone. “Saw it and thought of you.”
Something in my stomach flipped violently.
“You’re impossible,” I whispered, though it didn’t sound convincing even to me. “Yes, I’ll go.”
We lay there like that for a while, fingers tangled, the air warm and too sweet. He didn’t try to kiss me again. But every brush of his thumb against my hand felt like a promise.
“Hey Ansel?” I whispered into the dark, finding that my voice sounded a little timid.
“What’s up, kid?” The light in the room was gone, but Ifelthim shift closer to me.
“What was it like… after the precursors ended? For you, I mean.” I pressed my face against his arm, hoping that between this and the dark, he wouldn’t be able to see the way my cheeks were flaring.
“Hell, Juniper.” He replied with a laugh. “It was hell.” He rolled a little, as though he could meet my eyes in the black. “I received hate mail and death threats foryearsafter everything ended. Grown men screaming at me in the fucking grocery store.”
A shiver ran down my spine. I had seensomeof it online, through forums and social media, but… I couldn’t even imagine what it might have been like for him.
“They told me,consistently, that I ruined the ‘greatest villain of their generation’ with my acting.” His hand was skirting up my spine slowly, almost absentmindedly. “Moonstrider wasn’t my first role by any means, but it was my first…bigthing. The thing I would be remembered for. I was barely twenty — I don’t think I could evendrinkyet, and the death threats happened hourly.”
“Did it ever get better?”
“Once I took a step back from acting, yeah. Mostly because I was unreachable. Out of sight, out of mind. They moved on to something new — someone they considered worse.” His handstilled at the base of my neck. “Still get one, every once in a while. They don’t bother me like they used to.”
“Ansel… would you… maybe want to stay? Just tonight?”
“Oh, sweetheart.” He pulled me close, pressing his lips to my clammy forehead. “I wasn’t going anywhere.”
I let myself melt into him, cheek pressed to the soft cotton of his shirt. “No funny business,” I whispered, though my voice wavered — like I wasn’t sure ifIbelieved the rule anymore.
“Scout’s honor,” he said, tightening his arm around me, voice warm with amusement.
CHAPTER 35
The first thing I noticed wasn’t the light creeping in through the basement window.
It was her.
Juniper. Curled up against me like she belonged there. Like she’dalwaysbelonged there.
My arm was dead — completely numb — but I didn’t dare move it. Not when her cheek rested on my chest, her hair a mess against my shirt.Myshirt.
She’d snatched my shirt as soon as I’d pulled it over my head, tugging it on with a sly smile. It was too big on her, sleeves swallowing her hands. But now…Jesus.
Now, the hem was riding dangerously high on her thighs, and her bare legs were tangled with mine under the blanket. My jeans were in a heap on the floor — I would never have slept in them, couldn’t have. Only maniacs could evenattemptto sleep in jeans. So it was just me in my boxers, her in my shirt, and a silence so perfect I could feel my pulse pounding in my throat.
God, she was beautiful.
