Page 65 of Lucky Shot

She smiles. “Now I can see why Hardy likes you.” She steps back. “So are we going to New York or not?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Whitney

This is the craziest thing that has ever happened to me.

I’m in New York, dressed to the nines in the most expensive dress I’ve ever run my fingertips over. It’s red and fitted over my curves. My hair has been colored and blown out. I look like an impostor all dressed up, but I love feeling like I’m wearing someone else’s shoes.

Well, I actually am, but I’m forgetting that bit.

“You ready?” Ari asks. The woman is a nonstop workaholic. The entire plane ride here she was on her phone or computer. Even now, she’s clicking away on her phone, texting someone something. It makes me grateful my job involves fresh air and the outdoors. Touching grass is a real thing in my day-to-day.

“Yes. Nervous.”

“Don’t be. Just think of yourself as Cinderella and this is your carriage.”

“All we’re missing is Prince Charming,” I joke.

She smiles and something about it catches my eye so that I don’t look away. “We’re about to pull up to the curb where someone’s going to help you get out. You’ll walk the red carpet. Media will take photos. Some people will call out questions—”

“Questions?”

“Yes. Who you are or why you’re there, but you don’t have to answer them if you don’t want to. Just smile and move on down the line. Then you’ll go inside. You’ll watch the movie. You can attend the after-party if you wish, or you can head back to the room. And a car will be there to pick you up at eight a.m. to bring you to the airport.”

“Wait. You’re not getting out with me?” I ask as the car pulls up to the curb.

“No.” She smiles and lifts her chin to where the door is opening. “But he is.”

I whip my head to look to the door where a hand is reaching in for me to take. I can’t see his face, but I already know by the suit-clad body who is standing before me.

I look up and meet a pair of storm cloud-colored eyes. Hardy. Surprise mixed with relief moves through me.

He flashes one of those panty-melting smiles of his that has me briefly forgetting where we are and what I’m about to do. “What are you doing here?” I laugh out as he helps me from the car.

“I’m your date.” He brushes a kiss in greeting to my cheek. The action startles me but not as much as the burst of flashes and cacophony of questions that ring out suddenly as the group of people ahead of us reach the media scrum.

I don’t have time to register the fact that he’s here. That I’m here. Or that despite what Ari said, this feels like a perfectly crafted publicity stunt.

I’m a little too awestruck and overwhelmed to even think it.

All I can focus on is Hardy standing in front of me looking incredibly handsome. He’s my only sanity in the unknown craziness that I can assume is about to unfold.

“I don’t understand,” I say incredulously as another burst of flashes goes off.

“You don’t have to.” He smiles again as I glance back at the car to where Ari should be, but our car has already begun to move on so that the next car in line can drop off its occupants. “But warning, things are about to happen really fast.” He takes my hand and hooks it through his arm to direct my attention back to him. “And the flashes will be blinding so just hold on tight to me and I’ll get you through it.”

“This is crazy.”

“Welcome to my life,” he says, his lips so close to my ear, the heat of his breath tickling my cheek and sending chills through my body. “And Whitney?”

“Hmm?” I ask, turning to look at him and startling at the proximity of his lips to mine. They’re inches away. My breath hitches, and my pulse thunders in my ears. The look in his eyes has my thoughts stuttering and my body humming.

“You look absolutely stunning,” he murmurs.

And no sooner are those words spoken, then we’re swallowed by the moment.

The flashes. Oh my God. They’re like a million stars exploding in my eyes all at once. And if they aren’t overstimulation, the barrage of questions comes right after, overwhelming me.