Page 77 of Pink

Or they could have just taken his Jeep which was parked behind the damn bar. Lev knew better than to make the offer, though, because as she had already explained, her driver was a necessary evil. At least, for tonight.

He seriously doubted it was just for tonight.

“When was the last time you drove yourself anywhere?” he asked.

Gigi barely thought about it. “Three months ago. My assistant cleared my schedule for a day, so we could drive to the beach. Nobody knew my face. I was cleaning sand out of my … well, everywhere … for days. I loved it. Every second of it.”

Lev’s laughter shook them both, but he heard her unspoken words, too. “It gets tiring, then? The fame, I mean.”

“Overwhelming. It’s hard to take time away when it’s all around you all the time, you know what I mean?”

She tipped her head back, and he stared down at her.

“No,” he admitted, “I can’t imagine that at all.”

Gigi lifted one delicate shoulder. “That’s okay. You really don’t want to.”

How indifferent she seemed about her life. Because that was the thing, he knew … that was her life. Her everyday normal. Lev couldn’t help but wonder if she often remembered what it was like before her face became a worldwide phenomenon and if she missed it at all.

He didn’t get the chance to ask.

Gigi ripped those thoughts right out of his mind when she closed the distance between them to take a kiss without warning. It didn’t last long, far too fleeting for his liking, but it was enough to remind him of exactly what they were doing together.

Again.

Lev pinched Gigi’s chin between his forefinger and thumb, keeping her face close to his when he told her, “Do you know how often I’ve thought about you these past years? You haunted my wet dreams.”

Her tongue teased the seam of her lips. “Yeah?”

How could she doubt it?

“All the fucking time, woman. But none of my dreams compares to you. My mind couldn’t do you justice even when it tried. It’s a piss poor comparison, let me say.”

Gigi’s lashes fluttered with her sweet smile. “I really found a smooth talker with you, huh?”

Lev smirked. “None of it is a lie, though. Nobody tells you, do they?”

“People tell me things all the time, Lev. That’s half the problem. Someone is always waiting to tell me something they think I want to hear, but it never feels quite … right.”

Well, he could tell her a few things.

They were all right.

“You’re kind of amazing … no, fuck that noise,” Lev was quick to say, cutting a hand through the air before it was right back on her ass to squeeze tight. “You are fucking amazing. Look at what you’ve done, huh? I feel like I should be honored to even know your name—to know you, does that make sense?”

“You know what’s funny?” she asked as a black SUV pulled up right beside them on the street.

“What?”

“It’s just … there’s this part of me that thinks you know more about me than anyone else who gets to see my life every day does. Or it feels that way, and I’m not sure what to do about it.”

The weight of her words hit him hard.

Lev could only reply, “I don’t know either.”

“Miss Gigi, if you wouldn’t mind getting in the vehicle as to not linger—”

“Yes, Gerald, we’re coming.”