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“Are you sure that’s safe? What if someone finds out that you’re there? What if they surround the house?”
“I’m fine, Mama. I promise.”
For once Ginny’s mom was not overreacting. For the past few weeks her picture had been on the front page of all the tabloids thanks to some pictures of Derek with an unnamed woman in Costa Rica. He was there shooting the third film in the Machine Man franchise. After the first movie was released Derek had shot to stardom and he hadn’t handled it all that well. He got into some trouble with the law, with drugs and sex tapes. Over the past year he’d been trying to clean up his image and Ginny had been trying to give hers some edge. Their management had struck a deal to make them an unlikely couple. Since the first lunch where they were “spotted” together, the gossip magazines had had a field day.
“Hollywood’s Bad Boy and Country’s It Girl Have Explosive Chemistry.”
“Can Virginia Valentine Tame the Wild Machine Man?”
And her personal favorite:
“Will Derek St. James’ Un-Saint-Like Behavior Break Nashville’s Sweet-heart?”
Since it wasn’t a real relationship, the press didn’t bother Ginny. And the record label had been happy when her latest album sold three times what her sophomore album had, thanks in large part to listeners hoping to get a glimpse inside the couple’s personal life. The saddest part of the whole thing was Ginny had been willing to go along with the deceit partly because she’d never had a boyfriend. She figured that practicing with Derek would be good for her. Everything had been going well, no one out of their small circles had known that they weren’t a real couple, until the pictures of him with a topless woman canoodling on the white sand beaches of Costa Rica surfaced.
Since the morning the photos appeared on TMZ there’d been photographers hounding her everywhere she went on the holiday tour. They’d been in Canada, Seattle, San Francisco, Portland and even followed her to Nashville, where normally she flew under the radar. They’d been outside the studio, hiding in the bushes at her home, camped out in front of the yoga studio she frequented, surrounding the coffee shop that she ate at whenever she was in town. She’d done her best to ignore the attention, but it had reached a fever pitch when Derek had flown in to attend her mother’s wedding.
She hadn’t known her “boyfriend” was coming. In fact the first morning the pictures came out, weeks before her mom’s ceremony, she’d let her now ex-manager know that she was ready to put this entire charade in the rearview. She was done. He initially argued that they could use Derek’s indiscretions to their advantage. She’d put her foot down and in no uncertain terms made it clear she was done lying and pretending. At the time, he’d agreed with her. Even said that she had to follow her gut and he was just there to support her. Then, he went behind her back and instead of honoring her wishes, Shane Denton had arranged for Derek to fly in and “surprise” her.
That was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. As much as she appreciated the manager that had signed her when she was twelve, brokered her first three contracts with her former record label and had taken the front seat in navigating her career, she was done with people not listening to her. She was done being a product. She was done writing and performing songs that she didn’t feel passion for.
She was claiming her independence.
“I’m not so sure you’re fine. Which is why I’ve hired you a security detail.”
Or maybe not.
Ginny froze as she stepped into the bathroom. “You’ve what?”
“I hired Elite Security. I need to give them your itinerary so they can schedule your protection.”
Dax worked for Elite Security. Did he know about this? Did he think that she had something to do with hiring them? If he did, would he think she was some kind of stalker?
Her mind was spinning, but she reminded herself that there were plenty of other people that worked at Elite. There was Ace, Riley, Seth and she remembered something about Seth’s little brother Bobby working there as well. And those were only the guys she knew, she was sure there were more. What were the chances Dax would be assigned her case?
“I even specifically requested that Dax Archer be assigned to you because I remember you talking about him after you flew out for that private party performance.”
Well, that answered her question. The chances were good, very good that Dax was aware of her case. She resisted the urge to bang her head on the counter.
Her mom never listened to her. Why did this have to be the one time her mom actually heard what she said? She hadn’t heard her for four years when she kept saying she wanted to fire Shane. Or her desire to leave her record label since they’d been making her into an image that she didn’t feel was authentic. Or the fact that she wanted to move out and live on her own. All of those things had fallen on deaf ears, but she mentions Dax once and months later her mom not only recalls the conversation but acts on it.
“Oh, Brad is calling me over, our table is ready. I’ll text you the number for Elite Security. I told them that you would be contacting them with your schedule this evening.”
“I love you, Mama. Have fun and don’t worry about me.”
“Promise me that you’ll arrange everything with them and I promise to have fun and keep the worrying to a minimum.”
Ginny couldn’t help but smile. Her mom had always been good at negotiations. She worked hand in hand with Shane on all of her contracts. “Are you seriously negotiating you having fun on your honeymoon?”
“Yes,” her mom answered unapologetically. “Now promise me.”
“I promise.” Ginny knew her mom had her best interests at heart and she really didn’t want her to spend the honeymoon worrying about her only daughter. As much as Ginny wanted her independence she wasn’t so stubborn that she’d take it at the expense of her mom’s happiness.
“Thank you. Love you, Ginny bean.”
“Love you, Mama.”
After disconnecting the call, Ginny noticed the time and saw she was down to eight minutes. For a fleeting second she thought about scrapping the shower entirely, but after a glance in the mirror she decided that a quick rinse off was not a luxury she could forego. Her face was smudged with grease and spices. Her hair looked like a bird had built a nest in it. And her aroma…couldn’t have been pleasant.
A plan formed in her mind. Shower. Finish dinner. When Dax came home explain that she wasn’t a stalker. She was just in town to work on her album and herself. Her staying at his house and him taking on her security detail was totally up for discussion.
Simple. She’d keep the fact that she wanted to lose her virginity to him to herself…for now.
