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He pushes off the bonnet of the car and takes her hand. ‘All good. You ready?’
‘Tate!’
He freezes as Bria runs over and throws her arms around him. Tate doesn’t move for a few seconds then hugs her back.
‘Good luck tomorrow. You’ve got this.’ Bria smiles at him then hurries back to the car.
Tate turns back to Chloe. ‘What the hell did you say to her?’
‘Me? Nothing.’
The look he gives her says he doesn’t believe her for one second. ‘Yeah well whatever it was, thank you.’
∞
Tate slowly gets out of bed and closes the double doors behind him. He’s too worked up to sleep.
He drops onto the couch, then gets up again and paces the living room. Coming here was a big mistake. He’s not ready to get in front of the cameras again. What if they ask him about where he’s been? What if he zones out and the whole fucking world witnesses it?
‘For fuck’s sake, Tate. Get a grip.’
He opens the doors onto the balcony and leans on the railing, looking down to the street below. There’s hardly anyone around at this hour of the morning. Most people are asleep. Like he should be. He sits on one of the chairs and buries his head in his hands.
‘Are you okay?’
He looks up as Chloe joins him on the balcony.
‘Yeah. I just couldn’t sleep and didn’t want to wake you.’
‘Did you have a dream?’
‘No. Can’t switch off though. You should go back to bed.’
She holds out her hand. ‘C’mon. You’re coming with me.’
‘Seriously, I’m done for the night.’
‘Get your ass back in the bed, Tate.’
He follows her back to the bedroom and climbs in beside her. This is a waste of time, but if it gets her back to bed he’ll play along. Chloe piles the pillows up behind her and lies back against them. ‘Lie down.’
He rests his head on her chest and she wraps her arms around him. ‘Chloe, this is—’
‘Will you stop arguing with me? Please humour me for a few minutes, okay? You think you can do that?’
‘Yes, boss.’
‘Thank you. Now shut up.’
Tate does as he’s told and tries to focus on the sound of her heartbeat. Chloe runs her fingers through his hair as her other hand strokes his arm, slowly tracing the lines of his tattoo.
His last thought is how she’s wasting her time before he drifts off to sleep.
∞
Chloe smiles as Tate comes up behind her on the balcony and wraps his arms around her shoulders. In spite of all his objections, the stubborn man had slept the rest of the night. She had stayed awake for a little while after he fell asleep in case he had a dream, but exhaustion had him firmly in its grasp. When he’d finally woken, he seemed more relaxed than she’d seen him for a while.
‘What do you fancy doing today?’
