AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I tapped his temple with my finger gently, making him smile. “Food for thought. Sometimes all it needs is a seed and some water.”
He splashed water at me, and I squealed as he’d intended.
“You know, Strawberry, I think I could get used to having you around.”
I pushed against his chest with both hands and laughed when he let me go, falling backward into the torrid water. I was submersed for a moment before I resurfaced and grinned at him.
“Why? Because I agreed with you this time? What happens when I fall at the other end of the spectrum?”
Noah grabbed for me, but I darted to the side and out of his reach, the two of us circling one another in the small space.
“You wouldn’t always agree with me?” he teased, pressing a hand to his chest. “You wound me.”
“Liar. You enjoy the challenge.”
He caught me then, legs circling mine, arms locking around me. Seconds before he kissed me, I saw what he probably never intended for me to see or interpret. He looked at me with love, and my heart swelled, understanding that for now, with this man, that would be enough.
ChapterThree
Sunday, April 3, 2016
The days onHollywood Darlingwith Noah were some of the best of my adult life. We didn’t speak shop for the remaining days we were aboard. We kept things loose, casual, and got lost in one another rather than allowing the outside world in to ruin our stolen moments together. Neither of us turned our phones on while we were out there. To us, we were alone, oblivious to the world that continued to turn outside of our bubble. The illusion of being entirely alone had made us careless and reckless, and though we hadn’t realized it at the time, the reality of the situation came crashing down on us the moment we stepped onto the jetty.
Bo was waiting for us, looking nervous as he glanced down at his phone several times. After helping me off the jetty, Noah released my hand, reached into his bag to get his phone, and turned it on hesitantly. There was chime after chime as the missed messages and call alerts flooded in.
“Welcome back to reality,” he mumbled, pressing his lips to my temples and waving Bo forward.“What happened?” he asked, slinging an arm low around my waist as Bo approached and stepped in line with us.
“A veritable shit storm,” Bo confirmed, pushing his phone into his pocket. “Scott and Michael have been calling every hour on the hour. Jasper has been doing his best to put out the fires.”
I had to assume that Bodhi thought we knew what he was talking about as he continued with fire metaphors and pissed-off agents and publicists. We were standing by Noah’s car when Noah finally stopped and turned on Bodhi, no humor on his face as his assistant continued to rambled.
“What fire?” Noah asked.
“What—?” Bo snapped his mouth shut. “Noah, you’re everywhere right now. You can’t open up a tabloid or social media site without seeing the images plastered everywhere.”
Noah rubbed his face in frustration. “What. Images?”
It must have been bad. Bo’s eyes flickered to me and back to Noah again, the tops of his ears going pink. “The pics of you and Amber doing things together aboard the Darling.”
“Things?” I asked
“Sex,” Noah said without fanfare. “Some shit donkey of a pap found us out there.”
The illusion of being alone had been precisely that: an illusion. I felt the blood drain from my face before I reached out for the car to steady myself. I turned, leaning against it for support, and I tried my best not to cry.
“It’s more suggestive than pornographic,” Bo said, sympathy lacing his tone. “I’m not going to say they’re tasteful because nothing will ever make itthat. Most of it looks like you’re simply sitting on his lap.”
I blanched. I could more than remember what I’d been doing when that had happened. I’d also been naked while I’d been doing it. Most staff were on the upper decks for the duration of our time out there while we’d locked ourselves away under the illusion of solitary.
“Fucking read the room, Bo,” Noah snapped, stepping into me and pulling me against him. “You’re not helping.”
“Right, sorry. Thing is, it’s not that you were having sex that seems to have stirred the hornet’s nest. It’s more that you’ve been screwing the same woman and only her for almost a week.”
I almost laughed, but I felt Noah stiffen. “Let me see.”
“You sure? I could—”
“Let me see it,” Noah barked. I glanced up. He still had one arm around me, but his other hand reached for Bo’s phone. He pulled the screen to us. There was a Hollywood Tabloid pulled up on the screen, and the headline read:
