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My head spun. It was only a matter of time before they posted a picture of us together. I tried to remember if I’d ever been close to Damon in public, like leaving the building, taking Alexis to kindergarten, or anywhere else.
My concern swelled even higher. “You know what the press is like. They’ll be all over us like a rash.”
“I am worried,” he replied. “They’ll twist this around and make you seem like another notch on my bedpost, and you know I don’t have any.”
“That doesn’t help us at all now,” I replied.
“Tell me about it. Our reputations and the company’s could be tarnished—tarnished a fuckload.”
Damon’s phone rang from on the couch. He tutted and muttered “what now?” as he walked to the couch. “It’s my mom.”
I swallowed. Shit.
Damon answered the call and put his mom on speakerphone so I could hear her too. “Good morning,” she said in a chirpy tone. Damon looked at me and rolled his eyes. It hadn’t been a good morning at all.
“Hi, Mom.”
We guessed she’d seen the article from the way she talked. She was upbeat while we were both in downbeat moods.
“I’m so happy for you. Actually, I’m so happy for the both of you,” his mom said. “Karly’s a great girl. I didn’t show it when I met her, but you know what moms are like.”
“I know what you’re like, Mom,” he replied in a half-joking manner. “Why did you call anyway? Just for that?”
“No. I’m getting Alexis ready, and we’ll be there in a short while,” his mom said. “I wanted to make sure you were awake first. That’s all.”
Damon ended the call, and we began getting dressed. Making it plainly obvious was too much even for his mom, who seemed to be over the moon. Damon and I were far from being over the moon.
The doorbell rang within the hour. Damon opened the door without showing his face. His mom held Alexis in her arms, who jumped into Damon’s arms and kissed him on the cheek with a “hi, Dada!”
They walked into the kitchen. His mom saw I was there. “Oh, Karly. You’re here so early,” she said. “Or did you stay the night?”
“She’s living here,” Damon replied, giving her a look.
His mom did a double take. She spoke her truth, though lightly so as not to be rude. “Do you think that’s wise? It’s ammunition for the press.”
Damon answered for me. He gave a different answer than what mine would’ve been. I would’ve belted out that Keith, my unbeloved ex, had trashed my apartment. He told her something else to satisfy her.
“Karly lives too far away. It makes sense for her to stay here. It saves two to three hours per day of traveling.”
“Well, it all makes a lot of sense, and I’m so happy for the both of you,” she said. “I sensed a good feeling about your situation.”
I smiled gratefully, although I still twiddled my thumbs nervously about the predicament I now found myself in. It was a big thing to be a part of the news headlines and not something I could ever learn to enjoy.
Chapter 19
Damon
It was only yesterday that the news had broken, and already Karly was distant. We weren’t avoiding each other, but we kept missing each other or Alexis was always around, so the chance to talk over the leak in the papers hadn’t materialized. I had said we should cool it a little, but I could only guess what Karly must have been going through. She hadn’t been exposed to this sort of thing, and I had the overwhelming urge to wrap my arms around her and tell her it would all be okay.
Initially, my concern had been how the company would be impacted. That was natural, but business was business, and a vast number of people might see my being in a relationship as a good thing. There wouldn’t be any more pictures of escorts on my arm. That was for sure.
Karly was different altogether. I wanted to hold her close, although I wasn’t sure how to approach her to make it feel natural, and most important of all, I didn’t want to push her further away from me.
I walked down the stairs, expecting to see Karly in the kitchen preparing breakfast. But it was empty, silent, not a hint of any cooking being done. Where the hell had she gone? Some of her things were on the bench, so I guessed she hadn’t left and gone back to her apartment. There was no way she’d do that without saying something first.
The front door banged, and I poked my head around the kitchen doorway. Karly stood with her back against the broad white expanse of the door. Her head was raised, and she rubbed at her eyes.
Had she been crying? I walked into the hallway and made my way toward her. She sniffled and wiped her face on the sleeve of her sweatshirt.
