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“I can see you’re angry, upset even, but these shallow assholes will find someone else to pick on soon enough. I wouldn’t even give it a second thought to be honest. At the end of the day, your happiness is the most important thing. Plus, Alexis and Damon love you to pieces.”
I spooned another delightful bite of cake into my greedy mouth and thought about Sarah’s words. She was right, but it still pissed me off knowing it could affect Alexis and Damon’s life more thoroughly. But working for him was not something I wanted to stop doing. I thought about him all the time. He was the sweetest, sexiest, most gorgeous man I’d ever laid my eyes on.
“You should really get some of this cake. It’s like all your problems magically disappear into thin air,” I said, beginning to feel better.
“I can’t. Hank has set me up for an interview with the manager of Cascade. I could be modeling their new scent soon.”
“Oh, wow. Cascade is really upmarket, isn’t it?” I asked.
“Yep. They make Allure and Waves too. This is for their younger customer base. Wish me luck!”
I gave her a hug before she left. “Good luck,” I said.
She gave me a serious look. “Do not eat any more of that cake!”
I laughed at her words and shoveled another mouthful in just to piss her off. She had a sweet tooth, but her line of work depended on her looks, so she had to abstain. In truth, it drove her crazy when I ate crappy or fattening food she liked.
***
Dinner was a quiet affair. Damon was tired, and Alexis was cranky because she’d been put in timeout at kindergarten for not sharing the dress-up items. She was exhausted, too, and was glad to get a story about Ellie the elephant who wanted to buy a new pair of shoes. The big dilemma was that the elephant needed two pairs, not just one. Clara liked it, but Alexis said she preferred stories that had dolls in them because she was, quite obviously, a doll.
I still felt raw about the stuff that had happened lately, and I was hoping everything would go back to normal soon. A woman at the store had recognized me before I’d picked up Alexis from kindergarten, and she’d pointed at me like I was a witch who needed to be burned at the stake in the eighteenth century. I’d just ignored her and pretended I couldn’t hear her loud calls that I was that nanny who had been in the middle of a big, scandalous media spread. It was desperately hard to take. I didn’t want that type of attention.
Damon stopped me before I could head to bed. I had tried to pass him without talking to him too much. “You okay?” he asked, cornering me in the hallway near the guest room.
“I’m fine.” I tried not to show my real feelings and gave him a smile that was the opposite of how I really felt.
He pulled me to him. “Karly, it’s me your dealing with, and I want you to know you can talk to me. I’m here for you.”
I paused and looked into his gorgeous, mesmerizing eyes. “I don’t really know what to say to you. I can’t think straight right now.”
He held my chin up and looked into my eyes. “I call bullshit. I need you to open up to me. We’re going through this stuff together. I know what Eric did was wrong, and trust me when I say that he does too—definitely. But you and I both know the stuff that’s been written about us is their take on it all, not ours. We know what the truth is, and that’s all that matters.”
“I really am fine,” I said, speaking a half-truth.
His eyes pressed into mine like they were meant to drag me in. I was lost in the moment with this perfect man. His eyes penetrated me, and before I could say anything more, he placed his lips on mine. I felt like nothing mattered at that moment, and the security I felt in his arms washed over me. It was heavenly.
The kiss was long, perfect, romantic, and full of passion. My heart skipped a beat like it always did, although this time I felt safer somehow. This man actually cared how I felt. The media could fuck up his entire career and slander his family name in the process, but still, he was watching out for me.
We unlocked from one another after the longest kiss we’d ever had. We didn’t need to say any more words to one another. We knew how we felt, and having each other to lean on was the big plus in the whole damn stupid situation. At least we had that. It was like he was batting for me, cheering me on, giving me all the security I needed, both emotionally and physically. He was the one who’d suffered from it the most, yet here he was, supporting me.
