“Nicole! Open this door right now! You’re on the front page!” Mia’s screaming makes my ears hurt.
“I don’t think she’s going to go anywhere anytime soon, love.” I slowly turn away from Zack after placing a tender kiss on his cheek and roll to get out of the bed. I grab a t-shirt from his dresser and open the door.
“If you’re going to wake me up at the crack of dawn the least you could do is bring coffee.”
“No time for coffee. Check this out.” Mia thrusts a paper into my chest with a gleam in her eye. I look down and see, as she said, on the front page of the Los Angeles Times, in full color, a picture of Zack and me on the red carpet.
“Wow. I’m not even sure I can process this right now.” Zack’s arms come up behind me in an embrace and his scruffy chin settles on my shoulders. I knew this would happen, obviously. I knew in my head deciding to follow Zack out onto the red carpet would end me up in a photo somewhere - a gossip blog, or a tabloid, at most maybe on the cover in a small thumbnail picture. But the cover of a nationally recognized newspaper? It’s more than I imagined. Ever. Zack says nothing but I think his arms wrapped securely on my waist are probably an instinct of his to keep me from falling over in shock. He is a smart man
I look up at Mia wearing a broad grin. “This is huge, Nic! Can you believe it!?” She starts dancing like a teenager and while I know she’s just teasing me, trying to get me to see the fun in this, my mind isn’t working yet.
“I need coffee.” I turn away from both of them and return to Zack’s bed, still staring at the picture of me and Zack. I don’t realize they leave until Zack returns a few minutes later.
“Drink this,” he says as he places a steaming cup of coffee on the nightstand next to me and curls me up in his arms from behind. “On a scale of one to ten, how badly are you freaking out right now?”
“Hmm.” I take a sip of my coffee and set it back down. “About a seven. How do they already know my full name?” The caption reads: Zack Walters was seen all night long gazing into the eyes of this woman who he introduced as someone very special to him. Sources say her name is Nicole Parsons and they met on his most recent tour. Is it possible that Zack Walters is finally off the World’s Sexiest Bachelor List?
“That’s progress I suppose. I was thinking you were going to say twelve.” I can tell by his voice that he’s giving me that sexy smirk of his that would normally turn my knees to jelly. He places a finger gently on my chin and turns me to face him. “You knew this was going to happen. What’s going on?”
“I just wasn’t expecting the front page of the newspaper. Shouldn’t that be reserved for world catastrophes and economic collapses? You know starving children in the Sudan, terrorist’s attacks in Egypt?”
“Are you saying my love life isn’t as important as world hunger?”
“I would hope not.” I give him a quick and gentle kiss and look back at the paper. “Did you know that sources also say you’re madly in love with me and you couldn’t take your eyes off me for the entire night?”
“I am madly in love with you, and anyone who looks at me can see it. I’m sorry about your name getting out, though.” The picture had to have been taken when Zack was talking to the woman from Inside Edition when he introduced me in front of the camera. I’m smiling up at him while he leans down and places a kiss on my forehead. His eyes are open, and even through his kiss his lips are turned up into a half smile.
If I would have hired a professional photographer to take our pictures, it’s the exact shot I would have wanted to have. I’m looking up at him like he is my hero, and he is looking down on me like I am the most special thing in the world.