Dropping The Ball - A New Year’s Billionaire Romance - Weston Parker Page 0,109

to spend the weekend with them and met Billy at the airport. It had only been a month since we’d last seen him on New Year’s Day, but time had flown by.

Wicked had opened and the show was sold out every night. So far, there hadn’t been another incident with my legs. I had started to relax about it, knowing that even if I collapsed, people would now understand. Obviously, I didn’t want it to happen but I’d found a strange peace after coming clean on New Year’s Eve.

The doctors, my team, and even the cast were all keeping a close eye on me. The other performers had become an unexpected but incredible support structure, standing with me every step of the way. They’d all been bombarded with questions of my condition by the press in every interview we did, and I’d been surprised at the level of compassion and understanding they’d shown.

The fervor had finally started dying down, the dust was settling, and I’d come out the other side relatively unscathed. There had been reporters who had kept digging and others who were still trying to catch me in a lie. Some had been downright rude and others asked questions that were so personal and insensitive that all I’d been able to do was gape at them.

Without Nathan leading the charge, however, it felt like people were mostly happy to leave me be. Once his trial started—if it started and he didn’t cut some kind of deal—I was sure some of the drama would start up again. But until then, it seemed like the worst was behind us.

The prick was being brought up on a laundry list of charges for everything he’d done, including breaking and entering, trespassing, and harassment. I couldn’t wait for him to get what was coming to him, but I was also just happy he was out of our lives.

On that front, there had been no more threats, and I was getting used to being able to walk down the street without feeling like I was being watched again. I’d even popped out to the store by myself earlier, and no one, not even Carter or my parents, had had a coronary about it.

It had been a liberating moment, and I’d celebrated by treating myself to a walk through the whole store instead of just grabbing the extra basil my mother needed for one of the dishes she was making. Our house was packed with family and friends, so I figured no one would even notice if I stayed away the extra ten minutes to meander around the shop by myself.

I’d been wrong, though. Carter had noticed and was leaning against the wall on the porch when I’d gotten back. Although he was still my bodyguard, he was also technically off duty this weekend. He was here strictly in his capacity as my boyfriend. It’d still taken some convincing to get him to let me go without him, but I’d pointed out that this was Conroe and not New York and also that boyfriends weren’t stitched to their girlfriends’ hips the way guards were stitched to their clients’.

Since all had been quiet since Nathan’s outburst at New Year’s and his subsequent arrest, he’d eventually conceded. It didn’t mean he hadn’t worried, but we also needed to learn how to navigate our relationship without him being my twenty-four-seven guard.

We were living together now because we wanted to, as opposed to it being because of a contract. Carter’s duties as my guard now only included public events and similar functions. He’d gone back to being assigned other jobs when he wasn’t with me, but I knew Bart was keeping them short and sweet so he wouldn’t need to spend nights away from home.

The more I got to know Carter’s boss and best friend, the more I liked the guy. He and Tani were still dancing around each other, but I hadn’t given up hope yet. They were spending more time together than ever, and he’d even taken to inviting Cash to do stuff with them over weekends.

Whenever I asked, Tani still insisted they were “just friends.” I’d reminded her that friends could turn into lovers, but she laughed me off every time. I didn’t miss the look in her eyes when she spoke about him, though. There were definitely feelings there that were a lot more than friendly. He might be a friend to her, but she also wanted to kiss him, and hump him, and do