Dropping The Ball - A New Year’s Billionaire Romance - Weston Parker Page 0,29

that it’ll be pretty obvious to anyone who’s paying attention that I suddenly have a guard.”

“Which will alert them to the fact that something’s changed,” I concluded.

“Exactly.” She grinned, and suddenly, I could see why she was such a star. Since we’d been reintroduced, she’d had a certain nervousness about her. It was like it’d suppressed that natural presence of hers, but whatever she’d decided seemed to have eased her worries. “I’ve been struggling with finding a way to avoid fueling the rumor fires since I agreed to hiring someone.”

“You have a plan?” I couldn’t deny that I was curious.

All of this had happened so fast that we hadn’t had much time to work out the logistics. It’d occurred to me that people might find it odd if she suddenly had a guard, but I figured her team would simply say she’d received a threat.

“I think I do, but we need to discuss it before I can put into motion,” she said. “Maybe you should just pretend to be my boyfriend. I really don’t want anyone to know that you’re my guard. It would give away my plans to be involved in something again, and I don’t want that yet. Plus, the whole initial marketing campaign for the production has been built around mystery and suspense. The big reveal is set and has been advertised for New Year’s Eve.”

“There’s a lot riding on this, huh?”

The corners of her lips pressed in as she nodded. “Yeah, there is. When I signed on with Wicked, I asked for some time to make the announcement on my own. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that the show must go on, though. They agreed to give me the time, but only if the pre-production part of the show could actually go on. Considering it centers around the wicked witch, adding that element of surprise and mystery to it worked well.”

“Makes sense.” I rolled a spare length of cable around my fist. “I understand why being seen with a guard puts you in a bind, but I’m not sure about pretending to be your boyfriend. I’ll have to check with Bart since it has the potential to affect the agency if the truth comes out.”

“Of course.” She motioned with her thumb over her shoulder. “Would you like to use the landline to call him?”

“You still have a landline?”

She shrugged, a small smile playing on her lips. “My mother insisted, and I kind of like it. There’s just something about speaking on a landline that takes me back to my childhood.”

My stomach twisted. “Yeah, I can see how that would be the case.”

I had so many memories of walking into their house and seeing her on the phone in their foyer. Shoving my hand into my pocket, I extract my mobile and waved it. “I’m fine with using this. Will you give me a minute?”

“Sure. Would you like some coffee?”

“Please.”

She gave me another smile before she left the room, humming a tune as she headed to the kitchen. Bart answered on the first ring, and I explained her plan to clear it with him.

“Her boyfriend?” he asked, sounding more amenable to it than I’d thought. “What would that entail? Has she told you?”

“Nope. I don’t know if she knows either. I think she wanted to run it by us first. It’ll probably just involve her telling people we’re dating if they ask about me.”

He paused for a minute, mulling it over. “I can okay handholding and kisses on the cheek, but nothing more. You good with that?”

Am I good with that? Fuck no. “Yeah. Sounds good. I’ll let her know. Thanks, bro.”

“No problem. Keep her safe, yeah?”

“Of course.” At least I sounded more confident than I was. If living with her didn’t kill me, pretending to be her boyfriend definitely fucking would.

I’d have to spend all day right next to her instead of a few feet behind, hold her hand, finally get to feel her lips on me, and then come back here and have to keep my distance. Keeping said distance would’ve been hard enough, considering that I now lived with her, but pretending all day and coming back to reality at night would be a mind-fuck of epic proportions.

Especially since I wanted her more than ever before—and that was saying something.

After he hung up, I bounced up and down on the balls of my feet and tried to get my head in the fucking game. This was my job and Rylee needed me to