The Healing Touch - Apryl Baker Page 0,49

minute once she’d found it and parked her cart beside it.

Holy hell. She’d done it. She’d walked in through all those people and not panicked at all.

That asshole. She loved him. He’d distracted her so much, she hadn’t thought about the crowds or how they made her feel. Her only thoughts had been about him and kissing him and…she laughed.

“See?” he said softly. “All you need to do is not think about it.”

She jumped, not expecting him to be that close, but she should have known he’d be right behind her. He wouldn’t let her go into this mess alone.

“Sneaky bastard.”

He laughed. “It worked, though.”

Well, it had worked. No denying that. She knew if she let herself look around, all that work would be lost. She could hear everyone, feel the heat rising in the room from all the bodies packed into it. Best to just set the table up and get the hell out.

She directed Dimitri to work on getting his banners set up while she put the wooden rack together so she could start arranging his books in it. The wooden one had been more expensive, but she liked it better than the wire ones.

After a minute, she heard him swearing in Russian. Score one for the banners. At least she wasn’t the only one whose ass those things kicked.

“Really, D. It’s just a banner.”

“It’s not just a banner. It’s a demon from hell.” Dimitri let out another string of curses when the metal rod hit him in the face.

“You need some help there, slugger?”

That voice, she knew—Sara Jane. Becca hoped she hadn’t pulled along more people wanting to meet the man candy. Taking a deep breath to fortify her nerves, she turned and saw not only had she brought at least three other people, they were all laughing at Dimitri, who looked ready to murder the inanimate object in his hands.

“This fucking thing…how do you put them up?”

Sara Jane laughed and took the banner from him. She made quick work of it, grinning like an idiot. “See? It’s so easy my six-year-old could do it.”

“Easy?” He glared her down. “That is a fucking nightmare. Whoever invented that shit needs to be shot.”

“Is he always this babyish?” Sara directed the question at Becca. Her words froze as eyes turned to her. She clenched her fist, trying to gain control of the panic fighting to consume her. Breathe in, breathe out. Slow, deep breaths. She could do this.

“Always.”

There, she got one word out, and it didn’t sound too strangled. Well, it did, but it was her lie, and she was going to tell it. Becca needed all the help she could get right now.

“Nice to finally meet you, Becca.” Sara came over and hugged her. She went a little stiff but managed to at least attempt to hug her back. When Sara pulled back, she saw a bit of confusion in her eyes. “You okay, hon?”

Becca nodded, the urge to dash out of the room growing as more and more people filtered in and started chatting closer and closer to their table. “Long day.”

“I get that. It was an awful drive down. We hit traffic and road work. Beast of a ride. Let me introduce these fools who wanted to meet y’all.”

“Meet Dimitri, you mean?” She couldn’t help the wry smile that was tugged out of her despite all the panic.

“Ha ha, yeah. They all want to meet him.”

Becca tuned her out as she started to introduce everyone and focused instead on the swirls in the carpet and controlling her breathing. As long as no one came any closer, she could do this. The panic was there, and it could overwhelm her, but she was controlling it. No small feat.

Dimitri startled her when he caught her hand and pulled her to him. His concerned gaze met hers. He knew the panic was rising. No one else seemed to have noticed it, or at least wrote it off as being tired, but not Dimitri. He understood it, having witnessed it so many times this weekend.

“Becca is the only reason I’m able to do anything. If not for her, I’d be stuck marketing my ass off and no words would get written.”

“You do all of his promo images, don’t you?” This from the short, dark-haired girl. She looked familiar, but Becca couldn’t place her.

She dug her fingers into Dimitri’s side, not meaning him any pain, but needing something to clutch on to as she attempted to speak with all the panic