“Then you’d be dead and we’d both be happy?” Sucking in a deep breath, I turned to face him. “I’m so sorry. Stress and hunger are not my friends, and they make me into some kind of she-demon who says really inappropriate things. I didn’t mean what I just said. That was awful. I don’t want you to die. And if you do have a peanut allergy, I would . . . I don’t know, stop eating and hold my breath. I’d call an ambulance and I’d try to find you an EpiPen. Do you have a peanut allergy?” My pulse was pounding. He was annoying, but I didn’t want to actually hurt him. Or anyone else. I zipped my clutch back up.
His eyes twinkled at me. Like, literally sparkled with delight. “No.”
Now I was mad that I’d apologized to him when he’d obviously said it just to make me freak out and be sad about the thought of him dying. Because I would be very sad. In part because then they couldn’t film a much-needed sequel to Duel of the Fae where Aliana Morningsong goes to the Realm Beyond Realms to rescue Malec from death.
“You have chocolate on you. There.”
Noah pointed toward my neck and reached forward with his massive hand, and I actually backed up as far as I could in my seat. “Dude, don’t touch me.”
He seemed surprised by my reaction and held both hands up, like I was mugging him. A cameraman noticed the movement and turned toward us.
“Put your hands down,” I hissed as I ran my fingers along my collarbone, trying to figure out where the chocolate was. I found it, a pool of brown liquid. My skin was still flushed from interacting with Noah, and the chocolate had probably melted on contact. I didn’t know if I’d actually cleaned it off or if I’d just made the mess worse.
“Are you always like this or is it just something I’ve brought out in you?”
I glared at him as my response. And even though I didn’t want to, I asked, “Did I get it?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “More or less.”
More or less? What? Was I covered in chocolate or not? A bolt of anger pierced my gut. I really was going to end up in jail tonight for having attacked a movie star.
Ralph Ramsey, who I had completely forgotten about, finished his speech, and everyone around us gave him a standing ovation, cheering and clapping. It took me a second to get myself together enough to rise up and do the same. And I noticed again how tall Noah was, how broad and masculine. He had to be six three, six four. I was the girl who joked about being five twelve, and he made me feel like I wasn’t the tallest person in the room.
It was nice.
The lights went down, indicating a commercial break. Noah sat, and I realized my mistake. I should have squeezed past him immediately, because now I’d have to climb over him to get out. But was I supposed to leave? Shelby had told me to stay put until the original seat owner returned. And the original owner was Noah’s date. Maybe she’d made a break for it after she found out what an egomaniac he was.
I sat down, ignoring him, still wiping at my skin and hoping I hadn’t been on camera with melted chocolate all over my throat.
But it wasn’t like before, when I’d just sat here minding my own business. Now I felt this weird, awkward energy between us. I’d read once that he had social anxiety and hated making small talk. Although what we’d just been doing wouldn’t exactly qualify as small talk. More like “you suck” talk.
He cleared his throat. “So . . .” His voice trailed off, and I found that I was desperately curious to find out what he was about to say, but he got to his feet.
There was a gorgeous woman standing next to him. She had on one of those body-contouring dresses that had been made out of thin strips of white fabric. Almost like bandages. It showed off her perfect figure but also had me wondering if the national museum in Egypt knew she had escaped their exhibit.
I’d bet anything she didn’t have an emergency Snickers bar in her clutch.
“Excuse me, but you are in my seat.” She said the words through her clenched, perfect white teeth.