who I’m around and how long I’m around them.”
“I understand that.” He looked around to see their bags sitting on stands across the room. “I’m going to take a quick shower and change, if that’s all right with you.”
She let her arms straighten and fell back onto the scattered rose petals. “That’s fine. I’m hoping I won’t fall asleep right here before you get done.”
Wyatt chuckled. “If you do, I’ll move you to one side and sleep under the covers. I’ll even find you a blanket.”
Madi lifted her hand and pointed to her full-sized suitcase. “I have my own. And my own pillow. That’s why I have a giant bag for an overnight.”
He laughed again. “Then you better not fall asleep because I’m not digging through your suitcase to find your pillow and blanket.”
Her eyes were closed, but she smiled. “Probably for the best.”
After getting what he needed out of his bag, Wyatt went to the bathroom and closed the door behind him. It only took him a couple of minutes to shuck off his tuxedo and stand under the nearly-scalding water.
Married.
The woman half-asleep on the bed just a few yards away was actually his wife.
He’d promised to love, honor, cherish her. Spend his life doing those things.
Having children with her.
Keeping himself only unto her.
A night from years earlier tried to invade his thoughts, but Wyatt pushed it away, as he always did. Usually, he ended up wallowing in the regret and remorse he’d felt since he woke up the next morning.
Not this time.
Eventually, he’d need to tell Madi about that night.
But not while the cameras still rolled. If they fought over it, and one of them ended up storming out of their bedroom, the rest of the fight would be caught on camera. Neither of them would want that kind of dirty laundry to be aired on the streaming network.
Or any dirty laundry.
Somehow, they’d need to get through the next month without turning their private lives into public fodder.
He groaned as he reached out and turned off the water. He’d tried to get in touch with his agent and his publicist but both were off in some sort of huge meetings or otherwise out of touch.
HEA TV and MyBingeFlix was not going to sit on this news, though. At least one of the photos taken of the two of them earlier in the evening would be splashed all over the Internet by morning.
Once dressed in pajamas, he left the bathroom. Madi had convinced herself to get up. Her pillow in a green and blue plaid case and a forest camouflage blanket lay on the bed, further destroying the rose petal heart left there.
“Your turn,” he told her, picking up his phone and sending a quick text to both his agent and publicist, giving them the barest of details.
Madi picked up a stack of clothes and brushed past him as she headed for the bathroom.
A moment later, the door opened again. “Wyatt?”
He looked over to see her standing in the doorway, shoulders slumped. “What’s up?”
“I need your help. I can’t get this dress off by myself.” She didn’t look at him as she spoke.
He made a twirling motion with his forefinger. “Turn around. I’ll help.”
She did, sweeping her long blond hair to one side as she tipped her head down. “Thank you.”
It wasn’t until his fingers brushed against her bare skin as he undid the top button that Wyatt felt the first spark. The next button felt the same. As did the one after that.
“Do you need me to undo all of them?” He glanced down to see that the buttons went all the way past her waist - and then some.
“Please.” She glanced back over her shoulder at him. “I wanted a dress I could handle myself, but this was the one I liked best of the options they gave me.”
His breath stirred the stray hairs on the back of her head. He really should step back a bit farther.
But he didn’t want to.
Instead, he set his hands on either side of her waist and let them slide down to the swell of her hips. “I’m glad you chose this one. You look amazing in it.”
Her head ducked farther, and he could see the flush rising to her cheeks as he went back to unbuttoning her dress. It surprised him to find a zipper that started at the end of the lace panel in the back. The rest of the buttons were only for show.
“Do you need me to