the papers she had in her hands, which looked like a take-out menu from the sushi place down the street and not her actual agency contract, then she turned to Leslie. “I want to hire you privately.”
“Oh...um...” Did Leslie even want to continue in this line of work? She hadn’t made any real decisions regarding her future career yet.
“You can name your price,” Selena said.
Caught off guard, Leslie hesitated. Was Selena serious? For months, she’d complained about not having a big burly man protect her and now she had that and she wanted Leslie back? Or maybe this was all a show for Federico’s sake. Her way of helping Leslie regain face in front of her employer.
Selena waved a hand. “You’re right. We shouldn’t discuss business in front of your former employer. Let’s go. My driver will take us somewhere for lunch where we can discuss this privately,” she said with as much Hollywood flair as Leslie had ever seen and she hid her grin as she stood, put on her sunglasses, and followed the star out of the office.
Dramatic exits weren’t normally her thing, but when in Rome...
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Two weeks later...
THE CHIHUAHUA WAS wearing a suit.
Leslie refused to admit that Unicorn looked adorable in the black-and-white dog outfit with the fake bowtie that Selena had bought him to wear to her movie premiere that evening. She was just relieved that the dog was okay. He’d enjoyed his extended stay at Posh Puppy Spa and the reunion with his owner had been about as dramatic as possible.
Now, he ran around the posh Beverly Hills hotel room with a plastic bone in his mouth. He brought it to Leslie and dropped it at her feet. “No. I’m not touching that,” she told the dog.
Unicorn’s tail wagged so fast it blurred and he nudged the bone closer.
Leslie sighed, picked up the disgustingly wet bone and threw it across the room. Then a knock on the room door had her jumping to her feet. “Who is it?” she asked, looking through the peephole. A tall, lanky guy with a handlebar mustache who she didn’t recognize stood there with a garment bag draped over his arm.
“Antonio from Versace. I have a dress for Ms. Hudson,” he called through the door.
“She already has a dress,” Leslie said, glancing toward the bathroom, where Selena was already outfitted for the movie premiere in a dark green floor-length backless gown. Her makeup artist was finishing up and her hair stylist sat ready to do her job next.
“I was told to bring it,” the guy said.
Leslie sighed. Selena had tried on sixteen dresses the day before at the fitting and had spent hours agonizing over the right choice. If she was changing her mind again, they might make it to the theater for the movie premiere before the final credits rolled. “Hey, Selena...this guy, Anthony, says he has another dress.”
Selena nodded, smacking her lips together in the bathroom mirror. “Yes—and it’s Antonio. Let him in.”
Instead, Leslie opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. She patted the guy down and unzipped the garment bag to look inside. No concealed weapon. She went back inside the hotel room and let him in.
Selena met him with a warm smile. “Antonio! Thank you so much for bringing this last-minute.”
“No problem, darlin’, but it’s the wrong size. They said at the shop that they confirmed with you that this was the one you wanted, but it’s going to hang off you all wrong.” The guy looked sincerely distraught at the thought that the dress wouldn’t show on the red carpet properly.
And Leslie was relieved. They wouldn’t have to waste more time on another dress. She couldn’t wait to get Selena to the premiere, so she could relax in the back of a dark theater for a little while. She’d agreed to return as Selena’s security temporarily until she decided what she wanted to do moving forward...and if she was being honest, now that Eoghan had turned out to be a stalker, Selena was the only real...friend?...she had in LA. Her family were still reaching out to check on her—primarily Eddie—but she was keeping up the facade of being okay.
But the truth was, emotionally, she wasn’t sure she’d ever not feel so exhausted. Her conflicted heart had her yo-yoing between reaching out to Levi or leaving the week they’d had together in the past. She hadn’t made any promises to him when they’d said goodbye and he wasn’t expecting anything from her...
Which made