His pinwheeling thoughts wouldn’t be corralled, couldn’t be, but that much he knew.
Zach’s jaw worked. “I’ll ask again, if you want me to, but …”
“What?” He leaped to his feet and resumed pacing.
“When I mentioned the possibility earlier, they …” Zach traced the grain of the wood on the chair arm with his forefinger. “There were concerns about her … audience appeal.”
Alex would never understand.
After what Wren had shared of her past, after their encounter with his asshole fan, after what her own cousin had written, he knew many people—maybe even most people—considered her compelling, asymmetrical features and her charmingly round, short body ugly. He also knew the meanest among those people would use that as an excuse to dismiss her as unimportant or abuse her in some way.
He knew it. He still didn’t get it.
Symmetry was boring as shit, and they lived in fucking L.A. Tall women with slim bodies weren’t precisely an endangered species.
Wren was not only the cutest, hottest goddamn bird-woman on the face of the earth, but also unique and funny and smart and charming and kind and the perfect cohost of a travel show, and he’d fucking fight anyone who tried to argue otherwise.
“I suggested that perhaps she could stay behind the camera, as she’s been doing up until now.” Upon seeing Alex’s expression, Zach rushed to add, “I got the sense she was uncomfortable being filmed, since we’ve only seen her arm.”
Okay, fair. Alex’s fists unclenched at his sides, and he continued pacing.
“But they want an on-camera companion, and they won’t accept her in that role. And if you insist, I suspect they’ll withdraw the offer.” Zach scrubbed his hands over his face. “Help me out here, Alex. Tell me how we can make this offer work for both you and StreamUs.”
There had to be a solution, but his head was all over the goddamn place.
Dammit, he needed to be able to concentrate for such a crucial discussion, which meant taking his meds, which meant breakfast. So much for getting back to the room quickly.
“Lauren and I are a package deal.” That was the one thing he knew for certain. “So let’s order some food, and I’ll take my medicine. Then we can talk through negotiation strategies. If we figure out the right approach, we can convince them to bend on this. I know it.”
“That makes one of us,” Zach muttered, but he stood and slipped his phone in his pocket. “Okay. Let’s take the morning and try to come up with something.”
If Alex had his way, by the time the wedding ceremony began, Zach would be ready to make their case to StreamUs. And if all went well, Wren would never need to know her appearance had been a topic of discussion.
She’d said that kind of scorn didn’t hurt her, but it had to, at least a little. He also didn’t want to give her a bad impression of her future employer, because he intended to make this deal work. For her. For them.
Even if he had to take on an entire fucking streaming service and his own agent to do it.
LAUREN DIDN’T WAKE up worried.
Not with the memory of a long night’s intimacy, Alex’s unmistakable ardor and affection, so fresh. Not after he’d suggested a trip down the Florida coast someday, including a stop for her to meet his mother in person. Not given the way he’d slept cuddled around her.
And especially not when he’d left her a note on the nightstand. Meeting with agent. I’ll be back soon, so you might as well stay in bed, Wren.
He’d signed it with a heart and a bold capital A.
No, she wasn’t worried.
Only … he didn’t come back soon. He didn’t even come back that morning. After she finally left their bed and showered, she sent a worried text. To his credit, he responded right away with an apology, but not much of an explanation.
Things taking longer than expected was all he wrote. I’m sorry.
By the time he returned, the wedding was happening in half an hour, and she was pulling her black lace dress over her head. His eyes cloudy and distant, he dropped a kiss on her mouth, apologized again, said her dress was pretty, and hustled to the bathroom for his own shower.
They half jogged to the ceremony—held in a lovely riverside clearing, with the redwoods soaring overhead and an aisle lined with flowers—and made it just in time, with no opportunity to do anything but get themselves settled in their last-row seats before the music began.
He put his arm around her shoulders and played with the ends of her hair, but his eyes were on the ceremony, his jaw was tight with tension, and his attention was …