When Alex began scrolling through possible flights, Marcus cleared his throat. “Care to tell me what’s happening?”
Whatever. The car ride to the airport would give him time to buy a ticket.
“Take a look at my inbox.” He tossed his phone to Marcus. “I’m no longer welcome at the convention, and all the relevant conversations with my team are happening over phone and email, so there’s no point in staying. I might as well go home.”
Using a text-to-speech app, Marcus listened to the showrunners’ message.
Once the entire vitriolic email had been read aloud, he glanced up at Alex. “You’re going back to L.A. tonight?”
Alex inclined his head. “If I can catch a plane, I’ll fly. If not, I’ll rent a car.”
“You’re going after Lauren,” Marcus said neutrally.
He managed a hoarse laugh. “Of course I am.”
And when he caught up with her, he was going to do his damnedest to convince her to stay with him, because he wasn’t ready to say goodbye. Not now.
Recently, he’d begun to wonder whether he’d ever want to say goodbye. Whether he’d ever be willing to miss one of her rare, piercing smiles. Whether he could ever happily live without her deadpan comebacks, her gentleness, or the way her snarky tees molded against her small breasts and the curve of her soft belly.
Maybe Lauren still thought they were simply minder-and-charge, or platonic friends, but he knew better now. He’d known better ever since that temptation-soaked near-kiss in his car.
“I have to go,” he told Marcus. “My driver should be here in about five minutes, and making my way through the lobby will take a while.”
Marcus’s sharp stare could have peeled grapes, but Alex didn’t flinch.
Finally, his best friend sighed. “I’ll run interference. Let’s go.”
They finally managed to reach the hotel entrance just as the car pulled into the circular drive. Alex half tackled Marcus in a hug, then flung himself inside the SUV, slammed the door, and fastened his seat belt as quickly as possible.
“To the airport?” the driver asked, her gray hair in a coronet of braids.
“To the airport,” Alex confirmed. “As quickly as possible. I’ll double the fare if you get me there in time for a flight at ten.”
“You got it.” Her foot stamped on the accelerator, and the SUV jolted around the circle and onto the streets of San Francisco.
He bought his ticket for that late-night flight as they wove through traffic and streaked along straightaways, then managed to send Marcus a quick message of reassurance despite the rough ride.
Going to fix this. Don’t worry.
He wasn’t talking about his career. But his best friend likely knew that already.
ALEX SHOWED UP at her duplex just before one in the morning. Which was only appropriate, since they’d often gone for their nightly walks around that same time.
It was a sign, he decided. A definite sign.
When she answered his peremptory knock and repeated doorbell-ringing, she didn’t look like she’d been sleeping. She did, however, look like she’d been dragged backward through several different circles of hell.
“You look like shit,” he told her. “Being away from me doesn’t suit you.”
She did not seem especially impressed by his opening conversational salvo. Lips in a thin, tight line, she merely stood in her doorway and looked up at him, eyes puffy and red-rimmed from traveling fatigue.
“Such a terrible hostess.” Dramatically sagging under the weight of his very light suitcase, he shook his head at her. “But if you require a lesson in appropriate etiquette, I’m here to assist. According to Miss Manners, you should invite me in, lest I collapse on your front porch from exhaustion. It’s the only polite thing to do.”
On second thought, perhaps that wasn’t the best advice, given Lauren’s overly generous nature.
Quickly, he clarified, “But if any other dude shows up at this hour of the night, don’t invite him in. He could be a miscreant. Or a vampire. Although maybe that’s covered under the miscreant umbrella?”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then moved to the side of the doorway and waved him in. “Just shut up and come inside, Alex.”
Once he did, he found himself oddly unsure what to do with his hands.
Given his druthers, he’d tug her close. He’d wrap her in his arms and hold her, basking in her proximity, reassuring himself that whatever relationship they’d formed hadn’t simply ended.