Page 19 of Saving Stella

Devon slapped a hand over his forehead. “Charley …”

“I blame the pregnancy brain,” she said sheepishly.

Stella narrowed her gaze at them. “What’s going on?”

Devon blew out a breath. “Don’t freak out, Stella … but I’ve had security on you the moment you landed in New York.”

“I beg your pardon?” She used her most authoritative “teacher voice” on him, which seemed to work as he cringed visibly.

“Just as a precaution,” Charley added. “We’re keeping your relationship under wraps for now, but if anyone were to know about you, you’d be hounded by paparazzi. Believe me, that’s not fun, and you’ll never be able to undo it.”

“I guess that’s one more thing we need to talk about,” Devon said. “If you don’t want to acknowledge me as your brother or if you want to pretend this never happened, I’ll understand. Again, it’s a lot to ask.”

“I can’t pretend you don’t exist,” she said. “And I don’t want to.”

The corners of his mouth tugged up. “Me neither.”

“Besides, we need to find her, Devon.” There was no need to specify who ‘her’ was, because from the look on his face, she knew he understood. “What if … what if she’s out there and she needs us?”

A strange, deep longing had formed inside her chest ever since she found out about her twin sister.

“I know.” He sighed. “But, let’s put a pin on that discussion. Just take things slow and really have a good think about this.”

“All right.” Fatigue—emotional and physical—seeped into her, and her body grew heavy. The thought of taking a nearly hour-long subway ride back to her hotel sounded dreadful right now. “You know what? I will take you up on your offer of a ride.”

“Great!” Charley clapped her hands together. “Let me go get Cliff and introduce you.”

As soon as Charley disappeared through the door, she turned to Devon. “I really don’t appreciate being followed.” Even though she hadn’t seen any of his security team, it made her feel uncomfortable.

“I apologize. I overstepped,” he said. “I just wanted to keep you safe.”

“I know there’s no more going back to normal after all this, and I promise you I don’t regret it, but it just kind of hit me—you’re not just anybody.” Though Henry Owens had been telling her this from the beginning, she was really only beginning to understand this now. If they went public with their relationship, everyone in the world would know her name.

“We can still be us,” he said. “I mean, we can continue to know each other, but we’d have to be careful.”

“You mean, we’d have to continue meeting here at Mr. Owens’s office?”

“Not at his hourly rates,” he joked. “But yeah. We wouldn’t be able to go out and have dinner in public or go the movies or whatever—hell, I can’t remember the last time I went to the theater—but I could fly to Vegas, and we can have dinner in a private suite. Or I could fly you here or to LA, and you can come to our place.”

She blew out a breath. “That actually sounds nice. I don’t go out much, to be honest.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I like to stay home,” she said. “I don’t like noisy bars or crowded restaurants.”

“So, you don’t date or anything?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

She groaned. “Oh Lord, no. I mean, the last date I went on was a disaster. I’d actually stopped trying before that.”

“Really? And who was this?—”

“Stella, Devon!” Charley announced. “We’re back. So, Stel, this is?—”

“You?”

The word spilled out of her mouth before she could stop herself, but who could blame her when he stood in front her, looking oh-so-casual.

The stranger who’d saved her from turning into roadkill on Fifth Avenue.

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