Page 140 of Some Like It Hot

This has to be another reporter. I nudge the swinging door open just slightly and peek out. Then I freeze. There are like nine people in the bakery. At least that I can see. Four of them have cameras, five of them are holding out what look like recording devices. Definitely reporters.

Lydia shrugs. “Part time. She’s a friend of the owner. But like I said, she doesn’t report to me. If you need a story, you should probably ask the Racketeers or something.”

I’m going to owe Lydia a free pinup dress for this. She’s normally a pretty shy girl, but she’s sticking to her denials and I’m grateful.

“No one’s returning our calls.”

Lydia crosses her arms. “Do I really look like I can be of any help?”

Shit. What am I gonna do now? If the reporters are here at the bakery, I need to slip back upstairs before anyone sees me. Then I need a plan for how to get out of here.

Just then the bell over the front door tinkles and I groan. More reporters?

“Wow! Are we having a sale no one told me about?”

I nearly sag in relief at the sound of Luna‘s voice. She’s back. She will take care of this. Luna always knows what to do. Plus, she’s pretty good with reporters. Dating Alexsei Ryan and Owen Phillips, one of the Racketeers coaches, has put her in the spotlight too.

“You all need to get out of here unless you’re buying something.” And that is the voice of Cameron Bach, Luna's third boyfriend. And grumpy multimillionaire tech genius, he doesn’t take shit from anybody.

He’ll get rid of the reporters. He might also be my best bet for sneaking out of here and getting to the arena without stumbling upon anyone I don’t want to see.

Lydia comes through the swinging door. “This is crazy.” She’s smiling a smile that says she doesn’t mind at all.

I blow out of a breath. “We didn’t really think this through.”

Luna comes through the door next, followed directly by Cameron.

“You are so lucky you filled me in on everything,” she says. “Though a heads up on the actual wedding might’ve been nice before I saw it splashed over social media.”

I pull Luna to the side and lower my voice. “It was really spontaneous. We honestly didn’t think through anything other than letting his grandmother know that this whole thing was real enough that she’ll give us the cabin.”

“Well you better get upstairs. Get ready for the game, you can go with me and Cam. Then you won’t have to worry about sneaking out of here on your own.”

I pull her into a hug. “Thank you. You guys are the best friends.”

She pulls back and gives me a wink. “And I assume you won’t be coming home with us since you’ll want to spend your wedding night at your new husband‘s house.”

Yeah. That would make sense. But of course we didn’t talk about that either.

We honestly hadn’t made any plans past the courthouse.

And after the weird moments upstairs in my apartment where I felt that rocking connection, I really don’t know what to expect from my new husband.

This was all supposed to be straightforward and easy.

But of course it got messy.

I make my way upstairs, planning to get ready for tonight. I do expect to have a lot of eyes and attention on me at the arena. I guess we did talk through that part. We knew that the news would break before the game tonight and Blake has filled in the PR department, so I expect that I’ll be up on the Jumbotron a little bit. Now seeing how much social media coverage there has already been, I’m guessing the crowd will pay attention to me as well.

Again, I am thankful that I will be there with Luna and Cam. Dani and Nathan will also be there in the stands and between my two girls and their grumpy-rich-always-get-their-way boyfriend and husband, I’m not too worried about getting harassed.

The wall phone that Simon had installed for me two days ago starts ringing and I jump. I am still not used to that thing. I’ve only had three calls and it was the guys all calling to check to see if it worked. I press a hand to my chest, trying to catch my breath as I cross the room. I swear to God if this is a reporter, I’m ripping this phone back out of the wall.

“Hello?” I answer hesitantly.

“Elise Elizabeth Starling, this is your mother.”

Oh, shit. My mother never uses my middle name unless I’m in huge trouble. And the fact that she’s calling my landline reminds me I still have no idea where my phone is.

---