Page 53 of Guarding the Singer

And then felt her emotions welling up inside of her before she turned back to Selene and grinned, bright white teeth showing. "OMG. OH. MY. GOODNESS! Are you two... dating?"

Her voice had started naturally but had climbed up incrementally until it was close to the excited scream of a pygmy goat.

Selene touched a finger to her lips to gently shush Maureen, but William could see that all work in thearea had stopped, and every head was turned in their direction.

He didn't acknowledge their looks, but he was keenly aware of them.

"I'll see you later, okay?"

Maureen was dancing around with one hand clamped over her mouth. "Mmm'kaay."

Before they walked away from the table, Maureen pointed down the hall and moved her hand for a second. "Your dressing room is down there. Your name is on it."

Then she clamped her hand over her mouth and did a little jig or something before she sat back down behind the desk.

William leaned closer. "Why does it feel like she sucked all the oxygen out of the room?"

Selene looked up at him. "She's a sweetheart. Puts her all into her job. That's mostly what we have here," she explained. "A bunch of great people who are awesome at what they do. I can only hope that I put in a performance worthy of the welcome they've given me."

He nodded, his mind working on the problem of keeping her safe. "No one rolled up the welcome mat or tried to trip you with it?"

She gave him a sideways glance as they continued to walk. "No. Not that I can think of. Honestly, the first couple of days, I'm not even sure I was speaking English. I was so off my game. You can ask me to singevery single one of my songs backwards and I could probably do it, but put me in front of a camera and call ACTION? If Mitchel hadn't put in a couple of weeks of working with me ahead of the start of filming? I think I might have lost my lunch in front of everyone."

He saw the door at the end of the hall and could see her name printed on the card outside.

SELENE

He smiled and wondered if she knew that no one needed to hear her last name to know who she was. Like Madonna. Or-

"I wonder if they have my costumes in the dressing room, I can't wait to see-"

The door swung open ahead of them and Mandy stepped into the hall.

She took one look at Selene and the color drained from her face.

"Oh, you're here. Early."

Selene looked up at him smiling. "See? Everyone's used to me coming in at the last minute." She turned to Mandy. "Mandy, you met William last night at Cooper, right? I-"

William's gaze was still on Mandy and the pulse throbbing in her neck. "Is something wrong?"

Mandy didn't move her gaze from Selene's face, but Selene must have seen something off in the other woman as well.

She stepped closer, reaching out to touch her. "Mandy?"

William wasn't sure if Selene had been able to touch Mandy at all. From his physical place he didn't see her make contact, but Mandy pulled back so fast she almost stumbled backwards into the dressing room.

"Don't..." She grabbed the door frame, her knuckles went nearly white. "You... you don't want to see-"

William turned, grasping Selene by her upper arms, he walked her back against the wall of the hallway. He made sure to make eye contact with her. "I need you to stay here."

She nodded, her throat working, but she put her back against the wall and he turned back toward her dressing room.

"Mandy. Move."

He was almost to the doorway when Mandy put her hands out and pushed him back.

"No!"

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