Page 31 of Guarding the Singer

Flash barely held in a smile.

Badger managed to lift a brow.

"I guess if Sadie says you're presentable-"

"Cooper," Sadie stepped in, hooking her arm through the producer's, "I told you that these men know their way around society. And they'll make sure that Selene has the best protection. You trust me, don't you?"

Cooper had the good sense to look shocked at her question. "Of course!"

"They all work for me, Cooper."

He nodded and William saw his shoulders relax a little.

William had a feeling that Cooper probably walked around every minute of every day stressing about something, but he also understood that this was about Selene.

"Mister Armand."

Cooper turned around to look at him. "Yes?"

"I'm not going to let anything happen to her."

The man's whole expression changed, and he offered a smile. "That's what I'm counting on."

PART III

When Selene arrived at Cooper's brownstone, his assistant let her in.

Mandy looked a little harried.

Then again, she always looked a little harried.

The door almost banged off the inner wall and Mandy blew her bangs up and the action seemed to make her cheeks pink up. The other woman always seemed impossibly pale, almost like a porcelain doll.

Selene smiled at her. "Hello, Mandy."

Mandy stepped back and gestured toward the house behind her. "I'm glad you finally got here. Cooper said I had to wait until you got here for me to leave."

Selene's smile faltered a little, but Mandy didn't see it.

She hardly ever looked at Selene.

It wasn't upsetting for Selene. She just didn't want people to be uncomfortable around her. She couldn't be everyone's friend, that's not what she wanted, but she didn't want people to feel like they had to avoid her.

Mandy was shrugging her coat on, her head down. "You can go in." She pulled the front of her coat together and looked up through her bangs.

Selene could only see the flash of green of Mandy's eyes before she looked away.

“You need me to show you in?"

Selene tensed but tried to keep a smile on her face.

It wasn't just afake it til you make itthing, her favorite voice teacher and her first dance teacher had told her that a smile changes everything about your body. A smile changes everything.

While she wasn't all that sure there was any scientific data on it, she'd certainly felt that it was true.

"I... I can find my way into the..."

"Library." She huffed. "Who the hell has a library these days?"

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