Page 112 of Scandalous

Eyeing the flowers, I nod. “I can see that.”

“I wonder if anyone’s bought her flowers before,” he muses.

I cringe. “Don’t say that too loud around E. He may lose his mind.”

Liam laughs. “No kidding. Did you see his eye twitching the other night any time another guy who wasn’t us got a little too close? I bet by the end of the season, he has an aneurysm.”

I chuckle. “Nah, my favorite one was when she was taking photos with people and some girl tried to kiss her. I asked the photographer for a print of the photo because it was that fucking great. You had Aurora’s sheer panic as she tried to pull away and Ezra’s scowl as he pulled her away.”

“That’s fucking awesome. We should blow it up and put it above the mantel in the penthouse.”

“That’s a good idea,” I say as Liam opens the boot.

We place our bags inside and get into the car.

“You know, as funny as that situation was, it’s really not at all,” he says as he pulls out into traffic.

“It’s the downside of our jobs. People think they deserve a piece of us.” I shake my head.

“We should be able to do our jobs as we please,” he says adamantly. “We should be able to go out and have dinner without having to take pictures and sign shopping receipts if we want. We should be able to take photos with followers and fans without worrying about them sexually assaulting us.”

“I agree, it’s the downside.” I shake my head. “I can admit, it wasn’t something I considered when we started posting online.”

“Tell me about it. As thankful as I am that it’s awarded us the opportunity to do the things we have, some days I can’t help but wish I never posted that first photo collection of all of us.”

“If you hadn’t, we would never have met Aurora,” I point out.

Liam pulls into the driveway, puts the car in park and turns, glaring at me. “Do you really believe that?”

“We met her because of social media.”

He starts shaking his head before I can finish. “That may be, but we still could have met her. Hell, one of us still could have slid into her inbox and made a move. We were all meant to be here, together, right now.”

I study my best friend, my lover, and see that he’s serious. “You really mean that.”

“Of course I do.” He rolls his eyes as he opens the car door.

I hurry and get out as well and walk to the back of the car.

“You know what?” I say as I pull him into me.

“What?”

“I kind of like it when you say that sweet shit.” Leaning down, I give him a quick kiss before pulling away.

“Hey now, come back here,” Liam yells as I walk away.

“Maybe later, I got a girlfriend to woo,” I holler over my shoulder.

Twenty-Five

My last day in Australia was everything a girl could ask for.

The flight home was not.

It was a packed flight. I got stuck next to a bigger guy who took up the entire armrest. Thankfully, Ezra booked me a window seat in the business section. At least I got to curl up against the window and ignore the man and his blatant flirting.

Then there came the baby. Now I love babies, but this one cried ninety percent of the flight. Even with my earphones in, I could hear the poor mother walking the baby up and down the aisle, trying to get it to calm down.

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