Page 56 of Kiss & Collide
He’d been absolutely unaware of that, and it blew his mind that she’d been tracking it all even as she chatted so casually with him. This all felt weird, the performance of a lie.
“Do you ever get used to it? Having to do this kind of stuff just to be able to do the thing you love?”
Madison tipped her head to the side, considering. “I guess I’ve never tried to separate them out. I knew how the game was played from the beginning. This is just another move on the board.”
He envied her for her ability to see the whole game being played and to know what moves to make. It was the part he’d never been good at. But listening to her stories about LA, he could tell Madison could read people and their motivations and navigate situations to get the outcome she wanted. She was a lot like Violet in that way.
Violet was probably back in her hotel room, scrolling through the hashtags, watching every moment of tonight unfold online. The thought made his gut twist up. This might be just another move on the board, but it wasn’t one he’d ever be comfortable with.
“Everything okay?” Madison asked. “You just dipped out.”
He shook his head. “Sorry. My mind wandered for a second. I’m glad this worked out tonight. Thanks for making it so easy.”
“No problem.” She hesitated, her eyes dropping to the table. “We don’t have to call it a night if you don’t want to. I know we’ve been on display all night, but we could move somewhere more private. You know … just so we can relax a little.”
He leaned back in his chair, absorbing that. It wasn’t an outright invitation, but she was definitely leaving the door open. If he wanted to walk through it.
But much as he liked her, he couldn’t summon up that kind of interest. Because his fucking head was somewhere else, with someone else. Instead of blond hair, he was seeing black. His hands didn’t want to trace over Madison’s golden curves, he wanted Violet’s icy-pale skin.
“I’d better call it a night,” he said with what he hoped was a casual shrug. “I’ve got an interview over breakfast and then I’m heading straight into more press events.”
“No problem. Cam’s got me on a six a.m. flight to Vancouver tomorrow morning.”
“Ouch.”
“I have to be on set by noon.”
“So …”
She looked up and met his eyes. “I guess I’ll see you next time they set something up.”
“I guess so. This was fun.”
Her smile was wide and genuine, so she didn’t seem to be at all hurt that he hadn’t taken her up on her offer. “It was.”
“So … how do we do this? The exit?” He cleared his throat. “Since we’re not … uh, leaving together.”
“Well, we leave the restaurant together, then Cam escorts us through the service exit so we can get back to our hotel rooms separately.”
“Cam’s thought of everything.”
“It’s all very well-planned.” Madison looked up at him again. “Everyone will think we went home together tonight.”
He swallowed thickly. “That’s good. Okay, I’m ready when you are.”
After an enlightening fifteen-minute tour of the bowels of the Bellagio Hotel, Chase finally found himself looking down a hallway lined with rooms. He took a quick glance around to make sure no one was there before he exited the service elevator. He was supposed to be in Madison’s room right now.
But no one was there to see him as he made his way to a different room. He knocked quietly at the door. A minute later it cracked open. Violet’s pale face appeared out of the darkness. Her eyes were still rimmed in dark, although she’d undressed, wearing just her black silk robe, which she was holding closed at her neck.
“You’re here,” she murmured with surprise in her voice.
Without a word, he slipped inside and closed the door behind him.
24Singapore
Singapore was always a hot one, Violet thought, fanning herself with a race program outside the tent where they were setting up the drivers’ pre-race press conference. Storm clouds threatened off to the south, and the air felt absolutely drenched already.
The first panel of drivers was supposed to start in ten minutes and Chase still wasn’t here. No surprise there. He made lateness into an art. He was lucky he was so charming when he finally showed up that everybody forgot he’d ever been late.
