Page 9 of The Bombshell and the Bodyguard
I had a full schedule today, which was good. I loved being busy. Busy left very little time for thinking. About Jessica—andothertroubling aspects of my past.
As I frequently told my buddies, distraction was a man’s best friend. Speaking of that, before pulling my car out of Hap’s drive, I picked up my phone and tapped it to return a missed call.
It had come from an actress I spent time with occasionally. I suspected she might be a little more invested in the “friendship” than I was—we didn’t have all that much in common as far as I could tell. But she was beautiful and fun, and she was in town for a few weeks between projects.
Maybe I should give it a chance? If I couldn’t have the one I wanted, maybe I should try wanting the one who wantedme.
She picked up, and I forced myself to smile. “Bree—hey, sorry I missed your call. How are you?” I paused to listen to her answer before continuing. “Great. Listen, what are you up to tonight? Want to get together?”
We made plans, and I hung up, feeling marginally better. I had a few days to get my head straight before seeing Jessica again.
And I’d do whatever it took, filling every minute with work, play, and above all... distraction.
Chapter Four
Nightmare
Jessica
I moved around the guest room, gathering my things and stuffing them into my luggage with more force than was probably necessary.
When was I going to get over it? When was I going to finally move past this ridiculous and futile crush on Wilder Lowe?
Maybe it was because he was my first kiss, maybe it was the way he used to compliment my songwriting and take my dreams seriously all those years ago, but I seemed to have zero control over my reaction to him.
Frankly it was becoming pathetic.
The man couldn’t be less interested. In fact, I was surprised he’d even bothered to come by and meet with me today.
He’d practically yawned his way through the conversation and done everything in his power to limit his involvement.
If not for his friendship with Hap, he could probably have cared lesswhathappened to me. Well, I wasn’t a charity case, and I didn’t need him—or my over-protective, overbearing brother—to take care of me.
Jamming my sleep t-shirt into my overnight bag, I zipped it and headed for the bedroom door, dragging my larger suitcase behind me.
At the bottom of the stairs, Hap spotted me.
“What are you doing? Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“Now? Why?”
“I want to get settled. I want to unpack and relax, and I’ve got a new song idea I want to work on. My piano is there.”
“But your bodyguard can’t start until tomorrow,” Hap argued.
I stopped and turned to face him. “I changed my mind about that. It’s silly to have Wilder pull the guy off a detail he’s already scheduled for him. Nothing actually happened last night. Nothing’severhappened here at my Eastport Bay house except for a wind gust—it’s perfectly safe.”
Hap started to argue. “But—”
I held up a hand. “I’ve already called my security company and asked them to send an extra guard today—he’ll probably be there by the time I reach the house. I appreciate what you were trying to do this morning, but I really can take care of myself.”
Reading his unhappy expression, my heart softened. “If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll meet Anthony tomorrow, and I’ll let him follow me around whenever I go somewhere that crowd control is an issue. But this is my hometown, Hap. I want to be just a regular person here and go to the grocery store and CVS and Nooky’s diner for pancakes without an entourage. You know how it is, don’t you?”
Hap nodded. “I get it. But you’re more famous than I ever was. I’m not sure it’s possible for you. People recognize youeverywhere.”
“Well, I’m not going out today or tonight anyway. I’m just going to unpack and work on my song, maybe take a bath and have ice cream for dinner and settle in for a Netflix binge. I just want to behome.”
