Page 27 of Beyond the Spotlight Discreet Version
“If you and Addy go anywhere after school, Sarah and Henry will protect you. I’ve done my best keeping her out of the spotlight, but over the past year, they’ve caught us in public together. Enough that the paparazzi might recognize her now. Though, without me beside her, she might have more anonymity. It’s possible no one will spot you two together at all.”
“What if they do find us?”
“Sarah and Henry will keep them back and my driver, George—you met him—will be nearby waiting in case you need a fast getaway. You are not obligated to answer the paparazzi’s questions. That’s up to you. My publicist team can send you some things to say if you’d like.”
She nods, nervously chewing on her bottom lip.
“Don’t worry,” I say, tapping her chin and she releases it. “I don’t expect you to have any issues with them. They don’t know where we live or where Addy goes to school, at least not yet. The few times they’ve spotted me with Addy, we were running errands around Manhattan. Someone once saw us at the Bronx Zoo and sold the photos to the tabloids. It’s possible something like that could happen if a fan recognizes her, but it’s highly unlikely.”
She relaxes her tense shoulders slightly.
“I’ll be home around six because I have fight training, then meetings with my PR team after. My chef Shirley will be here by four to make dinner. There will be leftovers for lunch if you need, but I’ll leave money in case you want to order takeout.”
“Reynold,” she begins. “I don’t think you can prepare me any more than you already have. I’ve got this.”
My near-constant anxiety melts away at her words. “Right. Yes. Sorry.”
“Tell me what your movie is about.”
I suck in a breath of surprise. “You really didn’t Google a thing about me, did you?”
“No. After I found out you’re famous, I decided not to. Is that why you give me a weird look when I ask about you? Answers I should know because they’re on the internet?”
“Yeah, even after people find out who I am, they go online to research me. Why didn’t you?”
“I don’t know...” she shrugs. “I guess I want to get to know Reynold, the single father from the plane and not Rey, the A-list celebrity who the media exploits because something tragic happened to him.”
“Thank you for that.” She hands me the last plate. I place it on the rack, put a detergent pod in its holder, then start the dishwasher.
“For what?”
“For treating me like I’m a normal man.”
She smirks. “Oh, Renny. You are nowhere near normal.”
I grimace at her using Eloise and Kelly’s nickname for me, which causes her to giggle again. Why is she so damn adorable?
She dries off her hands before sitting on a stool at the island. “So… the movie?”
“Oh, right. It’s an action flick. I play a heartbroken widower attempting to seek revenge on the men who killed his wife. Mylan is playing the detective assigned to stop my character.”
“How did the wife die?” she asks, eyes wide. She rests her head in her palm, elbow perched on the marble surface.
“She was a secretary at a company that was laundering money and became the scapegoat to hide her bosses’ crimes.”
I lean my hip against the counter, arms crossed.
“That sounds intense.”
“Yeah. I have a lot of stunts in the movie, mostly fight scenes. Since I perform my own stunts, I’ll be working with a choreographer over the next week to block the shots. We’ve had a few sessions already and I’ll have more throughout filming.”
“I must confess... I’m not a fan of action movies. I’m more of a rom-com gal. Or documentaries. I love a good crime doc. Is that why I didn’t recognize you on the plane? Because you only star in action movies? Have you acted in any romances?”
I flinch at the question, and her brows crease because she saw it.
“Tyler’s Teamwas going to be my first romantic drama.”
Before she can offer her sympathy or ask questions about that part of my life, I clear my throat. “I should head off to bed.”
