“We have a mutual friend,” Nell said. “I’ll go talk to him.”
She grabbed her mug from the table and crossed the room to where Rhys stood. He seemed to be observing the crew’s response to the angry band members, perhaps absorbing and storing expressions and reactions for his future use as an actor. As he saw her approach, he gave her a tired smile. “It’s been an interesting morning.”
“No doubt,” she agreed. “I was just going to get more tea. Join me?”
“Sure. I’ve been hoping for a chance to talk to you — we have a friend in common, I think?”
Nell rolled her eyes. “Amy. She called you, didn’t she? Or… Johnny did? For some ridiculous reason, no one thinks I can take care of myself when it comes to men.”
Rhys shrugged. “Both called, separately. They did ask me to look out for you if you showed up here. This rock star world can be a hard place, and your friends don’t want you getting hurt.”
They got their tea and coffee, and Rhys loaded a plate with scrambled eggs and waffles. “Should we go sit with Easy and Dice?” Nell asked, seeing that the two were sitting at an empty table together.
Rhys gave her a thoughtful look. “You know, let’s just sit over here for a bit. We can join them later.”
He wants to talk. “Okay. You might as well unload whatever’s on your mind.” She sat down at the unoccupied table nearest them. Letting him get the words out now is probably easier in the long run than trying to avoid the conversation.
He seemed a bit uncomfortable as he sat down next to her. Cleared his throat. “I wouldn’t even say anything if Amy hadn’t asked me about Easy and to watch out for you. But Amy’s my friend and she cares about you, so — here we are.”
“And I’m an adult woman with a relatively lethal physical skill set and no romantic illusions. What’s the concern?”
Rhys inched his chair away from her a little, maybe even unconsciously, and raised his hands in an I didn’t mean to offend you gesture. “You know Easy parties pretty hard, right?”
Seriously? “I’ve heard about the drugs and the groupies, but the worst he’s done around me is have a few drinks, and never to the point where it goes from fun to gross. So…”
“All I really have is gossip,” Rhys said. “It’s a whole other story, but I met the other guys right around the time Easy got kicked out, so I don’t know him first-hand. Maybe he’s changed from what he was, or the stories I’ve heard were exaggerated. I just hate to see anyone get their heart broken.”
“Someone acknowledging that I actually have a heart — that’s a novelty,” Nell said, with a bit more bitterness bleeding into her words than she’d intended. “Pretty sure it’s shatterproof, though.”
The actor gave her a long look, cynical but kind. “Shatterproof heart, huh? Well, if you’re just here for a good time and some mattress fun…”
His words hit a conversational lull in the dining room and carried.
Eamonn turned, plainly having heard. His eyes met hers.
Flipping hell. Nell scrambled for something to say that would defuse the moment, some way to deflect Rhys’s comment, and came up blank. It couldn’t be done. She’d never meant for there to be more than sex between her and Eamonn, but somehow, that wall had fallen — brushing him off as nothing but mattress fun would be cruel, and worse, it would be a lie. Time to live your values, Miss Whelan, she told herself. Integrity’s worth nothing if you bail out when it gets hard. “He’s more than that,” she said, her voice firm and clear. “So much more.” When feelings get involved, they leave a mess. But there it is. She stood up and walked out of the dining room, abandoning her tea, because she couldn’t deal for another moment with what she’d just admitted to herself in front of everyone. Feeling rattled, she compounded her embarrassment by bowing at the door as though she were leaving a dojang, not a dining room. Oh, craptastic. She fled.
Eamonn caught up to Nell in the courtyard. “You forgot your tea,” he said, holding the mug out — still hot and three-quarters full. She could see a grin twitching at the corners of his mouth.
“I abandoned my tea,” she clarified, but took it from him anyway. “Thank you.”
“So… you’ve caught feelings for me after all, Nella-bella?” His eyes were bright with intensity, blue as the sky and the pool.
She grimaced, feeling the heat of a blush wash over her. “I wasn’t planning on it, but yeah.”
“Is that so awful?” He held out his arms, cautiously, ready to hold her if she wanted to be held but letting her make that choice.
“No! I just — feelings are messy. I don’t see how we fit into each other’s life. I don’t want to get hurt. And yet…” She took a big sip of her tea, clinging to the mug with both hands, fighting an urge to throw herself into his embrace and use ridiculous words like mine and always. “I’ve only known you a couple of weeks, but I don’t want it to end.”
“It didn’t take weeks for me, or days, or even hours. I could swear I was struck by lightning the first moment I saw you in the Frog and Ball, sipping your Frosty Peach and reading your book. I felt like I’d been given the biggest gift in the world when you walked into the photocopier room at Wildforest. I won’t hurt your heart, lovely. We’ll find a way to make it work.”
“Yeah, that’s just chemistry.”
“Hey, if you can call it something more, so can I.” He gazed down at her with
