The green dress complemented the red of her hair. He’d never seen anyone quite so stunning.
*
When their taxi pulled up outside The Ricardo, the world’s press was waiting. Autumn had played with her purse the whole journey from the small port, wondering what to say to her guests, wondering what to do, trying to remember the lyrics to the song she had spent the afternoon altering so they weren’t a reflection of the hatred she felt for Juan.
‘Don’t get out,’ Nathan said as he took hold of her hand.
‘I wasn’t. The driver should come and open the door. That’s more professional etiquette for you,’ she said, moving her hand from his.
Nathan took her hand again and held on. His touch was firm, but nothing like the horrendous crushing grip he had subjected her to before. She looked up at him and saw an emotion in his eyes she didn’t recognize.
He brought her slim hand up to his mouth and touched his lips against her skin. She swallowed, not drawing her eyes from his, as her stomach plummeted down into the depths of her bowels. She was tingling. From the hand he had kissed, up her arm and into her chest and lower, past her stomach, somewhere she shouldn’t be feeling anything about someone like him.
‘When we get out of the car, I’m going to kiss you—for them,’ Nathan said, indicating the roar of the press pack outside.
Autumn nodded, transfixed.
‘It’s necessary but… I don’t want you to hate it.’ He let go of her hand.
Before she could respond, the driver had opened the back door, and cameras were clicking to life, and there were enthusiastic shouts for her to leave the car. She looked to Nathan.
He urged her forward with his expression. ‘I’m right behind you.’
She took a breath and stepped out of the vehicle to yells and screams from the surrounding crowds. She fixed on her trademark pout, looked down the camera lenses trained on her and turned her body this way and that to give the reporters the best chance to capture their front-page shot.
Then his arm was around her waist, and the cameras seemed to click even quicker as this unknown person stepped into the limelight. Nathan turned her toward him, and, before she had a chance to prepare herself, he lowered his mouth to hers. The crowd screamed in a frenzy, but all Autumn could hear in her head was her own heart beating a frantic rhythm. His mouth was moist. She’d opened hers to accept his, and now her hands were laced together behind the back of his neck, pulling him into her. His tongue entwined with hers, and she didn’t want the kiss to stop. In this fake scenario they were creating, he was so real. It was like nothing she had experienced before.
*
It took all the inner strength he had to disengage her. What was happening here? This was supposed to be for show, to make the world believe he was the new man in her life. But he felt her respond to him in a way he hadn’t expected. She kissed him back, pulled him closer, urged his mouth to open wider, pressed her body against his. He almost forgot the press pack, almost lost his focus on the task at hand, because this beautiful, successful singer was kissing him like he’d never been kissed before. It was all he could do not to push her back inside the car and lock the doors, but then a vision of Marie flashed through his mind, and he put an end to it. Feeling anything like that was betrayal.
*
She looked up at him, gray eyes wide, mouth open, breathless, trying to understand what had just occurred. It was like a switch had flicked inside her the second his lips met hers. It was just a sexual thing. It had to be. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had sex, and obviously she was missing it a whole lot more than she’d realized. Juan worked until the early hours of the morning, and her schedule was so hectic, they were barely ever alone together. Feeling someone so close, wanting her, if only in a pretense, ignited a spark of desire inside her she hardly remembered she had. She enjoyed it. She wanted him. Really wanted him.
He took her hand, and they made their way toward the hotel entrance. The very first person she saw was Janey.
Sixteen
There she was. Her personal assistant, her friend, someone she had shared an apartment with for the last year and a half. Janey smiled at her, dressed head-to-foot in Versace, her Versace. Autumn gripped Nathan’s hand tighter as the blonde-haired woman approached them.
‘There you are! I was getting worried. You said eight and—’ Janey began.
‘The car was late. I apologize. It’s my fault.’ He beamed a smile and held out his hand. ‘You must be Janey. Nathan Regan.’
The shock was written all over Janey’s face as he took her hand in his and brought it to his lips, just as he had done to Autumn’s. A shiver ran over Autumn and she gritted her teeth, looking for something in the hotel lobby to count.
‘So, you’re Autumn’s new boy… man friend.’ Janey looked Nathan up and down in appraisal.
‘That’s right.’ He put an arm around Autumn’s waist and pulled her close.
‘Well, when Autumn called, I was a little surprised but… well, it’s very nice to meet you.’
‘You, too. So, who’s here? Who should we talk to first, Autumn?’ Nathan asked.
She looked at Janey—Janey in her dress, acting
