I didn’t give a damn.
When the elevator started to move, I pulled Dani into my arms and rubbed soothing circles on her back. “You okay?”
She nodded. She held onto me tightly, inhaling and exhaling in long, slow breaths. But she wasn’t shaking like she had that first night in Florida. She wasn’t dropping her bag and losing her shit. It was progress.
When the door dinged open, she didn’t race out. She really was Athena, a warrior facing her fears. She squeezed my hand as if to reassure me before stepping into the hallway where Alice and Trevor both waited. “Owl has arrived on the floor,” he said into his suit sleeve, his voice echoing in my ear.
A blue-haired Alice smiled, hugged Dani, and then led the way down the hallway to the room on the corner I’d requested. It was up against the emergency stairs on one side. The only other people staying on the floor were members of Brady’s team. His band was going to be at the award ceremony with Brady because they were performing one of his singles. It meant that, for a short period at the ceremony, Dani would have a seat filler next to her. I’d demanded it be an FBI agent or one of our security team, and the AMA staff had agreed as long as they were appropriately dressed, which wasn’t a problem. We would all be in tuxedos. Blending in was as important here as it was in the middle of the desert.
“We’re on a tight schedule,” Alice informed us. “I’ve got hair and makeup coming to the room in about twenty minutes.”
“Are those still the same names you gave me previously?” I asked.
Alice nodded. “Yes. No changes. Brady’s down at the theater for a practice session, so we’re getting Dani ready first.”
I nodded at the plan we’d already agreed to. No last-minute changes, I’d reiterated multiple times. Even then, I was reviewing every single thing that could go wrong at every single moment. In many ways, I wanted Fiona to show herself today. Having to leave here with the threat still hanging over us would be harder than just having it done with. Malone had been right about getting it over with the quickest way possible by using Dani as bait, even though I hated every second of it. We’d leaked it to the press that Dani would be attending the ceremony with Brady—quietly enough to make it sound like it wasn’t supposed to have been known.
Alice handed each of us a keycard when we got to the room. “These are yours. Marco has sent one of the new guys to retrieve both of your bags and bring them up.”
“No one else has a keycard, correct?” I clarified, even though keycards were the easiest thing to make in the world if you had the right device.
Alice nodded. “Just these two were made.” She turned to Dani and said, “I’ll be back with hair and makeup,” before she hurried down the hall, talking into her microphone.
I put a hand out to halt Dani from following me into the room as I cleared it before letting her in.
“Owl is at the lookout,” I said. “I need a watch outside while I go to command.”
“Received. Larson is on his way,” Tanner spoke in my ear.
I turned to Dani, and she had a small frown on her face. I stepped toward her and tried to rub it away with my thumb.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“We’re sharing a room? Do you really want everyone to know we’re sleeping together?” she asked, stepping away.
“Yes,” I said back without hesitation. “Is this going to be a problem?”
She crossed her arms over her chest, an echo of my own position, and it made me smile, which only seemed to deepen her frown. “I just…”
She started and then paused as if she was trying to find the right words, and it tugged at my newly pinkened heart, stabbing at the raw, unprotected muscle.
“It just would’ve been nice to have been a part of the decision,” she said finally. “This has all blown up faster than I can think.”
“Us?” I couldn’t help the hardness that entered my voice, reality edging into our dream a little more, pushing at the peace and oneness I’d felt with her at Wellsley Place.
“God, no. Not us,” she said, rubbing her finger against her frown line. “Well, yes. I mean, the entire situation, but also our part in it. We’ve been fast and unexpected, and I haven’t figured out what to say, or who to tell, or―”
“I don’t want you to figure out a way to spin us, Dani. There’s no press release you need to send out announcing to the world that you’re mine and I’m yours. And I don’t intend on hiding this. We aren’t just sex. We’ve been over this.”
“Have we?” she asked.
“Larson outside the lookout.” A voice I didn’t know spoke in my ear. I hadn’t met any of the FBI team or the additional men Garner had added to the detail. Larson was one of them.
“Wellsley, you on the way to the command center?” Malone’s voice asked in my ear.
“I’m on my way,” I said into the mic before looking back into her worried face, my
