Meet Cute, Elise Faber [audio ebook reader .TXT] 📗

“Maggie’s got a plan, and—” I turned to look at my publicist. “You have a plan, right?”

Maggie nodded. “Right. I do have a plan. I promise, we’ll take care of this,” she said, standing and placing her hand on Tammy’s shoulder. “It’ll be okay.”

Tammy, her face pale, nodded and sat back down on the couch. “Okay,” she murmured, swallowing hard. “I had a minor freak-out there, but I’m fine. Really, I’m fine.” Her eyes went to Maggie’s. “What do I have to do to get back to my life?”

Mags’ gaze came to mine, just for a brief moment, but I saw the question on its surface, the concern in its depths.

I didn’t want Tammy to go back to her life.

I wanted her to become part of mine.

But that wasn’t fair, and now it was my turn to protect her.

I nodded. “Tell me what I have to do.”

Fingers weaving with mine, a warm shoulder pressed to my side. “No,” Tammy said, surprising the hell out of me. “Tell us what we have to do.”

Mags was quiet for just a brief moment, her gaze still filled with questions, that concern still there, but she nodded, smiled, and moved back to the couch, sitting down and picking up the first of many papers. “Okay,” she said. “Here’s the first step.”

“Thanks, Mags,” I whispered, giving her a hug before she slipped out my front door.

“Oh, hey.” She stopped, glanced back, and I didn’t miss the flash of the cameras from beyond the gate. She noticed, too, coming closer, deliberately angling her body to block any good shots of me.

“What’s up?”

“Be good to her, okay?”

“Mags,” I began, thinking she was going to tell me not to hurt her friend, to treat her with kindness and respect.

I didn’t need another version of that talk from her.

I’d give it to Tammy regardless of Maggie’s interference.

She squeezed my wrist. “I wasn’t finished,” she murmured. “Be good to yourself, too, okay? You deserve to be someone’s whole world, to have them light up for you, to be the thing that makes their life better.”

A shaking exhale. “Mags,” I said again.

She patted my chest. “I’ll release the statement tonight, and we’ll give it a couple of days before we go to our next step.”

“Okay.”

“Enjoy being secluded.” She hugged me, her lips going to my ear and whispering, “And enjoy Tammy.” I smiled, joy bubbling inside me like it was a living thing, a babbling brook, washing over me in wonderful, cool dribbles. Then with a pat on my arm, she turned and walked toward her car.

I watched her back it up, maneuver toward the gate, pausing to gesture to me through the driver’s side window to go back inside.

Smiling, I did so.

But I still kept an eye on her through the blinds, making sure she made it through okay. I hadn’t needed to worry, however, as members of the security team magically appeared, pushing back the crowd and helping Maggie navigate her car out. I kept watching until they were back inside the gate, until that metal panel was closed, and then I double-checked the front door was locked and the blinds were drawn before heading toward the back of the house where Tammy and I were doing our secluding.

I wished I’d moved already.

I hated that there was a line of sight from the gate to the front of the house, had hated it since the moment I’d bought this place.

This wasn’t the first time that I’d had paparazzi outside.

It was just the first time they’d stayed after getting a couple of shots.

“Tal?”

I glanced up, realized I’d stopped in the middle of the hall.

Tammy had swapped my sweats for a pair of black leggings, but I was unreasonably thrilled that she’d decided to keep wearing my T-shirt.

“What’s up, Hazel Eyes?”

Her mouth twitched. “I’m hungry. Is it okay if I make us something to eat?”

Us. Not herself.

My heart thudded, and if it weren’t such a cliché response, I’d say that my stomach was filled with butterflies. How else to describe that fluttering, swirling feeling?

Fingers on my jaw. “You okay?”

I covered her hand. “Anything in this house—including me—is at your disposal. You don’t have to ask before you use something or raid the pantry for snacks.”

“You say that now,” she murmured. “But this is before I start raiding your underwear drawer.”

My head jerked. “Um, why would you raid my underwear drawer?”

A shrug, her hand sliding away. “Because boxer briefs are the most comfortable things to sleep in ever.”

I lifted a brow, even though she couldn’t see it, as she’d already turned for the kitchen. “How do you know I wear boxer briefs?”

She paused, glanced back at me over her shoulder. “Don’t you?”

That was beside the point.

A smile. “I’m right.” She spun back and disappeared inside the kitchen. I followed her, saw that she’d gone straight for the fridge. My eyes flicked to the window beyond the sink—it was the only one that faced the front of the property—made sure the blinds I’d closed the night before were still shut.

The French doors facing toward the patio were open, and since the sun had begun to set, the early evening sky was darkening, swathes of deep purple and rust and cobalt drifting across the horizon.

Beautiful.

But it still didn’t hold a candle to the woman who’d just pulled out a stack of food from the fridge and was organizing it just so on the counter.

“How many people are you feeding over there?”

“One,” she said, grinning mischievously over at me.

“What happened to us?”

“Two,” she amended. “If the other part of our duo can rustle up a couple of beers?”

I moved around the island, standing very close to her back, inhaling until the floral spice of her filled my nose, settled like a second membrane around my cells. “And what if I can’t?”

A smile over her shoulder. “I’m open to bribes.”

“How very mercenary of you.”

“You know what they say about the police,” she quipped, finishing lining up the ingredients and bending to open the drawer