9. Chapter Eight
Staring in the mirror, Bri tries to calm herself. Her stylists left, and she doesn”t know if she can do this. She flew into Los Angeles four hours ago after two terrible shows filled with nothing but issues. The first dealt with sound problems, and she had to go through four microphones before anyone could hear her. Which was halfway through the show. The second had the entire stadium in the dark due to a power failure from an accident involving a semi-truck and a transformer.
Neither issue was any fault of her own, and her fans didn”t seem too disappointed in the shows she put on, but she can”t stop feeling shaken. And everything happens in threes, right? Which means this awards show will be a disaster. Complete and total disaster. Not to mention everyone ran late, so her hair and makeup didn”t happen until an hour and a half after she was scheduled. Her dress almost didn”t make it, and now she”s just been informed the transportation lined up had an issue. Her team now works on an alternate option.
With everything that seems to be going wrong lately, she can”t stop the nerves from taking over. Her experience taught her how to push the anxiety down years ago, but she”s shaken and dreading the inevitable questions. All about Easton and his new girlfriend. No, wait, not just his new girlfriend. His new, pregnant girlfriend. As if she”d have a comment. Clearly, they aren”t together anymore, so why does everyone feel the need to continue to drag her into this lovely little story?
Letting out a deep breath, Bri knows she needs to stop staring at her reflection in the mirror. She has nowhere else to go, so she crawls under the dressing table in her robe while her mind races with every other situation that could possibly go wrong tonight.
”How do you feel about your ex-boyfriend having a baby with the woman he cheated on you with?” she asks in a nasally voice.
”Oh, just fantastic. I”m actually thinking about throwing her a baby shower,” she responds to herself.
No, she can”t do this. Kace said he”d be here, but she hadn”t heard from him all day. Nope, she decides she’s perfectly content sitting right here all night. They can say she was abducted or something.
”Yeah, I was abducted. I couldn”t walk the red carpet because someone stole me. Shoved me into a trunk and took off. That would be much more preferable than going to the show.”
Sniffling, she shakes her head. ”But you”re supposed to perform, Bri. Are you really going to let everyone down?” she asks in the nasally voice again. ”All those people who have everything timed and planned for your song? You”re really going to do that to them?”
”Why, yes, yes, I am.” Bri says. ”Ugh! I hate this!”
”Bri?” Kace”s deep voice booms in the small space. ”Are you okay?”
She jumps and hits her head on the table. ”Ow,” she says and tenderly touches the spot on her head with at least thirty pins pressed tightly against her scalp. ”Kace?”
”Where are you?”
Her free hand waves from under the table, and he bends down in front of her. Man, does he look good. Delicious.
”Hi.”
”I didn”t mean to interrupt the conversation you were having with yourself, but they said I could come in. Wow, you”re really small. I couldn”t even see you.”
”One of the perks of being tiny is the ability to fit in many different spaces.”
”Like the trunk of a car?” he asks, and her cheeks burn when she realizes he heard most of her conversation with herself. ”What are you doing, exactly? Because you”re sounding a little crazy.”
Sounding? She”s definitely jumped off the deep end right into crazy town. ”I can”t do it. I can”t do this thing.”
Rather than get exasperated or annoyed, he sits on the floor in front of her. ”Why not?”
”It”s been a terrible few days, and it”s only an omen of how terrible this night will end up. I don”t care if I lose all the awards, but I have to perform after fielding how many questions they”ll ask about Easton. All eyes will be on me, even in a room full of celebrities. On top of that, I”m already behind schedule, and there are car issues. Which means no transportation anyway.”
”I have a car.”
”Speaking of you, I hadn”t heard from you all day! That was an added panic, thinking I”m doing this walk on the carpet solo, so I think I will just continue to sit under this table. All night.”
Licking his lips, Kace nods. ”I”m not exactly excited about this red carpet thing because I”ve never walked one before, so if you want to skip it, I”m game. But I think you might regret it.”
Regret it? Bri laughs. ”Why?”
”If you don”t show up, especially after people planned around you, you”ll feel guilty. That guilt will eat at you because that”s the type of person you are. Plus, there”ll be even more speculation that the reason you didn”t show up was because of Easton, and that”s just giving him too much power.”
Damn him. ”You”re right. I have to stop letting him drive the narrative, as Nia keeps saying. But I think you”re overestimating just how good of a person I am.”
He smiles, and her insides turn to jelly. ”I don”t think so. This is your decision. I”ll stand by whatever you want to do, but I think you”ll miss out if you stay here.”
”We don”t really have another opportunity to make our relationship official like this, do we?”
”No, I don”t think so. But I also don”t really care whether or not we need to. Let them speculate all they want.”
Sighing, she kicks her legs out next to his. ”No, we need to do this. Otherwise, Easton still has the upper hand. I just really hate carpets of any kind where I have to strategically pick out an outfit for the cameras that won”t get me criticized. But it”ll get torn apart by the critics anyway, so I might as well just go and smile for the pictures regardless.”
”I think whatever you wear will be amazing. Even the white robe you”re sitting in.”
”I do not have the confidence to try that,” she says, and he holds his hand out to her. She takes it, letting him pull her out and up, and she keeps hold of his hand as he picks himself up from the ground. ”But thank you.”
”I like your hair,” Kace says and looks down at the top of her head. ”How does it stay like that?”
Bri laughs, wrapping her arms around him without even thinking about it. He hugs her back, and she wants to just melt right into him. ”With many, many bobby pins and enough hair spray to deplete the ozone layer.”
”Are you good now?” he asks as she pulls away, thankful she didn”t have any makeup rub off on his suit jacket.
”I”ll be good when we leave, but I”m okay enough to change and get going. You have a car we can take?”
”Yeah, I”ll give them a call now.”
Walking into the small closed off section where the dress hangs, she shrugs out of her robe and tosses it over the divider. Part of her wishes he”d sneak a peek and catch sight of her in just her panties. Then she could tell if he”s actually attracted to her or just being nice.
”Thank you, Kace. I don”t know what I would”ve done without you.”
”You would”ve hidden under the table and lied, saying you were abducted, probably,” he jokes.
Taking the black sequined dress from the hanger, she steps into it gingerly. It was a little snug the last time she tried it on, but the tour helped slim her down just enough to fit.
Looking in the full-length mirror on the divider, she barely recognizes herself. She feels this just about every time she finds herself forced to wear some fancy designer gown for one reason or another. This just isn”t her. Her style is either blue jeans and a t-shirt or sweatpants and a sweatshirt. There”s really no in-between. And right now, she feels a little like a fraud.
She steps from behind the divider and sees Kace hang up the phone. When he turns around, his eyes widen as he looks her up and down.
”Can you zip me up?”
”Yeah, sure,” Kace says and walks over to her with slow, deliberate steps.
His fingers touch her skin as he reaches for the zipper, and he drags it up with slow precision. The feel of his skin on hers creates goosebumps across her back as she closes her eyes, her breath hitching.
”Good to go,” he says, his voice low and near her ear.
”I”m just glad it fits,” she says and slowly turns back around.
The way his eyes bulge from his head at the sight of her makes her feel sexy. Bri never feels sexy. Even when she”s on stage and wearing an outfit that should do just that, while singing about being sexy, she doesn”t feel it. She never knew how it felt until this very moment.
Kace licks his lips and stares as she slips into her shoes, holding onto his bicep for balance. ”You look amazing.”
”Really?”
”If you wanted a revenge dress, I don”t think you could have picked a better one.”
The compliment makes her smile and flush. ”Thank you.”
”Wow,” he whispers.
”I really look that good?” Bri turns and looks at herself in the mirror again, her eyes catching his from behind her. ”No one”s ever been this impressed with me before.”
Closing in on her, he places his hands on her hips and lowers his mouth to her ear. ”The only thing sexier would be seeing this on the floor in the morning light.”
Her breathing hitches again, and she locks eyes with his reflection. ”Kace...”
His hands leave her, and he steps back. ”I”m sorry. That was inappropriate.”
”Did you mean it?”
”Bri, you”re beautiful. I thought my favorite look was seeing you in my jersey, but this dress is something else. But I shouldn”t have said what I was thinking, especially when you”re already nervous. I”m sorry.”
Bold. Somehow, this man she barely knows makes her feel bold, and she takes her hand in his. ”If you meant what you said, I”d rather you didn”t apologize.”
”This situation between us is supposed to be fake, and I”m pushing us into uncharted territory.”
”It”s not just you,” she whispers.
”It”s not?”
She smiles and shakes her head. ”I never thought I could be this attracted to someone. I just don”t know what it means or how to feel about it because it”s not supposed to be real. It”s unfamiliar, but I like how you make me feel strong. Does that sound stupid? It probably does.”
”It doesn”t sound stupid,” he says.
”Are you over Sasha, Kace?”
”I”m not sure.”
The words make her instantly cold, and she doesn”t think a bucket of ice poured on her could make her feel any colder. ”Then we should maybe take a step back before this becomes dangerous.”
”Dangerous?”
”I don”t have to get over Easton. I have to get over the humiliation he caused me, but I don”t miss him. But I think you might still miss Sasha.”
”I planned to propose to her the night I went to your concert,” Kace admits. ”That”s why not playing her favorite song mattered.”
Another wave of cold dampening her desire hits. ”I don”t want to be a rebound for you. Even though being your rebound would probably be the most exhilarating experience of my life, it also has the potential to hurt both of us. I”d rather have you as a friend than potentially hate each other.”
”I don”t think I could ever hate you.”
”You say that now, but once we cross the line, we can”t go backwards. And there”s no telling how we”ll react if that happens.”
”Do you want to call this off?”
Bri”s stomach flips at the thought. ”I like being with you. You”re unlike anyone I”ve ever met in my life, and I love it. So many things about you are things I wish I could be. Even as friends, I think you”re a good influence on me, and it might be selfish, but I don”t want to give you up. And I don”t think that if we called this off, we”d spend any time together.”
”You”d be a friend I”d fight to keep, but I think you”re probably right. We wouldn”t have as much of a reason to show up for each other with our schedules otherwise.”
”Do you want to call it off? We should only do this if we”re both comfortable.”
Stepping back another step, Kace lets out a deep breath. ”No, I don”t want to call this off.”
”Then, let”s do this. Just make sure to keep it in your pants,” she jokes.
The joke makes him laugh, but all she wants is to see him out of his clothes. Ever since his comment in Moose Jaw, she really, really wants to see what it”s like to be with a man who rocks her world. And part of her would love to see if it could really make them fall in love with each other. Until he”s over Sasha, she can”t find out.