Chapter Six
Hayes
The event in Fort Worth the next day felt different from the moment we arrived. The air buzzed with energy. It was charged in a way that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
The line stretched out the door, and a few fans were even wearing Team Luna shirts. It felt less like a book signing and more like I was walking one of my popstar clients into a crowd of fans.
Inside was even worse: voices overlapping and too loud. The air-conditioning didn’t stand a chance against the press of bodies. It was warm and dense, tinged with coffee and perfume.
Luna sat at the table and started the signing just as she had the day before, but my muscles felt tight.
I suspected Luna felt it too. I had picked up on a few tells she had when she was overstimulated. Her fingers fidgeted between autographs. Her smile lingered a little too long after each thank-you. Her shoulders were pulled up so high that they all but kissed her ears.
Of course, if she slept when I told her to, she might feel a little more stable.
I scanned the crowd, but I couldn’t see much beyond the next few faces. Too many people crammed together, too much motion, too much sound.
A fan bumped into another, and the table Luna was sitting at shifted against the floor with a loud squeak. Luna startled, and the pen she was using slipped from her grip. It was nothing, but I moved a half step closer.
The line moved forward, and she greeted each person in the same way. There were a lot of people in a very small space, and if I were Luna, I’d be feeling like a cornered animal.
“You okay?” I whispered. “Deep breath.”
“I’m fine,” she said.
“No, you’re not. You’re holding your pen like a shank.”
She gave me a smile that felt a little more genuine. “You should see how stabby I get during copy edits.”
I smirked, my chest feeling less tight knowing she was able to joke. Even so, I put a bottle of water on the table in front of her.
The crowd was just as hyped as ever, and I ran my eyes over the room again.
The next woman in line stepped forward, but rather than speak to Luna, she turned her back and raised her camera to record herself. “Hey, book babes, I’m coming to you live from the Luna Darling signing in Fort Worth.”
Luna looked at me for some direction. This was a first for me, but if she was making Luna uncomfortable, I couldn’t just leave it. “Ma’am, you need to stop recording.”
She turned her attention to me, and for a moment, I thought she was going to comply.
Then a squeal came from her throat, and she turned so the camera was pointed at herself but with me in the background rather than Luna.
“Girlies, breaking news, the perfect book boyfriend is here! He has the beard and everything. Look at those forearms.” She pushed a button on her phone, and it zoomed in on me.
A murmur went through the lineup, and people strained their necks to see. I was used to being in the background as a deterrent and an insurance policy, but now a lineup of overeager fans had turned their attention on me, and it was my turn to feel like the cornered animal.
“Come on, Book Boyfriend. Smile to all your adoring fans,” the woman said.
Luna looked at me, her eyes wide. “He’s my bodyguard. He—”
“Of course he is,” the woman said, then turned the phone to face herself again and gave the camera an exaggerated wink.
Fuck.
Give me sharpshooters, tell me to run a few miles in full gear, hell, sucker punch me in the face, and I am as cool as a cucumber. This? I was out of my element and wasn’t sure what the move was.
We weren’t in any danger; they weren’t going to mob the table. Since the publishing company was footing the bill, should I play along to make them happy, or shut this down?
Luna finished up with her as quickly as she could, and I ushered her along.
Luckily, the next woman in line put a book in front of Luna and started gushing about her favorite character. She glanced at me a few times, but something on my face kept her from asking for a photo.
The next two hours crawled by, with nothing more exciting than someone spilling their coffee while waiting in line. By the time we packed up and left, I had all but forgotten about the woman and her video.
That peace of mind didn’t last.
A text from Gray came through just as we got back into the truck.
Gray: You went viral.
I stared at the screen for a moment before silencing my phone and tossing it in the cup holder. Whatever Gray was getting at, it could wait. I didn’t want to spend any more time at this bookstore than I had to.
I pulled out into Fort Worth traffic and set the GPS for Waco. It would take us an hour and a half to get there with the traffic.
The publishing company had originally hired a car service to take Luna to her events, but since I would be with her anyway, they canceled the service and paid for me to drive instead.
I preferred it this way. I needed my own truck.
One I knew was reliable. I needed to be the one behind the wheel in case something happened.
I glanced over to where Luna was slumped against the window in the passenger seat.
I needed to find a place for us to have dinner, but first, I wanted to get out of traffic.
“You doing okay, Darling? That was a lot of people. I wish I could be half as productive as you on the amount of sleep you get.”
She nodded. “I’m okay, just a lot of socializing for one afternoon.”
“You did well and remained cool under pressure. Maybe you should have been a bodyguard.”
She laughed and patted my bicep. The heat of her skin felt good on mine. “You handled those lovesick ladies like a pro. Maybe you should be the one signing autographs.”
My interest in the lines of fans was waning as fast as my interest in the woman beside me was ramping up.
Once we arrived at the hotel, I walked Luna up to the room before doing a quick perimeter check. By that time, I was pretty sure we wouldn’t be dealing with any die-hard stalkers, but letting my guard down wasn’t an option.
I knew what that led to.
When I came back to the hotel room, Luna had kicked off her shoes and was sitting cross-legged on her bed with her laptop in front of her. Her eyes were wide rather than half asleep, and her cheeks had more color than they’d had in the truck.
“You okay?”
She turned her laptop to face me. It was an image on a social media post. Someone had posted a picture of me leading Luna through the crowd. I had her hand wrapped in mine, and both were pressed to my chest. The caption read:
When fantasy is anything but. #bookboyfriendbodyguard #forearmsfordays #abitofabeard #heisreal!
The event had ended barely an hour ago, and the post already had half a million shares.
I looked at Luna, who was watching me. “The internet thinks we’re dating.”
“Yeah, I caught that.” I ran a hand through my hair and sank down onto the side of the bed. “What do we do about it?”
She blew out a breath. “I’ll call my agent and see what she thinks. I’m sure my publisher will want to capitalize on the attention.”
“Capitalize? As in…”
“Keep the rumor train going, I guess.” Her face and neck were flushed, but whether from exhaustion or something more interesting, I wasn’t sure.
Her cell started to ring on the nightstand, and she grabbed it. “Ah, that’s my agent, speak of the she-devil.”
She answered, and I stepped toward the door to give her some privacy. For just a moment, I looked back, catching myself wondering what it would be like to stop thinking of her as an assignment.
And that, more than any social media trend, was the problem.