Chapter 14
Zach
Hours later, Marina and I walk into her suite at the Fairmont, still laughing from our night on stage, which sold absolutely no tickets, and no one will ever know about it. The memory will remain ours, and ours alone, and I’m chuffed I could give her such a unique experience. It got a little rocky for a moment, but we recovered nicely. Now, I just want to spend a little more time with her before I fall into my bed exhausted.
She leads me to the couch, and I go willingly, sinking to the cushions with her and pulling her against me. I nuzzle her hair as she rests her head on my shoulder. The scent of coconut and some kind of exotic flower is intoxicating.
“I had so much fun tonight. Thank you, Zach.”
I relax a bit more. I know we turned the tide back to a fun vibe after she panicked at the idea of singing at the benefit concert, but it’s a relief to hear it spoken aloud. I reply with a kiss atop her head and she snuggles closer. Heaven.
“I’m sorry I can’t sing on stage. ”
I lean back a bit and turn her head gently so she can see my face.
“There is nothing to be sorry for,” I say soothingly. “I meant what I said, and so did the guys. I worry that you feel you’re not worthy if you don’t blend in and do what everyone expects.”
She studies me for a moment.
“I just really hate disappointing people.”
“I would only be disappointed if you told me you were never going to sing with me again. Whether that’s in an empty studio, in a closet…on a bridge. Doesn’t matter. I love singing with you. I don’t care if we never sing in public. Your answer is your answer, and that’s all I need to hear. If you should ever wish to change it, all you need to do is say so.”
I rub our noses together and hover inches from her lips, looking at her with pleading eyes. My heart sinks at the sadness reflecting back at me. I brush her lips with mine once, twice. She closes her eyes and brings us together. Her lips are warm and deliciously soft against mine, and I swear I feel a little tremor just before she pulls away. Her coconutty scent envelops me as she studies me carefully for a moment.
“Thank you,” she says with a pensive look on her face.
“You are an incredible, strong woman. I think sometimes you forget it’s all right to ask for what you need.”
“Speaking of that, can we talk about my brother for a minute?”
I nod. “We can talk about anything you wish.”
She considers her words for a moment, then turns to face me fully.
“I’ve been thinking about it, and I’d like to take you up on your offer to help me find him.”
I beam at her. “Yeah?”
Her gaze flicks over my face. “If it’s okay, yes.”
“I’ll make the call to the private investigator tonight.”
She begins to reply, then thinks better of it, then changes her mind again. I give her the space to work things out in her head, then she watches me hesitantly.
“Sometimes it’s hard for me to accept help from people.”
I nod. “I can understand that. Thank you for letting me help you find him.”
She looks at me as if I’m from another planet, and I want to tell her everything I’m feeling. That the time I spend with her is so special to me, but that’s not all I want. I want to be in her life . And I already know I’m at the point where I’ll move my life around to fit whatever that looks like to her. I’ll take whatever I can get. But she’s already been through enough emotions tonight and I’m not going to push my luck.
“May I ask you something?” I reach out and play with a loose strand of her hair.
She nods with an open and curious expression.
“Ever since we had that moment on the bridge, I’ve felt drawn to you. Yet I feel like you always have one foot out the door. Is that in my head?”
She regards me with a look I’m now familiar with. I see her, and she gets it. She licks her lips nervously, then looks down at her hands.
“Not entirely.”
I raise my eyebrows in question but stay silent so she has time to elaborate.
“I’m not sure how to put it into words right now,” she hedges. “I spent my growing-up years completely out of control, and when I realized I wanted a better life, I had to fight really hard to get free of a lot of toxic relationships. I completely swore off men in order to focus on myself. I found Ashley, Merry, and Scarlet on the way, so I have three amazing friends. But I haven’t ever had a functional relationship with any man. Ever.”
I nod slowly .
“I guess what I’m trying to say is…I feel the same pull, but I am in very uncharted territory. It’s scary, especially when I’m one paycheck away from losing all the ground I’ve fought to gain. If I lose my job, it won’t take long before I’m in financial ruin. My head is screaming at me not to lose focus, or I’ll lose everything I’ve built. But my heart and my gut are telling me I’m crazy if I don’t explore…whatever this is between us.”
I smile and wrap her in my arms. She feels the same attraction. Mentally, I heave a huge sigh of relief at that. This isn’t some fluke, and it isn’t one-sided. My gut tells me I just need to be patient, and she’ll work this out. She’ll realize there’s no need to run anywhere…unless it’s straight into my arms.
***
Marina
After lunch, I step out of the elevator and head to my desk, feeling a dozen sets of eyes following me.
Again.
It’s fine.
It’s expected, since I didn’t actually get fired, that I’d now be the source of all office gossip. I’m the famous mermaid, and the aftermath is slightly worse since I’ve worked hard not to form any personal relationships here. No one knows me. Not really, thanks to the protective shell I keep around myself. So, no one knows how ridiculous most of the stories on the news are. Now that I’ve been identified, the media chatter has changed to whether Zach and I have a romantic relationship. I can’t even watch the news right now because there are whole segments of talk and gossip shows breaking down our body language in the photo outside the recording studio, trying to show whether we’re in love .
Love?
We’ve known each other for a week and a half. Is that long enough to fall in love? Of course, the fact that I’ve never been in love complicates the issue even more. Not to mention, we met in the weirdest of circumstances, and we’re not just from two different worlds. Two different universes, really.
Regardless, I feel more hunted now than before. The media’s getting sneaky. One of them actually got hired as a temp in our accounting department just so she could sneak up here and snap photos of me. She was caught, of course. So was the reporter posing as a Fed Ex delivery driver, as was the maniacal fan who got past lobby security and up fifteen flights of stairs before she was caught.
Ms. Taft is already fuming about all of it, and we still have a little over a week before the Montclair proposal meeting. I’ve given up the hope of ever hearing a civil word from her again. The only thing that keeps her in check is Ethan Montclair, who insists on stopping by every other day for lunch or a quick coffee chat with Ms. Taft. He takes every opportunity to find me wherever I am in the office, trying to get little tidbits about Zach. I’ve made a point to stay out of our cramped supply closet ever since he found me in there on Tuesday and made sure to physically bump into me, suddenly clumsy. My skin crawls just thinking about it.
Still, I’ve managed to build better boundaries with Ms. Taft, and it feels really good. I’m taking regular lunch breaks now, at least. It’s actually nice to get out of the office to run an errand or, like today, have lunch with Zach in the back of the car. Restaurants are too public to deal with right now, so we have takeout picnics in the garage where we chat over takeout and make sure to squeeze in plenty of kisses.
Tonight we’re staying in. It’s two days until the benefit concert on Sunday, and Zach has to preserve his voice. It’s not as big of a deal as it will be when The Royal Rebels concert opens the following weekend, but he still has to be careful. The benefit concert is a collective performance of a dozen artists, with The Royal Rebels closing the show. The other concert at the end of this month is part of the band’s U.S. tour, so it’s all The Royal Rebels. They’re playing something like forty-four songs each night. Performing is more physically demanding than most people think, and he’s going to need his voice to be in the best shape.
I look up in time to see one of the other executive assistants coming towards me. She stops at my desk with a smile.
“Hi, Hillary,” I say lightly. “How’s your day going?”
“Hey, Marina. Let’s just say I’m glad it’s Friday.”
I nod. I get it.
“Look,” she hedges, “I know we’re not close or anything. I’ve always felt that you’re not really interested in office friendships. That’s totally fine, I just…I wanted to tell you that I’m really impressed.”
I raise my eyebrows. “About what?”
She looks behind her to make sure we’re alone.
“You didn’t get fired for the whole viral video thing,” she explains. “We all know how Ms. Taft feels about those things. First, I was shocked that you’re the mermaid, and then I was really bummed because I knew you’d be fired for it—and you’ve always been helpful and kind here, unlike some of the other assistants. So I stopped by to say I’m glad you’re staying and completely impressed by whatever you did to keep Ms. Taft in check.”
I smile at her warmly. I’ve always known Hillary to be a genuine, kind person with a strong work ethic, and I’m grateful for the compliment.
“Thank you so much. That’s really sweet of you to say.”
She nods and gives me a little wave.
“Well, have a nice weekend, Marina. ”
“You too.”
She starts to walk away, and I’m overcome by another flash of bravery.
“Hillary?”
She turns to face me.
“Would you like to grab lunch next week?”
Her face lights up, and she nods. “I’d love it. Maybe Monday or Wednesday?”
I smile back at her. “Either works.”
She nods. “I’ll come by, and we can decide what we’re in the mood for.”
“Great. See you then.”
She waves again and walks away, and I click open the next document I need to work on. I just broke another one of my die-hard rules, and now I’m making friends at work. It feels good…and I can’t stop smiling.
***
“I can’t believe it. You? ” I ask incredulously.
Zach nods, then adds sarcastically, “It’s my deepest shame.”
“You never shy away from anything, but you’re afraid to fly?”
He nods again. “It’s true. I’ll still do it, but I’m a wreck the whole time.”
I consider this an absolutely groundbreaking bit of information. Fearless Zach is not fearless after all. In fact, he’s afraid to do something I love to do. I shake my head.
“What part of it is scary to you?”
His eyes widen. “It makes no sense. You’re basically in a chair…on a giant bus…hurtling through the air.”
I purse my lips together, trying not to laugh. He grins at me .
“You can laugh, Siren. I know how ridiculous it is.”
I shake my head and take his large hand in mine. He laces our fingers together and pulls me against his side. I go willingly, and he wraps his arms around me as we lounge on the couch in his suite.
“It’s not ridiculous at all,” I say as I rest my cheek against his chest. “Lots of people are afraid to fly. I just wasn’t expecting that.”
“I met a pilot when I was flying Patriot Airlines once,” he explains in a gravelly voice. “He explained everything so logically to me. I felt all right about it for a while, but then all of that just goes away when I’m actually on an aeroplane. I can’t help it.”
I plant a loud, squeaky kiss on his cheek, and he laughs.
“What’s that for?”
I grin up at him. “For finally having a flaw and showing me you’re human.”
He laughs again. “I am a man of many flaws, Marina, I can assure you.”
“Okay, tell me about one of your flaws,” I challenge him, sitting up and facing him on the couch.
Zach tosses his head back for a moment, thinking.
“Well, I’m quite a challenge for my parents.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Yeah?”
He nods. “Surely their lives would be easier if they had a son who wanted to go to Cambridge, work as a solicitor or banker, and was well on his way to being married and settled, though they would never admit it.”
“Are you close to your parents?”
“I am,” he says fondly. “I won the parental lottery. My parents are loving and supportive, which is why they let me go to Julliard. They support my love of music, although I doubt they had The Royal Rebels in mind when they let me go.”
“Have they ever been to one of your concerts? ”
“Lord, no!” he laughs. “It would create too much of a stir for the Duke and Duchess of Wendly to be seen at a Rebels concert. But Mum insists on having me autograph every new album we release, and they’re all proudly displayed in the music room at Allenton Hall.”
He strokes his fingers across the back of my hand as we chat, lazy circles creating warm, delicious tingles on my skin.
“Is that where you grew up? Allenton Hall?”
He nods. “It’s quite beautiful there.”
“What was it like…growing up in a place like that?”
He makes a face, and I tilt my head.
“I’m not sure I can tell you without sounding like a privileged brat.”
I squeeze his hand. “You might have grown up privileged, but I won’t think that. I just want to hear about your childhood, that’s all.”
“Very well,” he says. “Allenton is a very beautiful place. I’ll tell you more about it later, but for now I think you’ll love that my favorite room on the estate was always the library. I loved to read and could spend hours in there. Whenever my parents, or the nanny, or anyone was looking for me, it was the first place they looked. They usually found me.”
“You had a nanny. Wow.”
Could our lives be any different?
He shrugs. “It’s not that different from home schooling in the States, really.”
I roll my eyes at him.
“Okay, so you loved it there. And yet here you are…halfway across the world.”
He flashes me a devilish grin. “The world is a big place, my darling. I want to see some of it before I return home.”
I can’t help the blush that crawls up my cheeks. Sometimes, that sexy British accent really hits me in all the feels. Every single one. But something he said prompts a question that must be asked .
“So your plan is to go back some day?”
He gives me a lazy nod. “Eventually, yeah, but not for a long time. My dad’s healthy and quite happy managing his title and everything that goes with it, and I’m quite happy being the family rebel.”
“But someday you’ll go back,” I say softly. “Probably marry a princess.”
He growls and sits up, his lips instantly on mine in a soft, slow, painfully perfect kiss. I sink into him as I surrender myself completely to it. His hands cup my face so gently. He pulls back to gaze into my eyes, and I see that look again, like he knows exactly what I’m thinking.
“Why would I want a princess when I have a mermaid?”
Swoon.
This man is a force to be reckoned with. Gorgeous, sexy, and incredibly sweet. Romantic. And I don’t want him to go home. I don’t even want him to leave San Francisco, I realize. It’s so irrational I want to scream. Suddenly, a thousand thoughts are rushing in. They’re all different versions of what-if, worst-case scenarios.
Zach’s expression sobers.
“You have that look again,” he says quietly. “What’s troubling you?”
Just for a moment, I start intrinsically shutting down all the questions in my head. Don’t rock the boat. Don’t make waves. And then I remember. Hey, Marina…we’re not doing that anymore. We’re singing on bridges. We’re standing up to tyrant bosses. We’re letting a good man into our life.
I hesitate a moment longer.
“I have questions.”
He nods. “Ask me anything.”
“What happens after you leave town? What happens to…us?”
The smile that blooms on his face could light a thousand Christmas trees.
“Wow,” I say with a little laugh. “Not the reaction I was expecting.”
He shakes his head. “I’m sorry, love. I’m just so chuffed you used the ‘us’ word.”
I smile. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” he says. “I like it.”
“There’s an us?”
He cups my face in his hands and concentrates, locking my gaze with those gorgeous brown eyes.
“There is definitely an us,” he growls. “I am crazy for you, Marina.”
My heart feels like it’s going to pound right out of my rib cage. I lean in and capture his mouth with mine. His kiss is eager and passionate, and I’m being devoured in the most delicious way. His lips are soft yet firm as they trail from my mouth and make their way across my jaw line. If he gets to my ear, I’m a goner. I break away reluctantly.
“What does this look like when you leave town?”
He brushes his fingers down the side of my face, and I have to fight the urge to kiss him again when I see the pure emotion behind his eyes.
“Well, we have shows in Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, and Dallas before we’re done this year,” he begins, playing with the ends of my hair. “The tour won’t officially end for five more weeks. Since you’re not afraid of hurtling through the air at fantastic speeds, I was thinking that you could come to see me during the tour as your schedule permits. When the tour is done, I’ll come straight back here.”
I feel some of my anxiety slowly fading away.
“You’ll come back here?”
He grins, and my whole heart flips over like a puppy showing its belly.
“Well, my brilliant and beautiful girlfriend lives here,” he croons. “Why would I want to be anywhere else? Is that all right with you?”
I nod, speechless. He reaches out one hand and buries it in my hair, pulling me closer until our foreheads meet.
“Hey,” he says breathlessly. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
He rubs our noses together, a thing I’m really beginning to love. Nose rubs for the win.
“For asking me questions instead of running.”
I brush his lips with my own. Little goosebumps bloom down my spine.
“My boyfriend loves it when I don’t overreact.”
He throws his head back and laughs that deep, raspy laugh I love so much. I laugh right along with him. He pulls me into his arms and kisses the top of my head.
“Oh, Siren,” he says, his lips moving against my hair. “You wreck me.”
I raise my eyebrow mischievously.
“Isn’t that exactly what sirens are supposed to do?”
***
Zach
Halfway through my morning shower, I realize I haven’t stopped smiling since I rolled out of bed. I hurry through my routine, eager to get downstairs and have breakfast with Marina. We had a bit of a breakthrough last night, and I’m chuffed beyond reason. She trusted me enough to talk through her feelings instead of shutting me down and running. Score one for Team Zach.
I grab my phone off the charger and send her a quick text that I’m on my way, then I exit my suite and take the stairs one flight down to her floor. Today is our last full day together for more than a week, and I want to make the most of it. The benefit concert is tomorrow, then the guys and I have to hit the road for a mini press tour around southern California and Nevada before we get back to San Francisco. We’ll be gone for days, and I hate it, but she’ll need to focus on work. Her big meeting is less than a week away.
Just as I raise my hand to knock on her door, she opens it and pulls me inside. I turn around and back her up against the door as she throws her arms around my neck and brings me in for a soft, slow good morning kiss. I pull away slightly and smile down at her.
“Good morning, love.”
She beams up at me. “Good morning. Hungry?”
I give her a flirtatious look, and she kisses me again, then leads me into the dining area.
“For foooood?” she teases.
The brunch spread is back and looking quite delicious, so I hand Marina a plate and let her dish up while I pour two cups of coffee from the carafe on the cart. Once that’s done, I quickly fill my own plate, and we take our seats.
“Are you ready for our day?”
Marina nods, an adorable smile on her face as she chews. “I’m up for anything.”
“Skydiving?”
She gives me a look and I chuckle to myself.
“Actually, I was thinking a picnic in Golden Gate Park might be just the thing. How does that sound?”
I’m rewarded with a luminescent smile.
“I love the park,” she replies between bites of bacon. “That sounds fun.”
“Excellent. You can choose the spot, then.”
I pull my phone out of my pocket to text the plan to the concierge. The hotel puts together wonderful gourmet picnic hampers and I’ve asked them to try to throw a few British picnic items in this one. Perhaps some scones instead of those giant cake-like muffins. We’ll see how they do. I put my phone on the table and dig into my French toast.
“So the benefit concert is Sunday night, then you’re leaving for Los Angeles on Monday morning?”
I nod. “We have three talk shows between Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. Then we’re doing some radio station appearances on Tuesday. Wednesday morning, we have a few fan events, and then we’ll head back to San Francisco. I’ll be available on Thursday, but you’ll be preparing for the proposal meeting. Maybe we can have breakfast that day?”
She nods, her expression a little sad. “I’ll miss you.”
“Did you ever think you’d say that to me when you were running down the tunnel at the stadium, trying to escape me?”
Marina giggles. “I can see I’ll be paying for that the rest of my life.”
As I stab another piece of my breakfast, my mobile phone vibrates. I take a bite, put down the fork, and look at the screen. I recognize the number immediately, my heart is instantly pounding as I answer.
“This is Zach.”
I listen carefully, occasionally looking up at Marina. She’s watching me curiously. When all my questions are answered, I ask the caller to email all the information to me so I can access it on my mobile. I thank him and hang up, then I turn my full attention to Marina.
“I don’t think you’re going to want to go to the park today, Siren.”
“Who was that? Is something wrong?” She watches me with a concerned expression.
I reach across the table and take her hand in mind.
“Would you like to go to San Diego instead? That’s where your brother is.”