“No,” I breathe. “That was everything.”
“Exactly.” He pulls out and helps me to get dressed. Quickly tugging on his T-shirt and pulling up his jeans, he chuckles.
I take a sweep of the area. It’s dark, and no one is around. Thank God. Shit. My face heats. We could’ve been caught.
Kitt wraps me in his arms and holds me close. Suddenly, I can’t remember why I cared about being caught.
“Let’s get inside. It’s getting cooler out here.”
It’s only when he mentions it that I realise I have goose bumps. Shorts were a bad idea. I’m even colder when Kitt moves away from me to open the door to the bus.
“Get in, you,” he says with a cute subdued and lopsided smile.
When it’s like this, I love it. I want to tell everyone, including my dad, because we fit together so well.
“Hey, do you think if the pressure of this being a secret wasn’t there, we’d get along like this all the time?” I ask.
He closes the door behind himself and snorts. “Probably not.”
I turn and cross my arms. “What? Why do you think that?”
“Experience.”
“Meaning?”
Walking up the steps in one leap, he cocks his eyebrow. “I’m kidding, sweetheart. Are you ready for that? Really ready for your dad to know about us?” There’s an unspoken, Because I am, there, too.
I want to say yes because I’m crazy about him, but I don’t think I’m ready for all the questions and not being able to get any alone time with him.
“No,” I say quietly. “I’m sorry, but I’m not ready.”
“I’m sorry, too.”
“It’s not your fault. I’m your dirty secret, so we’ve got to keep quiet.” I go for humour, but neither of us finds it funny.
“Don’t. That’s not what you are to me. We both know this industry, and everything will change when people know. Your dad has spent his whole life trying to shield you from as much of the paparazzi shit as possible, and that will end the second we’re public.”
I think I just fell in love with him even more.
“Look, I want more right now, and as much as it pains me to keep us hidden, I know, logically, it’s best for now,” he says.
“I hate being your secret.”
“All I’m trying to do is what’s best for you, Tex.”
“You’re what’s best for me,” I reply.
“I know,” he whispers. “That’s why I can never let you go.”
Yep, definitely just fell in love with him even more.
“Promise me, you won’t ever let me go.”
He bends his head to look in my eyes. I feel like I’m falling.
“I promise you,” he says.
And I believe him. It makes me feel a whole lot better about what’s to come.
My life isn’t very private at the minute, but I know that will get a whole lot worse when the whole world knows that Kitt is mine. I like that I can go out, depending on where I go, and not be hassled. Kitt can’t do that.
We fall into my bed, and I curl into him.
He kisses the top of my head. “I want everyone to know how I feel about you, Tex. I want every guy to know that you’re off the market, and I want every one of my fans to know that there’s no chance of me shagging them. It happens at every after-party, Texas. Do you know how uncomfortable it is to have women hitting on me?”
I deadpan. Like I haven’t been through the discomfort and downright pain of having to watch him with other women. And most of them, he took back to his room. So, yes, I’m somewhat fucking familiar with that feeling.
“Er, yes! Have you forgotten how freely you shared your man parts with everyone? And if you think women will stop making a move because you’re taken, you are very mistaken, Kitt.”
“This is heading somewhere neither of us wants it to, so let’s move on. I want you and no one else. I want to be able to tell a person exactly why I’m not going to share my man parts with them.”
“Didn’t mean to get off track there. I’m sorry. I’m just saying that, even after we’re out in the open, things are still going to happen. We’re going to be followed more closely, our relationship is going to be under the microscope, we’re going to be judged on whether or not we’re deserving, and people are going to make things up if there’s no new gossip.”
He shrugs his shoulder, as if none of it matters, as if it will all be easy and we won’t soon learn new things about our relationship every time we open a newspaper or click on the Internet.
I’ve had it my whole life. I’ve read things that I supposedly have done a million times over, and although I can laugh it off, it’s different when people are making things up about someone you love. I detest the stuff written about my dad.
I’m not looking forward to Kitt being accused of cheating when he poses for a picture with a fan or people deeming me unworthy of him because I’m only a somebody, thanks to my parents.
Stop it. He chose you, and his opinion is the only one that counts.
“Three weeks, Tex.”