“I’m the client, the one who pays your bills. I don’t need your permission to have my girlfriend come visit me,” I snarled, taking offense to the way he was barking questions like our roles were reversed and he was the boss of me. It wasn’t often that Mario stepped wrong with me, but it was also rare for me to make waves of any kind when I was normally more careful with my reputation than he was.
“That’s not what I meant,” he muttered. “I get it; you’re a big boy and can make your own decisions when it comes to the woman in your life. But you having a girlfriend is new for me too, and it’s hard to do my job when I don’t know what’s going on. I need you to keep me in the loop so I can plan for every alternative and keep you covered.”
“I didn’t expect there to be anything you needed to worry about,” I grunted. “I did everything I could’ve to limit the risk of us being found out while Morgan was here. I used the same private jet service I always fly on, the driver of the limo signed an NDA, I stayed in the car, and we never even left my house once she was here.”
“Well, shit. You really did cover all the bases,” he grumbled. “It’s probably why they haven’t connected you being here with her visit.”
“Not yet, anyway. The pictures were only taken three days ago.” I leaned my head against the back of the couch and closed my eyes. “But we don’t need to worry about anyone figuring it out because I’m going to come forward. I refuse to let Morgan face this alone.”
“That’s a horrible idea,” Mario objected.
I got up and started to pace back and forth. Shawn tried to hand me a bottle of water, but I waved him off and continued to focus on my conversation with Mario. “I’ve been in this business a long damn time. I don’t care what this’ll do to me. My career can withstand whatever comes my way.”
“It’s not you I’m worried about here; it’s Morgan.” Mario’s retort stopped me in my tracks. “You coming out as her mystery man will just add to the hysteria. The public is too aware of your stance on dating and commitments. Being outed as your first official girlfriend is going to be a big fucking deal—bigger than any other celebrity hookup, breakup, or makeup in the last decade or so.”
“Fuck,” I groaned. He made an excellent point. If we came out as a couple while I was still in Georgia, Morgan was going to be stuck handling the worst of it on her own. “Come up with a plan for who Morgan and I will give our first interview to once we come out publicly as a couple, so we’ll have a plan set when we need it. Until then, I’ll just have to figure out how I can smooth shit over for her from afar without anyone knowing I’m doing it.”
“You can count on me.”
That went without saying, or else Mario wouldn’t have been my agent for so long. As soon as we wrapped up our call, I dialed Morgan. I got lucky, and she picked up right after the first ring.
“You’ve seen the articles, haven’t you?”
“How’d you guess?” I chuckled, already feeling a little less tense just from hearing the sound of her voice. Shawn gestured toward the door, and I gave him a jerk of my chin to let him know that I’d appreciate the privacy.
“Because I wouldn’t be surprised if your agent, publicist, and Shawn all have a Google alert set on my name, so I knew you’d find out right away.” I laughed again because she was absolutely right. “Well, that and you never call me this early on a day when you’re shooting.”
“It’s a good thing that we got done a little early because Shawn was bursting at the seams to let me know what was going on. How’re you holding up?”
“Eh, I’ve had better days, but it hasn’t been totally awful. Allie went out and got me lunch from Carl’s so I haven’t needed to leave the house yet,” she explained. “I’ve been mostly ignoring my phone . . . except for you, of course.”
“Allie brought you a western bacon cheeseburger, fried zucchini, and a big fruit punch, huh?”
“See, that right there makes all the hassle worth it.” Her breathy sigh was close to how she sounded when I nibbled on the sensitive skin where her neck and shoulder met. It made my dick so damn hard that I had to adjust myself before my zipper left a permanent mark on my junk.
“What does, beautiful?”
“I really appreciate how you pay such close attention to me,” she admitted softly. “You never miss a detail when it comes to my likes and dislikes.”