With Aster gone, Madison resumed her position on the couch. A few minutes later, when Tommy walked in, she felt her heart skip a beat when his gaze went in search of her.
Her reaction caught her off guard. Was it the result of the excitement of finally putting her plan into place? Or did she actually like him more than she allowed herself to admit?
“How’d it go?” She forced a welcoming grin.
“What was Aster doing here?” Tommy dropped his key fob and phone onto the table and stood before her. “I saw her leaving. She seemed upset.”
“She brought me some clothes.” She tugged at the hem of the T-shirt, drawing Tommy’s attention to her bare legs. “Guess she doesn’t approve of my outfit.” She lifted her gaze to meet his. “What do you think?” She bent one leg and kept the other extended, hinting at a classic pinup pose without being too obvious.
Tommy’s eyes grazed the length of her, causing her pulse to quicken, her skin to heat. But just when she was sure she had him, a conflicted look washed over his face. Maybe this wouldn’t be quite so easy.
“You look tense.” She swung her legs around and patted the cushion beside her. “And as it just so happens, I have the perfect remedy right here.” Her violet eyes flashed with promise, as she offered him the shot glass.
Reflexively, he moved toward her. Her smile brightened; her plan was a go.
A second later, he withdrew and said, “This is a really bad idea.”
Madison fought to hide her disappointment. She needed him to drink it. Her immediate future depended on it. “I don’t understand.”
He swiped a hand through his hair and gazed toward the terrace, contemplating the view for a sobering moment. “You. Staying here.” He shook his head and faced her. “All of it.”
“But everyone agreed,” she reminded him. “Besides, I have nowhere else to go. . . .” She watched in relief as he sighed deeply and sank onto the cushion beside her. “You want to talk about what’s really bothering you?”
He shot her a baleful look.
“You want to make out?”
His eyes widened with shock, and then he let out a laugh. Leaning his head against the cushions, he said, “I always feel so off center around you.”
Madison felt herself relax. This, she could handle. “I know, and I wish you didn’t, but I’m used to it. It’s the whole mega celebrity thing. Sometimes I hate how it makes people act so weird and nervous and unnatural around me. Other times, it comes in handy. It’s like an invisible shield keeping people at bay.”
“Is that what you like—keeping people at bay?”
“It’s a matter of survival. But now, in times like this, it kinda sucks.”
Wordlessly, he stared at her.
“Do you ever think about the night we kissed?”
Tommy gazed up at the ceiling. “The night you went missing, you mean? Yeah, I live with it every second of every day. It dictates my whole life.”
“I mean before that. Back when it was just the two of us, sitting in the Vesper, drinking a beer and talking.” She studied his profile, willing him to look at her, to see what she was offering. “It was one of the most normal moments I’d experienced in a really long time. And it’s weird, because I’d just gone through this super-dramatic public breakup and—”
“A breakup you staged.” Tommy cast a sharp look her way.
“Still, for that brief time we were together, I was happy. And when you kissed me—”
“You kissed me.”
She cocked her head and grinned flirtatiously. “Did I?”
“I never would’ve made the first move. Not with you.”
“Why not?” She sank her teeth into her bottom lip.
“Uh—because you’re Madison Brooks and I was secretly freaking out just from being near you.”
She closed her eyes and shook her head. When she opened them again, she said, “Can I tell you something?”