“Uh…” Wanker started to say.
Erica hushed him. She said, “He’s here. She’s looking for him.”
“Uh…” One second. “Oh!”
“Miss Emory.” One of the officers cleared his throat. He was behind me, following. “We should get in the car.”
I didn’t stop. I knew Kian was here.
“Ma’am?”
I was almost to the corner. The interview was done. I did what I had to do. It was time to see Kian again. A low buzzing sensation started in my stomach. I couldn’t wait to see him. I couldn’t wait to be in his arms once again.
“Miss Emory, I’m going to have to insist that we go back to my car.” The officer was beside me now.
He was moving forward, and I felt him closing in. He was going to try to stop me. At the same time, his hand lifted for his radio. Then I rounded the corner.
There he was.
There was no car. Instead, he wore a leather jacket, and he was waiting on a motorcycle. The kickstand was out, his bike resting on it. His face was hidden underneath a helmet, but it was him.
I started for him, not thinking anymore. I was done thinking.
“Miss Emory,” the cop started again.
I went to Kian. As I walked toward him, I felt it in me. I didn’t know when it happened. I didn’t know what would happen in the future, but he was there. A helmet was in his hand and I knew it was for me. I reached for it, starting to pull it on. He stopped me. His hand fell onto mine, and he turned my face up to his. He stared at my eyes and after a moment, a soft grin tugged the corner of his lips up. A look of pride filled his gaze, and it swelled in me too. I really was done hiding.
His hand fell from mine and as I pulled on the helmet, the cop sighed. “We’re supposed to keep you safe all day today. We’ll follow you then?”
I swung my leg up and climbed behind Kian. My arms wrapped around him.
He spoke for me, “We’ll be at my hotel.”
I stopped listening. He told the cop where we would be. They would come. They’d do their job, be around me so the public couldn’t hurt me. They did it before, and they’d do it again. Until things settled down, they would continue doing so, but I wasn’t considering them anymore. After the interview, saying my side, and having Kian waiting for me, everything would be okay.
It had to be.
He had come for me, and when I went to him, I knew right then and there… I was in love with Kian Maston.
If someone told me three years ago, as I was covered in blood and sitting in the back of an ambulance while watching Edmund’s covered body being wheeled past me on a gurney, that I would be riding on the back of a motorcycle with Kian Maston, I would’ve laughed my ass off. From the hysteria, the absolute perplexity of it, that both of us would be infamous, that we’d be hiding under black motorcycle helmets, and that I would’ve just realized I was in love with him—I would’ve laughed, cried, and punched whoever told me that.
But here I was.
Kian’s hand would cover mine whenever we stopped at a stoplight, waiting at an intersection. It was completely ludicrous, what we were both doing, but I didn’t care. If we were together, the media would never stop. If we went our separate ways, maybe we would have a chance for a normal life, but I couldn’t walk away from him. That was all I knew. It’d been this way for a while, ever since he came back into my life. I hadn’t been able to stay away, much less walk away.
We went back to his hotel. I was tense going in, but no one was there.
Seeing my look, Kian chuckled. He still held my hand, and he tugged me farther inside. “When I saw the interview, I asked everyone to leave. They went to their own rooms for the night.”
“The whole night?”
He nodded. A shadow fell over his face. He asked almost tenderly, “Is that okay?”
I couldn’t talk. My throat closed up, but I moved my head up and down. It was more than okay.
Feeling his gaze on me, I felt shy for some reason. My cheeks warmed, and I glanced to the floor, fingering the bottom of my shirt and tugging it down. This was ridiculous. We had sex. I just went on national television and bared my soul, but now, after realizing I was in love with him…
I eyed the floor beneath my feet. Could it swallow me up? Was it too ludicrous for me to wish for that?
“Jordan?” Kian moved closer, his voice dipping low.
I mustered up a smile, looking up. God, he was gorgeous.