Chapter Fourteen
Emily woke up to her phone buzzing. She rummaged for it under the silky bedspread and finally found the phone under her pillow. Mia was talking nonstop as soon as she answered it. “Don’t look outside, but your place is surrounded by paparazzi. I have no idea how they got past security, but I think they’re trying to catch Nash coming to see you.”
“What?” She was barely wiping the sleep from her eyes, trying to process everything that had happened to her the night before.
Nash had happened. That’s what.
She smiled in remembrance. For the first time in a very long while, she had enjoyed performing in front of a group. She’d carried out a little impromptu concert last night. After the karaoke, she’d tried out a few tunes of her own, and had even picked up a guitar someone in the crowd had “miraculously” dragged along. They were in Nashville, after all.
And the fries? They were as delicious as promised!
Emily hadn’t enjoyed herself like that for a very long time.
Mia sent her a link. “Nash undoing your corset is all over the internet.”
What? That’s what people got out of such a perfect night? The muscles in her shoulders tightened, and she mentally prepared herself for another phone call from her brother, though she guessed that he’d be finagling a way to get to Nash’s phone first and forget the middle woman.
“I have to say,” Mia said, “the way that man watches you is how every woman wishes her boyfriend would look at her. I think we really have something going here.”
Emily clicked on the link, almost afraid to see what she was saying. Yeah, Nash was really playing the part well. He was in his element, like he always was, flirting with her as he’d done with every available chick in boots at Harvest Ranch. Nash whispered in her ear, seeming for all the world that he couldn’t keep his hands off her. He watched her like she was special.
I’m not special, not to him.
Her stomach turned when she realized that she was almost jealous of this image of her. It was all a mirage. She’d finally convinced herself last night that she could get through this act without a broken heart, but the more time that she’d spent with him, the more she liked him, and then the more she didn’t want to let him go, no matter how fake because at least she had this part of him… for a while.
“And check this out,” Mia said. “You sound amazing.” She sent another link. This one was of Emily’s performance. She watched herself, the astonished witness to a more energetic and vivacious entertainer than who she normally was.
She’d been in her element last night—and it showed. She’d felt comfortable enough to joke around and say what was on her mind, but Nash was right. Her character wasn’t defined by an “off” night or an “on” night. She couldn’t be concerned with how she was perceived, only that she knew that she was a good person—God loved her—and she should forget about her audience judging her for her every perceived flaw. She could just have fun with her art.
And she had. Maybe she wasn’t perfect at thinking in this new way, and she never would fully understand her worth, but all the same, knowing the truth was liberating.
“Whatever Nash is doing,” Mia said, “he needs to do more of it and often. When do you see him again?”
“I’m not sure.”
He’d embraced her last night before dropping her off at her brother’s. He’d teased her that she hadn’t left him any fries. He’d do anything to get a laugh out of her. When she realized that she’d left her jacket behind, he’d promised to get it for her. She was losing a lot of her belongings since Nash came back into the picture. She still hadn’t found her purse from the other night.
She scrolled through the next post on Flatter and saw that someone at the concert had caught Nash kissing her.
Her knees melted at the tender way that he held her. And of course, her response to Nash revealed just how much she liked him. She groaned. Would he tease her about that too? Nash hadn’t been holding back with that kiss at all. Her lips burned at the memory. “Oh wow, they caught everything!” she whispered.
“The proper response is thank you!” Mia said airily.
Emily sat up, pushing her bedspread away from her legs. “You were behind the crowd?”
“Depends if you liked it or not.” Her voice turned cautious.
“I… well…” It hadn’t been a true date, so what had Mia been crashing? It was nice to get more comfortable with performing, so that was okay, but… “Wait, how did you know I’d be there?”
“Nash mentioned that he might take you out to karaoke. I just posted on TalkieTalk that his bike was seen outside of Noteworthy, and boom, you had yourself an impromptu concert.”
Nash was set on making a star out of her. Was he this way with all of his projects?
“If West thinks that he’s better at PR than I am,” Mia said, “he’d better think again!”
Emily heard the noise of the loud gathering outside. She scrambled off her bed to peer through the window as River’s security worked on pushing the crowds of paparazzi away.
Mia was good… but Emily doubted that she could’ve done any of this without Nash’s help.