One Wild Night (Hollywood Chronicles #1)(22)

My mouth dropped open when he reached out and cupped my face. Tingles spread beneath his touch, and my stomach did about fifteen backflips. Of course, it had to settle right into the nausea from earlier, humiliation and defeat rising to the surface.

My voice dropped. “What are we doing, Paxton?”

I’d just been fired from my job that had been my entire life, had been hounded by paparazzi, and had been publicly shamed and ridiculed.

And now I was running off to Europe with the man who was the root of the problem.

A Greek god who owned the screen and commanded every audience. One who was sought after and adored.

My free card.

Funny, considering it’d cost me everything.

There wasn’t anything free about it.

His thumb brushed softly under the hollow of my eye, catching the moisture I hadn’t even realized had gathered there. “We’re stealing you away from all of this.”

I shook myself out of his hold and sat back in my seat. “That doesn’t mean it’s not all going to be waiting for me when I get back.”

“You’re right, Kaylee Rose. I’m not sure even I have the power to erase what happened this morning.” The seriousness in his tone shifted, and a smirk went skating onto his mouth. “But I’m sure as hell going to make sure it’s worth it.”



Bewildered, I stumbled along beside Paxton as he strode through the international terminal at LAX. My suitcase had been checked and his apparently had been handled.

Must be nice.

Okay, I had to admit this was a little bit nice. I’d be nothing but a liar if I said it didn’t feel nice with my hand firmly locked to his as we made our way down the long hall toward our gate.

“Right on time.” He flashed me a grin.

“Doesn’t the flight leave in like fifteen minutes?”

“Exactly. There’s no use getting here and having to sit around for two hours. That’s simply ridiculous.”

“Says the guy who walks into a building packed with people and the waters part for him. I’ve never made it through security that fast…ever…even when I was returning after visiting my aunt in Kentucky and there was one person in front of me. And this is an international flight.”

He lifted our entwined hands and brushed a soft kiss along the back of mine. A shiver tickled down my spine.

How did he manage that?

“Let’s just call them the perks of being famous.” He lifted a brow. Mischief danced in those warm brown eyes. “You witnessed some of the drawbacks back at your place today. What do you say we enjoy some of the advantages”

A short chuckle rolled up my throat. “That I did. I’m really not sure how you handle that part of this life.”

He shrugged. “You get used to it. After a little while, it’s little more than irritating.”

In his pocket, his phone rang again, just like it’d been doing the last hour it’d taken us to get here. And just like then, he merely ignored it and let it go to voicemail.

One second later, it pinged with yet another new message.

“Are you sure you shouldn’t answer that?”

This time both of his brows lifted, and his mouth quirked in a way that was so endearing I had the urge to pop up on my toes and press a kiss to his mouth. So I did.

A lick of fire.

His hand gripped the side of my waist, and he gave me a squeeze.

His phone pinged again.

“That is yet another drawback,” he said with an exasperated sigh. That accent. It slipped out on the last, this time genuine. This time it wasn’t used as a wicked tool to charm off my panties.

I figured the fact I was leaving the country with him pretty much guaranteed I was a sure thing.

God, I hoped so.

It rang again.

“It could be important,” I countered.

He laughed. Almost both incredulous and affectionate. “Oh, I’m sure in her mind she thinks it’s very important.”

It was instant, the bolt of unease that shocked through me.

She?

I wanted to ask. I had the right to, didn’t I? But I really had no clue what this trip really meant or what I was getting myself into.

I hadn’t even called my mother or my sisters. Even Elle didn’t know where I was.

What was I doing?

Paxton suddenly pushed me backward, edging me back two steps and against the wall. My back pressed into it as he pressed into me.

Hard.

All of him.

He buried his nose in my hair and inhaled a deep, sharp breath. A sound of approval rumbled in his chest. I trembled as he ran the tip of his nose down the slope of my neck, shivered as he ran it back up. He left a slow, seductive kiss behind my ear.

The smolder turned molten. Hot and heated. An ache pulsed between my thighs.

His voice was a whisper, “Are you trying to freak out on me right now, Kaylee Rose?”

“I…I…uh…” I stuttered and stammered, trying to regain my senses as his tongue flicked out for a taste.

Oh. God.

That did not help.

“Do you think I can’t see the panic written all over your face?” he murmured.

“I…”

“Are you thinking about bolting?”

“Um…”

I had completely lost the ability to form a coherent thought as he continued to lave kisses along my neck, as if we were on a secluded island rather than right out in the open at the airport.