I'm Not Charlotte Lucas(14)
A blush rose to my cheeks. I had a hard time imagining why anyone would want to break up with a man who looked like this. “Something like that. So I really am at your disposal tonight. Whatever you need from me, it’s yours.”
He gave me a loaded look, and I sank away from him, a deeper blush crawling up my neck. I hadn’t meant to sound so wanton. “You know,” I clarified, “at the event. I can be your buffer if you need it.”
His smile grew wide. “I’ll need it. Naomi can be . . . difficult.”
No wonder he had a hard time around his ex if she was that terrible. “All right, if I’m going to become a wall between you and your ex-girlfriend, I have a feeling I’m going to need more information than that.”
Liam laughed out loud, and my grin matched his. I couldn’t help it. The sound was so warm and unexpected.
He looked at me apologetically, and a warning bell went off in my gut. “I’m not sure how to prepare you. I’m assuming Vera told you all about our situation.”
I shook my head.
“She didn’t say anything? You’re telling me you just agreed to do this out of the kindness of your heart?”
“That, and maybe I was guilted into it a little.” She had told me that Liam was suffering, but I wasn’t about to admit that. Besides, he looked perfectly fine right now. Too fine, actually.
Liam chuckled, the sound low and warm and delicious. “You don’t hold your punches, do you? You could have at least pretended to want to be here.” His smile slipped. “So wait, you know nothing about where we’re heading?”
“Nothing,” I confirmed.
Liam fixed his gaze on me, and his expression became stone.
I chuckled. “Why do I have the feeling there’s something you’re not telling me?”
“Probably because it’s true.”
The limo rolled to a stop. Liam drew in a breath, watching me through wary eyes as the door flew open before a wide, red carpet, and cameras flashed like a strobe light just outside the limo.
“I didn’t realize there would be press,” I said, my throat tight. I seriously hated having my photo taken. “Why are they even here?”
He glanced over his shoulder before pointing to a beautiful, tall woman with striking red hair and a long cream gown. “They’re here for her.”
“Who is she?”
“My ex.”
Chapter Seven
The redhead on the red carpet glanced over her shoulder, holding her expression in a firm smolder as more flashes went off. Someone called, “On your left, Naomi! On your left!” and she obediently turned more fully toward us.
My heart sank to the depths of my stomach, and all breath left my lungs. I clutched Liam’s sleeve and hissed, “No one told me your ex is a movie star.”
He gave me an apologetic shrug before climbing from the limo and leaving me to hyperventilate in peace. There was no earthly way I was about to step out of the car now and into the mass of paparazzi. Vera said nothing about Liam’s ex being one of the most famous women in Hollywood. The minx. She was most certainly getting a piece of my mind when I made it home—precisely fifteen minutes from now.
Vera should have listened to me when I suggested Beth for this job. Beth would love the attention, the glamour. The whole celebrity thing appealed to her on a level that I couldn’t appreciate. This experience was entirely wasted on me.
Liam leaned down. “Are you coming?”
“Nope.”
He cracked a beautiful smile, and I could absolutely see what Naomi Price saw in him. Oh. My. Goodness. He was handsome. Straight-edge jawline under a perfect smile and lacking all appearance of conceit.
Vera arranged for me to be Liam’s date so he would be distracted from his ex. Me distract him from Naomi freaking Price. I felt bile climb up my throat. I was going to be sick.
Liam looked over his shoulder. “There’s another car waiting to let out some passengers behind us.”
“Go on without me. I can’t do it.”
He shifted from amused to concerned instantly, and my heart flipped over in my chest. That he would feel concern for me was touching but painful. It was the same expression he’d worn coming into the salon the day I hit Spike, the same expression he had while talking about his responsibilities earlier on the ride to the ball. And here I was pouting in the backseat, afraid to step onto the carpet because of how I paled in comparison to a movie star.
It wasn’t right. Liam deserved better than this. I just needed to remind myself that I was a fill-in date. I wasn’t anything to Liam except a glorified bodyguard in a dazzling mauve gown with fantastic lace that made me feel like an absolute princess. I could do this.
Sliding on the seat, I drew in a breath and swung my shaky legs onto the street. Liam reached for me, and I folded my hand into his, letting him pull me from the limo and onto the plush, velvet carpet.
Lights flashed around us as people called to Liam, questioning him on everything from what he was wearing to how he felt about seeing Naomi this evening. Of course the media knew who Liam was. Anyone who followed those sorts of things had to know the face of the ex-boyfriend of America’s current sweetheart. Of course, I wasn’t one of those people.
But Beth was. Why hadn’t she said anything?
“Liam, who is your date?”