Valorous(18)

I roll her under me and look down at her. She’s flushed and wide-eyed and flat-out gorgeous. Her lips are swollen from the blowjob. So f*cking beautiful.

“What?” she asks. “Is something wrong?”

“No, love, everything is just right.” I kiss her before I get up from the bed to find a condom. “Crap, the condoms are in my other bag, which I left out there.” I pull on my jeans and somehow manage to get them zipped over my rampant erection. “Be right back.”

“Hurry up.”

Her excitement and urgency only make me harder. In the main salon, Addie is hard at work on her laptop. The glass of red wine sitting next to her computer tells me she’s attempting to relax. She glances at me as I grab the backpack I left in one of the chairs.

“You’re supposed to be sleeping,” I tell her.

“So are you.”

“Don’t stay up too late.”

“Hey, Flynn…”

“Yeah?” As I turn to face her, I hold the backpack in front of me.

“I’ve been emailing with Liza. She wants to schedule an interview so Natalie can tell her story—”

“That’s not happening.” The very thought of it enrages me.

“Liza’s theory is that if Natalie tells her story, then the feeding frenzy will stop that much sooner.”

“Not. Happening. Feel free to quote me on that to Liza.”

Addie gives me a challenging look that I recognize all too well.

I release a deep sigh as my hard-on all but disappears at the reminder of our situation. “What is it you wish to say?” Addie always speaks her mind with me, and I always encourage her to do so because she’s extremely savvy and always has my best interests at heart.

“For what it’s worth, I think you ought to consider Liza’s advice. You pay her a lot of money to tell you what to do in these situations. I happen to agree with her. If Natalie tells her story in her own words, that makes it impossible for anyone else to tell it. It would put an end to the salacious innuendo that has overtaken the Internet.”

“You know what I hate most about this?”

“What?”

“Every time her name is mentioned for the rest of her life, this story will be tied to it. That’s why she changed her name in the first place.”

“I hate that, too. We all do. But the cat’s out of the bag. You can’t pretend it’s not happening, as much as you’d like to.”

She’s right, and so is Liza, but all I can think about is Natalie and asking her to go on national TV to talk about the most painful thing in her life. The very idea of it makes me nauseated.

“Get some sleep, Addie.”

“Night, Flynn. And good luck in the morning, not that you’ll need it.”

“Thanks.” Her comment reminds me that Oscar nominations are coming in the morning, something that would normally be foremost on my mind. But I don’t have the capacity to care about anything other than what’s happening with Natalie right now.

I return to the bedroom, where Natalie is propped on her upturned hand waiting for me. The sight of her bare shoulder reminds me of what was about to happen before I left the room. Retrieving the box of condoms, I drop my pants onto the floor and crawl back into bed with her.

“What’s wrong?”

I force a smile and hold up the box of condoms for her to see. “Nothing now.”

“Don’t lie to me, Flynn. Something happened while you were out there. I can tell just by looking at you.”

“How’d you get to know me so well so fast?”

“The same way you got to know me.” She caresses my face, and her tender touch makes me melt on the inside.

I love her so f*cking much, and I want to protect her from anything and everything that could ever hurt her. “Addie has been talking to Liza. They think we ought to do an interview to give you the chance to tell your story in your own words to put an end to all the speculation.” I watch the light in her eyes go dim.

“Oh.”

“I told them it’s not happening. I’d never ask you to talk about something so painful on TV. The thought of it makes me sick. I can only imagine how you must feel.”

“If we did this, the interview, I mean… Do they think it would put an end to people talking about me? About us?”

“It might put an end to people talking about what happened to you years ago. It’s probably safe to say they’ll continue to talk about us.”