26.Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Six

Bonnie

Dinner is more fun than I’ve had in a long time, and I’m not sure I can credit all of the entertainment to my friends. They’re always amusing, but it’s the man next to me who really gets me going. For the most part, Hank is still just as quiet as ever, letting Liam and Kasey control the conversation, but about halfway through our meal he starts making little comments under his breath that have me choking on my food when they make me laugh.

He has always had a subtle sense of humor, but this is something different. It feels like he’s settling in, getting relaxed, and letting the old Hank make an appearance, like he did on the drive to Sun City or when we were arguing about his characters in the ice cream parlor. If this is what he was like before Shelby died, I wish I could have known him back then .

Before loss and grief suppressed the man he truly is.

“I still can’t believe you actually thought your neighbor murdered his wife,” Derek says, rolling his eyes.

Liam groans in outrage. “You weren’t there!”

“Even I thought something sketchy was going on,” Kasey says. “Like, who complains about their sick and dying dog for weeks on end?”

“Someone who has to clean up after said sick and dying dog,” Hank mutters. He shifts in his seat, leaning back and putting his arm on the chair back behind me so he looks like he’s never been more relaxed in his life. Liam sits that way all the time and is doing it now across from us, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen Derek in a position like that. He is always on his best behavior when out in public, like he’s been in the public eye for so long that he forgets how to be human.

Hank does not have that problem, and he keeps pulling eyes in our direction as other patrons fail to hide their curiosity. That’s what we get for sitting at a table in the middle of the restaurant, but Derek thought it best if we were surrounded. I think Hank’s relaxed look is going to do wonders for our public image.

Unable to help myself, I reach over and untie Hank’s bowtie, letting it hang loose on his chest. “The easygoing look is working for you,” I explain when his eyes meet mine in question.

He catches my hand before I can pull it away, lifting it to his lips so he can kiss the base of my wrist. “You are entirely beautiful,” he replies.

It’s another unexpected side effect from the shift in our relationship. Where before Clyde had to force compliments out of him, Hank now seems unafraid to say everything he’s thinking. Well, not everything . The hungry look in his eyes is saying a lot more than his mouth, making me shiver.

Noticing the shiver, Hank moves his arm from my chair to my back. The warmth of his hand leaves a searing brand on my skin where he touches, which is enough to make me want to call it a night. But then his fingers shift, working their way down my spine until his hand is around my waist, tucked beneath the fabric of my dress. Oh . Okay, maybe choosing this dress was a bad idea because Hank seems to like it a little too much.

I might like his touch a little too much.

“Everything okay, Bonnie?” Liam asks. He looks like he’s ready to burst into laughter, so he probably knows exactly why my face is on fire right now.

I throw a subtle glare toward Hank, but we have too many witnesses for me to give his boldness a proper response. But oh, how I want to. I take a massive bite of cheesecake instead, though I’ve already eaten my allotted calorie count for the next century with tonight’s dinner. If I didn’t have that interview with Derek in the morning, I would be hitting up his home gym first thing to counteract tonight’s indulgence.

And maybe to try to curb my growing attraction to Hank McAllister.

I might combust in my seat with the way his fingers are playing on my skin, and his little smirk tells me he knows it. He starts trailing little circles with one of his fingers, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to fall apart in the middle of the restaurant. Who knew a tiny touch could be so powerful?

“You know,” Liam says, thankfully taking the attention off of me, “we probably should have found you a date tonight, Derek. Evened out the numbers.”

Derek rolls his eyes, though part of his focus is on Hank’s arm behind me. He has that look in his eyes that he always gets when he’s being protective of one of his friends, though I don’t know what he could see in Hank that would warrant his sudden wariness. I’m thoroughly enjoying myself, though now I wish we were somewhere more private.

“I did not need a date, Connolly,” Derek mutters.

“But it would have helped show everyone that you’re not actually heartbroken by your breakup with Bonnie,” Liam argues.

“Maybe. ”

“What about your new assistant? She would have happily stepped in as your date.”

Derek actually growls at that one. “Don’t start.”

Liam snickers. “But she is so attentive .”

I frown, looking between the two of them. “Did Margo do something?”

“No,” Derek says at the same time Liam coughs out, “Not in so many words.”

“Oh, there’s a story there,” Kasey says, just as interested as I am.

Derek rolls his eyes. “There is not—”

“Margo totally hit on him this morning!” Liam interrupts. “Wasn’t even a little bit subtle, though it’s not like we can blame her when she’s working with this specimen day in and day out.” He waves a hand over Derek, who looks like he might get up and walk away before this conversation gets too far.

“How is that not doing something?” Hank asks. Even he seems intrigued by this new topic.

Groaning, Derek takes a large gulp of water, glaring at Liam the whole time. “She didn’t hit on me.”

“She told you that if you’re ever feeling lonely, she’s just a phone call away,” Liam argues. “You can call it what you want, but that’s pretty obvious.”

“That feels like a blatant misuse of her position,” I mutter, suddenly thankful that Trevor has never once treated me as anything but a boss. In fact, I should probably give Trevor a raise for being a perfectly aloof yet competent assistant. When I see him in the morning, I’ll be sure to tell him that’s my plan.

Derek shrugs. “I don’t think she meant it how it sounds. And she’s a really good assistant.” He drops his voice and adds, “She got us a table here without any prior notice, and I’ve lost track of the number of other miracles she’s worked over the last few months. I’m keeping her. ”

“Even if she hits on you?” Liam asks. “She seems the persistent sort.”

“I can handle her, Connolly. Drop it.”

He shouldn’t have to handle anything. I’ve dealt with my fair share of nonsense with my career, but Derek endures everything I do times ten. Who’s looking out for him while he looks out for all of us?

Hank’s hand starts traveling along my back again, making me realize I’ve gone tense. “You good?” he asks quietly, sitting forward.

I can’t help but lean into him, grateful when he turns his touch into a side hug. I’m still not used to how well he sees me and notices when something is wrong. “I’m fine.” He doesn’t believe me, but I won’t admit to anything else while we’re with my friends. “It’s been a long day.”

Hank meets Derek’s gaze and lifts an eyebrow. I’m assuming he’s asking if we’ve done enough to counteract Hot Scoop ’s momentum, but he’s smart enough to not say anything out loud.

Derek purses his lips, glancing around the restaurant with an air of casualness. Not many people seem to be paying attention to us like they were when our meal started, which hopefully means we’ve lost any real interest. We’re just a group of friends and couples out for dinner. “We have that gig in the morning,” he says after a moment. “Probably best if we turn in early.”

“I’m in the mood for more dessert,” Liam says as he wraps an arm around Kasey. “You three go on without us.”

Kasey rolls her eyes but seems thrilled about his suggestion. “I don’t know where you put it all, Liam.” She pats his stomach, shaking her head.

He chuckles and leans in to kiss her. “You can help me work it off later.”

The kiss, I’m guessing, is two-fold. He clearly enjoys kissing his girlfriend, but it also provides a small measure of distraction as the rest of us rise from our seats and move to the exit. We’ll still be noticed, but hopefully anyone who might pass along photos or intel will be too focused on Liam’s unfiltered affection for Kasey to realize we’re disappearing into the night.

The air outside is moderately cool, so I lean into Hank as we fall in step behind our bodyguards. He tucks me up against his side, and I’m pretty sure he kisses the top of my head, which will make for a great photo if anyone caught it. There are fewer paparazzi around than I expected, but a few flashes still greet us as we reach the limo.

Eli opens the door, and I slip inside, followed by Hank. Derek, on the other hand, remains on the sidewalk. He leans his arm against the frame to look in at us and smiles. “It’ll look better if you leave on your own,” he explains. “You’re welcome to your room as always, Bon, and I had the staff prepare a guest room for Hank as well.”

I sigh, overwhelmed with gratitude for this man who has always been so good to me. My apartment is closer, but it only has one bedroom. I want Hank to have space if he needs it. “Derek, you are one in a million.”

Chuckling, he shakes his head. “I hope tonight helped.” Then he shuts the door, leaving me alone with Hank for the first time all day.

I immediately kick off my shoes and snuggle up next to him. “Finally.”

He laughs. “As much as I wanted to hate Derek, I can’t do it.”

Alarm shoots through me. “Why would you ever want to hate him?”

“Because he got to hold you like this long before I did.”

Derek never held me quite like this. At least, not outside of public events, and even then he never touched me the way Hank does. Hank has returned his hand to my waist, his fingers pressing against my ribs in the most tantalizing way. There were times I thought Derek’s interactions with me were more than that of a friend pretending to be a boyfriend, but he never made me feel the way Hank does.

Wrapping my arm around Hank’s torso inside his jacket, I breathe in his clean scent and shake my head. “Keep on like this, McAllister, and I’ll probably forget Derek ever existed. ”

His hold grows tighter, pulling me closer. “How did you first meet him?”

“Derek?”

He hums.

Memories of that first day on set come flooding back, though it’s not like I ever forgot. Because of Derek, I met Liam, Cole, and Freya, and their friendships have been the only thing keeping me afloat in this crazy world of fame. “We were in a movie together. Derek was the lead, and I was an unnamed side character.”

“That’s hard to believe,” he murmurs, pressing another kiss to the top of my head.

I snort a laugh. “I’ve really only been famous as an actor since meeting Derek. Before that, I was just the token pretty girl hired to add flair to a movie or boost the image of whoever I was dating.” Hank doesn’t have a comment for that, and I don’t expect him to. But it’s weird to think about those days. “I was a nobody for six years, and then this big Hollywood star accidentally spilled his coffee all over me.”

Hank stiffens. “Derek…spilled his coffee on you? That’s how you met?”

“I haven’t told you the best part. He did it on purpose.”

“What?!” Hank actually growls, which isn’t a sound I thought he would ever make, and it is far more attractive than it should be.

As he starts mumbling insults under his breath, I shift until I’m on his lap, which shuts him right up. This was a bad idea, given how much easier this will make kissing him, but I clearly said the wrong thing and got him all worked up over something he doesn’t need to worry about. I need him to listen.

“Let me tell the story,” I say, pressing a hand to his cheek.

He nods slowly, eyes fixed on me.

I grin. “Derek spilled his coffee on me because earlier that day he witnessed a run-in between me and the female lead, a woman who was…le t’s just say she isn’t the nicest human in the world. She went off on me after we filmed one scene because, according to her, I was stealing the spotlight from her even though my role was purely background. Not even a speaking part. She told me I would never amount to anything and I should kiss my acting career goodbye because no one was going to hire me. Derek didn’t like that.”

“I’m failing to see how spilling coffee on you fixes anything,” Hank grumbles.

I snicker. “You are seriously cute when you’re protective.”

“Again with the cute,” he says and leans forward to kiss me.

I press a hand over his mouth. “Can I finish?”

“Tell your story faster.”

Biting my lip, which only seems to rile him up more, I debate if it’s actually worth finishing this story. But I don’t want him to think poorly of Derek if I’m going to keep him around, which I really want to do. I like impatient Hank, and the temptation to kiss him is growing stronger, so I get to the point of my little tale.

“The way Derek explained it, he never would have been able to get close enough to have a conversation with me without creating some sort of justification because his costar was…possessive? He couldn’t even talk to the women on the production staff without Miss Perfect showing up and demanding his time. So he spilled his coffee on me as he walked past during a break and insisted on helping me clean up.”

Hank groans. “You do know that this is sounding a lot like how Gabrielle met the movie critic in book two, right? Only, their version of ‘clean up’ was a little more…clothesless.”

We both blush, and suddenly I realize I shouldn’t be surprised that Hank is as good at kissing as he is. His books have plenty of steam, and he must have gotten that from somewhere.

I clear my throat and run my hand through his shorter hair. Liam and Derek went all out with tonight’s display. Hank looks amazing, but I kind of miss the scruffy author look he usually has. “Derek just wanted to talk. He wanted to make sure I was okay after the verbal assault, and when I told him I was totally fine, he pushed until I admitted that her words had really gutted me. Then he told me that I was a phenomenal actor because he almost believed me when I said I wasn’t hurt, and he said it was okay to show emotion in real life as well as in my acting.”

Derek had been so kind in a way no one in Hollywood had been before that point. Six years of doing everything I could to feel like I might actually belong in this career I had dreamed for myself, and he was the first to give me a spark of hope.

“Next thing I knew,” I continue, “my side character role suddenly had a speaking part that wasn’t in the original script. The female lead was furious, but Derek spent the rest of filming keeping her busy so she couldn’t give me any more problems. And a month after that shoot, I got a call to audition for a lead role in a romantic comedy. My agent almost died of shock when I got the part, and that movie did way better than anyone expected. Derek showed up at the premiere, which generated a lot of buzz, and he invited me to his house a few weeks later because he ‘wanted help looking over some scripts.’” I throw that last part in air quotes.

Hank’s jaw grows tight. “Is that when you started up your fake relationship?”

Oh, he is adorable when he’s jealous. “That’s when I made my first friend in Hollywood,” I say, going back to playing with his hair. “He introduced me to Cole, who was playing in the NFL for the Oregon Badgers at the time but often came down to California to see his dad, and then I met Freya when she visited Derek on one of her diplomatic business trips to the US. A few months later, he adopted Liam into the group. It took over two years of us being friends before Fran had the brilliant idea to make us more. ”

Hank reaches up, tucking a curl of hair behind my ear. “So you owe everything to Derek,” he mutters. His expression is one of resignation, like he knows he’ll never measure up to the man. A lot of people get that look when they meet Derek, but Hank doesn’t need to be one of them.

Smiling, I lean closer and touch the softest of kisses to Hank’s lips. “I do owe a lot to Derek. But my life is not the same as it was a month ago— I’m not the same—and I owe that entirely to you.” Pulling his glasses from his face, I tuck them away for safekeeping, and then I kiss the bridge of his nose. “You have made me confident, Henry McAllister.” I kiss his cheek. “You see me in a way no one has ever seen me before.” I kiss his chin. “You…”

I pause as familiar fear grips my heart. I have only ever known a life on my own. Yes, I have the most amazing friends, but they have their own lives. They can only share so much of mine with me. Like Liam, they’re all going to find that person who makes them feel like their life is so much more complete, and I will be secondary.

“You make me think I could be someone’s first choice,” I whisper, though admitting it out loud is terrifying. Gripping the lapel of his jacket, I close my eyes and try not to let my mind tell me that this thing with Hank is just as temporary as all the others. That sooner or later he’s going to realize our worlds don’t mix and he would rather go back to the life where he is comfortable because he didn’t choose this. Not at first.

“Bonnie.” His whisper fills the dim space with so much emotion that I open my eyes again. He looks different without his glasses, but he’s the most handsome man I’ve ever known. He swallows as he takes me in with his warm brown eyes. “Bonnie, I know it might be hard to believe, considering the way I was when we met. I was broken. And you fixed me.” He brushes his fingers against my temple, leaving a trail of heat. “But I need you to know that my reasons for wanting to be with you have nothing to do with what you’ve done for me. It’s because of who you are. I don’t make decisions lightly, and when I do, it takes a lot to change my mind. So believe me when I say that if given the choice between having you in my life and going back to the quiet I lived in before I met you, I would choose you. Every. Single. Day.”

Then he kisses me, his mouth warm and hungry and full of so much passion and emotion that my heart aches to experience all of him. I’ve never felt the way I feel about him, and with each kiss I fall deeper into whatever this is. I want to be as close to him as I possibly can and never be without him. Hank seems to want the same thing, holding me flush against his body as he soundly and thoroughly kisses me in the back of the dark limo.

I am very, very glad that the drive to Derek’s house is a long one.