They stared at each other through the door. Oh, no.

Chapter Thirteen

Chase had hung back in the kitchen for a few minutes before heading to the door. Alexis had probably stopped and made sure the photographers got a few key shots of her driving through his gate. Maybe even a few on his front porch.

As he entered the foyer, his heart stopped. Natalie and Alexis stared at each other through the glass door. Chase cursed his stupid luck as he brushed past Natalie and jerked open the door.

“Come in, Alexis.” He shut the door behind her and led her farther into the room, away from telephoto range, which fortunately Natalie was out of. “Ladies, I believe we need to have a discussion. Let’s go to the media room.”

Alexis strutted through the door leading to the media room. Chase took Natalie’s hand. Her face registered shock and panic.

“I’ll fix this.”

Her eyes were wide. “How?”

He had no idea how, but he couldn’t tell her that. She looked like her dog just died. “I’ll fix this.”

Taking Natalie’s hand, he led her into the Media room and sat her in a chair before closing the door.

“Alexis, I believe you remember Natalie from the office.” Chase stood beside Natalie’s chair while Alexis leaned against the bar with a satisfied grin.

“From the office? Oh, yes, the little girl who does the books. Chase, this is worse than Jude’s nanny fiasco.”

He could see the wheels turning in Alexis’s head. “This is nothing like that, Alexis. You and I aren’t dating.”

“Yes, but you’re still screwing the hired help.”

Natalie jerked in her chair as if Alexis had slapped her. Why hadn’t he asked Natalie to go upstairs and not subject her to Alexis? He rested his hand on her shoulder, and she winced under his hand. He squeezed her, hoping to reassure her. This night was going from bad to worse. “Look, Alexis, we’re adults here. You and I aren’t a couple anymore.”

Alexis’s eyes narrowed and her famous lips tightened. “You’re right, we’re not, but they don’t know that.” She flung her arm out in an arc. “What they will see is that the Sexiest Man Alive prefers his bookkeeper over me. Do you know what that will do to my image?”

“What do you want me to do, Alexis? Put my life on hold so you can try to make an even bigger name for yourself?”

Her body curled down into a seat. “No, but I think we can find a mutually agreeable solution.”

“I’m listening.” He didn’t need Alexis to start attacking Natalie again, and the quickest way to get Alexis out of here was to figure out what she wanted.

Natalie tensed under his hand again. If he hadn’t driven her here, she probably would have already bolted, which would have been impossible to clean up after the entrance Alexis made.

Alexis flashed her smile. “We’ve already been seen at the Golden Globes.”

He waited for her to go on. He’d forgotten how melodramatic she was. Everything had been an act with her. He wondered if she even knew herself anymore.

“There’s been Oscar talk…” Her eyes gleamed with her self-importance. “If you go, I want to be on your arm.”

Natalie shifted in the chair. It wasn’t a lot to ask. It wasn’t as if Natalie wanted to go. Or did she? There’s nothing he’d like better than to have her by his side on award night, but that would bring her under the spotlight. She barely wanted to be seen at the best of times. He knew it from the way she’d try to shrink behind things or pull into herself when they spoke.

If their relationship ever hit the stands, it would simultaneously hit a wall. She’d be gone, out of his life forever. He had no doubt about it. His chest ached. It wasn’t like this could last.

“Fine. On one condition. My relationship with Natalie stays out of the tabloids. If there is even a hint of her name or face on a page, no Oscar night.”

“That’s not fair.” Alexis stood and stomped her foot to emphasize her point. “What if you guys get sloppy or someone else finds out?”

Chase leaned back against the wall. “That’s the risk you’ll have to deal with. Take it or leave it.” He was confident Alexis would do anything to keep the tabloids from finding out about Natalie just to go to the Oscars. That would at least give Chase a month of not having to worry that Natalie would turn tail and run. One month would have to be enough.

Alexis’s mouth curled into a smile. “All right, but you have to go out with me a few times during the month, too.” Her red-painted nails curved around her arms like claws.

Make a deal with the devil and you’re bound to get burned. Isn’t that what his grandpa had always said? If it allowed him to keep Natalie, he’d do almost anything.

“Sure, whatever.”

Alexis smiled dangerously. “Seal it with a kiss?”

“Not if my life depended on it.” He heard the breath rush out of Natalie. How long had she been holding it?

“Well, then it was a pleasure meeting you again…Natalie, was it? I’ll see you this Friday and Saturday, Chase.” She drifted across the room.

“Friday only.”

She stopped. “Friday night and Saturday dinner. You’ll be home early enough to do whatever or whomever you like.”

“Fine.”

She smiled like the cat that’d caught the canary and swallowed it whole. “It’s a pleasure doing business with you, Chase.”

Alexis swept from the room. Chase sighed. The arrangement would keep their relationship hidden for a while longer. Natalie could stay.

“Can you take me home?” she whispered. Her voice shook as if she were about to cry.

He dropped to his knee in front of her. Brushing her hair back from her face, he looked up into her large brown eyes. “You don’t have to go home, Natalie. Besides, if we leave now, the photogs will definitely follow.” Please stay with me, his heart pleaded, even though he knew this couldn’t last.

She grimaced.

“Stay, Natalie.”

“Why?”

He sensed there was more to that question. Something huge lurked beneath that question, and he wished she’d let it out. Trust him enough to deal with whatever doubts she may be having. He chose to ignore the lurking monster and answer her question as posed, even knowing that lurking monsters usually pounced on you when you least expected it.

“Because I want you to stay. Because I want to hold you tonight. I want to feel you in my arms when I wake.”

“Why? Why me?” She refused to meet his eyes. “Why not her?”

He wanted to shake her and pull her into his arms and never let her go. “Because she’s not you.”

Her face was flush with color. “I’m not like Alexis. I don’t want what she wants.”

“Natalie, please. We can figure out where this will go tomorrow. Be with me tonight.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and laid his head on her chest. “Just tonight.”

She wrapped her arms around his head, and he sighed. She was his for at least tonight.

Friday morning came too quickly for Natalie. The week had flown by.

Night Blooming had been nominated for seven Oscars. The whole office was ecstatic. Chase and Robert had taken the production team out to lunch to celebrate the news.

Every night after everyone left, Chase and she had worked on figuring out how much Mr. Morrison had taken. The evidence kept piling up. And after crunching numbers, Chase would take her to his house, and they’d spend the night in each other’s arms.

They’d talked about his tutors and her mother. How their classrooms of one had been lonely at times. He’d shared his secret desire to go to college. She’d told him about rooming with Rachel in college, and how different it had been from anything she’d ever experienced.

She wasn’t getting as much sleep as she needed, but she was deliciously tired. During the day, the strutting down the hallway couldn’t intimidate her anymore. Her contacts had come in on Monday, and she no longer had to wear her old glasses.