“Okay, that’s a wrap!” the director called. “I’m granting a two-hour lunch break since we got so much done this morning. Well done, everyone. I’ll see you back here in two hours. Don’t be late.”

“That’s our cue,” Joe said. “Time to go shopping.”

The others snickered, and even Swanny couldn’t call back his groan. This was so not on his list of favorite things. But it got him two hours to spend with Eden, so he couldn’t complain.

Eden hurried over, her face alight with happiness directed at Swanny. His stomach did a quirky flip-flop number, because how could he not react to the warmth she spread no matter where she went?

“Ready to hit the stores with me?” she asked with a grin.

“Yep,” Skylar said with actual enthusiasm. “You know where we’re going?”

“As a matter of fact, I do. It’s not a long walk, but I don’t know how you all will feel about that. It might be rather conspicuous for us to take armored vehicles and try to find street parking outside the boutique,” Eden said with a chuckle.

The guys exchanged looks, questions in each of their eyes.

“I think as long as we flank Eden and make sure she’s covered and we have a very tight perimeter around her, walking would be okay,” Swanny said. “Just how far is this, Eden?”

“Three blocks,” she said cheerfully. “Not bad at all. And it’s such a lovely day. It would be great to get a breath of fresh air after being trapped in the studio and hotel for two days.”

Swanny lifted an eyebrow in Nathan’s and Joe’s direction. Joe just shook his head. “I don’t know why you’re looking to me now. It’s not like you’ve listened to a damn word from me on this job anyway. You clearly took the lead on this, so you make the decision and we’ll make sure she’s covered on all angles.”

Joe didn’t sound pissy that his authority had basically been subverted, and for that Swanny was grateful because he knew he wouldn’t back off even if he and Joe did get into a pissing match.

Swanny turned to Edge. “I think you and I should flank Eden. Since she’s tall she needs someone taller than her on either side. A sniper isn’t out of the question after what happened before. Nathan and Joe can position themselves in front of and behind Eden and Sky can place herself between Eden and whoever takes lead. That’s a lot of people to go through to get to her.”

Eden stood gawking at his team, her eyes wide as she took in everything they said. Maybe she wasn’t taking this seriously since in her mind the first incident had been random. He’d have a talk with her later about taking her safety very seriously, right before he delved into the discussion about their relationship or if they even had one.

“You ready, then?” Swanny asked Eden. “You’ll have to lead the way figuratively since Joe will be taking the lead, but you’ll have to direct us to where we’re going.”

Eden hoisted her designer purse over her shoulder and said, “When we leave the building, take a right. Go three blocks and it’s on the same side of the street as we’re currently on. I’ll tell you when we get there.”

“All right then, let’s saddle up and get the hell out of Dodge,” Nathan quipped.

CHAPTER 22

EDEN grinned as she sat on a sumptuous couch just inside the section where the dressing rooms were and watched the men grumble and tug at their necklines as they walked out to let her view them in their posh evening wear.

Skylar seemed to be enjoying herself every bit as much. She smirked over the men’s expressions, their groans when Eden would frown and shake her head and say, “No, not quite right.”

So, she was having a bit of fun at their expense. Eden herself rarely went shopping for dresses for important events because there was no shortage of designers literally begging her to wear their apparel, and three gowns had already been delivered to her hotel for her to choose from for the soiree. Although the party would be mostly the Aria staff, production team, directors and staff, there would still be key important people and plenty of paparazzi to photograph their arrival, which was what the designers counted on.

And for the launch, Aria had already chosen the gown they wanted her to wear: the flashy red dress with the long slit up one side of her leg that she’d worn in the commercials. This was their launch for their new ad campaign, so they wanted the woman from the television to come alive. She’d be playing the role of that woman the entire evening. Flirtatious. Sultry. Mysterious. She wanted to roll her eyes at some of the things her job required, but overall it was a job she loved.

She loved traveling and meeting new people even though at heart she was a homebody, much more comfortable as the real Eden she could be when she was with her family. But her job gave her the best of both worlds. An opportunity to see the world and yet still be able to come home to her father and brothers. It was a career she wouldn’t change a single thing about.

And, well, she knew realistically she likely had only a few more years, so there was still plenty of time for her to turn her thoughts to stuff like marriage and children.

“Eden?”

Guiltily, she swung her head up to see Swanny standing in the doorway of the dressing room. She hoped that her face hadn’t given her away because he’d been very much on the fringes of her mind when she’d begun to think about the possibility of marriage and children. Which was pretty stupid considering they were still very much feeling their way around each other. But she’d always been impulsive and one to put the cart before the horse, so to speak.

She drank in the sight of him. He looked so damn delicious that she wanted to shove him back into the dressing room and have him against the wall while she devoured his mouth and a whole lot more.

He was dressed in a white silk dress shirt with a black coat and slacks. Usually a tie should accompany such an outfit, but there was something decidedly sexy about that top button being undone and getting a glimpse of that hard chest.

It was simple yet elegant and it made this beautiful man look even more powerful and dangerous than she already knew him to be.

“It’s perfect,” she finally announced.

“Thank fuck,” Swanny grumbled. “We’ve already wasted thirty minutes of your lunch break and we haven’t even started shopping for you and Sky.”

“Oh, I’m already taken care of,” Eden said blithely. “And getting something for Skylar will be a snap. Her coloring is beautiful and with all that gorgeous blond hair, I already have a very good idea of what will look great on her.”

Swanny stopped, his features scrunching into a scowl. “What do you mean, you’re already taken care of? Wasn’t that the whole purpose of this trip, to find you a dress for the party in two nights?”

Her lips curved in a grin. “Dahling,” she said with exaggerated emphasis, “in my line of work, designers provide almost all my clothing for public appearances. They vie for my attention because they want the publicity. They provide a free dress in return for free publicity. Win-win. I have three gowns already delivered to the hotel for me to choose from, and I wouldn’t be surprised if more showed up.”

“You little heifer,” Swanny said in a menacing tone. He shot her a glare that only made her laugh. “You totally set me up, didn’t you?”

“Who me?” she asked, batting her eyelashes innocently. “I can’t help it if you looked so cute grumbling your way through several outfits.”

Swanny shook his head and then ducked back into the fitting room to take the suit off.

Skylar cracked up. “Well done, Eden. Well done, indeed. I quite enjoyed that. I have to say, you draw out a side to Swanny that most of us haven’t seen.”