Acting Happy (Texas Desires #2) (26 page)

Ty looked up at the ceiling, and his steps faltered right before he rounded the corner toward their table. Too late to consider any of that now. But one thing was for certain, he couldn’t keep making rash decisions where she was concerned. If he was going to truly protect her against his world, he’d have to start using his head.

“You put the tie on,” Kenzie said, beaming up at him as he came toward the table. His steps took him straight to her side. He bent to kiss her happy upturned lips before answering.

“I love it. Of course I’d wear it,” Ty said, grinning at her as he took his seat.

“We were just discussing the position,” Reed announced, and for the first time, Ty looked down to see a folder lying in front of Kenzie. He wanted to believe the excitement on her face was due to him, but clearly that wasn’t the case.

“I’m not sure I even have the words to thank you for everything you’ve done,” Kenzie said to Reed and Lara, her pretty eyes now brimming with unshed tears.

“Remember, no crying. First rule they told us today. Destroys the makeup,” Lara said, teasing while patting Kenzie’s arm.

Kenzie’s gaze shifted to him. “Thank you for all this, Ty.”

“You need to stop thanking us. What happened to you was wrong,” he said firmly, and he meant those words. She stared at him for several long moments, her face showing an array of expressions before she spoke. Her voice stronger now.

“My concern is that I don’t have a charity background, but apparently Lara doesn’t either. They’re willing to work around that. The goal is to help represent a softer image,” she started, but turned to Lara, not Reed, and asked her next question. “What about the criminal element to my background? That can’t help in softening Press, Inc.’s image.”

“We’ll craft a statement you’re comfortable with, then you’ll always repeat those words any time you’re asked, in order to drive the non-issue home. It’s actually very simple and should not only help in your employment, but also in that mess that I’m certain Ty got started tonight,” Reed said, pointing a glare in his direction. “We’ll also post your background on the website to show the volunteer hours you’ve put in to help better the community. I promise, soon enough, no one will care about that.”

Kenzie nodded, the look on her face was clear that she didn’t necessarily agree with the thought but would go with it for now.

“The start date is flexible. I don’t have to be in Texas. I can work from home and the salary’s very good,” she said, now looking back at him. She didn’t act like she wanted his opinion so he didn’t give one, just nodded like he understood.

“Look, it’s a lot to spring on you. Say you’ll consider this, and we’ll talk more tomorrow after you’ve had time to review the information,” Reed suggested.

Kenzie nodded, moving the file to the side of the table as a salad plate was placed in front of her. She looked like a kid in a candy store staring down at the greens on her plate. Somehow she managed to make his salad look more appealing with just her excitement. Lifting a bite to his mouth, he changed his thought. The lettuce tasted the same as always; he was just so in love it didn’t seem to matter it was void of flavor.

The next morning, Kenzie sat in the conference room, waiting for Margaret to finalize the details of her new employment. The magnitude of her emotions was off the charts, and overwhelmed topped the list. A week ago, she had been in her parents’ house, getting ready for a dancing date with Ty where she wore a couple-years-old Target skirt and some cowboy boots she’d bought as a teenager. Now she was wearing a brand new, sleek, and very tight-fitting sheath-style Prada dress and spikey high-heeled black boots while waiting for one of the richest men in the world to sign off on her new-hire paperwork.

This was a serious WTF moment if there ever was one.

“You have to go through the back doors like that all the time?” Lara asked Ty who just moments ago stuck his head in the conference room door to make sure he wasn’t interrupting, then joined them while they waited. He’d let her have a couple of hours already this morning to wrap up this job offer, but per his own words when he arrived, he’d been too antsy. He couldn’t take it any longer and barged his way in to see what was taking so long.

“It’s usually how I do things. It’s why I love my mountaintop so much. I can move around freely,” Ty answered easily, going for the coffee pot on the side credenza.

“It’s a hard life?” Lara had already asked all these questions of Kenzie this morning. She’d been fascinated by the duck-and-run and sneaking out the back door they’d all had to perform in leaving the restaurant last night. By the time they’d finished dinner, word had spread like wildfire that Ty Bateman was in Dallas and the place had gone nuts. From overeager fans to every media source around, they were all crowded at the front doors, clogging the roads, and bringing traffic to a standstill just to get a look at the popular loner.

“It’s lonely. There’s a depression that comes when you’re forced inside your house, away from any windows, in order to have privacy,” he said while pouring his cup of coffee.

“I can see how that might be the case,” Lara said, chewing on the end of her pen until her gaze lifted to Kenzie’s. Without question, they’d hit it off really well, but she wasn’t at a point that they could read each other’s minds. After a second more, Lara rose, walking to the door. “Let me get him off the phone and get his signature. I’ll be right back.”

“Are you all right with me being in here? I can leave. I just missed you, as lame as that makes me sound.” Ty placed his coffee cup in front of the chair right beside hers and leaned in, putting his face close, probably to gauge her reaction. Instead of answering that question, she asked one of her own.

“Why do you want me to go to California? We barely know each other.” She searched his gaze for answers. After a whole morning of trying to figure out what was happening to her, she’d started again questioning Ty’s motives. The best she could tell, she added another layer of drama to his life that he clearly didn’t need.

Before he had a chance to answer, she hurried on to say, “I’m not sure I fit there, Ty. I was so confused when I got out of that car last night and those flashes started. They blinded me. I stumbled. I wouldn’t have been able to make it inside if it weren’t for you. Then when we left, there had to be a hundred photographers between the restaurant and this building. I’m gonna embarrass you. I can’t even walk right in high heels.”

“No way could you ever embarrass me,” he said emphatically as he took the chair beside her and turned it toward her.

“Why do you want me to go?” she asked quietly, searching his face. One thing she did consider…perhaps he’d gotten her this job to keep her there in Dallas. Maybe since they left Tennessee, he was trying to get her set up somewhere that he could visit when he wanted.

“Kenzie… Baby… I love you. I know that makes you uncomfortable, and I get that it’s a new raw emotion for me. It’s making me erratic at best, but I told you, and you have to see for yourself, I don’t have the luxury of time or tradition. In order for me to date you, you’re gonna have to be with me. Besides that,
Titan’s Fall
starts filming soon. I have to get back to my life. Please come. Give us that time for me to try and win you over,” he said, reaching out for her armrest to turn her chair to face his. He clasped both her hands in his.

“It all feels like a fairy-tale whirlwind. It’s hard to think straight,” she confessed, tightening her fingers around his.

“I’m taking that as a solid you-agree-to-come-with-me, and we’re not going to discuss this any further until I’ve convinced you that we belong together.” It was probably more the lifeline of his handhold, but she smiled at the relief she had when he lifted both her hands, kissing the knuckles of each one as Lara entered the room.

“We’re all set. The sign-on bonus should hit your account in the next few days. Margaret made you copies,” Lara explained while walking around the room to her side of the table. Kenzie rose as Lara handed her the paperwork and then reached out to hug her tight. “I know we’re going to do great things together. I’m excited to be working with you.”

Kenzie closed her eyes and hugged Lara a little tighter not able to help the silent plea.

Please let this all work out.

~~~

Tucking her purse under her arm, Kenzie looked around the guest room, making sure everything was back in its place and they’d left nothing behind. The sheer magnitude of clothing they had purchased in their one afternoon of shopping had caused Kenzie’s luggage to quadruple in quantity. All but Ty’s one case had already been taken down to a waiting car. She didn’t dwell on that. Instead, she’d developed metaphorical blinders to help keep her tunnel-vision focused on the things she knew how to process, like tucking the bedspread around the pillow before she left the room she had stayed in.

“I’ll meet you in the living room,” Ty said, carrying the last piece of their luggage out of the room.

“I need her for just a minute,” Lara said right outside the bedroom door. Seconds later, she came inside the room and shut the door behind her. She immediately came around the bed toward Kenzie. “I get the feeling you aren’t big on using your cell phone, are you?”

“No, but that won’t be a problem. I’ll get used—” Kenzie snapped her mouth shut as Lara waved a hand frantically to stop her in midsentence.

“Listen to me. You take these and put them on,” she said, handing her a pair of sunglasses. “Keep them on you all the time, even if it’s evening. It’ll help against the glare until you get used to it. Kade called me and then we tried to call you. The town’s going nuts about Ty being here unexpectedly with a new woman. Everyone’s trying to figure out who you are and why you two are together. All the tabloids are beginning to speculate. They can’t figure out who you are, but you two are like every other post on TMZ’s website,” Lara explained in fast, clipped sentences.

“What?” she asked, a little panicked. They’d only been seen together for a minute outside the restaurant when they’d first arrived.

“I know. Some kid got a selfie with Ty at the restaurant, but he clicked a shot of Ty bending down to kiss you at the table. He posted it on his Instagram innocently enough, but that’s all it took. So listen to me before we get out there around the guys and I can’t talk. Apparently Ty starts freaking when he thinks you’re nervous. Reed says he’s all over the place and he’s worried that it’ll make things worse.” Lara spoke so fast she had to stop and take a breath before she continued, this time holding her baby bump. “Walk like I showed you and wear these glasses. Stay right by Ty’s side or better yet, let him walk ahead of you. You stay a couple of steps behind. It’ll help guide you with all the flashing.”

“Lara…” she started.

“I know. It’s why I told you. Freak out right now, but be pulled together when you’re out there and until you get to California so Ty doesn’t mess anything up. Be boring, say zero, give them nothing to talk about,” Lara instructed, and Kenzie just stared at her several long seconds while her head exploded a little.

“Do I look all right?” she finally asked, looking through the lenses on the sunglasses to make sure they were clean.

“You look stunning. I promise. You figured out the lipstick. That took me days to do,” Lara said encouragingly.

Anxious, she could feel her legs already starting to tremble. Kenzie bit her lip and Lara scolded her.

“You can’t do that, Kenzie. I know it feels like a lot. I was in a similar situation the day I found out Reed was Reed. But you’ve got this. Seriously. It’s a fifteen second walk to the car. Go check your appearance and put the sunglasses on before the elevator doors open on the first floor.” Lara reached out and hugged her again. “Call me when you get there. Let me know you’re all right. I’ll be waiting.” Lara patted her arm and pushed her in the direction of the bathroom.

Less than ten minutes later, her heart was literally pounding out of her chest as she walked straight to Reed’s waiting limousine. Even being warned, nothing prepared her for the masses of people, mostly females, standing just beyond the building. She’d known he was a big star, but she hadn’t realized his fame seemed to surpass even boy-band level fanatics. No wonder he did everything in his power to stay hidden.

The deafening roar of girls screaming drowned out that terrible clicking noise from so many cameras going off at once. Kenzie got inside and scooted across the backseat with Ty following. The entire time, he held her hand, never losing his grip. When the driver started forward, it was slow moving with the cameras right in her window the entire time.

“Look straight ahead,” he said. She looked his way, and he shot that handsome smile at her, caressing his thumb over her hand. “It’ll be construed as hiding if you duck, and you have nothing to hide.”

Driving through that crowd was unlike anything she could imagine. They inched past, and the whole time questions were being shouted at them from outside. More surprisingly, lots of the questions were vulgar and ugly in nature, all directed to Ty about Kenzie. He reached over, smiling brightly at her as he turned the radio up. “They say those things to get under my skin, get me to react because it makes a headline. It pisses me off like you wouldn’t believe, but we have to ignore all that, beautiful.”

“It’s fine, Ty,” she said carefully, even though it was incredibly hard to hear the insults.

“You have to know I wanna tear that guy’s throat out,” Ty said menacingly after the car picked up a little more speed.

“It’s okay. I promise,” she said, now trying to give him back some of the support and comfort he’d been giving her. She’d never seen anything like what they’d just been through. If he did this on a regular basis, dear lord, his life must be incredibly difficult.

“I’m not sure you ever get used to it. I’ll get my manager to set you up with some training. It’ll help keep all this in perspective, not take it to heart,” he said, his voice a little haggard, but his eyes stayed focused straight ahead. “I’m sorry. Prescott was right. I did make it worse.”

“Don’t be. I’m fine.” After a second or two, all she could focus on was the desire to relieve some of the tense burden making the veins and tendons in his neck pop even under the façade of the smile.

“Look at all the people lined up on the street,” she said, pointing toward the road. There were so many women on the sidewalks, some holding signs, all yelling at him as they came to a stop at a streetlight. She watched Ty look, then smile and lift a hand. He waved until a guy on the back of a motorcycle came up beside the car snapping pictures. There was hate in Ty’s eyes as he twisted back toward her.

The tables turned in their relationship in that few minutes. She was so unprepared to sense the deep unhappiness seeping from every pore in his body. On instinct alone, she scooted to the center seat right next to him. She placed their joined hands in her lap, holding his with both of hers.

Once they made it through the first street light, she rested her head on his shoulder. That move going against everything both Lara and Ty tried to explain to her about playing this game with a public image, but she didn’t care. This man had given her everything. She had her life back because of him, and they’d become too connected in the process. She could feel his pain as if it were her own and that made her heart ache. She had no idea what to do about it, but she had to figure something out. She couldn’t stand seeing Ty this unhappy.