Page 60 of Shine For Me

June

They let me leave the hospital an hour later. I’m told I have to stay off set for a whole day—Gabe is going to love that—and I need to have the studio’s medics keep my ankle wrapped for me. I’m also given firm instructions to keep up my water intake and drink something with electrolytes.

“I’ll make sure of that,” Fox mutters, then insists on sending Cassie out to get a ridiculous amount of supplies while the two of us head back to the hotel. The list he gives her includes popsicles, sports drinks, ice packs, and broth. It all seems a bit overkill to me, but when I offer that opinion I get glares from both of them.

Funnily enough, Fox’s shopping list seems to be the thing to get Cass to stop scowling at him. Apparently, him taking my stint with dehydration as seriously as she did won her over.

Fox has the hired car drop us off at the back entrance to the hotel, avoiding the photographers out front. News of my trip to the hospital is all over the place and the press is swarming to get a picture. Which definitely does not help me to be less embarrassed about the whole stupid fiasco.

I’m feeling a little giddy and a whole lot nervous when Fox comes back to my suite with me. Is he going to stay? Is he going to kiss me again? And, most importantly, am I going to get to see him naked again?

“You’re cute when you blush,” he says, sliding his arms around me.

“I’m not blushing,” I yelp, and he just laughs, tucking his face against the side of my neck. “You want to take a shower?”

“Together?” I squeak, and he laughs harder.

“That wasn’t what I had in mind, but I’m not going to say no.” He pulls back and grins down at me. “Are you nervous to be alone with me?”

“No,” I say, too quickly. “Nope. Definitely not. Not at all.” I narrow my eyes at him. “Why are you laughing?”

“Because you’re a mess right now and it’s incredibly endearing.”

“I’m not sure if that was a compliment or not.”

“It was.” He releases me and gives me a light pat on the bottom. “Go take a shower. I’ll order us some room service and get the supplies from Cassie when she gets back.”

I’m reeling too much from the fact that he just touched my ass—even in a vaguely patronizing way—to do much more than stumble to the bathroom.

He wants to give this a go. He doesn’t want it to be a one-time thing. He wantsme. That’s all I can think while I take the fastest shower of my life, too eager to get back out to him to linger under the water. I wonder if he’ll do that cradling my face with his hand thing again. I really liked that. Then I think of some of the things he did with his hands the night we spent together and I start to wonder if maybe I should have taken a cold shower instead. Maybe that would stop me from blushing so much.

Except Fox thinks it’s cute when you blush,I remind myself, and I practically skip out of the shower. I’m wrapping my hair in one of the oversized hotel towels when I hear voices on the other side of the door. Probably Cass back to deliver all the stuff I don’t even need. I briefly consider waiting until she leaves and then coming out in nothing but the towel in my hair, but I know I don’t actually have the guts to pull something like that off.

Maybe someday, though. Maybe this thing with Fox will help transform me into a person as confident and carefree as the image I portray in magazines and on red carpets. Maybe I can be the type of person who surprises her boyfriend with something like that. At the very least, it would be nice to be the type of person who doesn’t blush when I think of Fox Ransome as my boyfriend. He did say he’d help me work on my bravery—

The voices on the other side of the bathroom door turn to shouts. I frown and reach for my robe, straining to hear. It sounds like another guy is out there, arguing with Fox. I wonder if maybe Gabe came by, annoyed about my doctor-ordered exile from the set tomorrow.

It’s not Gabe. I know that as soon as I step out into the bedroom. I don’t have to see his face to recognize that voice arguing with Fox in the main room.

Adam is here.

My stomach sinks and all the nerves I didn’t feel earlier crash into me. Why in the hell is Adam here? When I said I was going to tell him tonight, I didn’t think I would have to do it in person.

“Leave,” I hear Fox say. “You can call her or text her and let her decide if she wants to see you. But you’re not going to ambush her like this.”

“What business is it of yours?” my ex demands. “Why are you even in her suite?”

“Because I invited him,” I say, stepping into the main room. “The same cannot be said about you.”

There’s always this split second with Adam where I can tell what he’s really thinking. Right before he plasters a concerned, loving expression on his face I see it—annoyance.

“Darling, how are you? I was so worried.” He strides across the room toward me, ignoring the growl from Fox, but I put up a hand before he can touch me.

“What are you doing here?”

He frowns. “I came to see you, obviously. I heard about what happened and I had to come.”

“You had to come?” I raise an eyebrow. “Why?”