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“So there are three of us…we’re principals?” She glanced up at him, arms folded behind her. “That’s what your bodyguards call us?”

He nodded.

“Three principals and five bodyguards.” She unlocked a hand from her back to chew a fingernail. “That’s doable, right? I mean, there are four in your band with five bodyguards.”

He tugged her finger from her mouth. “Guarding the band means holding back energetic crowds and photographers, not snipers and kidnappers.” He thought back over the worst scenarios he’d been in. “I’ve had moments, trapped at the center of closely packed crowds, when I thought I would die, actually thought I would keel over and stop breathing, but my team always escorted me out unharmed.”

What a coward he was, buckling under something as benign as an enthusiastic mob. How many times had she held her shit together while looking in the eye of a rapist and murderer?

At that moment, he realized he could change their current situation by changing himself. There were no easy solutions. But there was an obvious one. “Tony, contact the paparazzi agencies and tell them where I’m at.”

Tony glared. She didn’t like it, but she would follow his orders.

He looked down and floated in the depths of Charlee’s huge eyes. “You’ve been hiding for a long time. You ready to start living?”

“When you have to hide to live, you’re ready for anything.” Her jaw set.

Damn, he loved her fire. “Good, because Roy Oxford knows where you are, and he’s going to watch you walk out of here on whatever camera shit his men have set—” He faltered when she closed her eyes. Fuck, he forgot about the cameras in the penthouse. He raised her chin and waited for her to look at him. “He’s going to watch you walk out of here and there’s not a damned thing he’ll be able to do about it.”

Her lips pinched in a line and the wheels spun behind her watchful eyes. Then she sucked in a breath. “The Craigs can’t nab me if we’re at the center of paparazzi attention.”

“That’s right.” He nodded to Tony.

She pulled out her phone and dialed. She’d called them before, giving them false locations so they could move around effortlessly. This time would be legit. He stood taller, lengthened his backbone.

A frown scrunched Charlee’s face. “You’ll be mobbed. Exactly the kind of thing you avoid.”

He knew she was thinking about his trigger. It was a valid concern, but she would be there to help him transform his stardom from oppressive to useful. “Avoiding isn’t living. I want to live, Charlee, and I want to do so deeply.” With her.

“You don’t have to battle the shit in my life to live yours.”

He pushed the hair from the side of her face, careful of her injuries, and settled his hands on her hips. “Won’t I be battling my own shit at the same time?”

“Yes, but—”

“Do you know what happens when you open up?”

She closed her eyes and inhaled through her nose. “It makes you strong.”

He kissed each lid and whispered against them, “Dare to be vulnerable with me?”

She opened her eyes, looked up into his, and smiled so brightly, he knew the glow from it would stay with him forever.

He decided to push his luck. “Come to L.A. with me.”

She rolled her eyes to Nathan, who was rubbing his jaw, watching her. His reaction was pivotal. Better be the right one. Jay didn’t want to beat the shit out of the man who had protected her for three years.

Nathan chewed on his lip, stared at his sneakers, glanced at Tony, and sighed. Then he raised his eyes to Charlee. “You might be free of your chain, sweetheart, but we both know you aren’t really free. Your life is yours to live your way. If Jay is offering you that freedom…” Nathan glared at him. “Under the protection of his security team…”

No wonder she listened to him. The dude knew how to woo her. Jay wanted to hate him for it, but he couldn’t. And of course, Jay would protect her with the best security money could buy. He nodded his agreement.

Nathan looked back at her. “Then nothing else matters.”

She smiled and mouthed, “Thank you.” Then she directed that smile at Jay, and it was pure vibration in his body. “Let’s go battle some crowds and Craigs.”

If he had a fraction of her courage, he could battle anything.

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