Chapter Sixteen
“You can come in now.”
Holly’s heart crashed against the walls of its cavity as she watched Bec peer around the living room door to beckon Nate. He’d knocked earlier but Bec had banished him, saying Holly wasn’t ready to be seen yet.
She was right. Despite now standing in the middle of the living room—which had become her beauty salon and dressing room for the second day in a row—dressed in the most beautiful gown she’d ever seen, polished beyond imagination, Holly still didn’t feel ready. She felt like some kind of Cinderella fraud waiting anxiously to go to the ball and have Prince Charming sweep her off her feet.
Only Nate had already bowled her over and there wasn’t going to be a fairytale happy ending.
She bit her lip as he appeared in the doorway. All thoughts of what she looked like and how she could get through the night whooshed away. Her breath caught as she gaped at the sight of him. He’d looked edible in his usual attire, but now, in a stylish black suit and a cherry-red tie that matched her dress, he looked like an advertisement for Hugo Boss. Geez, just looking at him, she’d buy ten suits despite not having the money or the use for even one.
But no one else appeared to have noticed. Discussion was bubbling around her as the beauticians and the hairdressers and Bec all bombarded Nate for his opinion.
Holly froze registering the way he was looking at her. As if the hyperactive women had evaporated and it was only him and her in this room once again. As if he wanted to eat her for dessert. She felt her cheeks go red as she recalled the last time they were alone in this very room. How was she supposed to get through the night if every time he came near her, her mind zoomed right back to the sex?
And then he spoke and she felt certain the red color swept all down her body, no doubt matching her skin to the gown.
“There are no words,” he said as he stepped toward her. She tried to read the look on his face—a surprising cocktail of lust, respect and admiration. He looked for a moment, an almost sad smile finally forming on his face. Then he turned to Bec. “Please tell me I can take a photo now?”
Bec positively beamed. “Go ahead.”
“Thanks.” Although Nate spoke to his sister his gaze never left Holly. He opened his jacket and she guessed he was reaching for the small camera he took everywhere, but instead he retrieved a smallish navy-velvet box.
Holly frowned when he held it out to her. She’d never anticipated a gift. When he stepped right up close to her and opened the box so she could see inside, she gasped. Her hand rushed to cover her mouth as she stared down at the most beautiful necklace she’d ever laid eyes on.
“It’s Holly,” she said, rather dumbly.
“Aha, just for you. Bec mentioned you didn’t have anything.” He scooped the delicate white-gold Holly leaf, which happened to be encrusted in diamonds and held it up. “May I?”
Gob-smacked, she nodded. An involuntary shiver shot through her as he lifted the pendant up to her neck. His knuckles brushed against the sensitive skin of her neck as he joined the clasp beneath her hair line. The cold gold slid down to rest just above her cleavage and her knees almost failed her.
Nate steadied his arm around her back. “You okay?”
She nodded again—it was all she could manage. No one had ever given her something so special, something that seemed to have so much meaning, something so personal. So why did she feel like crying?
Because Bec had told him she needed something. She couldn’t start dreaming up other reasons he’d done this for her. This night was going to be totally surreal as it was.
“Okay then, the limo will be here any moment, but I need to get one photo before we go. Be right back.”
She watched as Nate scooted out the room like this was a perfectly ordinary day. It helped to remind her that just because being this glammed up was a once in a lifetime thing for her, it wasn’t all that out there for him. This was simply the way of his world. He probably didn’t think anything of spending a fortune on a necklace for a near stranger. He may have been on the poverty line once upon a time, but not anymore. And everything he did seemed to be with the sole purpose of reinforcing this fact. This grand gesture was just another way to prove how far he’d come. She wouldn’t let it affect her. She couldn’t.
Bec sidled up beside her when Nate was gone. She narrowed her eyes and looked at Holly as if she were an impossible puzzle. “Something
is
going on between you two.”
“We’re friends,” Holly answered quickly, “just friends.”
If Bec were Stella, she’d have seen the truth in Holly’s eyes and heard the tiny crack in her voice, but Bec simply sighed and nodded. And it was true, Nate did feel like a friend. A friend with benefits perhaps? Only she knew for absolute certain that she couldn’t have one of those. Not with Nate anyway. Even with the distance between them, if Nate did want to stay friends, she couldn’t cope with that.
Damn her ridiculous heart, she wanted more.
Before she could let that thought overwhelm her, he appeared in the doorway again, holding his camera. He didn’t look any less impressive the second time, in fact her heart positively swooned at the sight of him. She swayed a little.
“That’s perfect,” he said, lifting the camera to head height, seemingly believing she was posing. She stifled a snort. Men never saw anything how it really was. “That’s the way. Twirl a bit more.”
As if she had a remote operating her movements, she followed his instructions, placing one hand against her hip the way she’d seen models do. Her thumb smoothed the red silk, brushing over one of the many layered ruffles on the amazing dress.
“Angle your shoulder the other way,” ordered Bec. “Lift your chin up.”
On auto-pilot Holly followed the instructions, knowing that in less than an hour, she’d have to put the same show on as she stepped onto the red carpet.
A few more snaps and then Nate handed his camera to Bec and stepped toward Holly again. “Alright Hols, let’s get this show on the road.”
She held her head high and smiled a smile she didn’t feel as she stepped forward to meet Nate and take his hand. His fingers closed around hers, warmth swamping her. She had to ignore how right it felt, had to remember she could have him until tomorrow morning and that was it.
The question was whether she could handle continuing their liaison that long?
He let her hand go briefly as the chauffeur held the door open and she stepped into the limo in front of him, but he was on the seat beside her in seconds, clutching her hand again. He rubbed what would normally be delicious circles with his thumb across her wrist, but this time her hormones barely quivered. It wasn’t that the lust factor had worn off, no not at all, more that now she realized she wanted more, she couldn’t summon enthusiasm for what she knew was only a little hanky-panky to him. She couldn’t let herself feel sad anymore for him, because she had to focus on other things tonight.
She wished she could snap out of this funk. Enjoy the moment. Live the life if only for one night, but her brain was too used to ruling over her heart and every time she felt a hint of joy, she remembered it meant nothing. It was actually a relief when the Kodak Theater loomed into view. They’d driven past the building earlier in the week but it wasn’t easy to get that close now. Black limousines almost identical to theirs lined the street, all waiting their turn to drop off some celebrity in front of the famous red carpet. People mulled between the cars—traffic cops, event staff in red and black, tourists scrambling to get as close to the action as they could.
Nate stared past her out the window, his grip tightening on her hand. “What you’re doing for Daisy is amazing. She would have been so proud to have been here tonight.”
Holly gulped. She’d barely thought of Daisy all day. But this was all down to Daisy, the dress, the Awards, the publicity, even meeting Nate. She fingered the pendent at her neck, which suddenly felt tight. She was choking up. She blinked back tears, not wanting to cry here. Not yet. Her mascara was probably fool-proof against all sorts of liquid but that wasn’t the point.
She owed it to her parents, to Daisy and in some way to herself, to make a success of this. Whatever happened tonight—whether Daisy won her category or not—this was Holly’s way of saying she’d forgiven her, because somewhere along the lines, she had. Her life had moved on. She had more important things to worry about than holding grudges now. Like worrying if her heart would ever repair after its brush with Nate Devlin.
She almost wished she was doing this alone. Without him.
Stepping onto the red carpet into a limelight of flashing lights and an audience of media-faces turned out to be far easier than Holly had envisioned. It gave her breathing space from the enigmatic presence of Nate. Onlookers in the stands alongside the red carpet cheered and screamed her name. Someone held up a sign that said “WE LOVE DAISY.” She waved and mouthed her thanks.
And then it was their turn to stand in front of the television cameras and twirl on the spot to show the world what they were wearing. Turned out Nate’s suit was a Briano—a designer she’d never even heard of—but the female presenter covering the fashion side of the red carpet was most impressed. She saw the woman ogle Nate like he was something on a barbeque and she resisted the urge to reach out and scratch her new fake nails over the woman’s face.
Jealousy
. She almost gasped at the realization and its intensity. She’d never felt possessive about a man before and Nate wasn’t even hers. Luckily the woman turned her attention on Daisy’s gown, asking questions about Bec’s design.
She summoned a smile and prepared to speak on camera for the first time that day.
“Holly McCartney. Is your gown made by an Aussie designer?”
Holly shook her head. “No.” She swallowed, let her hands trail the dress once again and took comfort and courage in its beauty. “I’m wearing a Devlin gown, Bec Devlin. She’s a new L.A. designer and I think you’ll agree she knows what she’s doing.”
“Oh yeah.” The presenter actually whistled, and Holly noticed a number of recognizably famous celebs pause to take a look. “Is she dressing anyone else tonight?”
* * *
Nate’s heart burned with pride as he watched Holly play up to the camera, praising his little sister in the manner she deserved. And he planned on thanking her in private, later. He kept his hand possessively on the small of her back, resisting the urge to draw her closer and let all the single males on the red carpet know she was with him. He couldn’t wait to get her back to his bed that night and he didn’t plan on letting her out of his sight in the hours in between.
They moved away from the spotlight as a well known producer who was up for Best Original Screenplay and his wife took their turn in front of the fashion police. Nate took Holly’s hand again as they made their way down the red carpet and into the building.
“You were fabulous,” he whispered to her, inhaling her magnificent summer-rose scent.
She blinked and pursed her perfectly red lips. “You think?”
“I know.”
“It’s all so surreal.” She touched the holly leaf he’d given her as if seeking comfort. “I feel like at any moment someone is going to pinch me and I’m going to wake up from this ni—dream.”
He chuckled. “You were going to say nightmare.”
She blew out air between her lips which lifted a couple of strands of hair off her face, and nodded sheepishly. He loved that about her. Where most women would sell their souls to be here tonight, and happily own the fame, it made her uncomfortable.
Because Holly was real.
She thought about real world issues. She cared what was happening in the world, not just on the catwalk or the big screen. She cared about people and culture more than she cared about her appearance. She was feisty and fun, in bed and out. She couldn’t care less about money and status but she could speak for hours on end about the things that were important to her. And she didn’t mind him talking about his passion either. She actually thought it interesting—really interesting—that he liked photographing sunsets over bridges.
He found himself day-dreaming about taking her to some of his favorite bridges.
Hold up a second
. What was this crazy thinking about the future? She’d be gone tomorrow and that was the way it should be. He gave himself a mental slap to the side of his head.
He’d proven in his teens he couldn’t be relied on for anything other than monetary assistance. Daisy’s death had reconfirmed this. But Holly didn’t need money…she needed commitment. She was a forever type of girl.
“Thanks for coming with me,” she said, snapping him out of his thoughts. “I really appreciate it.”
They’d come to a standstill on the carpet as ushers directed guests to their seats.
“I wanted to be here,” he answered, realizing it to be the truth. He wanted to share this evening with her—to be beside her if she needed support, to share her memories of Daisy. “Daisy was a good friend. This feels right.”
Holly barely nodded. Her lips were pressed tightly together and he could tell she was struggling to hold back her tears. “She would have wanted you here.”
Before he could answer, they were hustled from behind. “Nathaniel Devlin, you old devil.” He turned as a palm jovially met his back. The palm belonged to a guy he’d briefly gone to school with.
“James.” He offered his hand in a shake, recalling the man’s ambition to direct movies. “Heard you’d finally made it.”
James beamed. “Yep. My film’s up for five different awards. Never give up on your dreams.” He turned his attentions to Holly. Nate saw his old friend’s eyes light up in appreciation. He couldn’t stop the tensing of his muscles. “So, you’re the gorgeous girl putting up with Nate at the moment?”
Holly blushed and opened her mouth. No words came.
Nate pulled her to his side. “This is Daisy McCartney’s sister. She’s staying with me.”
“Man, I’m sorry.” The gleam left James’ eyes. “For both of you. I heard you two were close, Nate. Such a loss.”
“Yes, it was.”