Noah gripped the steering wheel with bruising force. “You tell the cops this?”
“Sure—and studio security at the time. But you know how many people there are on a lot at any one time.” Pragmatic words. “It’s a miniature city. And since I didn’t get any threatening notes or anything stalker specific, I figured it must’ve just been an opportunistic thief.”
“You’re taking this a lot better than I am.” He wanted to strangle the creep.
Patting his arm, she said, “I’ve had a lot longer to get past the angry stage. These days I concentrate on being smart, on not giving him any opportunities, or my emotional energy.” She relaxed into her seat. “Have you spoken to Abe since we got back?”
“This morning after breakfast.” The keyboard player was not in a good headspace, and Noah had intended to bully him into coming over so he wouldn’t be alone with his demons, but someone had beaten him to it. “He’s staying with David and Thea.”
“Sarah?”
“She wanted to go home, but Fox and Molly convinced her to stay with them. Her face needs to heal so she can go out, and they’re worried because her ex has keys to her place.” After the way Jeremy Vance had hurt Sarah, no one wanted to take any chances by leaving her alone in a space he could access.
“I’ve met guys like him before,” Kit said, tone grim. “They’re cowards who wait till they get their victims alone.”
Noah nodded, in full agreement with her about the spinelessness of any man who’d hit a woman. “Thea went in quietly with a security guy and collected clothing and other personal stuff for Sarah, and she’s arranging for the locks to be changed. It has to be done under the radar, so it’ll take a few days.”
In the meantime, Sarah would stay out of public view and Abe would stay with friends who understood his triggers and how to defuse them. “One piece of bad news—Thea had a couple of calls from reporters who heard Abe and Sarah and Vance came face-to-face at the festival. They’re sniffing around for a story.”
“Damn, that’s the last thing either Sarah or Abe need.” Kit shot him a determined look. “Let’s distract the paparazzi with the promise of a money shot, have them too busy salivating over us to worry about an ex-couple.”
Chapter 29
Noah had no argument with Kit’s suggestion. If this was what he could do to help his friend, then it was what he’d do. “PDA?” he suggested, figuring he could pull something like he had at the concert, closeness that wouldn’t make either one of them uncomfortable.
Kit twisted her lips. “No, let’s go be cute together.”
“I don’t do cute.” He shuddered. “Don’t start expecting me to buy you soft toys or other sweet shit.” But since she really wanted a teddy bear, he’d get it for her. It’d be kind of adorable to see Kit go all soft and happy over a cuddly toy.
“So romantic.” The words were dry enough to parch the desert. “That’s why it’s going to be catnip to the paparazzi. ‘Noah St. John Tamed’—I can just see the headlines.”
He pretended to gag. “I never knew I was signing on for fiendish and painful torture.”
Laughter from the passenger seat. “You come up with an idea then. I’ve never consciously played the media this hard before.”
“We get caught making out in a car.”
“In broad daylight? I don’t think anyone will buy that from me.” A pause, her next words soft and nearly soundless. “And if we’re going to have a first kiss, I want it to be private.”
Noah stopped breathing for a second. He didn’t know how to kiss. Having anyone’s face close to his, it was too personal, too much an invasion. When he fucked women, he took them over. A kiss though, it would bring them into him too, leave a mark. He preferred distance. Maybe that was fucked-up, but in the grand scheme of things, it was a minor detail.
“Your turn,” he said, his gut all tense. “No PDA, no cute, no making out.”
“I could get caught standing with my hand over my belly,” Kit said with a gleeful laugh. “That would be so much fun, except people might take me seriously and there goes Redemption.”
Noah didn’t laugh. “You want kids?”
“Yes.” A pause. “I know you don’t, but I really do.”
“Before, what I said, I was just thinking of some poor kid stuck with me for a dad.” He’d have screwed that up royally. “With you, it’d be different.” He already knew Kit would rock the motherhood thing, and when he was with her, he was a better man. If they ever got to the point where they could do the kid thing, she’d teach him how to be a good father, and he’d listen—he never wanted his kid to hate him like he hated Robert St. John.
“Yes, well, we can talk about all that later.” Kit’s voice was odd, but then she snapped her fingers. “I have it. Let’s go to Disneyland. You don’t have to be cute—the location is cute all by itself.”
“Rock stars don’t do Disneyland—gotta think of the brand, Katie.” He took her light punch on the arm with a grin. “We go to Six Flags and ride the fucking roller coasters.”
“Only lunatics ride things that make them scream in terror.”
He got her on a roller coaster. She screamed like a banshee and threatened to murder him when he laughed. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders once they got off, he pressed a kiss to her temple and bought her cotton candy. “That should sweeten you up.”
“My hair must be a mess.”
It looked like she’d just tumbled out of bed. Not liking the idea of anyone else thinking that, he took off his cap and snugged it on her head before stealing some of the sticky sweet stuff she was picking off in little tufts.
“This is evil,” she said, eating another tuft. “Macho Steve will kill me tomorrow.”
“We could just go for an extra run,” he said at the name of her personal trainer. “Or another roller coaster ride.”
Elbowing him, she pointed at a ride to their left. “Who would be insane enough to go on that? Listen to the screams.”
He looked at her, smiled. Narrowing her eyes, she tried to back away. He held her in a pretend stranglehold as he led her to the line. Later, after they’d survived the ride, he bought her a small blue teddy bear with a missing ear, as if it had been torn off in a scuffle. It was sitting forlornly at the back of a shelf like someone had shoved it back there until they had time to clear him away.
Noah knew he should buy Kit an undamaged, pristine bear, but he bought the bear with the missing ear. “I couldn’t leave the little guy.”
Kit’s face threatened to crumple. “Noah.”
Wrapping her in his arms to hide her from the world, he couldn’t stop his stupid grin. “Shit, did I just do cute?”
A jerky nod. “He’s adorable. I love him.” Then, to his surprise, she hid the bear back in the gift bag rather than holding it so the photographers would see it as they walked out.
It meant too much, he realized in staggered shock. Meant enough to protect. A bear with a missing ear and slightly dirty fur, imperfect and ragged… just like the man who’d bought him.
Kit got the phone call as they were driving home from the theme park. Redemption was hers. “Harper’s negotiating the final deal, but she says the terms look okay at first glance,” she said after hanging up, still not sure she hadn’t hallucinated the entire conversation. “I’m going to be one of the leads in an Esra Dali movie.”
“The role was always yours.”
She just wanted to kiss him. He was always so firmly on her side.
Trying to think of a way to distract herself, she said, “Did you get those mugs for the guys?” He’d laughed and said he was buying glittery pink princess mugs for Fox, Abe, and David as gifts. Kit had gone gift hunting herself, buying things for Becca, Molly, and Thea, as well as her cousin’s young children. She’d also added something happy and sweet for Sarah, figuring the other woman needed a smile.