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CHAPTER ONE

Lacey

“Best sound ever,” I said tothe automatic door lock that had just thunked into place

I settled back into the plush seat—just as coround and alh LA traffic after a fourteen-hour flight? I sighed, leaned my head back

“Even better than so your name for a walk down the red carpet?” Tessa teased as we settled in to wait for a fae into the SUV idling in front of us

“Oh yeah Somy neck from side to side to work the kinks out “You know I love h So is the batch of paparazzi outside custo about me” I pointed out theat a bunch of star followers

“Sounds like soe”

While Tessa investigated the basket of ne sent by her office, I wearily watched the crowd outside Undeterred by the tinted s, led to capture me on their phones I was a people-pleaser by nature, but I took petty satisfaction in the frustrated expressions of people who realized they weren’t getting anything through the glass They wanted ive it Not now Not after the long flight fros and sweatshirt, my hair up in a sloppy bun Not when all I wanted to do was crawl into bed for twelve hours

Airport security finally showed up to clear the ay At the saage and piled into their vehicle Our car started to h and slump down even further No cameras, no fans I could be myself

Tessa chuckled “So, you want me to book it?”

I rubbed ht, but I had no idea what time it was All I kneas that I crossed the International Date Line and went back a day

“The e it? I can e therapist you like meet us at your house”

My head started to bob the auto worked over by so hands was supposed to be the eles stress, but no I couldn’t even count howkneaded and rubbed since I’d ditched my s star, Lacey Lee

None of those , I turned h a stack of tabloids balanced on her lap

“No I don’t need a e I need…” One of the tabloids distracted me and I sat up, reached for the tabloid “Oh ?”

Tessa quickly flipped the rag over, but it was too late I laughed humorlessly and shook my head

“I’d say I can’t believe this, but of course I can I iven a hundred interviews in South Korea alone, and all anybody wanted to talk about was my so-called love life”

Love? Hah

“You kno theher eyes Since she worked for a PR firry for the next big love story You’re the current sweetheart of TV and Chris is—uh, has the potential to be the next big swoony rock star” Her voice changed when she spoke of Chris, the words filled with soether”

Instead of calrind et the esture indicated all of my frustration with the media, the fans and even Chris

Tessa winced and pattedand the press junket No one iined the Hunters series would be such a hit Va, not only here in the US, but in the Asianat this pace for five years and kno it is Let all this stuff go Besides, it’s not like anyone believed you had Elvis’ secret baby lasttone, which was probably the first thing they’d taught her in Celebrity Management 101

That had been different Elvis died before I was born Chris, though, was alive and well—as far as I knew—and thriving in the press of our barely-real relationship