couldn’t deal with this right now. “Then we’ll get you a room.”
Just when he was about to scoot up the bed to reach the phone, she touched his face and stopped him.
That warmth again. She slid her hand to cup his cheek and his frustration all but left. And with it his ability to care whether or not he should enjoy her touch. It comforted him. It meant she still cared, and this wasn’t just a job. She cared about him. And it felt good, he felt better.
Closing his eyes, he tilted his head into her hand and held it there with his own hand.
“Liam?”
“Shh. Just wait...” he said, not opening his eyes, just letting the warm strength of her hand soak into him.
Her thumb stroked his cheekbone in a soothing arc. “Tell me why it’s so important. I need to understand this if we’re going to keep working together. Because right now I know you’re frustrated and in pain, and it isn’t just hard to see you hurting yourself like this, it makes me feel ill. If you want me to stay, tell me why you have to do this.”
He wanted her to stay. Hell, he wanted her to stay right there. Or maybe put his head in her lap and stroke his weary brow. That would be nice.
But staying was actually important for more reasons than his hedonist tendencies.
It wouldn’t matter if he gave her what she’d asked for. This was Grace, not someone who’d use the information against him.
“I’m starting another project in a few weeks—a part I’ve been dying for—and I don’t want the producers to think that I am going to slow down production. It was between me and one other, right down to the wire, and they went my way. If I show up limping around now, they’re going to reverse course.” He opened his eyes and looked into hers, and then slid her hand from his cheek to his chest but kept holding it there. “We haven’t even signed the contracts yet. It’s all verbal agreements until there’s a signature on the dotted line. And even then sometimes contracts can be broken.”
“What’s so special about this part?”
“It’s a book...” With her hand in his and her eyes fixed on him, he could tell her why. Maybe not everything, just give her an idea. “Sit here with me.” He patted the bed and transferred her hand to his other one so she could sit.
When she had, and turned her hand over to wrap her fingers around the edge of his palm in return, he took a breath to steel himself.
“Don’t laugh.”
She shook her head, squeezed his hand.
“Do you remember, well, your parents would just come home with little gifts sometimes?”
She nodded, still not speaking.
“The book was the first time...I’d been hanging out at your house pretty much every day for about six weeks, and then one night they came home from work and had stopped at a bookstore. Lucy got you some book you’d wanted—I don’t remember what it was—but then she reached into the bag and pulled out two copies of another book, handed one to me and one to Nick.”
“Mom liked to do that—still does that, actually. Now they’re making that book into a movie and you want to be in it?”
She didn’t get it, but he could see in her eyes that she was trying to.
He might be able to explain, but he couldn’t do it while looking at her. Letting his gaze fall to where their hands joined in his lap, he tried again.
“It was the first time anyone ever gave me a gift for no reason. Birthday and Christmas presents were real hit-and-miss with my folks, depending on what they’d done with their money that week. It wasn’t really about the book. I was just included, like I was an extra son who’d sprung up and was automatically accepted. So...it was the first time I had any idea of what it was like to be in a family.”
When he looked back at her, her eyes were damp and she was silent, clearly working through what he’d told her, and the implications of it all.
“Plus, it’s outside my usual roles, so it’s kind of a big deal career-wise that I have this part, Gracie.”
Lifting her free hand, she swiped her eyes quickly and nodded. “Okay.” Accepted. “I’ll do whatever I can to help you, but understand something for me?”
He turned just a little to look at her better but kept her hand in his.
“It doesn’t just anger me that you’re causing yourself more pain, but I’ll try to ignore that as much as I can. I’ll help you do what you need, but please take pity on me, and make all these things you have to do as easy on yourself as you can. No unnecessary walking. Put your foot up anytime you can.”
“Come with me to the premieres tomorrow.” He said the words before he’d really thought about the urge. But the desire was real. He hadn’t been at his best on the carpet tonight, and not just because of the ankle. He’d also kept wondering what she was doing. Just how angry she was with him.
“I thought that my coming with you to the premieres was what this was all about?”
“No,” he said, letting go of her hand so he could move around her and his foot was propped up on the bed beside her. “Come as my date.”
She opened her mouth to say no, and he held up a hand, energy coming from some unknown source to give his words some urgency. “Every time I’ve gone solo to a premiere or event, I end up doing way more walking around. Come with me. Be my date. Keep me with you and I won’t do as much walking.”
“I don’t know. I don’t have a gown or anything.”
“Tom can fix it.”
“It’s late, he’d have to do some night shopping or very early morning. We’re leaving at seven, right?”
“Yes, but he can do a lot from the plane. He’s got numbers for both coasts. We’ll go to New York and then take a short flight down and back from Virginia. He can have prospective gowns waiting for you. And whatever you need to help get you ready.”
She didn’t look convinced. The furrow in her brows could be doubt or worry. What would make her come around?
“You can be my walking stick. So I can lean against you a little and not put weight on my bad leg when we’re not walking.”
Her frown deepened. “Will you use a cane?”
“If I have you, I don’t need...” Her look stopped him. “I’ll carry a cane if Tom can find me something that could look like an accessory. And then I can use it if I need to.”
The frown stuck and he caught her hand again, looking for any way to make it sound plausible. “You know, the movie is a historical. Gentlemen used canes. Maybe I could play it as a nod to the movie and theme.”
“You just thought of that now?” Shaking her head, she pulled her hand free. “Where’s your phone? I need to call Tom if we’re going to do this.”
He pulled off his jacket and handed
