I want You Deeper

Vanessa had no idea what Heath was doing. Somehow, they were at the elevator, but that wasn’t good enough. Heath nervously looked around, then gestured for her to follow. He wasn’t holding her hand anymore, which was a bummer. But he didn’t have to pull her along with him. Maybe he’d figured that much out. She was too curious to stop running now.

Before she could ask what was happening for the third time, they were in the stairwell, running up the stairs. Surely, he wasn’t running to his room. Not only was that way too far up, but she’d bet her day’s earnings for this gig that the door up there was locked to anyone coming up the stairs.

What wasn’t locked, though, was the door to her floor, which was only the fourth. She knew, before he even got there, where he was going. He jerked the door open and gestured for her to go through first, looking behind him for the camera guys.

They were long lost. That was what he’d been up to. She realized that as she headed-walking-down the hallway to her room. His goal was to get her to her room? Should she be worried?

No. That wasn’t what this was about at all. He’d kept this strictly professional. In fact, she could use a little less “professional.” Every time she looked at him today, she’d found herself imagining what it would be like to kiss him.

This was about running from the cameras for some reason. If she had to make a guess as to why, she’d say it was for the fun of it. But that made no sense, either. He was the one who’d signed up for this TV show.

She stopped in front of her door, waiting for him. Like her, he’d slowed down once they exited the stairwell. “Do you want to tell me what all that was about?” she asked as he approached.

“Inside.” He nodded toward the door. “They could catch up with us.”

“I’ll take my chances. Why should I want to run from them?”

“I just need a minute without cameras on us. Is that too much to ask?”

Vanessa studied him for a long moment. There was something about this that appealed to her own sense of adventure. So, she pulled her keycard out of her right pocket and opened the door.

That was when she remembered the fact that her room looked like a hurricane had blown through. She’d been so exhausted the night before, she’d just pulled things out of her suitcase and spread them out across the dresser. Then, that morning, she’d had to get everything together while Heath waited outside the door in the hallway.

“Sorry for the mess.”

Her apology was a waste, though. He’d stopped at the door, closing it behind him and leaning against it. That stance told her he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. No point in even inviting him into the room.

“Is everything okay?” She stepped back toward him, feeling as though she was missing something. He’d said he needed a moment without the cameras, but did that mean without her, too? If so, couldn’t he do this in his own room?

He nodded and looked at her. “What you were telling me earlier. Did you really want that aired on the show?”

Initially, Vanessa wasn’t sure what he meant. What she told him earlier? About Brooke not knowing that she was working for the enemy? Or…

Oh. That. She had admitted on camera that Brooke was her only friend. Did she want that to air on national TV? She wasn’t sure.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

He was watching her-studying her. “I’m sure you know how these shows work. You have more experience with them than I do. But now that you’ve dropped that little Brooke nugget, production is going to push you in Brooke’s direction. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they aren’t chasing her down with a production release for her to sign tomorrow morning.”

That was absolutely absurd. Reality shows didn’t have to beg people to participate. Her agent could send over dozens of people for consideration in a matter of hours.

But they wouldn’t be authentic.

“Justin isn’t here, so Brooke would be the next big thing.” Vanessa was mostly speaking to herself as his message finally sunk in. “I don’t want to pull Brooke into this.”

“And I don’t want her in this, either. This isn’t about TravTech. We’ve all heard enough about Justin Travers by now. This is about me.”

Vanessa realized too late that her face had scrunched up into an expression she didn’t want it to have. But she couldn’t help it. Did he even realize how he sounded right now?

Instead of getting mad, though, Heath seemed to see himself as she was seeing him. “That sounds a little childish, doesn’t it? Crap. I don’t mean to be petty. This really isn’t me.”

“I didn’t think it was.”

“Honestly, though, running wasn’t about Justin Travers.” He shook his head. “It’s just…the cameras sometimes…”

Oh, yeah. She got that part of it. She’d been waiting all her life for the moment she could be in front of cameras, and it was even wearing on her after a few hours. You never realized just how unnerving it was to have a camera pointed at you every single second until you were right in the middle of taping a reality show.

For someone like Heath, who had an agenda that had nothing to do with becoming a celebrity, she could imagine it would be nothing short of overwhelming after a while. And even she could feel the relief that had washed over her without the cameras trained on them.

“I have an idea,” she said. “Let’s go to your suite and order room service.”

He laughed, stepping away from the door. “The camera crew will head straight up there.”

“Sheesh. Don’t those guys ever take a break?”

She knew the answer to that. Shoots could be ridiculously long for crew members, whether it was a reality show or a film production. They were usually long for actors and other talent, too, but at least they could relax between takes.

Or run from the crew and hide out.

“I have an idea,” Heath said with a mischievous gleam in his eye. He gestured for her to follow him, although what she’d really like to do was dig through her bags to see if she maybe could change into something somewhat comfortable. Instead, she followed him somewhere that was not his palatial suite, pretty much limping in her ballet flats as her aching feet finally began transmitting pain signals to her brain.

Unfortunately, the elevator still wasn’t an option. He headed straight for the stairs, stopping at every corner to look around it, spy-style. Vanessa, meanwhile, was trying not to giggle at the sight of a mega-rich corporate CEO behaving like a twelve-year-old hiding from his parents.

It was these little glimpses of the real Heath Hardcastle that made her like him more.

The stairwell was, thankfully, empty as they started down the steps. But that didn’t stop Heath from leaning over the railing to peek down each time they reached a new floor. If anyone was anywhere in this stairwell, she was pretty sure they’d hear something, as echoey as this place was.

Spy behavior really kicked into gear when he arrived at the bottom. He peeked out, looked both ways, then gestured for her to follow.

“Where are we going?” she whispered as they navigated a long hallway.

“Trust me.”

Trust him. Surprisingly, she did. Most of all, though, she realized she felt like she was alone with him for the first time ever. They weren’t alone alone, actually, and there was a very good chance they could end up being spotted. All it would take would be for the camera crew to stop at the front desk and ask if they’d seen the billionaire and promotional model they’d been following around all day, and they’d have cameras on them once again.

But for now, she was going to enjoy this.

The hotel restaurant was down a long hallway and off to the right. Or maybe there was an easier way to get here from the front desk and this route was part of their great escape. Either way, she found herself standing behind Heath at a podium, speaking to a woman about her age who seemed to go completely haywire at the sight of him.

Yeah, Vanessa knew the feeling.

“Could we have the back room?” he asked.

The woman behind the podium nodded and grabbed two menus. She spun and led them past tables filled with people. Vanessa kept her gaze fixed on the woman’s back, going by the foolish logic that if she didn’t look at people, they couldn’t see her.

“Do you think anyone saw us?” Vanessa whispered as soon as they were seated.

Heath stared at her. “Who knows who we are?”

Oh. Good point. It wasn’t like they were celebrities or anything.

She thought about that for a moment before speaking. “Most of the people in this hotel are here for the conference, right? I just assumed you might be recognized, at least. It’s not like we haven’t gotten attention for having a camera crew follow us around all day.”

He shrugged. “I’ll take my chances. If the camera people come looking for us, the hostess will point them in our direction, anyway.”