Her sister turned off her phone, gave Molly her full attention. “Have you spoken to him about it?”
“We fought about it after Sydney, but I haven’t brought it up since.”
Thea shook her head. “Do it, Molly. Otherwise, he’ll end up hurting you without knowing it, and you’ll become angry and resentful.” She held up a hand when Molly would’ve spoken. “I’ve worked in this industry for a decade and the couples that make it are the ones who have no secrets. Because even a tiny thing can act like a grain of sand against skin, rubbing and rubbing until it makes you bleed.”
Two days later, Thea’s words circled in Molly’s mind as she sat at home watching the live broadcast of a prime-time show: Schoolboy Choir was currently being interviewed by the witty, likeable host. The host’s questions—which the guys were handling without problem, shooting back good-humored retorts—weren’t what had Molly’s nerves taut. That came courtesy of the other guest, a tall, curvy blonde in a dramatic, figure-hugging dress of deep blood-orange.
A major recording star in her own right, Carina had sung a chart-topping duet with Fox for Schoolboy Choir’s most recent album, the rock ballad as hard as it was romantic. Molly had loved it. Until now. It only took her a couple of minutes into the interview to realize the other woman was intelligent as well as talented and physically blessed. She’d also clearly not been faking her enjoyment of the sultry kiss she’d shared with Fox in the music video for the song.
Molly would’ve had to have been blind to miss the flirtatious invitations Carina was sending Fox’s way. And it wasn’t just her imagination or jealous paranoia. The show had a tweet stream running along the bottom of the screen and the majority of the tweets had to do with the chemistry between Fox and Carina. Whoever was choosing the tweets to display had picked relatively tame messages, as opposed to the more sexually charged ones Molly knew had to be flooding the site, but that didn’t matter.
So shipping Carina and Fox. #perfectcouple
She is totally hot for him. Love it!
OMG, most beautiful couple or what?
We saw it first! Foxina 4ever!
Molly’s stomach knotted further with each second that passed. No one, she thought, seemed to remember that Fox had been spotted with a different woman in New York, Molly forgotten in the blink of an eye. The only thing that kept her from throwing something at the television screen was that no matter what the viewers believed, Fox wasn’t returning the signals. And Molly knew every one of his signals intimately.
Forcing herself to breathe, she consciously relaxed her death grip on the cushion she’d hugged to her chest. Fox couldn’t help it if he drew women like flies. The only way Molly would survive this relationship was if she trusted in their bond. “Doesn’t mean I can’t be a little irrational though.”
Decision made, she put a piece of duct tape along the bottom of the screen so she couldn’t see the tweet stream, and muted the TV every time Carina opened her mouth. The interview was suddenly enjoyable—enough that she didn’t mute Carina’s part in the live performance of the duet—but when the woman got too close to Fox, as if to recreate their kiss, she did throw the remote at the television.
Justifiable, she rationalized, just as Fox—strumming an electric guitar—smoothly deflected the attempt by leaning into Noah for an off-the-cuff jam session that had the audience rioting in their seats. In the interim, Abe grabbed Carina as if stealing her away. By this stage, the audience was wild, and they stayed that way as the host yelled out a good-bye message, the credits beginning to roll across the bottom third of the screen.
Molly didn’t think, didn’t give herself time to second-guess her emotions. Picking up her phone, she sent a message to Fox. You were amazing. Smooth moves with a certain Miss Touchy-Feely.
The response came quicker than she’d expected. She’d figured the audience had to be swarming the men for photos and autographs. I thought so. Just so you know—these brownie points equal more ropes.
Molly’s teeth sank into her lower lip. Promises, promises, she sent, a deep happiness inside her at the unmistakable sign that though he’d just been publicly hit on by a superstar, he was thinking about her. By the way, don’t take off your T-shirt even if a fan wants it.
Yes, Molly.
When his car purred into the drive an hour and a half later, exactly when he’d predicted he’d be home, a smile broke out over her face. Running downstairs, she opened the internal door to the garage and watched him park the Aventador, jumping into his arms as soon as he stepped out, her legs wrapping around his waist. “Hi.”
A slow smile that was so real it stole her breath. “Hi, yourself, Miss Molly. I think you missed me.”
Since the day she’d first understood she came last in her parents’ lives, Molly had been protecting herself. Charlotte alone had broken through, but much as she loved her best friend, it was nothing as terrifying and as beautiful as what she felt for Fox. And her rock star needed to know that, needed to see she was in this for the long haul.
“Yes,” she said, not hiding any of her emotions, though the exposure made her pulse stammer, her throat go dry. “You’ve been gone all day.”
A hot tangle of a kiss, one of Fox’s hands at her nape, the other under her butt. “I missed my Molly-time, too.”
They just cuddled there for a minute before Fox turned to place her on the hood of the car. Pushing her down gently until she lay on her back on the metal, her feet on the ground in front of the low-slung vehicle, he ripped off his T-shirt. “So, I’m not allowed to be shirtless when I take photos with fans?”