Page 68 of Rebel Moon

“Madeleine, this is Beau, and Caleb, and Waylon. Known in our hometown of Juniper Creek, Tennessee, as trouble with a capital T.”

I stood to greet them.

Beau, who looked permanently sun-kissed, with streaks of blond in his hair and tanned skin, stuck out a hand, and grinned. “Beau James, nice to meet you.”

I smiled. “I’m Mindy. Real nice to meet you.” I’m Mindy. Real nice to meetcha. It had come out easy, like it had just been lying dormant under my polish waiting for the worst moment to come out again.

And that moment was now. Because Blake was across the fire with the camera up on her shoulder, and the little red light was on, the lens pointed at me.

She got it. She got all of it. On a hard drive, forever.

Mindy. On tape.

“—sorry, Madeleine.” My voice snapped back into place, low and even, the accent gone like it had never been, a little laugh laid over the top of it, smooth as anything. “Madeleine Price. Mindy’s an old nickname. Nobody but my Mama and sister call me that. I don’t know where that came from.” I shook Beau’s hand, firm, warm, professional. “It’s lovely to meet you, Beau. Ivy’s told me so much about all of you.”

Beau said something back, easy, none the wiser, and the conversation rolled on. I sat back down beside Knox. His warm hand had covered mine for a split second before I snatched it away.

I glanced over at Blake. Her camera was still fixed on me. She’d seen his hand take mine and my rejection, which meant the camera had seen.

For one unguarded half-second, warm and laughing and happy, I’d let Mindy out. The poison that did it? I’d been happy. Knox made me happy. Why did that make me feel so uneasy?

We headed to Knox’s cabin after the fire, walking back through the cold with his arm around me. It felt way too delicious to be next to him, his scent in my nose, his strong body pressed against mine. Yet, the niggling worry wouldn’t let go.

When we were back in his cabin, teeth brushed and pajamas on, he drew me down into his bed and pulled the quilt up over the both of us, tucking me against his chest.

“You want to talk?” Knox asked. “About what happened at the bonfire?”

“Not really.”

“It was just a slip of the tongue. No one thought anything about it,” Knox said.

“She got it on film.”

“Oh.” He was quiet a moment, stroking my hair. “Ask her to leave it out. She’ll respect your wishes.”

I couldn’t help but hear the sadness in his voice.

“It’s nothing to do with you,” I said. “I just don’t want my personal life in the documentary about the band.”

“Makes perfect sense.”

“But?” I asked.

“I’m sorry I tried to hold your hand. I guess I want to know how long you think we should keep this thing between us a secret.”

“When we get back to Nashville and it gets out that we’re together, the tabloids will eat it up. Whatever this is between us will be fodder for gossip. You’re a big deal in country music. I don’t want our personal life plastered all over town.”

I felt him nod, his arm tightening around me. His heart thumped against my ear. “Are we going to hide forever?”

I didn’t answer for a moment, playing it all out in my mind. Was this wrong? This instinct I had to keep it between us? What message did that give to Knox about how I felt about him?

“Not forever,” I said at last. “But I need time to figure out what all this means in my life before the press gets hold of it.”

“I think you may be exaggerating how much anyone would care about my love life,” Knox said. “But I’ll commit to whatever timeline you want.”

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“You’re welcome,” he said sleepily into my hair. “I love you. I’ll do anything for you.”