Page 51 of Born for Starlight

He walked me to the chair next to his, held it for me, and sat down like nothing had happened. I looked around the table. Code was shaking his head, half with amusement and half with resignation. Jase leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling. Simon’s body hadn’t moved, nor had his mouth, but I could see the flicker of a smile in his eyes.

Bruno squinted at Matthew. "So. This is happening."

"This is happening," Matthew nodded.

"Great." Bruno pulled out a chair. "Wonderful. Love that for me. I flew in on the red-eye for this."

I glared at Bruno. “I don’t know if I need to tell you to get over yourself, or that I need to tell Little Grandma to find you a nice woman.”

Bruno shoved his fingers into his eyes and muttered. “Kill me.”

Code cleared his throat and opened the file. "Can we do the actual meeting now?"

"Please," I said.

"Your trip. Wheels up in four days. Two stops. Casa Semente outside São Luís, then Instituto Aurora." He slid a folder across the table to me. "Matthew goes with you. He's your security consultant and guide. He runs your protection on the ground, advance work, vehicles, hotels, all of it."

I flipped the folder open. Flight plan. Hotel names. A suite layout with two bedrooms circled.

Two bedrooms.

I looked up at Code. "You circled the bedrooms."

Jase raised his hand. “I circled the bedrooms. Two. As in separate.”

“You’re a little late, don’t you think?” Bruno said. His fingers were now massaging his temples.

I closed the folder. "Okay, this is where I stop you, because I have a better idea, and it has the advantage of being the truth." I looked around the table. "Every person in this room knows he stayed at my place. Lettie knows. Everybody at Java Jolt knows. The story is already out there, so why are we building a fake one? He comes to Brazil as my boyfriend. It's simpler, it's logical, and nobody has to circle bedrooms."

"No," Jase said.

"No," Bruno said.

"No," Simon said from the window.

I turned to Matthew. He would back me. He had just kissed me in front of God and Onyx to make a point about exactly this.

"No," Matthew said.

I stared at him. "Excuse me?"

"Sweetheart, if I land in Brazil as your boyfriend, I'm luggage." He said it gently, which somehow made it worse. "The venue security at Aurora doesn't brief a boyfriend. The hotel doesn't give your boyfriend the room list. Local police won't take questions from luggage. Your boyfriend just gets a seat next to you at dinner. Meanwhile, your security consultant gets the floor plan, the staff roster, the vehicle, and a reason to be standing in every doorway you walk through. I need all of that."

"He's right," Simon said. "The title is the access. Down there, especially. A professional gets professional courtesy. A boyfriend gets a wristband."

"And then there's Grant," Code said. "Three weeks ago you told the whole world the two of you were taking things slow. You land in Brazil holding hands with a new man, and that becomes the story. Not the kids. Not the money. Your love life."

I opened my mouth, then shut it. I'd let Grant off the hook, but nobody had told the tabloids.

I hated this. I hated it because it was sensible, and I hated it more because it had been my own idea originally. I was the one who had floated Matthew as protection in the first place. I had been so pleased with myself about it, too.

"Fine," I said, and it came out about as gracious as a cat going into a bathtub. "But I want it noted that I think this is overkill. It's two charity visits. I'm going to read to children and hand people oversized checks."

Jase and Matthew exchanged a look. It lasted maybe half a second, and I could not read it and I’d built a career on reading looks.

"Noted," Jase said.

"There's one more thing," Bruno said. He nodded at Matthew. "Tell her."