Page 81 of King of Hollywood

His hair smelled like lemon, and I wanted him.

I wanted him so badly I could feel it aching in my very bones.

“I’ll be forgotten,” he added as the meteors danced above, sparkling and bright, but not as bright as he was. “And my invisibility will be my freedom as surely as it will mean I’ve finally died.”

I didn’t know what that meant.

I didn’t think I was supposed to.

So instead of asking more questions, I told him a truth of my own.

“I’ve never seen a star that shines as bright as you do,” I admitted, and it was the scariest thing I’d ever said.

Felix hadn’t put his hat back on.

He didn’t hide from me.

He just…smiled.

His eyes shone, and I thought…if I could have this—

I would give up anything.

I would do anything.

If I could have him, I’d be whole.

Chapter sixteen

If I’d known the bloodbath that awaited me at Barry (the brainless’s) Summer Bash, perhaps I would’ve been more excited it was coming. As it was—three weeks out, with my tux now sitting pretty in my closet, I was dreading it like I always did.

Every day, I waited for a note to be left on my door last minute, changing the theme. Barry had done it to me once before, I wasn’t paranoid to expect it a second time. I worried…because this was the first time Felix and I would be going to one of these events not as neighbors—but as boyfriends. Lovers. Partners. Whatever the fuck your preference is. We hadn’t talked about it yet, but I was certain this would be our suburban debut.

It had to be perfect.

Or I was going to “blow my stack.”

“Another date tonight?” Winnie’s voice echoed through the speaker on my phone as I finished getting ready for the night. I had several packets of lube tucked into the pockets of my corduroys and I felt like such a whore my cheeks would not stop burning.

Somehow, somewhere—out in the city—I wouldn’t doubt that Winnie’s Marshall-is-embarrassed sense was tingling.

Which was why she’d called.

Obviously.

To torment me.

“Yes.” I grunted at her as I pulled my sweater over my head. Fanning my hand along the pale blue fabric, I frowned, tugged it off, then reached for a different one. Yes, yes. This one was better. When it was on, I twisted to check out my back in the mirror, pleased to see the soft fabric clung rather nicely to my broad shoulders.

Thank you, home gym that I had installed when I moved here.

I’d been…so close to touching Felix’s ass on our last date.

Literally less than a hands width away.

But after he’d admitted to me why he was hiding, I hadn’t felt it appropriate to grope him. So instead, I’d snuggled him along the path, and listened to him prattle on and on and on about “St John’s Wort” and “Pussy Willows”.

At the end of the night, when I’d dropped him off on his doorstep with a long, searching goodnight kiss, Felix had pulled back and grinned.