Free Under the Lights by Rebecca Royce

“Let’s go.”
    It wasn’t until she got out of the car that she finally realized where she was. They were practically on top of Central Park from his location on 5 th . “This is a—wow—location.”
    Ian nodded as he ushered her into the building and toward the doorman. “My assistant found it for me. I have it rented until a month after the show ends.”
    The lobby entrance was bigger than her first apartment in Manhattan. Her grandmother’s brownstone was old and spacious, but as soon as Granny passed, she would need to find a new living space.
    “He went and found your place for you? Did you give him specifications?
    “She.” He pressed the button for the tenth floor.
    Oh, he had a female assistant.
    “I’ve never met her. Don’t you guys usually bring your assistants everywhere?”
    His head shot up, and a small smile crossed his lips. “Us guys?”
    “Movie stars.”
    She pinched him because he deserved it, and he yelped before tugging her tight against him.
    “I don’t need an army of people around me all the time. Or at least I’ve decided recently I don’t. I want them there when I need them and elsewhere when I don’t. She manages things for me from a distance, which she prefers, too, because she gets to stay home with her family in Los Angeles no matter where I am.”
    “How does she know what nights you need extra security versus when you don’t?”
    He shrugged. “She just does. If she didn’t, I’d have to find someone who could be on site, and then since she needs to stay home with her kids, I’d let her go. I’d hate doing it. But there you go.”
    Ian didn’t know how his assistant functioned. She had no idea how he could stand it. Teirney needed to understand how every person who worked under her performed his or her job. If for no other reason than, if a worker called in sick, she had to be able to do that person’s tasks.
    He opened the door. “I’m not easily stunned by things. I will, however, admit to loving the view here.”
    She could see why. When they entered his living room, she found herself surrounded by windows, with a one hundred-eight degree view. The lights of city sprawled out before her. At midnight, the city was awake, lit as a beacon of color and power against the dark sky.
    “It’s so beautiful.” She walked toward the windows as though an invisible string pulled her forward.
    “Seeing you looking out reminds me of viewing it for the first time.”
    Money had never interested her very much. She had had a ton of it growing up. Well, her parents had. But it hadn’t made them happy. Although she was glad to have a place to stay at her Granny’s, she’d return to sharing almost no space with three roommates before she took a cent from her folks.
    Using them to pay for her grandmother—who was her father’s mother—was one thing. She would never take a penny from them in order to rewind her life toward a wealthy lifestyle. Still, she couldn’t help imagining the dollar figure for what Ian paid out to live here for six months.
    Hollywood fame had its perks.
    “How do you ever leave?”
    Ian stood next to her. “I appreciate the beauty, don’t misunderstand me. I’d have to be dead not to. I prefer people to things. Wherever the person—or group—I wish to be with is hanging out, that’s where I go.”
    “Well.” She took her hand in his. “You’ve got me here. I am taking the night off. What will you do with me?”
    He picked her up in his arms. “Thinking I might do wicked things with you.”
    “What does wicked entail, Mr. Mackenzie?”
    Ian carried her as if she weighed nothing. She knew she was tiny, had always been short in height, although she wasn’t exactly petite. Her curves were thick, her breasts huge. She wasn’t a featherweight.
    “You’ll hurt yourself.”
    He kissed her forehead. “First, you pull me off the street to keep me from getting sick. Now, you’re worried about me injuring myself. I’m not old. Thirty-two