Getting over your first crush seems impossible - especially when he's the star of the world's biggest movie franchise.
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Jess Wheeler is happily single and perfectly content with her simple life in Hemlock Landing, South Carolina, where all she kn...
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My mother yelps and kneels on the floor as she tries to help Kayley come to, but I'm too shocked to do anything other than stare right at Bay's red carpet-ready face. Somehow, he's a million times more handsome in-person, even in a nondescript t-shirt and baseball cap – which totally isn't fair. But right now, those electric blue eyes are creased with worry and fixed on my unconscious sister.
"Is she okay?" He asks. "Should we call for help?"
"She's fine," I mutter, not even bothering to glance over my shoulder to check. I'm still staring at him like he's a hologram. Maybe he is. Maybe, if I put my hand out right now, it will move right through him. Without thinking, I test my theory, darting out my hand towards his forearm. And then I yank it back towards me faster than lightning when it meets warm skin.
Nope. Not a hologram. Totally real.
Which means I'm screwed.
My addled brain frantically searches for a detail to latch onto, and I suddenly ask, "Wait, we?"
"What?" Bay asks, and now he's looking at me like I'm an escapee from a mental institution.
"We. You said we." It's then, upon closer inspection, that I realize that Bay isn't alone. There's another man standing in the shadows at his side: a thin, tall man that appears to be of Indian descent. A bodyguard, maybe? He doesn't look particularly threatening...But I notice that he's carrying enough luggage to sink a large boat.
"Maybe let's talk about this after we know that your sister's okay," Bay says, his mouth falling into a hard line, and I suddenly feel like the worst sibling on planet Earth.
"R-right," I stutter, moving aside to let Bay and the (bodyguard? stranger?) into the lobby, where my mom is holding Kayley's head in her lap. Thankfully, I can see that Kayley is awake now and doesn't seem to be in any great pain, which sends a flood of relief through my entire body. But now she's just staring at Bay with saucer-wide eyes and a slack jaw – which probably isn't too far off from how I appeared just a few moments ago.
"Come on. You need to lie down and put ice on that head before it grows a lump the size of Mount Everest," my mother chides, leading Kayley upstairs to one of the guest rooms despite her insistent protests. I only have time to share a quick glance with my mother, during which I do my best to convey several questions, such as: You're really going to leave me alone with him? and When were you planning on telling me about this? and Would you hate me if I moved to Mars forever?
Unfortunately, she doesn't answer any of those questions as she sighs and disappears up the rickety stairs. And then I'm left alone. With him. And the posh man, who sets down the insane pile of luggage and turns his nose up as he examines every square inch of the historic B&B.I have to stop myself from snapping, What? Not glamorous enough for Hollywood's golden boy?
