“Yeah we need to be at the boat in an hour and twenty minutes,” I confirmed, looking at my watch. She turned her back on me and walked out of the bathroom. Once I was alone, I closed my eyes and prayed with all my heart that she was strong enough to let herself love me. I’d wait as long as it took.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
~ Anna ~
I felt slightly awkward after the talk, or I should really call it the ‘non-talk’ because he knew what I was going to say before I opened my mouth. Frankly, I was grateful, because saying the words would have felt like cutting my heart out. We fell back into the usual friendly routine pretty easily as we packed and joked around and he seemed to snap his business head back on as soon as we stepped out of the villa with our luggage. He was making sure I was close to his side and moving me so I was half a step behind him. The chilled and relaxed version of the bodyguard was completely gone now. I missed him already.
The flight was good. Long, but good. After hours and hours of doing nothing on a plane, we finally touched down. The stewardess came up to us immediately. “Excuse me, sir, I have Dean Michaels on the phone for you,” she said to Ashton, leaning closer to him than necessary and putting her hand on his shoulder. I tried my hardest not to get jealous, but I just couldn’t help it.
“Stay right there, Anna,” he instructed, looking at me sternly. I fought a smile; he really was sexy when he was all bossy like that. I nodded and he hurried off to the front wall of the plane, not taking his eyes from me once as he spoke quietly on the phone. He pulled out his cell from his pocket and looked at it, frowning. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but he looked worried and slightly annoyed. After a minute or so he came over to me, his eyes tight with stress. “Right, Baby Girl, there are some reporters waiting for us just outside arrivals. Apparently, the paparazzi found out where we were staying, and somehow they’ve gotten hold of some photos of us on the beach,” he explained, watching me as if I was about to go into meltdown.
“Okay, and?” I prompted, waiting for him to continue. There had to be more, this wasn’t enough for him to look this troubled.
He sighed deeply, running a hand through his hair. “They know about the names we booked in under, and there have been a couple of stories in the papers today about our secret wedding,” he stated uncomfortably. “I’m sorry we’ve only just found out but my cell’s not working,” he said apologetically.
I gulped as every hair on my body stood on end. My mind was whirling a mile a minute. The air in the cabin seemed to be getting thicker as I looked at Ashton with wide eyes. “Why would they even print that? It’s not true! They can’t print stuff that’s not true!”
He sighed and cupped my cheek gently. “I don’t know, Anna. They’re paid to sell papers, that’s all. Everything’s fine. We’ll get all of this sorted out. All we need to do is show them we’re not wearing wedding rings,” he smiled reassuringly as he took my hand. “Dean and Peter are meeting us at the gate. Our bags will be collected after, so all we need to do is get to the car. Apparently there are a lot of reporters.”
I nodded in acknowledgment, trying not to worry as he led me out of the plane. As soon as we stepped out of the exit tunnel and into the arrivals lounge, Dean and Peter strutted over to us quickly. Both of them were wearing a professional black suit and white shirt, and looked every inch of secret service agents.
“Hey, happy new year,” I greeted, forcing a smile.
“Happy new year,” they both replied.
Then it was down to business. They both looked to Ashton for guidance. Although they took a couple of steps away from me, I could still hear them planning. My name was mentioned a couple of times, but I tuned them out and looked out over the runway, watching the planes line up and taxi along the tarmac as I tried not to panic.
After a minute or two, Ashton’s hand closed over mine, squeezing gently. “Okay, we’re ready to go. The reporters are just outside the lounge so we have to walk past them to get to the car out front. You stay with me. I’ve called in Airport security; they’re going to walk us to the car too. If there are any problems, then you go with Dean,” he ordered in his stern SWAT voice.
I smiled and nodded as six burly security guys stepped through the side door, they walked over and Ashton relayed the plan again before nodding for one of them to open the double exit doors.
As soon as the door opened, all I could see was flashing lights. People were shouting our names from all directions. It was almost deafening. Ashton’s arm snaked around my waist tightly. “Everything’s fine,” he whispered. As one, the airport security, my two far guards, and Ashton and I took a few steps out of the door. I tried to smile, but the thirty or so cameras and reporters were overwhelming. Some of them were even on stepladders and chairs so that they could get a better shot.
My mouth went dry as Ashton smiled down at me reassuringly. It all went quiet for about two seconds and then the questions started all at once, people shouting louder and louder, trying to be heard over the din. The questions were all jumbled into one, but were all essentially the same. “Were we married? What was the ceremony like? What designer did I wear? Were we going to sell the photos? What did my father think?” It was endless.
Ashton held up one hand and they all stopped talking immediately. “Anna and I aren’t married. We went on vacation, that’s all. We changed her name to get a little privacy. It was a private joke between the two of us, this is all a misunderstanding,” he said calmly. People immediately started shouting questions at the same time so all we could hear was a buzz of noise. He held up his hand again. “Look, we’ll answer some questions, I guess, but you need to go one at a time,” he suggested, laughing.