She gave it to him, and her phone dinged a moment later with a confirmation email for the flight from Toronto to Washington, D.C.
He gave her a long look, then leaned back in his chair. “What else do I need to know?”
Good Lord, where to begin? “I assume ‘nothing’ is not an acceptable answer.”
“Probably not a helpful one, anyway.”
“Mmm.” She screwed up her face and thought about what happened in Savannah. He’d find out eventually, and if he knew now, it would be better. “My ex is hyper-critical of me.”
He lifted one eyebrow. “And?”
“We had a run in at my last show. About my next album. He showed up unexpectedly and…And then…I don’t know. Something happened. I’m afraid it might happen again in front of Track and that terrifies me.”
“What happened?”
The words caught in her throat and she shook her head.
His eyes softened.
Damn it. She didn’t want his sympathy. “I freaked out. It was…weird.” The words were hard to say.
He just nodded. “Can you describe it?”
Did she have to? “I don’t want to make a bigger deal about it than it is.”
“I’m sure you won’t.”
“Maybe it was a small panic attack? Something like that. I couldn’t think about anything other than escaping, which is crazy, because my tour is…fine.”
He nodded. “Has anything like this happened before?”
“Not on tour.”
“But at other times?”
“Once or twice.” She was understating it, but she didn’t want to dig into the uncomfortable memories that had only really resurfaced in the last few days. Overwhelming freak-outs around the breakup. Not being able to breathe at the first award show she had to attend where she knew Track would be there, too.
His frown deepened when she didn’t elaborate.
“It’s just that it’s really not that big a deal. Most of the time I’m totally fine. You asked me what I needed you to do. Honestly? I just need someone to stand between me and the noise on the fourth. I don’t need—” She thought of Hope and her family. “The rest of the time, it would be pretty light bodyguard duties.”
“I can do that. And anything you tell me is strictly between us. I won’t even tell Hope. You can trust me—and you don’t need to take my word on that. I’ll do my best to prove it to you as we go forward.”
He was so earnest. And all she could think was, yeah, I trust you, you’re obviously a nice guy…but I don’t need this. She swallowed hard around that thought. Because she did need him—at least for one day. “I don’t know how it’s worked with other clients, but I’m looking for a very limited level of protection.”
“Against Track.” He said that like it was reasonable, like she wasn’t crazy to fear such a beloved personality, and unexpected hope sparked in her chest.
“I guess…although I don’t even know what that would look like. He’s…”
“You need someone to run interference with your ex, and everyone who orbits around him, oblivious to how much of a jackass he is because he looks good in a Stetson and can pack arenas.”
Nailed it almost in one. “Exactly. Except he wears a baseball hat.”
He made a face. “How modern.”
That made her laugh, and with the warm, rolling chuckle, more of the tension she’d been holding tight inside her fell away.
“We’ve got a day and a half before we need to leave for Washington. Let’s use them wisely. Teach me everything I need to know about managing bro-country’s biggest star. And what I’ll find on tour, other things that might be stressing you out…we’ve got this, Liana. It’s going to be fine.”
