Masquerade (29 page)
Authors: Janette Rallison
Tags: #Romance, #Clean & Wholesome, #Contemporary, #Romantic Comedy, #Teen & Young Adult, #Inspirational
“Clarissa, don’t you dare run away from me.”
So it was worse than she thought. He knew everything—no, not everything. Just enough to make her look despicable. She wanted to say, “I can explain.” But how could she? Instead, she turned and asked, “How did you know it was me?”
One of his eyebrows lifted. “Besides the fact that you’re white?”
“There are a lot of white girls who could fit into this costume.”
“I’ve been looking into your eyes for almost a week now. You thought I wouldn’t recognize them?”
“Oh.” She would have been flattered by this comment if she didn’t know that every other sentence in this conversation would be in the form of harsh criticism.
“You’re probably wondering why I kissed you,” she said.
He said something low under his breath, then walked over to where she stood. “I’m wondering why you lied to me about being married.”
“You know that
too? How long have you known?”
He
glanced at his watch. “For about three hours. Elaina told me how well she keeps secrets. She hasn’t told anyone about the ‘D force’.”
Was it anger she heard in his voice? Disappointment? Clarissa closed her eyes in an attempt to shut everything off. “I didn’t mean to lie to you. I
just needed the job, and the only reason the job interviewer even sent me to your house was because he knew Alex. I couldn’t tell him what a jerk Alex had turned out to be.”
“And you couldn’t tell me because?”
“I knew you’d be angry.”
“You knew I’d be angry?”
Slade repeated like it didn’t make any sense.
“And because I wasn’t sure it would matter to you in the way I wanted it to matter.”
He nodded, although she wasn’t sure if that meant he agreed it didn’t matter to him, or only that he understood why she’d done it. He held out a hand to indicate her costume. “And you decided to have a night out as Cat Woman because . . . ?”
“I wanted to find out how you felt about me.”
“You were going to accomplish that by pretending to be a completely different woman?”
“Well, it made sense when Meredith suggested it.”
“And exactly what did you do with the real Kim? Is she tied up in a coat closet or something?”
Clarissa
couldn’t tell whether he was teasing or not. “Um, no. She had to attend to an algae bloom off the Gulf of Mexico.”
Slade folded his arms and stared at her with an expression she couldn’t discern.
“I was going to tell you eventually,” she said. “I was just waiting for the right time.” Then, because she really longed to be free of it, she unsnapped her mask from where it attached to the rest of the suit. She pulled it off and ran her fingers through her damp hair in an attempt to revive it. Softly she said, “I’m sorry, Slade.”
He watched her, arms still folded, and didn’t speak.
“Will you please say something?” she asked.
“All right,” he said. “I can’t believe it, but I think
AJ was right about my script. At this moment I have absolutely no desire to discuss the meaning of life.”
“I don’t know what you
’re talking about,” Clarissa said. And then a bit more defensively added, “But would you like to comment on the fact that you knew who I was and kissed me several times anyway?”
He stepped slowly toward her.
“Those were for each of the times over the last week that I wanted to kiss you and then went back to my room and told myself I was going to hell.”
“Oh,” she said
. “I’m sorry. I mean, I’m sorry about deceiving you. If it’s any consolation, I can’t tell you how many times I went to my room feeling miserable because I had lied to you.”
He still stared at her, a
smile on his lips. “Come here,” he told her. “I’m still about seventeen kisses short.”
And so she came to him and set the balance straight.
* * *
By the time Slade and Clarissa walked back toward the hotel, she felt light-headed and enveloped in happiness. She had to keep herself from giggling
and acting like a teenager out on her first date. Before they went into the hotel, they both put their masks back on. Slade helped her tuck stray pieces of hair into hers, kissed her again, then took her hand and they went inside.
“Do you want to skip the rest of the party?” he asked.
She gazed around at the people in their costumes. It was too noisy and there were too many people around. “Yeah, I think I’m done wearing masks for awhile.”
Her comment made him smile.
Once they were in the elevator, Slade said, “Let’s change and take a walk on the beach.”
It sounded like a p
erfectly romantic thing to do, and she still couldn’t quite believe that Slade wanted to do it with her. “What about my rental car?” she asked. “It’s still at the Sunset Park Motel.”
He squeezed her hand. “The nice thing about being me is that I have super powers.
Well, actually what I have is staff—in this case, the hotel staff that I can pay to drive your car to the rental company.”
She squeezed his hand back. “It’s awesome to be you.”
“I’ve always thought so.” His smile dimmed a little then. “Although I probably should warn you what it’s like to date a celebrity.” He sighed and didn’t speak for a moment. The door of the elevator opened and they walked out, making their way to their rooms.
“I know you have a busy filming schedule,” Clarissa said. “Meredith told me.”
“That’s not what I meant.” His fingers were casually intertwined with hers, as though they had been holding hands all week. “Once people know about us, you’ll constantly have to worry about who might be taking your picture, what the entertainment sites will say about you—and I’ll tell you right now, it doesn’t matter what you wear, somebody will hate it.”
“I’ll manage,” Clarissa said.
“That’s not the worst of it,” Slade said. “People will come out of the woodwork wanting favors from you. Anybody you ever knew who has any interest in acting, celebrities, or who needs money for their cause will contact you asking for something.” They had reached her room, but she didn’t get her key card out. She took her mask off again, still listening to Slade’s list. “Then when those people are done, complete strangers will start asking. Trust me, you’ll be better off if you just get an unlisted phone number right now.”
“You haven’t scared me off yet.”
He peeled off his mask. “You’ll also have to be on the lookout for paparazzi. You have no idea what some people are like.”
“Um, actually I do.” Clarissa
filled him in about Sylvia, telling him everything down to her fake note.
Slade listened to her, incredulous, and then couldn’t stop laughing.
“So anyway,” Clarissa finished up. “I know how bad reporters can be. I’ve learned my lesson.”
“Well, somebody has,”
Slade said and bent down to kiss her again.
They were still standing like that when
Landon’s voice interrupted them. “Sure, she’s just the nanny.”
Clarissa turned and saw him
down the hallway walking toward his room. “I knew all along that wasn’t the truth,” Landon called to them, then went in his room shaking his head.
Epilogue
The next fall when Bella started kindergarten, she had a mother to drop her off. Her father came too, as well as Elaina, who was teary-eyed because Bella was a big girl now and Elaina still wasn’t.
“You get to go to preschool
, though,” Slade told her brightly. “Preschool is lots of fun.”
“And you get to be mommy’s helper around the house,” Clarissa added.
Elaina frowned, unconvinced.
Bella flitted around her desk, looking at the things
. “And you get to help mom wait for the new baby,” she told Elaina.
Slade
glanced around the room to see who had overheard that statement. The kindergarten teacher and several parents were smiling approvingly. “Bella,” Slade said in a low voice, “we weren’t going to say anything about the baby for awhile, remember?”
Clarissa just laughed.
Slade had been right during their first meeting when he’d told her that people with children couldn’t have secrets. But that was okay. She didn’t need a mask anymore.
The End
About the Author
Janette Rallison has
five children, all of whom have embarrassed her at one time or another with the comments they’ve made in public. Two recurring favorites through the years have been, “How come that man’s teeth are so yellow?” and “Why is that lady so fat?”
It all works out in the end though, because now her children are teenagers, which means that everything she says in public somehow embarrasses them.
Janette likes to write romances—because she’s always been a romantic at heart, and, hey, where else do you get the chance to use the words wry and brooding?
If you enjoyed this book, you'll enjoy Janette's YA romantic comedies and action romances. Follow the links below:
Other Titles by Janette Rallison
Blue Eyes and Other Teenage Hazards
A Longtime (and at One Point Illegal) Crush
Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Free Throws
Playing The Field
(humorous middle grade)
All’s Fair in Love, War, and High School
Fame, Glory, and Other Things on my To Do List
How to Take The Ex Out of Ex-boyfriend
Slayers
(under pen name CJ Hill)
Slayers: Friends and Traitors
(under pen name CJ Hill)
Erasing Time
(under pen name CJ Hill)
Echo in Time
(under pen name CJ Hill)
What the Doctor Ordered
(under pen name Sierra St. James)