He could give her Christmas, however—and he intended to do just that. “There’s no rush. Take the time you need. You’ll know when you’re ready.”

She nodded as though she was relieved that she had the respite she needed.

But as soon as they pulled up to the gate at Maxi’s place, they found Kouretas, sitting in his car, waiting for them.

Seventeen

Tia’s heart began to pound the second she saw the man blocking Maxi’s driveway. He was wearing a fedora and sheltering his camera inside a heavy trench coat as he got out into the rain. “Oh no,” she said, almost involuntarily.

Seth’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t worry. I’ll get rid of him.” After putting the car in Park, he climbed out and slammed the door.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she heard him say, his voice dim but audible. “You can’t block the driveway.”

Kouretas said something in return. Tia couldn’t make it out, but it must not have been nice, because Seth exploded, “Get the hell off the property!”

“I’m not on anyone’s property,” Kouretas argued, words Tia could hear because he was now raising his voice, too. “I can be here. Anyone can be here. This is a public easement.”

Tia didn’t want Seth to have to deal with this. Kouretas was her problem. Her hand lifted to the door latch, but other members of the paparazzi had harassed her so much at her condo that the prospect of confronting this guy made her sick inside. Even when she was ready to bear the shame and humiliation of allowing her new face to grace magazines everywhere, she hoped she wouldn’t have to do it with this guy. That he would threaten her sanctuary when she needed it most angered her too much.

Seth pointed at Kouretas’s car and stalked menacingly toward him. But, surprisingly, Kouretas didn’t back off. He stood his ground and started gesticulating while shouting that he wasn’t doing anything wrong and there wasn’t anything Seth could do about him being where he was, regardless.

It got so bad that Tia felt she had no choice except to get out. It wasn’t fair to make Seth deal with the situation. What if the two men got into a fight? Seth hadn’t signed up for anything like this.

After making sure her face was covered, she opened the door. “Go,” she yelled at Kouretas before it could get any worse, but the bottom of the scarf got caught by the door as she came around it, yanking it down for a moment, and she could tell he caught a glimpse of her cheek because his eyes went wide.

“Holy shit!” he said. “Your face is fucked up.”