“Then you’d be dead and we’d both be happy?” Sucking in a deep breath, I turned to face him. “I’m so sorry. Stress and hunger are not my friends, and they make me into some kind of she-demon who says really inappropriate things. I didn’t mean what I just said. That was awful. I don’t want you to die. And if you do have a peanut allergy, I would . . . I don’t know, stop eating and hold my breath. I’d call an ambulance and I’d try to find you an EpiPen. Do you have a peanut allergy?” My pulse was pounding. He was annoying, but I didn’t want to actually hurt him. Or anyone else. I zipped my clutch back up.

His eyes twinkled at me. Like, literally sparkled with delight. “No.”

Now I was mad that I’d apologized to him when he’d obviously said it just to make me freak out and be sad about the thought of him dying. Because I would be very sad. In part because then they couldn’t film a much-needed sequel to Duel of the Fae where Aliana Morningsong goes to the Realm Beyond Realms to rescue Malec from death.

“You have chocolate on you. There.”

Noah pointed toward my neck and reached forward with his massive hand, and I actually backed up as far as I could in my seat. “Dude, don’t touch me.”

He seemed surprised by my reaction and held both hands up, like I was mugging him. A cameraman noticed the movement and turned toward us.

“Put your hands down,” I hissed as I ran my fingers along my collarbone, trying to figure out where the chocolate was. I found it, a pool of brown liquid. My skin was still flushed from interacting with Noah, and the chocolate had probably melted on contact. I didn’t know if I’d actually cleaned it off or if I’d just made the mess worse.

“Are you always like this or is it just something I’ve brought out in you?”

I glared at him as my response. And even though I didn’t want to, I asked, “Did I get it?”

He shrugged one shoulder. “More or less.”

More or less? What? Was I covered in chocolate or not? A bolt of anger pierced my gut. I really was going to end up in jail tonight for having attacked a movie star.

Ralph Ramsey, who I had completely forgotten about, finished his speech, and everyone around us gave him a standing ovation, cheering and clapping. It took me a second to get myself together enough to rise up and do the same. And I noticed again how tall Noah was, how broad and masculine. He had to be six three, six four. I was the girl who joked about being five twelve, and he made me feel like I wasn’t the tallest person in the room.