ALEXANDRA’s fingers went numb around the guardrail of the hospital bed. The beeps coming from the medical equipment seemed to get louder around her. Her father inhaled and exhaled long, deep breaths from the oxygen mask. It was a bad case of déjà vu. This couldn’t be happening again.

The doctor walked in during her slow-burn panic attack. He smiled softly when he saw her. She braced herself. She didn’t want to fall apart now.

“Ah, Mr. Roberts,” he said pleasantly. “It’s good to see you again, although I wish it were under different circumstances. Have a seat. We can go over your uncle’s radiographs so you can see what we’re up against.” He settled on a round stool and gestured to the chair at his side.

She took a seat. She was slightly embarrassed. She looked like a kid, the way she was dressed. Sebastian’s things hung off her small frame. She felt like a kid too. She was out of her element. There was no one here to tell her what to do—no manager, no entourage, no image team or the label busybodies who did the grunt work. Rosa wasn’t here either. If she were here as Lexxi Rock, she could probably breeze into the hospital in a designer pantsuit looking like she could buy the building, and would have her ‘people’ take care of everything. As Lexxi, no one would think twice if she broke down and had a bona fide crying spell, given everything that had happened.

She wasn’t here as Lexxi. She was Alex. It wouldn’t go over well if she cried. Not only did she have a role to play to protect her father’s privacy, she had an obligation to stay in character. She needed to step up and take charge of this disaster, and see what could be done to salvage this mess. It was her job to take care of Dad. The house caught on fire right under her nose. As much as she told herself bad things happened sometimes, she felt guilty about all of it.

She sat up straight, and lowered the tenor of her voice. “How bad is it, doctor?”

She took a breath and braced for the worst. The doctor snapped two x-rays up on a little white screen and pointed to some hazy, splotchy areas on the film.

“The smoke inhalation has caused some inflammation. That will affect his already strained respiratory system.”

“What does it mean?”

“It means your uncle needs to be re-admitted. We’ll keep him here for some time to monitor his condition. His pneumonia could worsen, or it may not. There’s no way to tell at this point. Mr. Storme is a fighter. He’s already shown us that. The important thing is to keep him here, where he can stabilize and get the medical attention he needs. The house isn’t habitable, correct?”

“That’s right, I think. I don’t really know what happened.” She dropped her head. “I was there. I slept right through it, but his neighbor is a firefighter. He saw the smoke. He saved us.”

“You may have a guardian angel looking out for you. Thank goodness it didn’t reach his oxygen tank.”

She thought of Bash, and then her mom. A tearful smile wavered on her lips. “Yes.”

“His condition could have been much worse if he hadn’t gotten out when he did. The duration of his exposure to smoke was short. That gives us hope. He’s in good hands here, son.”

Alexandra nodded gratefully. “Thank you, doctor. I appreciate it. Do you have any idea on how long he’ll have to stay this time?”

“At the very least, I’d say a few days. Probably a week. They’ll have a private room ready for him within the hour.”

“Thank you.”

“You’ve both been through a lot. You should get some rest. Your uncle will be sleeping a while with the medication I’ve prescribed. I’ve also had the nurse administer a cough suppressant to relax his lungs. If you need to make arrangements for yourself, you might want to go ahead and take care of that now. ”

“I will.”

“If you’d like, leave a phone number with the nurse. We’ll contact you when he’s moved to his room.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

The doctor left shortly afterward. The prognosis wasn’t as dire as she feared. Soon, her pounding heart calmed down.

“Once again, you beat the odds, Dad,” she whispered to him.

This scene was too familiar. He looked exactly the way he did when she first came in from LA to see him. She stroked his hand.

“I can’t leave now, not with you back in here. Is it a sign? Maybe I’m not meant to go back to LA.”

With a long sigh, she kissed him good night and told him she would be back soon. Bash was waiting for her when she returned to the waiting room.

“You probably think I have got the worst luck in the world,” she said when she joined him.

He looked up at her with a smile and retracted his long legs, sitting up in the chair. She plopped down next to him.

“Or the best luck in the world,” he replied. “Everything happens for a reason. I’m glad you and your uncle made it out of there.”

He suggested they were destined to meet each other. The very idea was scary and exciting at the same time. Bash had been there for her in the past few weeks. He had kept her company, and kept her from going insane with worry about her father. Alexandra showed up in Tucson intent on escaping her crazy yet lonely LA life, and had a perfect friendship placed right in her lap.

The appreciation rushed over her as she looked into his handsome face, the chiseled slant of his jaw, the glint of gold in his hair, and his dark eyes searching hers. Appreciation…and desire that she needed to get a handle on right now. Butterflies crowded her stomach. She got ready to say what needed to be said.

“Bash, there’s something I have to tell you,” she blurted out.

She had to do it. She would tell him now. He needed to know who she was. She was so tired of keeping him at arm’s length with her disguise. If he hated her forever after this, at least she would know she didn’t lie to him. There was always the possibility she was wrong about him. Maybe he was not…

Bash quietly slipped his fingers around hers and rubbed his thumb along her inner palm. Those butterflies inside her turned into a hurricane. He leaned towards her like they were the only people in the waiting room. They might as well have been. Everything else was a fuzzy haze. He had her completely undone.

“Yes?” he whispered.

His lips were so close, and all she wanted to do was taste them. She shifted in her chair. Bash was once again coming on to ‘Alex’, the guy. She squeezed her eyes shut, and lost her resolve. She eased her hand away from him and sat back.

“I need a place to stay,” she told him instead.

Where the hell did that come from?

“I can’t afford a hotel,” she lied. “My wallet, ID and credit cards were in the house.”

That part wasn’t a lie. She couldn’t check into a hotel. All that would do was leave an obvious trail to Lexxi Rock. It was the reason she didn’t rent a car when she first got here. The paparazzi were often tipped off by hotel and car rental staff, no matter how discreet the institution claimed to be. An idea was taking shape. This was her chance to find out if Bash was really into her, not Alex. With only maybe another week or two with him, she could take her time to make the reveal. After that, she would make good on her promise to Rick and fly back to Los Angeles.

“Did you just say you want to stay at my place?” Bash asked, with a shocked expression on his face.

“I know. It’s a big ask, bro, but I don’t have a lot of alternatives right now. It’s only a few days, maybe a couple weeks at most. It will take a week or so to get my cards and ID replaced. I can’t fly back home until I’m sure my uncle will be fine. If I can crash on your couch, or wherever, it would help a lot. I won’t be a bother. I’ll be here at the hospital most of the time.”

She started to question her request before he answered. Bash had been the source of several heated dreams. She fantasized about the man enough already.

Can I handle living in the same place with Bash, even for a couple of weeks?

Am I asking too much of him? Of myself?

She remembered she didn’t have a choice. Rosa lived in a tiny one-bedroom condo on the other side of town. If she checked into a hotel after her cards were replaced, it would be as Lexxi, and that would be it. Cover blown, paparazzo invasion inevitable.

“Hey. It’s fine. I don’t mind, Alex,” he said. “There’s lots of room.”

Bash tapped on her shoulder to cut into her jumbled thoughts. “Hey. Don’t look so worried. It’s just a few days, right? A week or two?”

“Yes,” she said softly.

A few days…sleeping in the same house…with Bash.

God help me.