But that wasn’t good enough. He couldn’t just walk out on his own accord. Heather was determined to finally make a stand where her father was concerned. Laying it on him had been cathartic, but she craved more. She wanted him banned from the hotel, thrown out on his ass. Wanted photographers to take his picture and report the situation so that maybe, just maybe, her public would understand who he was and make it harder for him to find her again.

Wow. Wasn’t that a complete one-eighty from the woman she’d been before?

Before Seth.

Thank God security arrived before she had to explain her thoughts to the baby-faced bellhop/hero in her suite. And with them was Lexie.

When Lexie saw Dean, she dropped the bag of Cheetos and the bottle of Diet Coke and ran to Heather’s side. “Oh my God! Are you okay? I shouldn’t have left you!”

Heather stared at the pop bottle as it rolled down the hall. “I guess I’ll wait on drinking the Diet Coke.”

“She’s in shock,” Lexie exclaimed to the hotel manager. “I think she’s in shock. Heather, are you in shock?”

“I don’t think so.” She was still shaking from her outburst, but other than that, she felt pretty damn good. She’d stood up for herself—stood up to her father. She’d been scared as shit, but then she let herself go and now she felt invincible. Now she could do anything.

The security guard and hotel manager had Dean out of her room within minutes. Heather smiled to herself when she caught the bellhop taking a picture of the scene on his smartphone. If her father wanted what she had, why shouldn’t he have the press that went with it?

After the door clicked and the lock was bolted, Lexie buzzed around with adrenaline. “I can’t believe he was here! I can’t believe he found you. He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“Shook me up a little, but that’s all.” Actually, Lexie seemed more disturbed by the event than Heather did.

“I’ll get on the phone and see if I can get us a flight out of here tonight.” Lexie sat down at the suite’s desk and opened up her laptop. “We can forget the plays—they’ll understand; stars cancel last minute all the time—and just get home.”

Here it was—the perfect opportunity to get out of seeing Seth. But for some reason, when she opened her mouth to answer, what came out was, “No.”

“No?”

“No, I want to stay.” The thing was, Dean’s appearance had showed her something fascinating about herself—she was strong. Stronger than she’d ever realized. “I’m fine. I’m more than fine. I feel great.”

“Do you really want to have to deal with all this and Seth?” Lexie swiveled and leaned on the back of the desk chair. “You don’t have to put up a brave front. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have signed you up for this. Not when I knew he’d be here. It was a bad, bad idea on my part and I—”

“Yeah, I think I do.” Heather interrupted. “Want to deal with this and Seth, I mean. It’s not going to be easy, but I can see him. He didn’t break me. Hell, if Dean didn’t break me, I don’t think anyone could.”

Lexie paused. Then with dramatic flair, she shut her laptop. “Damn straight!”

“It’s settled then. We’re staying.” Heather couldn’t stop smiling as she curled up on the couch to eat her Cheetos and drink her Diet Coke. She was proud of her decision. It wasn’t often that she felt empowered.

And working with Seth would be fine. He would be absorbed with his building and carpentry anyway. She knew him well enough to know he’d respect however she wanted things to be between them. She wouldn’t have to see him or talk to him if she didn’t want to.

And, hell, maybe she even wanted to.

Chapter Twenty-One

Check-in at the 24-Hour Plays went a lot smoother than it had in L.A. since Heather had Lexie to help her fill out her forms. Which was almost a bad thing. Heather was anxious and without anything to keep her occupied, her anxiety increased.

She sat on the lobby bench next to Lex, her foot swinging as she looked over her assistant’s shoulder. “Put eight there. This is the eighth time I’ve done the plays.”

“Yep.” Lexie filled in the blank with the appropriate number.

“And list that I was the spokesperson last time. You can put that right there.”

Lexie looked up and glared. “Do you want to fill this out yourself?”

“No, that’s your job.”

Turning so it was harder for Heather to see what she was writing, Lexie resumed her task. “Then go smoke a cigarette or something.”

“I don’t smoke.”

“Maybe you need to start because you’re bugging the shit out of me.”

“Fine.” Heather crossed her arms and put on her best pout. No one saw it, though. Lexie was buried in the forms and no one else in the lobby was paying her any attention.

For the fiftieth time that evening, Heather scanned the small crowd. The Urban Arts volunteers who were running the check-in all wore black T-shirts in order to be easily distinguishable. Heather recognized a fair number of the actors and directors. But there was one face she kept expecting that still hadn’t appeared. What time was the crew supposed to arrive? Weren’t they there before the actors? Where in the hell was he?

Without looking up, Lexie said, “You’re looking for him.”

“No, I’m not!” Of course, that was exactly what she was doing, and her quick answer proved it. She twirled a piece of hair around her finger and attempted a recovery. “Looking for who?”

Her assistant sighed. “If you want to see him, you should just go find him.”

“I don’t want to see anyone.” There was no way in hell she was searching him out.

But she also couldn’t sit anymore. It was driving her insane. Across the lobby was a familiar face. “I changed my mind. Because the person I was looking for is right over there.” She stood and pointed toward the actor she knew. “And I’m going to go see him right now.”

“Fine. Good riddance.”

Heather rolled her eyes as she traipsed away. Was it only a few short hours ago that they’d been bonding? Now she wanted to smack Lexie. She was supposed to be her support system. Her help.

God, she needed help.

Where was Seth? Had he decided not to show? And why did she care?

The actor she knew was flipping through screens on his smartphone and didn’t notice her approach.