Wilder

“Watch your step,” he said, offering his hand as we moved onto the ramp.

Okay, well maybe a little attracted.

I took his hand, more worried about falling on my face than anything else. His skin was warm, his grip firm on mine as we moved down the ramp. He let go, and I realized that we’d reached the bottom.

I hadn’t slipped or freaked about the height once. Miraculous.

“Thank you,” I said quietly.

“No problem,” he answered easily. “Look,” he started as we walked through the nearly empty terminal in the opposite direction of where I’d entered earlier today. “I want you to keep the suite, and it’s selfish, I know.”

“How is that selfish?” I asked, walking next to him.

“School’s never been easy for me. Ever. I need someplace quiet to study, and I’m hoping you’ll lend me your living room—and your brain—at night, that’s all. I made sure you were close to my room so I don’t have to go far, and I can’t exactly move you in with me without raising some eyebrows. I promise we’ll work out a schedule. I don’t expect you to be at my beck and call, but I’m going to need your help. A ton of your help.”

Beck and call? It’s like he’s in your brain. “You’re honestly that worried about your grades?”

“There is more than you could ever imagine riding on my grades right now. And, well, you have your work cut out for you.”

Before I could question him, Little John opened the door to a stairwell and ushered us straight to another elevator while he whistled. The doors dinged open, where a tall, lean, hot, equally tattooed guy leaned against the wall, wearing the same kind of harness as Paxton.

“Cutting the timing a little close, aren’t we, Wilder?” he called out, uncrossing his arms and openly glaring at me.

“Leah, this asshat is Landon, my best friend. Nova, meet Leah, my tutor.” He emphasized the last two words.

“Oh.” His eyebrows rose over crystal green eyes. “Nice to meet you, Leah. You ready for this?”

“I think so,” I answered. “As ready as you can be for a cruise around the world, right?”

His eyes narrowed, and he shot his gaze toward Paxton. “Wilder…”

Paxton sighed as the light moved from floor to floor with our ascent. “Leah, remember that whole nondisclosure agreement you signed to get your scholarship?”

“Sure. I signed an NDA about whomever I would tutor for their privacy.”

“Right. And the media release?”

My forehead puckered. There had been so many papers I’d signed. “The one that said I would release my image, video, that kind of thing for future promotion of the program as part of my scholarship agreement?”

Paxton winced. “Yeah, about that. We’re kind of making a documentary, and being my tutor, you’re probably going to show up in it a little.”

“A documentary? For video class or something? And by a little, you mean…”

He scratched the back of his neck. “A lot. I mean a lot. I’ll do my best to keep you out of the camera, but it’s going to happen. I mean, as long as you want to stay as my tutor, it will.”

I knew what he was saying: if I didn’t agree, I couldn’t be his tutor. Not being his tutor meant no scholarship, no cruise. No Mykonos. No Rachel.

Do it for her.

I pulled in a deep breath. “How long do I have to decide?”

“About twenty seconds,” Landon answered.

“What?” I shouted.

Paxton hit the emergency stop on the elevator. “You have as long as you need. But your answer is kind of holding up the departure of the ship.”

I rubbed the damp skin of my forehead and cursed my jeans for the thousandth time. It was only a little documentary. Who was possibly going to see it? The media club at whatever college he went to? “Okay, fine.”

He relaxed next to me and gave me a relieved smile as the elevator started to move again. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Besides, there wasn’t much interesting about me, anyway. I’d mostly be in the background.

The doors opened, and the cameras that met us were anything but amateur. They looked like they cost more than my parents’ cars. Oh. Shit.

“Pretend they’re not there,” Paxton whispered.

“Right. Because that’s possible.”

The cameras and crew moved out of our way as we walked onto what was obviously the top of the terminal’s tower. Glass walls greeted us, as well as at least a dozen people holding cameras, microphones, and lights. “This isn’t for your college media club, is it?” I asked quietly.

“No. It’s not.”

“Of course not,” I mumbled.

“You ready for this?” Landon asked a camera like it was a real person. He’d transformed instantly, from sulky to star, making me wonder which one was more the real him. “We’re about to kick off this worldwide spectacle.”

“What about you, Wilder?” the cameraman asked.

“I was born ready,” Paxton replied, his voice downright arrogant. He’d undergone the same transformation as Landon, oozing a cool, cocky persona that gave me whiplash.

“And who is your new flavor?” Someone in the crew laughed.

“Watch your mouth, Lance,” Paxton fired back, pointing his finger. “Leah is new to the Renegade family, and you might not realize it, but she’s got your job in her hands.”