"Hollywood isn't my world. This is. When things get crazy, or when I need to remind myself what's real and what's smoke and mirrors, this is where I come."

Raine stood behind Emily, his hands resting on her shoulders. She gazed out over the sparkling lake in front of them, relishing the breeze that danced on her skin and lifted her hair away from her face.

"Can we stay here forever?" she asked, watching the waves lap to the shore. She was only partly kidding.

Raine laughed. "I think you'd change your mind about forever once you got a taste of winter. Forty below zero is a real thing here."

"I'll take my chances." She covered his hands with hers.

Emily knew they would only be here tonight and tomorrow night, and then they had to go back to L.A. Raine had his premiere, and she had a freelance assignment due. She also had Zeeked to update when she ran out of her already-written-and-scheduled posts. Raine knew it, too, and he squeezed her hand.

He hadn't told Emily where he planned to take her when he'd left her apartment yesterday. He had called her a few hours later, instructing her to pack a bag for a couple of nights and telling her it would be an early travel day. He'd arrived at her place in his Escalade before the sun had come up this morning, and they'd been on the road before the first hint of dawn had painted the horizon. Emily had thought they would be going to Lake Tahoe or somewhere in Big Sur, so when Raine had driven them to an airfield somewhere close to LAX, it had caught her by surprise.

Raine had spoken to someone who'd been waiting there for them, and then they'd been escorted onto a small private jet. Emily hadn't been able to stop herself from gaping at the plane as she had walked up its steps. She'd never been on a private jet before, and it had seemed a world away from economy class on a commercial airline.

"This is... wow." Emily had been at a loss for words as they'd entered the aircraft and she'd looked around the cabin. There were seats that looked more like upscale living room recliners, along with a sectional sofa. She had also spotted a bar.

"I might have called in a favor," Raine had said as he'd sat down in one of the leather-upholstered seats.

She'd sat next to him, sinking into the soft cushion of her seat, and had been unable to help feeling a twinge of guilt at what it must have taken to arrange their getaway and how much it must have cost, favor or not.

"This won't make it onto Wally's radar," Raine had told her. "The crew has a non-disclosure agreement. They're paid not to talk about who flies with them and where they take them."

That hadn't done much for her guilt. Raine had somehow arranged to fly them somewhere far away from L.A., and he'd thought she was preoccupied by who knew and what they'd say about it. Not that she hadn't given him every reason in the world to think that.

"I'm not worried about the crew saying anything," she had replied. "I'm thinking about what this must have taken to set up. This is a lot more than a road trip somewhere in the Escalade."

"Hey." He'd reached for her hand and laced his fingers with hers. "I'm due for some time where we're going. It's where I go to get away from everything and clear my head. I wanted to share it with you."

Northeastern Minnesota was the location Raine had given her when she asked where they were going. They'd landed in Duluth, where there had been a car waiting that Raine had somehow already had the keys to. He'd expertly navigated through the streets, taking them to a highway that ran along the shore of Lake Superior. It hadn't been long before he'd turned off the highway and onto a side road that was nestled among a thick layer of trees.

And now they were here, standing by the lake in front of a house Emily hadn't yet seen the inside of. Loons called to each other, the sound carrying across the water. Before now, Emily had only ever heard their call on nature soundtracks that were popular at spas.

"I'm going to bring our bags into the house," Raine told her. "You can stay here, if you'd like. It won't take me long."

"I'll come with you." She took one more look out over the lake, then turned in the direction from which they'd come.

They walked away from the shore and up a small hill, back to where they'd parked the car. It didn't take long to grab their bags. Raine led the way to the house, where he unlocked the door and let Emily enter ahead of him.

She wasn't sure what she had expected, but she immediately sensed the house belonged to Raine and not to a friend or family member. She recognized some of the photos on the walls as copies of ones she'd seen at his house in L.A. The furniture looked similar, too.

"Welcome to my other home, two-thousand miles away from the Hollywood Hills." Raine set their bags on the floor. "It's where I bail to when I've had enough of industry execs. Are you hungry?"

"Famished," she admitted. All she'd eaten today was a cereal bar before Raine had picked her up this morning. Both of them had dozed off during the flight, missing the chance for a meal.

Raine took her hand and led her into a modern-looking kitchen that had quartz countertops and stainless steel appliances. He pulled open the refrigerator door. Emily was surprised to see cartons and containers inside of it, along with fresh fruit.

"Question?" she asked.

"What's that?" He reached into the fridge for a carton of eggs.

"How did all the food get here before we did?"

He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Magic. Want an omelet?"

"Will magic food give me magic powers?"

Raine put the eggs on the counter, then faced her. "You already have those. I've been under your spell for weeks."

"What happens if it makes my magic powers stronger?"

"Then I'm a goner," he told her, kissing the top of her head. "A ridiculously glad and willing one, though."

She ducked her head, but she was smiling. "So much flattery," she kidded. "I almost believe you about the food."

"Almost?"

"You're amazing, but I'm not buying that you're a wizard or that all this appeared out of nowhere."

"Fine, be a skeptic then." Raine opened a cupboard and pulled out a frying pan. "The much more boring reason is I asked my sister if she could grab a few things from the grocery store and drop them off here. She has a key since I'm not here most of the time."

"Is your sister also how the car you had a key for magically got to the airport?"

He contorted his face into a pained expression. "You're really killing the mystique here, you know. How am I going to impress you now?"

"All that stuff you're pulling out for the omelets looks pretty impressive. Keep going with that." Her stomach growled, right on cue.

"Best omelet you'll ever have," he promised.

She watched him heat up the frying pan. "Does your sister live close by?" Emily wasn't sure why that surprised her. She knew he had a sister, but she'd assumed she also lived somewhere in southern California.

"Most of my family lives here," he said. "Lilah visits L.A. with her husband and my niece and nephew sometimes, but they live just a few miles from here. We're invited over for dinner tomorrow if we feel up to it."

He didn't phrase it as a question. Still, from the way his eyes searched hers, she knew it was. That reminded her of why they were here.

Emily had done a lot of thinking last night while she'd pulled clothes out of her closet and had decided what to pack. What she'd felt over the last few days was something she couldn't deny. She wanted Raine to be a big part of her life, and she wanted to be a big part of his. That meant trusting the people who Raine was close to and trusted, without question.

"I'd love to meet them," she answered. It was the truth.

"I'll tell her." Raine poured the eggs into the pan. "Thank you," he added. Emily heard the happiness in his voice.

This was one step forward, at least. The next one—the one that had to do with millions of people and how much they knew about both of their lives—was the elephant in the room they still had to deal with.

* * *

They didn't talk about it over the next few hours, though. After they ate, they'd put their bags away, and Raine had taken her out to the lake again. When Emily revealed she'd never been canoeing or fishing, she had honestly wondered if his mind would explode from wondering how that was possible. Growing up in Silicon Valley, though, the land of venture capital and technology everything, the closest Emily had gotten to baiting a hook and using a fishing rod had been playing one of her brother's fishing video games after losing a round of rock, paper, scissors once.

Raine decided this had to change, and had taken her out on the water. She'd gotten soaked while they'd paddled the canoe, but she hadn't wanted it to end.

It was the same way she felt in this moment, sitting beside him on a dock made of wooden planks that extended out over the water. The sun had set an hour ago and now the moon illuminated the lake. It seemed as though millions upon millions of stars were overhead, twinkling like glitter in the sky.

"What's that?" Emily pointed at a greenish glow above them. It seemed to ripple, then fade. Another glowing spot in the faintest shade of pink appeared beside it.

"Incredible, right?"

She tore her eyes away from the sky to look at him. "Have you seen this before?"

"Those are the northern lights," he told her. "I saw this all the time while I was growing up."

"You can see those here?" She examined the sky again. "I thought you had to be way up north, like in the Arctic Circle or something."

He looped his arm around her. She shifted closer to him, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"I thought everyone could see them when I was a kid," he said. "I guess that's because I got to see them all the time. Everyone I grew up with always thought the most amazing things in the world had to be in other places, like in Hollywood or in Europe. We didn't notice what was right here in front of us."

"I'll bet you made out with high school girls under the northern lights," she teased.

He leaned his head against hers. "Nope. I've never even watched them with anyone I've dated until now."

"We should fix that. First time for both of us making out under the northern lights."

"I could be persuaded." He gently moved her hair to the side, and then she felt his lips press softly against the back of her neck. He stopped after a moment.

She turned her body to face him and saw his concerned look. "What's wrong?"

He brushed something off her shoulder. "Mosquito. I'm all for the northern lights, but you'll probably get eaten alive if we stay out here."

"Inside, then?" she asked.

He didn't answer right away, but lowered his head down over hers. Their lips met in a slow, lingering kiss, as the sky glowed green and pink above them.

"Inside," he decided a minute later, catching another mosquito that had landed on her arm. "I'm not letting you get nibbled to pieces."

"Disappointing," she said with a mock sigh. "Here I thought that's what you'd be doing to me tonight." She flashed him a wicked grin and got to her feet.

"I'm not going to argue with that," he replied, also standing up. "I want to hear more about these thoughts."

"Oh, you will." She took his hand. Together, they headed up the hill to the house. "But you can guess."

"Threesome?" he asked.

She playfully swatted his chest. "I thought I told you the day you asked me out for dinner: I like my guy to myself. That's the rule."

"So many rules," he jokingly complained as they reached the house. He opened the door and they walked inside. "It's hard to keep them all straight."

Emily knew he was ribbing her, but it reminded her again of why they were here. As much as she'd wanted to come up to the house and continue what they had just barely started on the dock, there was still what they'd disagreed about on Sunday night between them. They had to talk about it.

"You're right." She stopped walking and leaned against the wall in the hallway. "I've had a lot of rules. Or one, anyway, and it's been hanging over us for a while."

Raine studied her face, quiet for a moment. Then he spoke. "We don't have to talk about it tonight if you don't want to. It's been a long day with the early morning travel."

She considered his words, twisting one of her bracelets around her wrist while she thought it through.

"We should figure this out," she finally said. "We'll still have to talk about it tomorrow if we don't talk about it tonight."

"Can I say something?" Raine asked. She nodded, and he continued. "I know I was upset on Sunday. I was caught up in wanting you at my premiere, and in wanting to go places and do things with you that we haven't been able to. I had time to think that night, though, and while I was in New York. The truth is, you didn't choose a career that puts you in the spotlight—I did. And no, it's not really fair that as a result, your life gets put on display. We can't avoid people knowing forever, but I'm not going to rush you to do something if you don't feel ready. It's not worth losing you over."

He'd been playing with a strand of her hair as he'd spoken, winding it around one of his fingers. He unwound it now, his eyes meeting hers as he brushed the spiraled hair away from her face.

"I don't think I even have a way of telling you what that means to me." She didn't know how to say what she felt, but she hoped he could see it in her eyes.

There was one thing none of this changed, though. They were facing something different now than they had been on Sunday. Taking more time would mean lying to Wally again and spinning a web that would be much harder to backpedal out of later on. Emily knew she had to bring this up, too. So she did.

"If I had to guess, people probably do know by now, or at least about anything Wally or any other tabloid reporter who's seen the photo of us suspects. Wally texted me seven times last night."

Raine shook his head. "He hasn't posted anything. I checked last night, this morning at the airfield, and again when we landed. I think he's waiting for an answer from you."

She'd also checked Wally's site last night and early this morning, but she hadn't looked again since their plane had taken off.

"Someone else has to have the photo by now," she pointed out. No one else had posted about it as of this morning, though, and that had her baffled. It didn't make sense to her that the photo would end up in Wally's hands and not be offered to other tabloid sites.

Emily spotted her purse on the floor, where she'd left it after they'd arrived today. She kneeled down, unzipped it, and took out her phone.

"What are you doing?" Raine asked.

"Checking something." She pressed the power button on her phone.

More texts from Wally flashed across her screen, but she ignored them, opening Wally Hood Goes Hollywood instead. Raine rubbed her back as she scrolled through today's posts. She went to Tinseltown Buzz next. Neither site had published anything about either of them.

"You're right," she said, glancing up at Raine. "I think Wally's waiting on me."

"If you don't want to tell him right now, it's okay. I meant what I said."

She took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. Shelby's words from earlier in the week played in a loop in her mind.

You know I want to see you happy, and when you're with Raine, you're happy. But you're using his fame as an excuse for why you need to keep your relationship a secret. You're claiming to have something serious with him, but wanting to hide it makes me think you're trying to keep it less serious than he'd like it to be.

And then there had been Shelby's big conclusion. You're so afraid of getting hurt, you won't even let yourself try.

Maybe Shelby had been spot-on when she'd called Emily out for that. By the time this weekend was over, though, it would no longer be true.

"I'm going to tell him," Emily said. "I want both of us to tell him."

She typed a message on her phone while Raine watched over her shoulder.

Not in L.A. this weekend. I'll answer the questions you have about the photo when I get back, but I have a condition. She sent the text.

"Whatever you want me to do, I'll do," Raine assured her.

Emily nodded and knelt down to put her phone in her purse, even though she knew Wally would be texting her back, demanding answers from her now and asking what the condition she'd mentioned was. He would probably go crazy when she didn't answer, but it didn't matter. This was on her terms, and on Raine's terms, and Wally and the rest of the world could wait. Right now, all she wanted to do was appreciate where she and Raine were, and the hours they still had together away from the flashbulbs and prying eyes of Hollywood.

When she stood up, Raine wrapped his arms around her. She snuggled into his chest, breathing in the soapy scent of his skin.

"I'd like it if you were there when I talk to Wally," she told him. "If you can be, I mean. I know you have Olivia and Matt in town, and probably a ton of things to do before your premiere."

"Nothing will keep me from being there with you, no matter when you want to do this." He kissed the tip of her nose.

"Not even interviews or red carpet times?" she asked, tilting her head to look up at him.

"Especially not those." He leaned his forehead against hers, staring deep into her eyes.

Emily didn't know if it was the warmth of Raine's gaze, or the comfort of him holding her in his arms, but she realized then that she felt more calm and at peace than she had in a very long time. Whatever it was she had with Raine simply felt right.

She brought her palm to his cheek, trying to tell him with her touch what she couldn't yet put into words. She thought she saw a spark of recognition light up his eyes before he turned his head to kiss her hand.

"Does it still count as making out under the northern lights if we're inside?" Emily asked, her voice husky.

Raine didn't answer, but instead took her hand. He led her down the hallway and into the master bedroom.

"See what's up there?" Raine pointed at the bedroom's skylight.

Above them, beyond the glass, Emily saw a sky full of stars. Then, as she continued to look, she saw streaks of green and pink paint the night sky.

"So that's a yes?" She turned her head to Raine.

"That's definitely a yes."

"Cool." She slid her arms around him. "And so you know, I was serious about that nibbling thing."

"Like here, you mean?" Raine's mouth moved to her earlobe.

"And other places." She pulled at the bottom of his shirt. He moved his head away from her ear so she could lift the shirt over his head.

"Am I the only one getting undressed?" He traced the neckline of her shirt with his hand.

"You'd better not be." She grinned.

"Cool," he replied, echoing what she'd said just a minute ago. His fingers found the hem of her shirt and she raised her arms up so he could lift it past her shoulders and over her head.