Dinner was interestingly lively. I made a point of sitting myself right next to Clara, which certainly kept both Will and Cameron on their toes. My well-meaning friend couldn't help but be amused as I chatted back and forth with the slightly overwhelmed journalist. Whereas Cam, who made the same point by sitting on the other side of Clara, just kind of sulked throughout most of dinner. It was only when Mariana, my sweet and kind little nutritionist, had threatened him with a wheatgrass shot, did he at least try and look like he was enjoying himself just a little bit. I think I know his problem. He likes Clara, but he knows I like her too. It would appear, that we have ran into an unusual conflict of interest. He is my publicist. He is the one who all along, has been in the driving seat for this interview. To persuade me to even agree to it, he had told me that my reputation has been badly tarnished with all of the recent fall outs that I have been having with the press, and figured that an up close and personal interview with one of the most popular celebrity magazines in England, would give my press image a big and positive boost as we were wrapping up my world tour. The only thing that Cam hadn't counted on, was us both being attracted to the intriguing little journalist who would be heading up that interview. So yeah, I get why he's pissed. Professionally, he has a lot riding on this interview. And personally, we have never been interested in the same babe before. And Clara is a babe. She is not only beautiful, she is also articulate and intelligent. In that pretty head of hers, is a strong-willed mind. I don't usually have or want, the time to really talk with a woman. Yet with Clara, I am finding that I really do want to talk to her. Which is just as well, because she is here to interview me. And it's that very reason, that is getting to Cam.

Clara is here to find out all she can about me. Which not only gives me time alone with her, it also allows me to find out more about who she is as a person. Cameron doesn't have that access. He doesn't have that reason to be alone with her. I'd like to keep it that way for now. I only have a couple of days to discover who Clara Thorn is, and I don't want to spend those two days trying to keep my publicist from pinching Clara from right beneath my nose.

I know I have no claim to her. I don't even know why it's so important to me that I keep Cam away from her.

I only know that it is.

There is just something so different about her.

I can't say what it is.

It's more something I feel.

With Clara, I feel different.

So when we arrived at the stadium, I was buzzing. The adrenaline that was pumping around my body, rejuvenated me. I felt like I was doing my very first show all over again, and I knew that amazing feeling was being felt because Clara was going to watch me perform.

Backstage is always chaotic just before a big show, so I asked Will to make sure that Clara was well looked after. I wanted her backstage experience to be a pleasant one. I wanted her to be able to get the very best shots with her camera and feel like she was getting that up close and personal interview that her magazine really wants her to deliver.

Which is exactly what Clara did.

She shadowed me everywhere I went, taking informal shots and asking lots of questions along the way. And the funny thing was, I enjoyed every moment of it. I was having so much fun, I even flirted a little with her during the Meet and Greet. I had called her over and introduced her to everyone there. I was actually showing her off. I was showing her off, because I could. I was subtly trying to lay claim to her in a playful way. But it was only when I put my arm around her, telling everyone there that we were cooking up something pretty special between us, that I realised that maybe we really could be. Because when she had looked up at me, there was coy delight dancing in her teal eyes before she casually removed herself from my enthusiastic hold in order to take some more shots.

I saw it.

It was there.

And so did Cameron.

It wasn't long before he had wrapped up the Meet and Greet and had ushered me from one room to the next. Anything to keep me busy and preoccupied—too busy and preoccupied for Clara.

But for her, I made time.

Even as I went through my pre-show ritual, I included Clara.

I had sought her approval for what I chose to wear for the first couple of songs for the show. With only a small smile, I knew that she liked what she saw. I also asked her whether my hair looked okay. Again, she liked what she saw when she told me that it looked great. When she went on to ask me about how does it feel before a show. I told her I was pumped but petrified. I left out the part where I felt like I wanted to rush over to her, grab hold of her face and kiss that alluring mouth of hers until all of my nerves had gone away.

I didn't tell her that.
Instead, it had to stagnate in my mind.

But when me and the backing singers were all doing our vocal warm-ups, I had seen the way that she was staring at me. Time after time, she had to drag her eyes away, just so she could take plenty of pictures. That made me smile. Because I was affecting her in the very same way that she was affecting me. So as I walked past her to do the show, I wanted more of her beautiful approval. "Wish me luck?" I had quietly asked.

And Clara so proudly did. "Go and show them how it's done, Rhys." She sweetly told me with one of her even sweeter smiles.

So that is what I did do.

I showed my fans how I did things. I showed them, that my music is my way of expressing what I want to say when the words won't come. I sang, all that was held in my heart and all that was hidden in my soul. The stadium was alive and electric with thousands and thousands of many adoring eyes upon me, but there was only one pair of adoring eyes that I had wanted upon me at that show.

There was only one person in amongst the thousands and thousands of faces that I had wanted to be with on that night.

That person was someone I had not long met.

That person was someone that I won't have much time left with.

And that person was someone who I shouldn't be wanting so much.

By the time I had got back to my dressing room, I was so hyped up about the show, and even more hyped to see what Clara thought about that show, I was feeling bold and over confident; excited by the thought of seeing her again. Unfortunately, she came back to my dressing room with Cameron charmingly opening the door for her. He may have been armed with his charm. Me? I was armed with being half undressed. Let me tell you, Clara's jaw nearly fell to the dressing room floor as I was pulling down my jeans. I had just stood there, wearing only my boxer shorts and a smug smirk as her eyes bounced between Cameron, the floor, the walls and my bare chest. Not even the pretty ripped Cam could ever compete with my cores and my chest. As Clara got cutely more and more embarrassed, she actually tried to leave the room, but I wanted her to stay. "Ah, stop being so boringly British! I'm just gonna grab a quick shower. Wait here." I had told her, grinning wider than wide. But beyond embarrassed, especially in front of Cam, she made her amusing excuses and told me that she would see me after my shower. "Boringly British." I had teased her, just because she brings out that flirty side of me.

"Cheeky sod." Was her sarcastic reply back.

Not familiar with that term, I did have to ask. "Sod? What does that even mean?"

"It means you're a git!"

Again, I had laughed. "What? Git? That has me even more confused than sod."

She then proceeded to tell me that her replies meant that I was getting on her nerves, but I could tell that she was enjoying me getting on them.

I knew it.

She knew it.

Even Cam knew it.

"I'll see you after my shower, Clara Thorn." I had confidently yelled out to her before she left me and Cameron in the dressing room alone. I remember Cam just looking at me in a despondent way, before leaving me to have that shower. Yeah, he had definitely seen the way that Clara had been looking at me before she had so sweetly left. So, I had that shower, thinking about Clara the whole time.

My mind was still buzzing, but my exhaustion was making my body want to shut down for the night. Tiredness really had started to kick my ass, but I wanted to spend just a little longer with Clara before I collapsed on my bed. So I insisted that she came with me in the car, so my driver could take her home after dropping me back at the hotel. Thankfully, Will was the one who ended up having an eyeball duel with Cameron over who got to sit on the other side of her in the car. I was too tired to have that fight. I had already made sure that I would be sitting with her in the back, and I get real shitty when I'm tired, so it's just as well that Will won. All I wanted was to be close to her. And I was. Thigh to thigh and arm to arm, we were sat closely together in the back of that car. I don't know whether it was tiredness or stupidity that made me whisper to Clara that Cameron liked her. I guess I just wanted to see her reaction. But her reaction was pretty unreadable if I'm honest. It was probably the tiredness making it hard for me and she was pretty tired herself. "You okay?" I had softly asked, wanting so much to take her hand into mine.

"Yeah, just knackered." She had quietly told me, looking more and more tired during the journey.

"As in, tired?" I joked, just loving her Britishness. When I asked her what she had thought of the show, she sedately said that I was amazing. And it was in that exhausted moment, that I had the sleepy urge to tell her just what I really thought of her. "Being amazing must be contagious." I had said it and it felt good saying it. It also felt good to be sat beside her in the car. I just remember feeling so calm and so relaxed there, I think I could have happily fell asleep on her shoulder. But as soon as I got back to the hotel room, I couldn't sleep at all. I was just there in the bed, thinking over and over about Clara.

Right into the early hours, I kept telling myself that I'm just wasting my time. I'm leaving England in a matter of days, so what's the point in trying to start anything up with Clara?

But that's the thing, something has already been started between us.

It hasn't been properly acknowledged just yet, but that something is most definitely there.

I know I'm not thinking straight at all, but not thinking straight, has never felt so damn good.

I also know that time is something I don't have a lot of, so I intend to utilise all of what time I do have left, to spend it with the very special Clara Thorn.

**ARE YOU LOVELY PEEPS ENJOYING HEARING THINGS FROM THE GORGEOUS RHYS' POV??**