Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
I frowned. “I told you the press outside the venue weren’t vetted. If the story of us is going to come out, I want to control who releases it.”
She slowly shook her head. “And the kiss?”
I exhaled. “There was no kiss. I mean, yes, she tried to kiss me, but I pushed her away. Kathleen knew you were there. I must have set my phone down on the seat of the limo, and she picked it up. She saw your text saying you’d be coming. I never saw it because my phone was on silent. I honestly wasn’t expecting to hear from you, since you said you’d be working late on a trial.”
Tears formed in Bree’s eyes, and it nearly broke me. Brighton was one of the strongest women I had ever met, and to know I was causing her pain nearly killed me.
She slowly shook her head. “Why would she want to make me jealous, Luke?”
“I don’t know.”
One of her brows rose. “Try again.”
I rubbed at the back of my neck. “She’s twisted…and I think she wants to start another affair.”
Bree stumbled back. “What? You’ve slept with her before? When?”
I swallowed hard. “It was a long time ago, Bree. Years. We were both new on the scene and extras in a movie. It was short-lived, and it meant nothing.”
She blinked at me. “And you didn’t think to tell me this last summer, when you were seen leaving a hotel with her?”
“Because it was history. It happened years ago.”
“Yet you’re about to film a romantic comedy with this woman? A woman you’ve slept with? You didn’t think I should know?”
“Would it have made it any easier for you?”
She closed her eyes and whispered, “No.”
“That’s why I didn’t feel the need to tell you.”
Her eyes opened again, and she exhaled. “And she wants to have another affair?”
“She hinted at it, but I’d never do that. Bree, I love you, and I would never do anything to hurt you. It was better to humor her and get the whole fucking night over with.”
“You thought it would be okay to humor her? To pretend that you’re a couple when you’re really dating someone else? How do I know it’s all an act?”
I threw my hands up in the air and dropped them at my sides. “For fuck’s sake, I told you the truth! Why can’t you trust me? Nothing is going to happen between us.”
She wrapped her arms around her body as if suddenly overcome with a chill. Her eyes got wet with tears again but she squeezed them shut, then drew in a deep breath before she whispered two words that nearly knocked me completely off balance. “Get out.”
My reply came out strained. “What?”
She opened her eyes and stared at me, not a single tear in sight. This was the trial lawyer in her coming out. No emotions on her face or in her voice. Stone cold.
“I can’t do this,” she said. “I cannot stand by and watch the man I love pretend to be with other women for the sake of a fucking movie. It’s a romance, this movie you’re filming with her. Love Rebound. It’s supposed to be a ‘sensual romantic comedy’ about two long-lost lovers who are reunited by luck. What a coincidence, how it mirrors real life.”
“Bree, it means nothing to me, and it doesn’t mirror real life.”
She slammed her hands down on her desk. “It does mean something to me! I cannot—no, I will not do this. I deserve more. I deserve more, and I want more. I’m tired of the part-time charade, this let’s-sneak-around-and-not-tell-anyone game.”
My anger quickly boiled up to match hers, and my words spilled out freely. “This coming from the woman I’ve been dating for a year who still hasn’t told anyone about me—including her own family.”
Her face turned red with anger.
“Yet you stand here and preach to me about sneaking around,” I said. “Why don’t we start with why you haven’t even told your best friend about me?”
“I think it’s time you left, Luke. Go to your pretty little actress, because I’m done waiting on the sidelines.” She sniffled, and I could tell she was hanging on by a thread. “I can’t do this anymore. I’m sorry…but please get out of my office.”
It took a moment or two for her words to settle into my brain. I wanted to drop to my knees and beg her not to do this. But Hank’s words from the other night came back to me—and I knew exactly what I had to do. Until I could get my own fucking future settled, I couldn’t keep Brighton in the dark, waiting.
So I did as she asked. I left. And it was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my entire life. Especially when I softly shut the door and heard her start to cry.