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“They do that too, usually. Anyway, I’m only allowed small sips of water until ten tonight, then no food or water at all twelve hours before the shoot.”
“That sounds awful. Is it safe?” She didn’t love the idea of Dylan fasting and dehydrating himself on the regular, and it kicked her protective instincts into high alert. Not only did it sound like a recipe for an eating disorder, but dehydration could be really hard on the body.
He shrugged off her concerns. “My trainer knows what he’s doing. It’s no picnic, but he’s got it down to a science. As long as I follow his plan, it’s fine.” She must have been frowning, because he came closer and took both her hands in his. “I promise I’m not doing anything stupid, okay?” His blue eyes looked into hers, beaming earnest sincerity directly into her soul.
Brooke gazed back at him and nodded, too overwhelmed by the nearness of him to argue. His cologne clouded her senses, and his eyes were hypnotizing as they stared into hers. She was suddenly very aware of her heartbeat, which had begun to pound a little too fast and too loudly.
Dylan squeezed her hands before letting go, and Brooke exhaled when he put distance between them again as he sauntered out of the kitchen. Her fingers were still tingling where he’d touched her.
She clenched her hands into fists and blew out a breath, willing her heart to simmer down. There were a whole seven days of Dylan yet to get through, and she needed to find some kind of equilibrium around him. “We won’t go out, then. I guess I shouldn’t offer you a beer either.”
He let out a wistful sigh as he bent to peruse her bookshelf, which contained mostly biology and oceanography texts. “No, no beer tonight for me. Tomorrow though.” Straightening, he patted his insanely flat stomach with both hands. “I’m going to want to consume my weight in carbs, so get ready.”
“It’s a date.” She winced as the words came out of her mouth. Using the word “date” in relation to Dylan brought up old memories and feelings she didn’t need to be giving brain space to right now.
“But listen, don’t worry about me tonight.” He smiled, and a trail of nerves lit up inside her, from her stomach straight to her heart. His face was too perfect. Perfect nose, perfect lips, perfect jaw. Even his damn eyebrows were perfect. “Go ahead and eat or drink whatever you want. We can even go out and I just won’t have anything.”
“No way.” She shook her head, rejecting both his suggestion and her own wayward thoughts.It’s just Dylan, she reminded herself, superimposing the memory of a ten-year-old boy over his perfect adult visage.The same old Dylan with the same old face he’s always had. “I’m not dragging you to a restaurant and making you watch me eat. I’ve got leftovers in the fridge I can eat tonight.”
“You sure you don’t mind staying in?” He gave her only a one-second look before blinking away, embarrassed again. “I know it’s kind of lame.”
“It’s not lame at all,” she rushed to reassure him. “Staying in happens to be my favorite activity.”
He rewarded her with another one of his dazzling smiles, and she felt her stomach zip all the way up her spine.
No more of that, she silently scolded her stomach.That won’t do at all.
Chapter Four
An hour later, they were settled at opposite ends of Brooke’s couch. Brooke had finished her leftover Thai food while they talked about her research, Los Angeles, and the photo shoot Dylan was doing the next day for a men’s magazine.
“So what’s going on with you?” she said when she decided he’d skirted around the subject long enough. “What did you mean about needing a break?”
“Oh, you know. Just the usual.” He shrugged, trying to slip off the hook.
She pinned him with a look, refusing to let him off that easy. “No, I don’t know. Tell me.”
“Work’s just been nonstop lately. I haven’t had a real vacation in years.”
“Weren’t you just in Mexico a few months ago? I distinctly remember pictures of you on a beach.” She also remembered the Speedo he’d been wearing. She remembered it much better than she remembered the picturesque beach scene behind him.
He leaned back against the corner of the couch, his limbs loose and sprawled like one of his photo spreads. “That was a working trip. I’m always working. If I’m not on a shoot, I’m in the gym training for one, or I’m networking at parties or going to meetings my agent set up and trying to kiss enough asses to book my next job. When I’m not doing all that, I’m trying to stay on top of my social media, because if you don’t keep pushing out content you’ll drop off the radar. Or at least that’s what everyone says.”
“Sounds exhausting.”
“It is. I just wanted a few days where I don’t have to think about any of that shit.” He shook his head like a dog flicking away a pesky fly. “On the bright side, I’m on meds now for ADHD. Imagine if my mom had bothered to get me tested for it twenty years ago. I might have made something of myself.”
Brooke stretched her leg across the couch and nudged him with her foot. “I’d say you’ve made quite a lot of yourself, Mr. Big-Time New York Model.”
Dylan looked down at her turquoise-painted toenails and smiled faintly. “Yeah, I guess. Anyway, as a bonus, the meds suppress my appetite, so it’s easier to keep my weight down.”
“But do they help with the other stuff? Focus and decision-making and all that?” His ADHD diagnosis didn’t surprise her at all. Looking back, it seemed obvious now that his problems in school had stemmed from that. It really did suck that none of his teachers or his parents had ever done anything to help him.
He gave a one-shouldered shrug. “Yeah, I think so. It took a while to get the dosage right. But now that we have, I can definitely tell a difference.”
“That’s great.” She gave him another nudge with her toes. “I’m glad you’re finally getting treatment that helps.”
“Me too.” He laid his hand on top of her foot, giving it a gentle squeeze, and she became suddenly, keenly aware of why the foot was considered an erogenous zone. She’d never really gotten it before, but the warm weight of Dylan’s hand on her foot lit her up like a Roman candle. Her skin felt too tight, and she was uncomfortably warm. Her upper lip tingled as if she was about to break out in a sweat.
