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Of course they wouldn’t. She’d hoped to use him to launch herself to fame. Though he hadn’t minded before, he wasn’t about to lose Lacey over a bogus relationship. They’d have to come up with a new plan that didn’t include him. “She can rebound with another hot star. They can say we were dating for a few months, but broke up recently. She can still get attention out of the deal. But word can’t get out we’re together, or I’ll lose—”
“Lose what, Mark?”
Mark froze; dread forming a hard knot in his stomach at the sound of Lacey’s voice. He turned around slowly, even though he knew he hadn’t imagined the soft words, or the accusation behind them. He hung up on Gary without saying another word, his eyes locked on Lacey’s pale face. She’d put on some sweats and a tank top, and wrapped her arms around her stomach. Pressing her lips tight together, she eyed him from across the room.
The way she was looking at him hurt more than anything she could say and made him feel ill. That look was what he had been trying to avoid. That look was why he should never have let things go as far as they had, despite his feelings for her. Or maybe because of his feelings for her.
“It’s not what you think,” Mark said. How pathetic did those simple words sound coming out of his lips? Guilt tinged his words, making his excuse sound lame and ineffective. “I can explain everything.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want your explanations. I saw you on TV, with that woman’s arms around your neck, your lips on hers. How dare you tell me you’re single when you’re not? I can’t believe you lied to me.”
“I’m not with her. It’s all a publicity stunt.” He held his hands out and approached her. “My PR firm likes to keep the paparazzi buzzing with news about me, so if I’m boring for too long, they create stories to make me more interesting. It’s all an attempt to drum up interest in the upcoming movie release.”
“Don’t come another step closer to me.” She glowered at him, waiting for him to stop approaching her. “I heard you talking to your agent about her. About how you had to hide the relationship from me.”
“The fake relationship.” His heart hurt with the knowledge that he was about to lose her, when he’d just figured out how much she meant to him. “It’s all fake, like a role I was playing. It didn’t mean anything. She doesn’t mean anything.”
She shook her head, her eyes filled with tears. “I’m not listening to another word. It’s your job to lie well enough to make people believe you. Why would I believe a single word that comes out of your mouth? I should have known it was all a lie.”
“I’m not lying,” he said. His voice cracked on the last word, and he swallowed past his throbbing throat. “I wouldn’t do something so horrible to you.”
“But you did. You’ve turned me into the type of person I hate most.” She lifted her chin, looking down her nose at him. “You had sex with me when you knew you were taken by someone else. I’ve been cheated on enough to know how it feels, and I would never knowingly hurt another person like that. Not after what Joe did to me.”
“Damn it, I know that. She’s not my girlfriend,” he snapped. His whole world was about to crumble at his feet, a world he never thought he could’ve ever had, and he couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it. “She’s one of the women in my life I mentioned who want to use my success to further their career. Nothing more.”
“I saw the two of you together on the beach,” she cried out, her face turning red. After taking a deep breath, she continued on in a calmer manner, “I saw you kissing her. There’s no faking that.”
“It was all for the cameras.”
“Did you play a role tonight? The hero comes back to his small town, looking to screw the girl who used to be so obviously in love with him? I was okay with our arrangement, really. But not this.”
Love? She loved him? “With you, there has never been, nor will there ever be, a need to act. Everything I said and did. I would never lie to you.”
His voice broke on the last word, sounding pathetic. He might be able to say all the lines in his movies without breaking, but this wasn’t just a role. This was real life, and he was about to lose the best thing he’d ever known. What was he doing? Why had he gone and selfishly taken advantage of the situation? Taken advantage of her?
“You’re right. There won’t be a time you’ll need to act around me ever again.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “After tomorrow, I’m never going to see you again. Thanks for the night of sex—now leave me the hell alone.”
He stumbled after her, his heart breaking in two. He grabbed a hold of her arm, stopping her retreat. “You have to believe me. I’m not seeing Sylvia. I haven’t been seeing anyone for years.”
“Yeah, I know. You just sleep with them.” She shook free of his hold, her eyes shining with unshed tears. Grabbing her keys off the table, she unclasped the keychain he gave her and threw it in the fireplace. For a second, they both stood there watching the memento burn. She clenched her fists and turned back to him. “I’m finally done with you. Now, you’re free to go back to your girlfriend—fake or real.”
He ripped his attention from the last sign of her affection for him, burning into ashes in the fire. There would be time to grieve later—but that time was not now. “You can burn everything I’ve ever given you, but it won’t change a damn thing. I don’t want to be with her. I don’t want to be with anyone except you. All this time, and I only want you.”
“I don’t believe you.”
He growled low in his throat, red tinting his vision. How could he make her see that it was her he wanted? Her, and no one else? “I’m yours, Lacey. Hell, I’ve always been yours. I didn’t want to be with anyone until the second I saw you tonight.” He shoved his hands into his pockets because it was the only way he’d be able to stop himself from touching her. “Something led me here tonight, led me to you. I don’t know if it was fate, or luck. But now that I’m here, now that we’ve reconnected, it’s all I want. I don’t want to lose you.”
“I’ve been in this town the whole time. You didn’t need to search for me. All you needed to do was come home,” she snapped. “You didn’t want to find me, but now I’m supposed to believe you can’t let go of me? That you want me to stay with you?”
He dragged a hand through his hair. “When you say it like that, of course it doesn’t make any sense. Nothing that’s happened since I walked through that door makes any sense. Neither does love.”
“Love?” Her eyes went wide, and she yanked free. She shoved his shoulders hard, and he stumbled backward. “Now you’re taking this too far. You don’t love me. How dare you stoop so low? Are you trying to play on my emotions so I’ll go easy on you? If so, Hollywood really has changed you. I don’t even know you anymore.”
He ran his hands down his face and let out a harsh breath. “I don’t have another word for it. I saw you, and I knew nothing would be the same again. All these years, you’ve never been far from my mind. Never. And I never wanted to hurt you. It’s the last thing I would ever want to do. Eve told me how you were living in a shell ever since Joe. How you wouldn’t let anyone close to you—but you let me in. That has to be for a reason. It can’t mean nothing.”
“Yeah, well, a lot of good that did for me. I should’ve slammed the door shut in your face.” She swiped a tear away, and his heart twisted. He’d made her cry. “I’m going to my room. I want you to call the tow truck first thing in the morning, and then I want you the hell out of this house.”
She headed up the stairs, her back straight and her head high. If not for the way she gripped the banister, her knuckles white from the force, he wouldn’t have guessed she was upset at all. He strode to the bottom of the stairs and watched her walk away from him. Watched her leave him.
