I draw up short, noting the sparkle of amusement that has replaced the confusion in her eyes.
A little blood on this girl and my brain short-circuits, which makes me the world’s most gullible man alive, apparently.
“That wasn’t funny,” I say stiffly, but Julia laughs anyway.
She doesn’t pull back, and I don’t let her elbow go either. She might be laughing, but she’s still hurt.
“Weird, because it was funny for me. You saidJulia?like a question. And who else would I be? Sometimes stupid questions get stupid answers, Emmett.”
“Hysterical. Were you attacked by a cougar?”
“I wish. That would be a lot less embarrassing than admitting I tripped over a root and took a tumble down the side of the mountain. Gotta say, Prickle Point is aptly named. That hill is fucking covered in cacti.”
I try to stifle my smirk, but I fail.
“Oh, does that amuse you?”
I lift my free hands up in surrender. “I would never be amused by your misfortune, but in this case, I find it somewhat satisfying.”
She shoots me an incredulous look. “You are such a dick.”
“Oh, don’t look so offended. You told me over and over again you didn’t want my help, and you wanted to go by yourself. But we both know I could have been there to save you from yourself.”
She looks down, palms brushing against her hips as though a simple swipe of the hand would be enough to clean off the mess covering her. “You’ve saved me quite enough for one lifetime,” she mutters. And when her eyes meet mine again, they’re all steel.
I don’t need to ask what she’s referring to. I know what she means.
“I didn’t save you that night, Julia. All I did was respect your wishes and step in when anyone else would have.”
A bitter laugh spills from her lips as she pulls away to prop her hands on her hips. “When anyone else would have? No, there are at least a few people in the world who would have been happy to sit back and watch it all unfold. Who knows what else—” Her voice goes slightly shrill before she cuts off her own sentence. She stares back at me with a grimace. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done. I’ll go clean myself up.”
She starts to walk away, but I reach for her again, fingers sliding over her forearm just as she pulls clear of my reach, but it’s enough to bring her up short.
When she peeks back over her shoulder at me, I tilt my head toward my cottage, which she eyes suspiciously. “Clean up here before you head back to set.”
“I don’t—”
I cut her off with a wave before I breeze past her and walk back toward the front of the house. “If you show up looking like that and Dick Wad sees you, he’ll blow a fucking gasket.”
Several beats of silence stretch as she stands behind me.
“I’m sorry, did you just call himDick Wad?”
I smile, but I don’t turn back. “His name and personality lend themselves rather well to that abbreviation, don’t you think?”
Her laughter rings out, and relief courses through me. The sound of it has me smiling even harder than I was before.
I’d left Julia behind to clean herself up, thinking I’d be able to get to set and not obsess over her well-being.
I was wrong.
Hair and makeup were ready to pounce on me the minute I stepped off the road and toward the production trailers. Irecoiled almost immediately and made up a bullshit excuse about having forgotten something at my house that I needed to go get. Then I bolted with no other explanation.
Which is how I found myself here. Back at my house. Being entertained.
“Fuck.”
“Shit fuck.”
