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‘So how long are we staying on the island?’ She was smiling at him, unaware of the conflict of emotions at war inside him.
‘Two days. Then I have to go back to LA for the Sapphire Award ceremony.’
She didn’t say a word but he saw the brightness dim.
‘And you’re coming with me.’ He didn’t know he was going to say the words until they left his mouth. ‘I want you to come with me.’
‘To the Sapphires?’ Her jaw dropped. ‘You can’t be serious.’
‘I’m deadly serious.’ Being with her felt good, he reasoned. She was easy company. Unselfish. Cheerful. And sexy.
Why wouldn’t he want her with him?
It didn’t mean anything.
CHAPTER EIGHT
IT WAS all very well having good intentions. Harder to stick to them when the man you were determined not to fall for was Nathaniel Wolfe.
Katie curled up on the sofa in his private jet, trying to hold hope in check. It wasn’t just the thought of attending the Sapphire ceremony that excited her, it was the knowledge that Nathaniel wanted her with him.
He could have flown her home or left her on the island.
But he’d chosen to invite her. Not a skinny A-list actress with visible hip bones. Her. Katie Field. Costume Designer.
And he was no longer acting when he was with her. He was the real Nathaniel.
‘We’ve extended the acting project—’ he was reading an email from Gabriela ‘—and she says Carlos has been back every day.’
‘That’s great.’ And it was. But what really warmed her was how involved he’d become. Far from shutting himself off, he’d opened himself up.
‘He’s emailed me. Gabriela let him use the connection from her office.’ His smile was tinged with self-mockery. ‘I’m going to regret that one. Never given my private email to a snotty kid before. Next thing, he’s going to want to come and stay with me in LA.’ But there was satisfaction in his voice and a smile on his lips as he tapped a reply.
Katie blinked back the tears that stung her eyes. ‘I think that would be great.’
Nathaniel turned his head slowly and held her gaze. ‘I’m glad I got involved. I wouldn’t have done it if it hadn’t been for you.’ He leaned forward and kissed her. They’d kissed so many times over the past two weeks, and yet this kiss was different. She felt the difference. And so did he.
Lifting his head, he frowned. ‘Katie—’
She waited, her heart in her mouth. She had no idea what he wanted to say but she felt the tension and the shift in the atmosphere.
‘Five minutes to landing.’ The captain’s voice filled the cabin and Nathaniel pulled back from her, his eyes blank.
‘Nothing. We’ve arrived. Welcome to Los Angeles.’
They walked off the plane straight into a heaving crowd of reporters and photographers.
‘Nathaniel? Is it true you saw your brother Jacob on your opening night in London?’
‘Do you have any comment about why you walked off the stage?’
‘Have you spoken to him since that night?’
Shocked by the relentless battering by the press, Katie gripped his hand, horrified that all the things he hated talking about were being flung out there for public consumption. To her it seemed monumentally insensitive and cruel and she wanted to shout at them to leave him alone but she knew that wouldn’t help. They were like a pack of hungry hyenas converging on a juicy carcass. They showed respect for neither privacy nor personal space and she found the crowd and the cameras both threatening and intimidating.
The confidence she’d found on the island evaporated and suddenly she wanted to shrink into the background again.
In contrast, Nathaniel was cool and confident, striding through the ranks of photographers with a bored smile that was absolutely in character with his public persona. The man she’d spent the past two weeks with had vanished and he was every inch the remote, supersuccessful movie star.
