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I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t fly.
I know she’s young. Hardly into her eighteenth year.
But damn, she’s beautiful.
I wave my hand in front of the faucet head, turning off the water with the fancy hands-free thing it has going on, and shake my hand off in the sink before gently patting it on jeans.
On my way outside, I snatch up three cookies, palming them carefully to not burn my hand again. Popping one in my mouth, I chew it quickly as I head outdoors.
“Hey.” I don’t want to startle her, so I give her fair warning I’m coming.
Slowly, she opens those gray eyes and she gives me a timid smile.
“They survived,” I tell her, holding out one of the mini cookies to her. She takes it as I hook my foot around one of the legs of the second Adirondack, moving it so it angles toward her just enough.
I fall into the deep back chair and sigh. “It’s nice today.” Lifting my healing leg, I prop my foot on the brim of the fire pit as I put away my second cookie of the quarter-hour.
“What did you do?”
I frown at her question. “What did I do what?” I ask as I chew.
She nods to my propped leg. “You winced.”
“Ah. That. That’s the reason why the movie was delayed the first time.” I keep my gaze on my foot, and I can’t help but compare how large it is compared to her dainty ones. “Dirt bike accident.”
“You mentioned you still ride. Just for fun?”
I nod. “Mostly, yeah. Just for fun. Even though my agent was pissed. It’s who I am, you know?” I move my head, so I can look at her.
I’d been working on taking small looks at her this afternoon. Nothing where I’d be obviously staring at her.
But now…
Now, I take my fill.
Her face is completely void of makeup; even her lashes are light without the added color of mascara. With her hair piled on top of her head, her long neck is exposed and just under the strap of her tank top, I see the start of a tattoo.
“What’s that?” I point on myself where her tattoo is.
Dylan looks down before pulling the strap to the side, exposing the word. “Enough. It was my teenaged rebellion. Got it after filming one day. My dad was less than pleased.” She has a small smile on her face as she seems to remember the day.
I lean into the arm of my chair, so I can get a better look. The single word is done in a long, flowy script. It’s very feminine. But the word…it holds a punch.
It’s not hard to put the puzzle pieces together though. “Have you always had issues? Shit, that came out bad. Not like, you have issues but… Enough.” I force myself to look at her face. “Have you always felt less than?”
She’s still looking down as she shrugs and releases her tank top. “Not always. But definitely as a teenager.” Finally, she looks at me. “It’s tough enough being a girl today. Add in being in the spotlight, and it’s terrible.”
“Other than January, you seemed to have a pretty positive place in the industry.” There were very few negative items printed about Tatum O’Malley before the party she went to with Grant.
“Yeah, but there’s always pressure to be better. To be more. And I didn’t handle that well. Then, add in…” Just like that, she clams up.
I lean back into my seat but don’t turn. I want to continue facing her. “Why don’t you want Grant to know you’re pregnant?” I ask, knowing I’m pressing.
Knowing fully well she may not answer.
She licks her lips nervously and turns her attention to the lake.
Just when I’m convinced she won’t answer, she does. “I don’t know what happened that night. I don’t know if I came on to him. Maybe I did. Maybe whatever I had to drink had me making bad decisions. I can tell you that before that night, I fully respected that he was married. And to be completely honest, I never really saw him as someone I wanted to be with. I’d just come out of a relationship. It was only a three-month long one, and it wasn’t super serious, but I’m also not the girl who jumps in and out of relationships. Before this,” she taps her stomach, “I slept with two guys. When I was fifteen, and then with that last boyfriend. I don’t sleep around. I have a really hard time wrapping my head around that night, especially because I don’t remember any of it.”
