AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t think so.” His sudden grin is the sun breaking through clouds—blinding. “You saw I wanted to eat my breakfast and scared off my fans, even though it’s a step back on your reputation rehab.” He leans over the table and points at me. “You’re actually a kind, caring person.”
I gasp. Now he’s trolling me. “You take that back.”
He smiles and I want to throw something at him. “Nope. You ready to go?”
“You aren’t as good as you like to pretend you are, Gabriel Sinclair.” I hiss as I go to my room to grab my suitcases.
“I’m well aware,” he calls after me.
Chapter eleven
Ashley
We’restayinginthepenthouse of an old, allegedly haunted hotel in the Ozarks, which suits my mood. The floor-to-ceiling windows give a melancholy view of rolling, hazy mountains and the feeling of soaring over them like a lonely hawk.
The perfect place to deal with the guilt of what I tried to do and whatever it is that I’m feeling about my fake boyfriend.
He’s judged me and found me…not despicable. And I’m relieved? I shouldn’t care. I don’t care.
Telling him brought the heartbreak back. For Nic, for what I’ve turned myself into trying to get to him, I don’t know. One man showing me a little bit of kindness and compassion shouldn’t put me in an existential crisis, but something about Gabriel Sinclair is making me want to be a better person.
I can’t—and won’t—let him do that to me. I wouldn’t survive in my world if I acted the way he does. Besides, no one would believe me capable of being good at heart.
Gabe orders room service, which is a mercy. I don’t want to go out, even if the whole point of this is to be seen together. He’s been quiet all day like he’s giving me space. I don’t for a second think he approves of what I did. He might excuse it as a lapse in judgment by an emotional person pushed to the break. He’d be wrong.
I knew what I was doing, and I did it anyway.
It’s who I am, who I’ve always been. I knew when I told my father the secret Jessie confessed to me about Celia that he’d rush off to the tabloids with it. I was nine, but I knew it would cause problems for my aunt and uncle and I didn’t care, because what I wanted from my father was more important to me.
There was more to my betrayal of Wendy on national television than anyone beyond the two of us knew, but when I used Luca to get to Josh? I knew I’d embarrass him, maybe hurt him. I didn’t care because I needed to beat Poppy.
It’s a pattern of behavior. I’ll step over anyone I need to in order to get what I want, and Gabriel Sinclair would do well to remember that instead of forgiving it.
After dinner I change into yoga pants and a T-shirt and grab the ice cream room service sent up, taking it to the soft leather sofa. This is what I need to deal with these inconvenient feelings. Praline and a view of nature without having to be in nature.
The mountains are settling into greens, purples, and blacks as the sun sinks low. It’s stunning in a melancholy way.
Instead of going to his room, Gabe steps up to me and points at my ice cream with a spoon in his hand. “Can I join you?”
I have a lot more ice cream than I can eat, so I nod. He sits close enough that the cushion dipping under his ass pulls me in to him.
“Can I get a photo?” he asks, holding up his phone. “We haven’t posted anything today.”
Of course, that’s what he wants. We haven’t posted, but I do not doubt that we’re all over the internet from this morning’s café debacle. I haven’t heard from Neve, so it must not have hurt me too much. I’m too depressed to care.
“I’m a mess. Here.” I stick my spoon into the ice cream and do the same with his before setting the big carton on the table. With my help, he gets a picture that captures the soft sunset behind the ice cream.
I expect him to leave me alone. Instead, he hands the ice cream back to me and digs in.
“Your personal trainer is going to kick your ass.” I can’t look away as he slides the spoon into his mouth.
He slides the spoon back out, perfectly clean, and shrugs. “I’m basically perfect.”
It’s so true it makes my stomach turn. “You don’t have to be perfect in front of me. In fact, I wish you wouldn’t.”
He takes the ice cream away from me, ignoring my protest. “My body is perfect because I just finished shooting an action movie. I’m not even close.”
I snort. “I tried to break up a marriage. What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done, Hollywood golden boy Gabriel Sinclair?”
