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I feel nothing when Jessie talks about her honeymoon. The hardest part of this is the guilt I’m carrying, and while I’m not going to tell her I tried to seduce her husband, I can at least apologize for that other thing.
When Lauren gets up to grab some snacks, I turn to Jessie and drop my voice. “I’m sorry about what I did to your parents.”
She waves it off. “I shouldn’t have told you in the first place. Besides, it all worked out.”
Her parents stayed together, the scandal blew over, and it was years ago, so I guess it makes sense that she’d be over it. I feel a little better, having apologized for my part in it, at least.
Lauren returns with a charcuterie board and asks about Love on the Line. I want to tell them the truth: Wendy and I are friends and I was often playing a part to win. But I don’t know if they’d believe me. So I entertain them with gossip about the cast and my feud with Poppy.
We talk for hours and I’m tipsy by the time my rideshare shows up. Lauren and I make plans to go to lunch in a few weeks, and Jessie promises to keep in touch.
I spend the rest of the day watching the clock, counting down the hours until I can surprise Gabe at his house. The drive out to Malibu as the sun sets lifts my already high spirits, and when Gabe meets me in the driveway like he’s been expecting me, pulling me into his arms for a blistering kiss, I might as well be flying.
“Let’s go for a swim,” he whispers.
“That’s not what I’m here for,” I tease, but he bites my lip and sweeps me into his arms. “I don’t have a swimsuit,” I protest when he carries me away from the glittering lights of the house and toward the softer lights of the pool.
“Good.”
Contrary to that growl, he makes me swim. Not that what I’m doing can be called swimming, but at least I’m not drowning and he’s as naked as I am.
I make it to the side of the pool without touching the bottom once. I’m smiling as I stand, turning to Gabe, the lights from the pool and the garden around it catching his every feature.
He’s grinning at me, water beaded on his glorious body, and something about the warmth in his eyes fills me with lightness. Like I’m floating. He applauds and something happens inside me. It’s warm and radiant and it’s because of him.
I touch my fingers to my chest in surprise. What the hell?
It can’t be. I crouch down so the water reaches up to my neck, cooling off my too-hot skin.
Gabe swims over, wrapping his arms around me and kissing me. “You did it.”
“Yeah,” I murmur, glancing down at our bodies in the water. I am naked but for once I feel it—vulnerable like he can see inside me, and it hits me like a wave.
I love him.
A giggle escapes my lips, and he kisses me again, oblivious to the fact that I might dissolve into bubbles right in front of him.
What the hell? How did this happen?
My heart thumps against my chest like it wants to leap from my body into his.
I’m in love with Gabriel Sinclair and I don’t think this is going to end well for me.
Chapter twenty-four
Gabe
I’vetakenapummelingall week. Workouts with my too-intense personal trainer, training with the stunt crew for the fight sequences, and stumbling through the script changes. But knowing Ashley will turn up at my house later, I’ll teach her to swim and she’ll read through my lines with me, and sometime around midnight we’ll tumble into my bed, makes everything okay.
I’m feeling good when I leave Danny’s Gym, despite the bruises and screaming muscles from hours of getting my ass kicked by the stunt crew. A car approaches, stopping in front of me, and I slow down.
The window rolls down and Rose’s assistant Tomas leans out, calm and professional as my heartbeat spikes. If Tomas is here, something’s wrong.
“The boss has been trying to call you,” he says, completely unruffled. “Emergency meeting. Get in.”
Shit. My phone is in my car. I debate grabbing it, but slide into his passenger seat instead. “What’s up?”
“Sorry, you’ll have to talk to Rose.”
