AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I checked out the stuff to do around here. Hiking. Fishing. We shouldn’t get bored.”
I surveyed the surroundings and took in a pull of fresh air. This place might not be my roots, but it was good to be somewhere I could be outside and not see any neighbors.
Her gaze was locked on some faraway spot on the horizon. “It’s lovely here.”
The breeze blew her hair back from her face, and though her expression was somber, she was still stunning.
“I’ve missed—” ‘You’ was on the tip of my tongue, but now wasn’t the time for confessions that would make me sound crazy. “Nature.” The word I finally settled on was also the truth.
One dark brow rose. “It hasn’t gone anywhere.”
I chuckled. She was making me work for it, a nice change of pace after the way men and women alike had been throwing themselves at me. “No. I have.”
L.A. was not my kinda place. New York was worse. I needed somewhere I could drive for miles without running into another car. I’d take the brown dirt of Texas any day over the concrete and steel of the city. I’d never been away from my family for this long. Even in college, I’d roomed with my brother and sister, and home was only a few hours away.
“Did you ever wake up one day and realize your life has turned out different than you thought it would?”
She turned her head away for a moment before she looked at me. “Yes.”
I smoothed my startled expression. “Are you where you want to be?”
“Of course. Why would anyone stay in a place they aren’t happy?”
On the surface, she did seem okay. Yet I sensed something deep, a sadness that kept her in the darkness. Whatever it was, I felt a strong urge to take it away.
“Obligation. Stuck. No choice.”
She flinched. “No one will ever take away my choice.”
Tension started in my neck and spread down my arms and back. I flexed my fist ready to deck whoever had in the past. Because someone most definitely had. “Don’t worry; I won’t let them,” I said through my teeth.
“I don’t need your protection.” She seemed to recoil from my words.
“Not sure I can stop myself.” I sounded as bewildered as she looked, but I’d make no apologies for speaking the truth. Being there for the people I cared about was who I was at my core. For reasons that were completely unclear to me, with her, that trait was magnified by a million.
“Where’s your entourage?” Muriella pivoted to more neutral ground, smoothing some of my agitation at the unknown.
“Now you’re just teasing me.”
“No, I’m not. All the big movie stars have them.” She pressed her lips together as if fighting a smile.
I sighed with resignation about what my life had become. “Never thought it would get out of control like this.” I tugged on the brim of my baseball cap. “I had to change my number because if it isn’t agents calling, it’s the press.”
“Isn’t success what you wanted?”
I clamped my mouth shut. The answer to that wasn’t a simple yes or no. The more money I made, the more secure the ranch was. But I’d never been driven by the dollar and didn’t like feeling that I was now.
“I’m not sure I wanted this,” I finally said honestly. She canted her head to the side.
“And I don’t need an entourage. Daniel hooked me up with his shark of a lawyer, Zegas, to make sure I don’t get screwed. That’s all the protection I need. Other than that, I’m used to long days, can keep up with my own schedule. The closest thing I’m going to get to security is the gate in the neighborhood where the studio put me up. And I sure as hell don’t need an agent taking a cut of my money when I get offers every day for endorsements and new films.”
Her mouth twisted down. “Watch your language, please.”
If that was supposed to hack me off, it had the opposite effect. The women in my life who scolded me for cussing loved me like nobody’s business.
An odd-shaped hope took root in me. I’d spent a few hours at best with Muriella, yet I craved more time with her in a way I never had anything else. I wanted her to want that too something desperate.
“I tend to let it slip when I get worked up.” I tipped the brim of my hat to her. “Apologies. My mother raised me better than to do that in front of a lady.”
