My heart somersaulted in my chest.
And a zillion butterflies fluttered in my stomach.
Jake wrote me a song.
Wow.
I fanned my hand in front of my face.If I wasn’t careful, I’d start crying.
The screen went blank then I felt Jake’s gaze on me.
‘So…’ he said, as I turned to face him.‘Did you like it?’
‘I…’ My mouth opened and closed as I searched for the right words to convey the emotions racing through me.
Even if I swallowed a thesaurus, it wouldn’t even convey 1 per cent of the joy I felt right now.
‘I can’t believe you wrote me a song!It’s bloody amazing!Incredible!Honestly, I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love it, thank you!’
‘You’re not just saying that to protect my ego, right?’
‘No!’ I protested, wondering how he could think that for a second when the song was so brilliant.‘I genuinely, one thousand million trillion per cent love it!And not just because it’s about me.It’s so catchy and the lyrics are beautiful, Jake.Honestly.It’s a banger!It’s got hit record written all over it!’
‘Thank fuck.’ He blew out a breath.‘I thought it sounded pretty cool, but I really wantedyouto like it.’
‘How did you prepare all of this though?Recording the song, making the video and putting it all together?’
‘Sammie’s boyfriend, Romeo, put me in touch with one of the guys who’s here from the French Love Hotel, Claude.’
‘There’s a Love Hotel in Paris?’
‘Shoot!It’s supposed to be a secret for now.They’re openingtwonew Love Hotels in France soon: one in Paris and the other in the South of France and he’s one of the Love Alchemists they’ve hired, so he’s kind of here to shadow the Love Alchemists in LA and learn from them.Anyway, he’s a whizz at making videos and stuff so he helped put everything together.That was him interviewing me.We filmed that this afternoon, not long after the whole incident with Wilma…’
‘Oh…’ I said.
‘So, about that.’ His expression turned serious.‘I’m sorry if I hurt you.I wanted to tell you the full story, but I didn’t want you to freak out.I thought I was protecting you, but now I can see that I fucked up.Yeah, it’s true that in the beginning I agreed to Wilma’s dumb reality show idea.Reluctantly.’
‘To help your career?’
‘Yeah.Wilma said it was my only chance of saving it.I told her I thought it was crazy and that I wasn’t comfortable leading someone on.But she assured me that I’d be matched with someone in the public eye who also wanted to revive their career.She said it’d be mutually beneficial.That’s why when we first met, I asked if you were an actress or influencer.’
‘Ohhh.’ I nodded, as I remembered thinking that was strange.‘But when you found out that I wasn’t and that I was here to find love, why didn’t you tell her?’
‘I did!But as far as Wilma was concerned, everyone is for sale and everyone wants to be famous.’
‘Not me!’
‘I know and I told her that.But she insisted I continue.So I went along with it whilst I tried to figure out what to do for the best.I kinda convinced myself that because you seemed to think I was a jerk, there was no danger of you getting hurt and it wouldn’t be long until we went our separate ways anyway, so I might as well enjoy my time at the hotel for however long it lasted.But then I started getting to know you and I began to like you and… when I realised the attraction was mutual, I tried to minimise the risk of leading you on by making it clear that I couldn’t do anything serious.I figured that I shouldn’t make the decision for you.If you were interested, you’d agree but if not, you’d say no and I’d have to walk away.’
‘I respect that,’ I acknowledged.‘Like I said at the time, I was glad that you were upfront, but I wish I knew the whole story.’
‘I hear you.But honestly, at that point, I had no intention of ever asking you to do a reality show, so I thought it didn’t make sense to worry you.Especially because it was just supposed to be casual.But I meant what I said earlier.Idohave feelings for you.I’ve loved spending time with you, and I’ve never felt so inspired to write.I wanted to show you how much you mean to me.That’s why I made that clip.I haven’t done any playlists or been properly keeping up with the memory book, so I thought I’d make a mini movie with photos and write you some songs instead.This is Hollywood, after all!’ His lips curved into a smile.
‘Well, I really appreciate it.The song, the movie and the explanation.’
‘It’s the least I could do.Oh, and I fired Wilma.’
‘No way!’
