His smile is warm and soft as he reaches out for my hand. “You can say no. I’ll never make you do anything you’re not comfortable with. But there are few things in the world I want more than getting a chance to see Nova Tate in action.” His eyes darken as they trail over me. “Especially when she now looks like you.”
Gah, I knew Derek was charming, but he just dialed things up to eleven. There’s a good chance I’m going to melt right in front of his eyes. “It’s been a long time since I was Nova Tate,” I remind him. “And don’t you dare say acting is like riding a bike.”
“Okay.”
“It’s not.”
“Sure.”
I groan. “Not everyone is you, Derek! We can’t all nail a scene on the first try, and if your plan is anything like what I think it is, things could go really wrong when I make a mistake.”
Rolling his eyes, he lifts our clasped hands to point at me, then to himself. “You were my idol when we were kids, Tate. You were my idol this week on the oars. You’re my idol when it comes to ignoring public opinion.”
“That’s all well and good,” I say as I start to overheat under his intense gaze and heartwarming words, “but if you think I can face down your diabolical mother and not mess up, then—”
“I’ll love you either way.”
I swear under my breath, those words hitting me like a slap to the face. Then I swear again because he starts grinning like he’s won.
“Come on,” he says, leaning in close enough that his mouth brushes mine. “You’re dying to be in a scene with me, and you know it.” With that, he slowly backs away, letting our hands fall apart as he moves to the couch and sits down.
If he wasn’t absolutely right, I would kiss that smirk right off his pretty face.
Instead, I clench my jaw and stomp over to him, grumbling to myself as I go. “What’s the plan?” I ask, flopping into the chair farthest from where Derek’s sitting. “I’m assuming you and I arenotmadly in love in this ‘scene.’” I use air quotes so he knows I’m annoyed by how easily he convinced me to do this.
He lifts an eyebrow, his smirk shifting into a full-blown grin. He looks like I just told him he won the Oscar for Best Actor. Actually, scratch that. I’ve seen Derek win Best Actor, and he didn’t look nearly this excited. He looks like his inner fifteen-year-old self just got told that he’s starring alongside his longtime crush and can barely contain his excitement. “Madly?” he repeats with a delighted glint in his eyes.
I narrow my eyes, though my untamed smile contradicts my glare. “I saidnotmadly.”
“You’re madly in love with me.”
Rolling my eyes, I pick up a strawberry and bean him in the head with it, except he catches it before it hits him because he’s Derek Riley. He probably has such excellent reflexes because he played a world-class shortstop in one of his movies. “Thescene, Riley.”
Though Janie and Hunter both look nervous, Derek takes a deep and easy breath, looking like he’s never been more ready for something than he is now. “If she really wants me on my own, she’s likely going to try to separate us,” he tells me, dropping his elbows to his knees.
I frown. “Do you want me to let her?”
He winks, which is far more attractive than it should be. “If you think you can live without me.”
“You only wish you—”
Someone knocks on the door, cutting off my sarcastic reply.
It’s like he flips a switch.
One second Derek is the calm and confident man I’ve come to love and admire, and he’s nodding to his bodyguard to open the door. Then I blink, and in his place is a worn and weary man who seems to be failing to hold his world together. If he hadn’t been teasing me a second ago, I would almost believe the helpless look on his face was real.
And I can only gape at him, completely wonderstruck.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Derek
ThoughIkeepmyhead down, I can practically feel the moment my mother steps into the suite. The energy of the room shifts, no longer warm and welcoming but uncomfortable and tense. That could just be me—I haven’t been face-to-face with this woman in fifteen years—but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn she sucks the life out of whatever room she’s in.
As Hunter says something in a tone too low for me to hear, I walk through what I know about my character. About the version of Derek Riley my mother’s expecting to find. He’s hurt, feeling betrayed, crumbling under the weight of his insecurities. He’s desperate for someone he can trust to help him fix the mess he’s in.
Ipeek over at Donovan.
