“It was great.” I bit my lip against a secret smile. “We saw little of the city, but it was great.”
“Oh, I know what great means.” Sloane wiggled her eyebrows comically. “So, is it getting serious?”
At her words, I heard North’s deep voice in my head.
I love you.
Inwardly, I flinched and lowered my eyes so my friends couldn’t see my panic. I’d read it in his journal before I flew to London, so I knew that’s how he felt. Having him say it while we made love was one of the most beautiful things that had ever happened to me.
But for some stupid reason, I could not say the words back.
He hadn’t said it since … until last night. He’d gotten a cab to the airport with me and after we kissed for an inordinately long time at the drop-off point, he’d said he loved me.
My anxiety had clenched a fist around my throat and I couldn’t get the words out. Couldn’t reciprocate them.
Even though I felt them.
So I kissed him again. I’d poured everything I felt into that kiss and hoped it was enough for now.
But I noticed the glimmer of sadness in the back of his eyes when I walked away, and my chest had ached ever since. The thought of hurting him shredded me.
“It’s serious,” I replied quietly. “But I still have some issues to work through.” Clearly.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Monroe’s phone vibrated on the café table and she threw us an apologetic look. “It’s Brodan. One second.” She lifted the phone, tapping the screen a few times, and then her expression tightened.
“You okay?” Sloane asked.
But it was me Monroe looked at. Something about her wary, sympathetic countenance filled me with dread. “Brodan just sent me a link to a newspaper article.”
Oh, God.
I nodded nervously, and Roe handed her phone over. Taking it, I scrolled, and as I did, my hands shook.
The tabloid article headline was SCOTS ACTOR FINDS LOVE WITH HOLLYWOOD PRINCESS.
“Shit,” I murmured, my gut roiling.
There were photos of me and North in Berlin. Holding hands walking down the street. Kissing passionately at the airport.
I stopped at one picture. North was holding my face in his hands and staring at me with such adoration it made me want to cry. Until that moment, I didn’t think I’d ever fully processed the way he looked at me. Like a man in love.
Now everyone knew it.
Those feelings no longer belonged to just us.
The article said an anonymous source close to the couple told theDaily Mailthat we were very much in love and had been dating for several months since meeting at Ardnoch Estate. They also said North had spent time in LA with my family, and we were all very close and talking about moving to LA together.
It was just lies pulled from speculation and guesswork.
Someone on the set had betrayed us for cash, of that I was certain. Everyone else who knew about us, I trusted.
I really did.
But now North and I were out there. My chest tightened and I felt a little dizzy as I dropped Monroe’s phone on the table. When North left me … the world would find out. I’d be humiliated all over again.
Sloane’s hand covered mine, and she asked me if I was okay. I nodded, unseeing, reeling from the violation of my privacy.
