But near the end of the meal, Mom puts on hervery concerned about her sonface. “You seem distracted, Banks.”
Distraction is bad in my line of business. No, it’s the kiss of death. “I’m all good.”
“Is it the new business?” she asks, clearly not buying my lie.
Ah, hell.
Best to deal with the distraction right now so I can do my job later. I can’t risk the company Dean and I are building. Well, any more than I might already have. “How do I apologize? For fucking something up badly?”
“Language,” Mom says.
“For messing something up badly,” I quickly correct.
“How badly?” Emily asks, parking her chin in her hand, like she’s ready to break out the popcorn.
I drag a hand through my hair and sigh heavily. “Pretty badly,” I say, but then shut the hell up. There’s not much more Icansay. I signed an NDA. I can’t tell them who I’m working for even if it gets out soon. I’ll just have to…
Do better this time around.
“I’ll figure it out,” I say, then pay for the meal when we’re done and head on my way.
As I drive to Darling Springs blasting Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 since it suits my angsty mood, I mentally prep to see Haven again.
When she finds out I’m on the team that’s been hired, she’ll likely either one, fire my ass into next year; two, call me all kinds of names then slay me with her sexy eyes (if she doesn’t knee me in the balls); or three, kiss her co-star, since she’s already forgotten all about me.
I growl, unbidden at the thought of option three. But one is most likely. I just have to hope Dean is around to cover for me if she does pull theit’s him or mecard.
Facts are facts—I kissed the lead actress and was making plans to fuck her. I’m man enough to handle the consequences now. I hope Dean will understand when he finds out.
That night, though, I didn’t know who Haven Addison even was. I definitely didn’t know she’d been cast on the film, or that it was a film client since the referral firm hadn’t shared the details with me.
But on my flight home to Los Angeles—I switched it to that night and got the hell out of there—I googled Haven Addison and learned she’s a twin. Learned, too, that her identical twin sister, Ripley, runs a lavender farm in Darling Springs.
Doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together. Haven must use her sister’s name when she’s out and about. No wonder she was so emphatic about the name Ripley. Haven really wanted me to think she wasn’t Haven, understandably.
But when I googled pics of the two of them, I noticed a few key details. Haven always polishes her nails. Ripley never does. Yet that night, Haven-posing-as-Ripley had cotton-candy-pink nails.
Haven-posing-as-Ripley also dropped that bit about mulch into the convo, maybe to underscore she wasn’t Haven.
But c’mon.
Nails aside, of course it was Haven-posing-as-Ripley. The woman was in the same damn hotel where I’d had a meeting about the film Haven’s starring in. The same night the film got the green light. Plus, there’s what she said when I made her the origami bird.
I just got some wild news. Then, she added,it’s a huge project.
And of course it makes perfect sense that an actress would use a fake name when she’s at a bar and meeting a guy,especiallyafter a jackass hit on her.
The evidence added up.
I wasn’t going to take a chance at risking a reputation our firm has just started to build. One wrong step and all our work could go down the drain. I learned the hard way from my liar of a father how precious your reputation is. So I walked away rather than risking it.
I chose the careful path.
With Haven’s star rising she’ll need to be even more careful when she’s out in public, when she meets random guys. I can help her with that. That’s what I do. I can give her some tips and strategies.
If she doesn’t kick me in the balls, that is. Like I probably deserve.
I take the exit for Darling Springs, hoping my balls stay intact. Once I’m driving down Main Street, my phone rings. I turn off the fourth movement when I see it’s the logistics producer with Ruby Horizons.
