Page 226 of Promise Not to Fall for the Rich & Famous

Nash’s heart thundered as Ellie stood across from him, serious-faced and solemn. He’d expected the same bright-eyed Ellie who greeted him at the stalls each day with a smile on her face and a snarky comment on her lips. That’s not what he’d gotten today.

Instead, he’d been received by a nervous version of her; a shifty posture and a mind so preoccupied she’d barely carried a conversation. They’d finished their ride all the same, but Nash had been stuck in his head most of the time, worried that things were about to come to an end.

Once the ride was through, Nash and Ellie groomed the horses side by side, the quiet between them somehow piercing his ears.

At last, Ellie said just what he’d been waiting for. “I have to talk to you about something.”

Great,thatdidn’t worry him at all. Unless the death-clenched state of his throat, jaw, chest, and all of his extremities said otherwise.

“Okay,” he managed. Perhaps she’d say they were moving up the filming dates, and she’d be leaving for Dallas sooner than planned.

"Nash,” she started, “Ireallylike you. So much.”

Oh no.Those were the words Nash started with when he was about to break up with a chick.

Well, he couldn't say he hadn’t seen this coming. He’d known things couldn't last. And it was right after he’d taken Tucker’s advice, too. Good thing that the defiant part of him—the five-percent rule-breaker—had managed to build a barrier around his heart. Yep, and he was sure it was as sturdy as a house of cards.

Ellie wrung her hands, no doubt forming the sentence in her head, one that would probably break Nash’s heart, a heart that was beating so fiercely it hurt.

His mind was already coming up with phrases to lessen the sting: this was never going to work out anyway. He was lucky to have gotten any time with her. Most men would give anything to experience what he had.

The thing was, Nash wasn't most men. He’d really gotten to know the person Ellie was on the inside. Beautiful, vulnerable, sensitive. She was witty, too, boy, did she make him laugh.

“I really like you, too,” he managed.

“And,” she added, “I'm enjoying our time together. I don't want it to end."

What would her reason be—thatshe was really missing the old lifestyle? Perhaps now that she’d spent time in a common place with a common man, she could unequivocally say she no longer wanted either. But heck, at least she could better play the role of her upcoming movie.Perhaps that's what had mattered most all along. Maybe Nash was a mere casualty in some twisted form of method acting.

He shifted his weight, glanced over the field, and released a trapped breath with a shaky exhale.

Pepper whinnied.

"I think that you feel the same way. I mean, I know it’s early, but you’d also like to have more time together to see where this could go, right?"

"Of course.” His rib cage was a drum, and the rhythm rapping against it was growing more erratic with every beat.

"You asked if I ever thought about leaving Hollywood behind, and I told you I was working on it. That was true. But I thought I had only one of two options.” She made a fist and flicked up a finger. “Hire a team of lawyers and drag my dad through an ugly legal battle. Not because he’s a horrible guy or anything, but because he really mishandled my money and did a lot of unfair things. The problem with that option is that I don’t want to drag his name through the mud.”

Nash resisted asking questions, although half-a-million of them sprung to his mind. Hope sprouted there, too.

“The other option I’ve had is to wait until my current contract ends, which won't be until another year and a half, and eventhen,I’m not sure what hidden strings are still going to bind me.

"But now,” she said nervously, her tone lightening, “I've been presented with a third option."

Nash sucked in a shallow breath of optimism, warning himself to stay cautious, but already, this was heading in a better direction than he thought it might.

"Okay…"

Ellie chewed on her lip and dropped her gaze. She pinned the hem of her shirt between her finger and thumb and began worrying the fabric. "This is going to sound crazy…but the third option is a new contract that actually involves you.”

Him?

“Just hear me out and trust me when I say this wasnotmy idea or some plan from the start, but Iamtempted to agree to it if you are." She hefted out a deep sigh and fixed her gaze on his. “They want us to go public with our relationship.”

The wordsour relationshipgave Nash such a thrill that he couldn’t process anything else.

“Not that we’re some major item or anything,” she quickly amended, “but they think it would work in my favor if we let our courtship leak to the media, which would help the movie after the negative attention it got due to my arrest.”