Page 42 of Promise Not to Fall for the Rich & Famous

“What was it?” Gage sounded a bit leery; perhaps he could sense that she was off.

“Um…us.” She rested the pitcher at the base of the sink and turned on the water.

“Us?What do you mean?” He came up beside her at the sink and shut off the water.

Carly focused on the pitcher in time to see that she’d filled it all the way to the top. She poured half of the water out and slid the heavy thing onto the counter.

Gage retrieved the lily lying beside it and sank the stem into the vase. “Carly,” he said, his tone serious now. “Tell me what you saw.”

The look of concern in his eyes seemed to echo what his father had said. That he didn’t want anyone to know about them. About their relationship. But that’s not how he’d acted last night.

“It was just, they just were talking about you, saying that you were caught making out with your surfing instructor and they had some…crummy picture of it, but you couldn’t see a whole lot.”

“Did they know where we were?” Gage moved from her periphery until they were face-to-face, his eyes filled with concern.

She shook her head. “No. They just called it a private resort.”

Gage pushed a hand to his chest and sighed. “Good.” He nodded and walked toward the massive windows leading to the beach. “That’s good. Let’s…maybe you should close these things.” He reached for the sheer curtains hanging at either side of the wall.

“They’re transparent,” she said, but he was already dragging them along the length of the room where they met in the center. Carly couldn’t shake the impression that he was ashamed of her somehow. Maybe that was it. It’d be better for his image if she were Diana McCarthy.

Gage spun around and looked over the room. “Do you have a hat or something? Or some big sunglasses, maybe?”

Her eyes nearly doubled in size. Was he kidding? “What, suddenly you’re trying to hide me?”

Gage blanched from the comment. “Not hide—protect. You don’t want to lose your job, and I don’t want the paparazzi beating down your door and digging into your life. Do you?”

She shrugged. “They won’t find much. I mean, my mom’s sort of had a wild life, but she’s settled down now. My dad’snever even beeninmy life so I don’t think that’s a problem.” How much searching would they really do? It wasn’t like she was dating the president, for crying out loud.

“Christian said we could use the golf cart,” Gage said as he made his way back to the kitchen. He was definitely acting strange. Maybe his father had called and chewed him out for …for what? Kissing some random woman at the beach?

The conversation was far from over, but it was clear that Gage wanted to get from Point A to Point B, and fast.

She’d save what she had to say—including details about his dad—until they got to his place. For now, Carly would try not to panic.

It probably wasn’t justified to be so fearful of losing him at such an early stage, but the truth was, she really had fallen for him. For the idea that they might possibly have a future. But as good as it felt to be falling in love with Gage, to have him falling for her in return, Carly couldn’t accept a replica of what she’d endured with Jimmy. If she had to be Gage’s dirty little secret, so much that even his own father couldn’t know about her, she’d rather end things now.

At the mere thought, Carly felt that familiar burn surrounding her heart. She recalled her dream with the giant hole in her chest, and was surprised to admit, inwardly anyway, that losing Gage would hurt a whole lot more than saying goodbye to Jimmy. While the cowboy poet had claim to only her past, Carly had been so hopeful that Gage could be part of her future.

The idea urged her to offer a prayer to the heavens.Please, help me to make it through this, no matter the outcome.

CHAPTER 15

Gage wasn’t sure it’d be possible to enjoy the evening ahead with all of the chaos surrounding the night, but once they got back to his place and drew the sun-proof blinds, the weight of Hollywood seemed to fall off his shoulders. The weight of his father’s teetering approval had too. Perhaps it was the idea of losing Carly that had shifted things into perspective. Whatever the matter, he only hoped he could help ease Carly’s worries too.

Most likely she was still affected by the wholeStar Chatepisode. Stuff like that would take some getting used to, but he hoped it wouldn’t scare her away. The fact was, his family would attract attention for years to come. Gage tugged the bill of Christian’s hat lower and lifted the lid to the grill. Perfect. With a pair of tongs, he shifted each polish dog onto the platter. A quick twist of the nozzle, and the burner went out.

He pushed open the door and stepped back into the kitchen. Carly stood there, her hands cupping her elbows as she looked blankly across the room. The vision seemed to validate his concern; she’d been thrown off by the episode.

He sighed. Dinner was hot and ready. The dogs were grilled just right, the buns steamed to chewy perfection, and the onions he’d caramelized were just seconds away from being overdone.

The only thing thatwasn’tready was Carly.

Gage slid the plate onto the counter and met her on the other side. He wrapped his arms around her and sank his face into the silky strands of her fragrant hair. “What’s going through your mind right now?”

“First of all,” she said, pulling back to meet his gaze. “I never even finished telling you about the TV show. Your dad ...they had him on the show for a second. I mean, he was in his car but they were asking him about me and he said something like, I don’t know his exact words, but it he was basically saying that he spoke to you the other night and that America had nothing to worry about. You’d still be available when you hit the silver screen.”

An ache stabbed at his chest, igniting sparks of fury along the way. “He’s just saying that, of course. It’s not true. My dad has no idea what’s going on between us. It’s ridiculous that they hunted him down to get a quote onmylove life. I’m not even a popular name yet.”