“And all your content since has been sunshine and rainbows?”
She choked out a little laugh.“Give or take a few about cloth diapers and teething.”She buried her face in his chest, inhaling his sweet and spicy scent.“Everything you’ve seen of me has been genuine.Everything I’ve told you, all my beliefs, my aspirations.They’re all true.If for nothing else, I want to be, I need to be, a person my son looks up to.I need to be a person I can look at in the mirror.”
“Yeah, I get that about you.”With another kiss on her head, Dan released her but kept hold of her hands.“Thank you for telling me.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”
“So why now?”
“Well…” Her stomach clenched at having to mention Isabella.“My old boss, Juliana, emailed me.We’ve had no contact for over three years.And now…she’s reached out because she’s seen I’m working with you.”
“She wants a piece of our collab?”
Libby shook her head.“Through you, she wants intel on Isabella.There are rumors in Hollywood that she’s sleeping with Xavier Hunter.Apparently, his wife Alicia is headed for London to confront her tomorrow.”
Dan’s lips flatlined.“What did you reply?”
“Nothing.I’ve deleted her emails and blocked her.”Libby looked at her feet.“Do you know anything about these rumors?”When he didn’t answer, she raised her head.“Dan?”
“No,” he said firmly.His jaw flickered, and his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat.“I don’t know anything.”He squeezed her hands and stepped away.“You mind if I head out for a swim?”
“Um…sure, yeah, go ahead.”
“I’ll be back in an hour,” he said.
Libby watched him go.
That’s it?
She’d been completely honest with him, and he…he hadn’t.He’d outright lied.Effortlessly.If she hadn’t known the truth, she would have believed him.
And that was a scary thing to comprehend.
Shit,Isabella,youbloody,bloody fool.
Expelling another breath, Dan burst to the surface of the lagoon.
It was happening.Isabella was top of the charts, and now, scum like that boss Libby used to work for were going to cut her down.
And as for Libby… He simply couldn’t believe that she used to work for a gossip rag.His Libby?Sunshine and rainbows.Seriously?When he’d thought he hadn’t heard her right, the fact that she was so upset about it, so ashamed even, had gripped him.He hadn’t liked seeing her cry like that.Of course he’d hugged her—she’d needed comfort, needed to be told it was okay.Which it absolutely was, no matter how hard he found it to imagine her doing all those things she’d said she’d done.
But as soon as she mentioned Isabella, all his instincts had screamed at him to walk away before he said something he’d regret.Something that would result in Libby getting caught up in the shitstorm that was heading Isabella’s way.
Damn it, Issy, you’re playing with fire…
Dan dove under the water again, bubbles bursting around his ears.
Ignoring the pain in his shoulder and the frustration of his unflexing left leg, he went deeper.Swam harder.
He came up for air.
The roar of the ocean slammed into him like a brick wall.Waves crashed, foamed, and hissed over the reef.The currents tugged him toward the crags and spikes.
Fuck.He’d swum too close!
Adrenaline pumping, he darted back toward the shore, his arms slicing through the water.His bad shoulder screamed, and the tightness in his left leg was like a shackle.Shit.He’d let himself get distracted.He’d lost all sense of discipline and control.Grabbing another breath, he dove under the surface and pushed through the pain until he reached the middle of the lagoon.
When his feet grazed the sandy bottom, he flipped to float on his back and gasped for breath.
