Maia chuckled. “There wasn’t much to tell. High school sweethearts destined to break apart with graduation. We were on differenttracks.”
“Oh, honey, he broke yourheart.”
“What?! No—why would you …?” She lifted off the padded leather seat and her protective goggles fell into herlap.
Kristi gently pressed her shoulders back down. “Don’t go crazy on me—I could hear the wistfulness in your voice.” She repositioned the goggles. “Let me guess: now that you’re a star—and gorgeous—he wants you back. And you, you hopeless romantic, are consideringit.”
“First off, I was gorgeous even before you came into my life.” She stuck out her tongue. “Second, he doesn’t care about fame. At least, he didn’t use to.” The London she knew wouldn’t have been caught dead at a bachelor auction. The auction was for a worthy cause. And London had a soft spot for vets because of his grandpa. “I don’t know. He didn’t say anything about wanting me—” She was going to add the word “back” to that sentence, but the wordsLondon doesn’t want mehad scraped at her heart and taken her breath away. Just as they had that night at prom when he’d been sodistant.
“A man doesn’t have to come out andsayhe wants a woman.” Kristi scooted back, and the soft beep of a timer being set met Maia’s ears. “Let me ask you this: did he chase afteryou?”
Maia brought her hands together and threaded her fingers over her belly. London had come right to her dressing room door. He could have left the building and she’d never know what happened to him. Well, she would have known, because she followed him on Twitter—through her alternate ego’s account, of course. “Sortof.”
“Then you can be sure he wants you.” The timer dinged as if putting a punctuation mark after Kristi’swords.
She smiled to herself, wondering if Kristi planned that. Arguing with Kristi about a man wasn’t worth the breath it took, so she took a deep breath, enjoying the eucalyptus essential oil wafting up from the diffuser in thecorner.
Did it matter if London wanted her? They had a history—some of it hurtful and most of it bliss. “We’re two different people now, Kristi. We can’t go back to being the naïve sweethearts we once were, and I’m not sure I would fall in love with the man he is today.” The only reason that statement had any truth to it was because she wasn’t sure she could let herself love anyone that much everagain.
Kristi cleaned off her eyebrows and finished the mini facial in silence. Just as she was wrapping things up, April bounced into the room. “I have your itinerary for the release party, your dress is hanging in your closet, your accountant agreed to push the meeting until next Monday, your agent is still working on SNL, and I thought you might like to see this.” She tapped on her tablet, and an image of Maia, wearing that stunning bright pink gown and walking arm-in-arm with London,appeared.
“Where did you get this?” Maia reached out to take the tablet, her arms moving as if weighed down by five hundred pounds. She stared, transfixed, at the two of them together. London in his expertly cut suit that accentuated his broad shoulders and trim middle. He looked at her like she was his whole world, and she smiled up at him as if the years between them neverexisted.
I remembereverything.
“It’s part of an article about the fundraiser.” April flipped her hand as if the picture was no big deal. “I can call them for a print and we can get it autographed. Might be fun for yourcollection.”
While Maia was an actress, at heart she was a full-on geeky fan. Meeting some of the biggest names in Hollywood was the absolute most bestest perk of her job. She had a couple dozen or so autographed glossies hanging on the wall of her in-home theater room. Two of them were with football legends. One was with a pitcher for the St. George Redrocks, Brayden Birks. She had one with Sally Field that she was especially proud of, having grown up onSmokey and the Banditthanks to her mom’s love of BertReynolds.
April was the one tasked with getting the pictures autographed so that Maia’s super-fandom status remained undetected and she could pretend she wascool.
April’s false nonchalance was a dead giveaway to her level of investment in this project. Maia needed to squelch that. She glanced back down at the picture and could practically feel London’s expensive jacket under her palm. She traced her hand over hischeek.
“Uh-oh.”
Her head came up at Kristi’svoice.
“That’shim? London Wilder is the guy from high school?” She pointed at Maia’s chest. “Don’t denyit.”
Maia laughed at her shocked expression. “I’m not denyinganything.”
April cupped her fingers around her mouth. “You should have seen them the other night.” She burst her hands out. “Fireworks.”
Kristi dropped onto the seat next to her. “Is that the only image for the story?” She swiped left to a picture of Riker Dylan and awoman.
April coughed into her fist. “They have images with all the players and theirdates.”
Before Maia processed what that meant, she was staring at a picture of London sitting at a small table in a gazebo with a beautiful blonde. The sun was going down, casting a golden glow over the couple and making their eyes sparkle. Or, maybe their eyes sparkled like that because they were happy with eachother.
He’d gone ahead and created the gazebo date—the player. She’d never gone near one without thoughts of him overcoming her mind and body, and therefore avoided them with the same effort she put into avoiding asparagus.Blech.
With a grunt, she shoved the feelings of jealousy away and dropped the tablet in Kristi’s hands. “They look perfect for each other. I hope they’re very happytogether.”
“But—” April reached out as if to stop her and then pulled her handback.
Maia bolted to her bedroom and shut the door behind her. She crossed to the overstuffed sofa and draped herself across it, unable to care that she was sprawled out like a starfish. She’d given up on London long ago and had therefore given up the right to feel jealous over any of his dates. He’d had enough of them. One Google search would let her see theevidence.
A small voice inside her head said,It’s not like you lived in ahole.
