“Beau,” she whispered.
His eyes closed off, and she realized he didn’t even know her name.
And she’d almost kissed him!
She stepped back, the cold air rushing through her wet clothes and chilling her to the bone. Or maybe that was the absence of the fire between them.
“Sorry,” she mumbled. “That got real there for a minute. Totally unprofessional on my part.”
Beau stared at his hands as if they had betrayed him in some way. “Yeah.”
“I—have to go now.” She took two steps back.
His gaze went to the envelope. “I—”
“Just read it, okay?” She pointed to her manuscript. “We need to know before noon tomorrow.”
He licked his lips and swallowed.
Yeah. She did a total fan-girl sigh, complete with the dreamy eyes and melty knees. Beau’s gaze focused on her, and she knew she had to get out of there or she was going to do something really stupid. “Bye!” she chirped. Spinning, she jogged down the hall, down the staircase, and out the front door, not stopping until she securely fashioned her seat belt.
Halfway to the city, Beau’s spell over her broke, and she flushed bright red with embarrassment. She’d broken so many rules tonight.
Never go into a strange man’s bedroom.
Hello!! She’d followed him up there like a naïve freshman trailing after the varsity quarterback. Just because he had the charm of a prince didn’t mean he was Prince Charming.
Never fall for a pretty face.
Living with Patricia and her daughters had taught Cindy that beauty rarely ran deeper than laser treatments—even for men and especially for actors.
Guys like Beau don’t fall for girls like me.
Okay, so that was a new rule she thought up on the spot. She was going to write it on a sticky note and post it on her bathroom mirror where she could repeat it every day for the rest of her life. Because, there had been a moment back there when their eyes locked, and he saw inside her heart, and she’d seen inside his.
He hadevery bit the broken heart she had, though his was more like a boxer who had lost a fight, and hers was like a mirror shattered into the pieces of her splintered family.
There was more though. Not only had she seen into his heart, she’d seen herself through his eyes. Sure, she was a drowned rat on the outside thanks to tie guy, but the woman Beau had seen was strong and determined and attractive. He’d been attracted to her—immensely attracted. She knocked her forehead with her fist.Rule number three!
She parked on the far side of the garage, where no one could see her car from the street, and made her way to the back door. Beau wasn’t in her plan. Her plan was to bring her father’s company back to its former glory before Stepmother parceled it off or moved the whole thing to California.
Rubbing her hands up and down her arms, she paused, not quite ready to enter her childhood home, where she’d been pushed to the attic room to make space for Drusilla’s elliptical machine and yoga mat.
Here, in this house, she was a nuisance despite her efforts to blend in with the wallpaper. With Beau, she’d tried to be a nuisance and instead had found acceptance. In one night, he’d turned her world upside down. She checked her phone. Midnight. In twelve hours her big shot would elapse. Maybe it was better that way. If the project was pulled, she’d never see Beau again, and she’d be left alone with her memories of how, for one moment, she’d found her place in this world.
Chapter 3
Beau Mckay stared after the script girl as she left, stunned by the story her eyes had told, because it was honest and real and painful and yet filled to the brim with love. He drummed his fingers on the binder she’d left in his care.
Trusted.
She’d trusted him with the script, and it was important to her.
He closed his eyes. How could one person hold so much love inside? Shaking off the spell she’d cast over him, he opened the script.
I’ll read until I’m bored.
Five minutes later he sat on the bed.
