“Those sites are just a bunch of gossip.” And yet, he couldn’t make himself simply turn and walk out of the room.
“There are pictures.” Grace withdrew her phone. “I have to say it’s pretty convincing.”
“Let me see,” Molly said.
“Our guests’ private lives areprivate.”
“We’re in a need-to-know situation here, Levi.” Grace handed the phone over to Molly.
She looked at the screen, wincing. “Yikes.”
Grace continued in a whisper. “There’s a new Hollywood scandal brewing, and Mia’s at the center of it. Everyone’s looking for her, and she’shere.”
“She’s right,” Molly said. “This looks pretty bad.”
Levi couldn’t take it anymore. “Give it here,” he said reluctantly.
Molly handed over the phone. He couldn’t miss the all-caps headline. The pictures below it made his gut tighten. There was Mia in the arms of Jax Jordan, in what seemed to be a very steamy kiss. He didn’t follow much when it came to Hollywood, but everyone knew Jax was married to Emma Taylor.
“She’s broken up Jemma!” Molly said.
Levi frowned. “Jemma?”
“Jax and Emma—Jemma,” Grace said. “You do live under a rock.”
“Couldn’t these just be photoshopped? I mean, otherwise, explain all the alien pictures I’ve seen at checkout counters.”
Levi wondered why he was so reluctant to believe the reports. Maybe he’d only just met Mia, but he didn’t want to believe she was capable of carrying on with a married man.
“There are too many pictures and too many reputable sites covering this,” Grace said. “They apparently aired it onEntertainment Tonightlast night.”
Levi thought back over the twenty-four hours he’d known Mia. The look of vulnerability on her face when she’d checked in. The hint of tears in her puffy eyelids this morning. The guardedness and flicker of hurt in her eyes only moments ago. Maybe it wasn’t just the broken engagement. Maybe she was upset about having been caught in an adulterous affair. But she just didn’t strike him as a home wrecker.
“Well, I don’t believe it,” Levi said firmly.
Two pairs of eyes swung his direction and held there for a long moment.
All right, he could see why his adamant defense of Mia might be out of character. But she just didn’t seem the type. And for some reason she brought out all his protective instincts.
“Levi...” Grace said. “You don’t even know her.”
“Oh no.” Molly touched his arm. “Please don’t tell me you’re getting a crush on Mia Emerson.”
“Of course not.”
“I know we’ve been pestering you to date, but she’s a celebrity, Levi. Every man in America wants her, including Jax Jordan, apparently, and she’s in the middle of a huge scandal, not to mention fresh off a broken engagement.”
He shrugged off Molly’s hand. “Stop it. I don’t have a crush. Maybe I just want to believe the best about somebody. Ever think of that? She’s our guest. Our loyalties lie with her. Besides, she told me something today that you might be interested in...”
He waited until he had their attention.
“She’s the Livingstons’ granddaughter.”
“Paul and Dorothy Livingston?” Grace asked.
Molly was shaking her head. “They didn’t have any children.”
“They apparently had an estranged daughter—Mia’s mom. That’s why she wanted to come here on her honeymoon to begin with. She wanted to see where her family came from. So, for all kinds of reasons, we need to have her back while she’s here.”
