He glanced down at her shirt, no doubt reading the slogan:Hand over the chocolate and no one gets hurt. Meeting her eyes again, he tilted his head, the corner of his lips pulling up.
Right. She should probably say something. “How’d you know where I live?”
“We’ll be filming here, remember?”
“Right.” She should probably lose the attitude, but the man seemed to bring out the worst in her. She couldn’t deny he was a treat for the eyes though. “I—uh—I guess you got my voice mail.”
“What voice mail?”
“You didn’t get it?”
“Obviously not. Another half-hearted apology?”
“Nooo... I just said I wanted to talk to you. Why are you here then?”
He stuffed his hands in his pockets as his gaze swept over the yard. “Scoping out the area. So this is where some of the scenes will happen. Nice property. A good choice—and kind of charming that it’s the author’s backyard.”
“Thank you.” She was glad he seemed serious about the movie, coming out early and all. But this movie wasn’t about the setting.
“It faces west,” he said. “So you really do get the sunset. I wondered about that one scene since you’re on the East Coast.”
“The creek bends and curves every which direction.”
“I see that.” He glanced at her, his expression unreadable. “I guess you saw the gossip site. I’d apologize, but unfortunately, I have no control over it.”
A warning flare fired deep in her belly. “What gossip site?”
He lifted a brow. “You didn’t see it?”
“You’d better tell me what’s going on.”
“Do you have your phone? I left mine in the car.”
She handed hers over and he tapped the screen.
“What happened?”
“Someone saw us together yesterday and snapped a photo. It ended up on a tabloid site.” He turned the phone around and showed her the picture.
There they were, up close and personal. And of course theshutterbug had caught her holding up that ridiculous thong. The scene appeared much more intimate than it had actually been. Her cheeks warmed.
“I’m afraid the story’s already spread to other sites.”
She skimmed the headline and frowned. “‘Southern Squeeze’? Wow, I’ve been reduced to a ripe lemon.”
“It’s what they do. At least they didn’t identify you.”
“No, they just suggested I horned in on your relationship with Katie Simpson. Oh my gosh, has she seen this? I’m so embarrassed.”
“You didn’t horn in on anything. I’m not even dating Katie—or Brittney.”
She snatched her phone. “Well, that’s not how this makes it seem!”
He gave a smug smile. “Welcome to my world.”
She spared him a glance before scanning the brief article. She was no dummy. It wouldn’t take any time at all for the tabloids to identify her if they wanted to. It was a small town. All they had to do was ask around. And she was hardly famous, but she’d certainly done the publicity circuit on her release. She might even be recognized from that. She didn’t want people thinking she was Liam Hamilton’s new plaything! It might even affect how her movie was perceived. “I don’t want my movie tainted with fake gossip.”
“I don’t want that either.” He cleared his throat. “My manager and the studio suggested we try to control the narrative.”
