His brow bounced. “Will it be that difficult pretending you like me?”
What she really feared was that the tabloids, not to mention his fans, would find her completely unworthy of his attention. Would the public believe a man with his reputation might finally be won over by...her?She glanced down at her ratty T-shirt and grass-stained tennis shoes. Even on a good day, barring humidity and hormonal breakouts, she was maybe an eight. The women he dated were off the charts with their poreless complexions and legs up to their armpits.
But she wasn’t admitting that. “I’d probably wind up as fodder for your next scandal—the one in which you throw me over for the next gorgeous starlet.”
“That’s not gonna happen because we’ll control the narrative. We’ll give them a real relationship. Lots of photo ops and candid shots of us. If they post a two-year-old photo of me and someone else, we’ll come back with a lovey-dovey shot of us. They’ll eat it up. You’ll see.”
Chloe hadn’t even stopped to consider all the time they’d have to spend together. “That sounds like a lot of pretending. Anyway, it’s completely unrealistic. We live on opposite coasts and we just met two days ago.”
“They don’t know that. I’m acting in the adaptation of the book you authored. We could’ve been in contact for weeks or months. It could’ve started with that phone call with Simone.”
“Oh, it started, all right.”
“Only a handful of people know how it really went down. Or maybe we keep that piece of the puzzle and add to it. You called me later to beg my forgiveness and—”
“Or you called me to beg me for the role.”
His lips twitched. “Fine, have it your way. I called you. Sparks flew right away and we kept in contact regularly. I flew out here early to spend time with you before the filming started.”
“And all those women you’ve been seen with over the past few months?”
“No women. I’ve been lying low at the recommendation of my manager and the studio.”
Hmm. His plan actually seemed plausible. If a hot Hollywood actor dating her could actually be plausible. But what if this went the wrong way, and she came off like just another of his castoffs? Being abandoned in real life was bad enough. What would it feel like to be publicly humiliated? Not good, she was pretty darn sure.
“It would be good for your platform,” he added. “I’m sure an author can never have enough followers.”
He couldn’t know that her publishing team had been encouraging her to grow her dismal social media following. They’d been begging for a proposal, but she wanted to write a historical novel next, and they were nervous about the change. A relationship with Liam would surely gain her followers by the thousands and make Rosewood happy in the process. Then all she’d need is inspiration. Sheneeded the kind of idea that set her on fire the waySummer Skieshad. The story had meant everything to her, and getting it onto paper had been pure magic.
“Well?”
She considered his proposal. Tempting. But there was that possible humiliation. “I don’t know. It’s probably not worth it.”
“Not worth the success of your film?”
“The success of my film is largely up toyou—I think I’ve made that clear.”
“Fine, then. Be my fake girlfriend and I’ll do whatever you want.”
Chloe blinked. “Whatever I want?”
“Whatever you want.”
Her mind spun at the carte blanche offer. Wasn’t this just what she’d been wishing for? The opportunity to make Liam understand exactly who Ledger was?
She pinned him with a skeptical look. “You’ll read the book?”
“Done. I’ll even take your direction on the role.”
She snorted. “I don’t see the studio going along with that, not to mention the director.”
“Au contraire. The studio and director have already agreed. I just heard from Spencer—he ran it by them.”
She gaped. “Seriously?”
“Hey, you created the guy and they have a lot of respect for you.”
She could hardly believe the studio would give her this much leverage. Or that Liam really wantedherto be his fake girlfriend. She scanned his features, searching for sincerity and finding it. (Among other things because, jeez, that face.) But of course he could just be faking the sincerity. He was an actor after all.
