Chloe returned to the cheesecake, trying to ignore her brother who lingered nearby, waiting, arms crossed. She hadn’t expected the news to get out so fast. It was only online, after all, and Stillwater Bay seemed a million miles from Hollywood.
“What did you do?” Sean asked finally.
“I didn’t do anything!”
“Just yesterday you were moaning and groaning about him, and today everyone thinks you’re together?”
He did nothing but hover and stare. And stare. And stare.
“Someone took a picture of us when we ran into each other Sunday, that’s all. It got posted on some tabloid site and it was... misconstrued.”
He tilted his head. “And you didn’t set Mom straight because...?”
That explanation was a little trickier. “Don’t you have some fish to fry?”
“You’re hiding something.”
“Am not.”
“Are too. You’re blinking like crazy and avoiding eye contact.”
She forced her eyes wide open and met his gaze. She and Liam hadn’t talked about who they would or wouldn’t tell. No doubt, the fewer who knew the truth, the better. Her eye started twitching.
“You look deranged.”
She couldn’t keep this a secret from Sean. She’d never get away with it.
“Fine.” She lowered her voice in a hiss. “Liam and I made a deal today. I’m gonna be his fake girlfriend, and he’ll take my direction on the role of Ledger.”
“Why would he want you to be his fake girlfriend?”
“Hey!”
He waved away her indignation. “You know what I mean.”
Okay. Fair question. No sense hiding the rest at this point. “He’s trying to salvage his image, which would be good for him, and what’s good for him is good for the movie. And you can’t tell anyone about this. Not a soul. This can’t get out or it’ll spoil our plan. He agreed to read the book and everything.”
“Wow, the whole book? And all you have to do is become fodder for every gossip site in America?”
“This will work in both our favors. You know I need more followers anyway if I’m gonna switch to historicals. And a relationship with him will get me zillions of them.”
“So honorable.”
Chloe glared. “Not to mention I’ll have a say in Liam’s role—the studio said so.”
Sean gave his head a shake. “Why’s that so important to you anyway? I know it was the ‘book of your heart’ and all. But you didn’t even expect a movie deal out of this. Why does it matter so much? The book’s already a raging success.”
“I just want them to get it right. I want them to do Ledger justice.” He was her Mr. Right—maybe the only one she’d ever get.
Sean’s gaze zeroed in on her face and after a long moment his eyes softened. “He’d better not hurt you.”
Her heart melted a little. “Come on. How could he hurt me when I don’t give a flying fig about him? As long as he gets the role right, we’re golden.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing.”
She so didn’t know what she was doing. She gave her widest smile. “Piece of cake.”
While he headed back to the grill, she boxed a cheesecake slice for later and put the rest away. Then she detoured to her office, which was really just a paneled closet with a desk. She dug her phone from her purse, her heart faltering at Meghan’s text, sent an hour ago.
