“Especially where I’m concerned. Hey, wait a minute, is that the only reason you laughed at my joke?”
He just chuckled and tossed his napkin at her.
Chapter10
The call came in just after Liam finished dinner—picnic leftovers. He’d been sitting on his deck, enjoying the evening sunshine, the briny breeze, and the gorgeous beach view when his phone vibrated in his pocket.
Spencer. He accepted the call. “Hey, what’s up?”
“I’m staring at a nice photo of you and MissWholesome enjoying a picnic for two.CelebWirepicked it up. Looks like a couple other sites have followed suit. Nice job, buddy.”
That was good news. “Send me the link, would you?”
“Doing that now.”
“What are people saying?”
“Haven’t had a chance to get on socials yet, but the tabloid coverage I’ve seen so far is positive.”
The link came in. Liam put Spencer on speaker and clicked it. The photo appeared at the top of their site. “‘Liam Hamilton’s New Fling?’ I wish they hadn’t used the wordfling. Sounds cheap.”
“Give it a minute. That’ll change when you add some longevity to the relationship. When they see you’re not going out with other women.”
Liam read on. “They’ve identified her. ‘Liam’s newest conquest is the author of the book-turned-movie that features Liam’s latest role. Will the author fall in love with the hero she created, or will Liam break her heart? Stay tuned.’”
“Nice turn of phrase, huh? Patty thinks it’s a great start.”
Liam scowled. “Chloe won’t love being referred to as my conquest.”
“As I said, give it time. That’s a good picture. You seem relaxed and she appears to be eating up whatever you’re saying. She’s a looker. I did a little research on her. Those eyes...”
“They’re striking.” And they betrayed her every mood. When she was all fired up, they flashed silver. And when she was listening intently, they were a warm, liquid blue he wouldn’t mind falling into for a while.
Liam zoomed in on the photo. It was a frontal view of him grinning at her. Chloe’s profile also revealed a smile. Objectively, it appeared to be a private little picnic between a pair of lovebirds. Perfect.
“Keep up the good work,” Spencer said. “I emailed you the NDA. Try to get it back to me by the end of day tomorrow.”
“About that. Chloe also confided in her best friend.”
“Aw, man.”
“Hey, I confided in my best friend too.”
“Your best friend is your manager.”
“It’s only two people and she trusts them. She has as much at stake as I do.”
“Hardly. Your career could ride on this. With your reputation already in the crapper, if it gets out you tried to fool your fans, it won’t be good.”
“It won’t get out. We’re both invested in this.”
“Get those NDAs. The studio doesn’t like that we didn’t get right on this.”
“I’m on it.”
A few minutes later they signed off, and Liam clicked on theother gossip sites that had reported the story. The captions and content were more salacious than he would’ve liked, but he’d expected as much. Of course they’d make Chloe out to be his plaything, just as they had most of the actresses he’d gone out with. That was inevitable since he rarely went out with the same woman twice.
Funny, he and Chloe had talked just yesterday about two of Ledger’s most prominent qualities. They’d stayed in the park well into the afternoon discussing his sentimentality and fierce loyalty. Liam wasn’t particularly sentimental. And as for loyalty, Liam could only relate to the characteristic where his family and friends were concerned. He’d never been in love or even reached a point in a relationship where loyalty was expected.
