I snort. “That’s one way of putting it.”
“She called me your childhood sweetheart,” she states, eyeing me. “And ‘the one who got away.’ Care to explain?”
Heat creeps up my neck. “I may have mentioned you to her once or twice over the years.”
“Once or twice, huh?”
“Okay, fine. A little more than that,” I admit, tapping my fingers on the marble countertop. “She’s been my closest friend since about a year after I first moved here. Before we both gotfamous, she was my next-door neighbor. I talk to her about... stuff.”
Lizzy sets her water bottle down, green eyes searching my face. “Stuff like what? Me?”
“Sometimes,” I say carefully, trying to gauge her reaction. “Does that bother you?”
Expression flickering, she studies me for a moment before shrugging with a sigh. “I guess I’d be a hypocrite if I said yes. Logan has had to put up with me bitching about you for years. Not to mention my poor friends over the past few months.”
My heart skips a beat. “You talk about me?”
“Not in a good way,” she warns with a teasing glint in her eyes.
forty-five
My heart ka-thumps.Rowan’s declaration that he talks about me to a woman he’s just admitted is his closest friend sends a spark of jealousy through me so visceral I’m surprised the natural green of my eyes doesn’t bleed out onto the floor.
I quickly do the math in my head, coming to the sudden realization that he’s been her friend for longer than he was mine before he left the first time.
Somehow I manage to push the hurt of it aside. I want to believe they’ve never been more than friends. I’m also pissed she’s the one who got to be there for him, while I was all alone back home, holding on to the only emotions I would allow myself to feel: Hate. Anger. Loneliness. Betrayal.
Now, here I am, standing in his kitchen, telling him that I actually like his ex.
Before I can say another word, the intercom sounds-off again.
“Visitor requesting entry at main gate.”
Rowan glances down at his watch, then up at me. “Betcha that’s Ava and Leeza.”
“Already? What time is the party?”
“Six,” Rowan answers as he grabs his phone and taps at the screen.
“But that’s like… six hours from now.”
He grins at me over his shoulder. “Yup. Don’t worry. You’re going to love it.”
“What about lunch?”Jesus. Less than a day in Hollywood and I’m already starting to sound like an entitled princess.
“How about I order us some food?” he chuckles, grabbing his phone. “Maybe the ladies are hungry too.”
Ladies?
“Just how well do you knowthesewomen?” There’s no squashing the inclination in my voice this time.
Rowan’s head jerks up at my tone.
Carefully setting his phone down on the counter, he strolls over and looks down at me. “You’re jealous.”
He moves in closer. Close enough I almost have to crane my neck to look up at him. “The fuck I am.”
A slow, feral grin spreads across his face, eyes filling with molten heat before he bends down to murmur in my ear. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love that.”
