That should have annoyed me, I guess, but it was still kind of sweet.
“You wanted to stay,” he repeated the words, and I could have sworn I could feel his relief. His joy. He closed his eyes tight, and the mix of emotions on his face was excruciating to watch. “Oh God, Lila, I wish I’d known that.”
“Why?” I asked.
He opened his eyes, and his gaze slayed me. It cut me open and laid me bare. Or maybe he was laying himself bare, but whatever… the feeling was mutual. His hands at my waist gripped me harder. “I wouldn’t have let you go.”
I shook my head. “Even if you’d known, it wouldn’t have changed anything. I had to go. Brandon needed me and—“
“I would have talked you out of it. I would have gone with you. Or I could have talked to Brandon and—”
“Don’t you see?” I cut off his rampage by placing my hands on his jaw, forcing him to look at me. “That’s why I couldn’t tell you. If you’d tried to talk me into staying…” I shook my head. “But that’s the thing, Jack. That’s what I need you to know. I left because Brandon needed me, but also…” I blew out a long breath as I searched for the words. My gaze roamed over his face, taking in everything, drinking him in as I tried to explain what he meant to me.
How he’d changed me.
“I wouldn’t have done that if I hadn’t met you,” I said.
He stilled. His gaze held mine, and I felt like he was reading something in me. Trying to understand. I saw the moment he did. His eyes flashed with realization.
“Meeting you, getting to know you…” Words failed me again. I licked my lips and gave my head a little shake. “I’m better for having met you.”
Ugh. Ew. How cheesy was that?
But it was the truth.
His expression turned infinitely tender. The love in his eyes made my knees weak, and when he crushed me to him, I leaned into him. His voice was a husky growl as he held me so tight I couldn’t have moved away if I’d tried. “Well, that’s good news, babe. Because you’re stuck with me. I can’t let you go again. I tried to let you go once, and it nearly killed me.”
It was like my tear ducts suddenly decided they had a lifetime to make up for, and I was fighting a losing battle as I tried to stop them. But I’d meant what I’d said, and admitting it made me realize it on a whole new level.
Jack was good for me. He didn’t let me get away with anything, and he challenged me constantly and… I loved it.
The words started tumbling out of me. “I love that you’ve always expected more from me, that you saw the best in me. That you didn’t buy any of the acts that had gotten me through life prior to Pinedale.”
He kissed the corners of the mouth as I whispered. He trailed those kisses over my jaw and kissed away my tears.
“I love that knowing you made me want to be better. To do better. To be the kind of person you’d be proud of. Someone as kind and genuine and brave as… as you are.”
I stumbled over the words because me and honesty? We’d never been great friends. But Jack deserved to hear the truth. Because that was the thing. Jack was good. He was loyal and honest, and while he might have kept secrets from Brandon, I knew without a doubt that he had good reasons.
Also?
He was the best kisser on the planet.
I could have drowned in his kisses, in the way they wiped my mind clean and seemed to heal every wound. When he kissed me, I felt cherished. When he pulled back, I nearly cried out to stop him. But he wasn’t going anywhere.
He lifted one hand and brushed his thumb over my lower lip. “No more secrets.”
His gaze was dark, his jaw set in that stubborn way I loved.
I nodded. “No more secrets.”
It was a promise. A vow.
And I meant to keep it.
His lips quirked up in a sexy, lopsided grin. “Have I mentioned how much I missed you, Princess?”
I grinned. I didn’t even mind the nickname when he was using it. With him it felt sweet. Like an inside joke. “Hopefully as much as I missed you, Ho-down Jack.”
His laugh was low and soft as he leaned down once more. And then there was no more talking. No more laughing. Just kissing and touching and then some more kissing.
It was heaven.
I was moaning when he tilted his head and slanted his lips over mine, deepening the kiss into something so intimate it made me warm all the way through.
“Ahem.” The loud and obviously fake throat clearing from behind Jack had us jumping apart like we’d been electrocuted.
We both turned to see Tess smirking at us from the entrance to the cabana. “Well, well… good to see you two lovebirds have made up.”
“Good to see you again, Tess,” Jack said. His smile was friendly and unreserved. He’d always been partial to Tess and her goody-two-shoes ways.
I rolled my eyes. This guy might have still bought into that routine, but I was no longer convinced. “Did you need something, or are you just here to ruin the moment?”
“Ignore her,” Jack said, but he was still grinning as he wrapped an arm around my waist and tugged me close so we stood side by side.
Kind of like a couple.
I had to bite my lip to squelch a goofy grin of my own.
“I always do,” Tess said in a sing-song voice, but she was wearing a little smile too. All of the heat that normally filled our bickering had been fading, and these days, it sometimes felt like we were just going through the motions. One day… Tess and I might actually admit that we liked each other.
I know, right? Ew.
“Seriously, though…” I arched my brows. “Did you need something?”
Tess’s gaze darted to Jack before she said way too quickly, “It can wait.”
My sister radar went off in a big way, and as she started to turn, I stopped her. “What’s going on, Tess?”
She looked to Jack and then back to me. “Daddy left for the night, so I thought we might… talk. You, me, and Vivien.”
My eyes widened at the mention of our stepmother, her meaning clear. She was finally going to let me in to her little cloak-and-dagger secret society.
“But, like I said…” She started to back away. “It can wait.”
Jack was watching me. Waiting. I didn’t have to look at him to know what he was thinking. No more secrets.
“Tess, wait,” I called out.
She paused in the entrance.
I glanced over at Jack and then back to her. “Whatever you wanted to say to me… you can say it in front of Jack.”
Tess’s brows snapped down, but she eyed us both consideringly. Then, she met my gaze evenly and spoke to me like an adult for quite possibly the first time in my life. “You sure?”
I felt it like a jolt. Her respect. That’s what this was. She was letting me decide if I trusted Jack enough with her prized secrets. With our secrets.
I swallowed down a thick lump. Damn these stupid emotions, they were turning me into a giant wuss. I took a deep breath and looked at her gaze point blank. “I’m sure.”
Jack’s arm tightened around me in response.
“Okay, then,” Tess said with a sigh. She gestured toward the lounge chairs behind us. “Make yourself comfortable and hold your questions until the end.”
Ten
Jack
“You know,” I said to Lila and Brandon as we hung out at one of the few non-crowded standing tables surrounding Lila’s father’s pool. “I’d thought I’d discovered hell when I first got to this town and found myself on the set of Love on the Range.”
Lila laughed across from me as Brandon toyed with her hair. “And now?”
I leaned back to watch the two of them be all cozy for the crowd. “Now I know I was wrong. That was nothing compared to this.”
“You hate canapés and champagne that much, huh?” Brandon joked.
I waved a hand in their direction. “Watching my best friend hang all over my girl,” I spelled out. “This is some kind of torture
you two worked up to pay me back for keeping secrets, right?”
Brandon laughed. Lila’s grin was adorably shy and totally uncharacteristic. What was even crazier? She blushed. “Your girl, huh?” she said.
I arched a brow. “Too much?” I mean, it hadn’t even been a week since we’d officially gotten together as a couple, and between schoolwork, filming, and her need to keep up appearances with Brandon, we hadn’t had much time to ourselves.
All the same, I’d never been more certain of anything in my life. So it was with relief that I watched Lila shake her head. “Not too much. I’ll get used to having an alphahole for a boyfriend at some point.”
“And until then you have me,” Brandon teased.
“Exactly. You’re the total opposite. So really, I can have my cake and eat it too.” Lila wagged her eyebrows teasingly. “I’m a lucky lady.”
I rolled my eyes. I’d been kidding about this being hell. Kind of. I mean, I totally got that nothing was really going on here. That it was all for show.
But that didn’t make it any more fun to watch. Especially when I was stuck on the sidelines thinking about how I wanted it to be me playing with that hair. Maybe sneaking kisses when no one was looking…
But that was the thing. At this party for the cast and crew of Love on the Range, everyone was watching.
Brandon was the star, after all, and I’d been on the set long enough to know that Lila had a star power of her own. The kind of power that came with being the executive producer’s daughter and the star’s girlfriend.
So, basically, they were the center of attention, especially at this party of co-workers and co-stars.
I hadn’t seen Amber show up yet, but then again, she was probably waiting to make an entrance.
I’d heard the rumors on set about her too. The grumblings about the new diva in town. Even some catty rumors about how she’d gotten the part because one of the higher-ups wanted to sleep with her.
But whatever. Amber wasn’t my problem right now. I reached for my glass of champagne and grinned.
In fact, I didn’t have many problems right now.
Lila tipped her head back with a laugh at whatever it was Brandon said.
Well, aside from the fact that my relationship with Lila had to stay secret for a while, I didn’t have a problem. I didn’t mean to glare, exactly, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a little bit jealous that he got to be the public boyfriend to my girl.
Brandon caught my eye, and his own widened. “And that’s my cue,” he said, taking a step back and holding his hands up to show he hadn’t crossed the line.
As if I ever thought he would.
He gave Lila a wink. “I’m gonna go work the room. You two have fun, but…” He leaned in close. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“Yeah, yeah…” Lila playfully shoved him away. “Go make nice with your fans.”
We watched him walk away, straight toward a group of Lila’s high school friends they’d invited. I narrowed my eyes at that guy who never took his eyes off Lila.
“Who is that guy?” I asked.
“Who?” She half turned. “Oh. Him.”
I loved the disgust in her voice when she said ‘him.’ I was already smirking when she said, “An ex.”
My smirk fell and jealousy rippled through me hot and ugly. Stupid, I know. He was an ex, as in her past. But that didn’t make me like the fact that Lila had been with other guys.
It just made me a hypocrite. I stretched out my neck and tried to relax as I remembered that I wasn’t exactly a saint and Lila wasn’t the first girl I’d hooked up with.
I just wanted her to be the last.
Oh holy crap.
I set down my drink slowly, and Lila arched a brow. “You all right, Jack? You look like you saw a ghost.”
Yup. The ghost of my single self. “Fine,” I said, taking a deep steadying breath. I felt totally off-kilter, even though I was standing up straight. But not in a bad way. Falling in love was just terrifying, that was all. I wondered if it ever got any less frightening. But then again, if that meant it was any less exhilarating, then maybe this terror was worth it. It was like a roller coaster, right? The fear of falling was half the fun.
And I was falling. I eyed her profile, my heart doing a backflip at the sight of her.
Mine. She was mine.
I was such a goner.
She turned back to me with a little smile. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah.” I reached under the table for her hand and gave it a squeeze that no one else could see. “Just a little overwhelmed.”
She nodded. “Yeah. Vivien knows how to plan a party, I’ll give her that.”
So not what I meant, but I went with it. “Vivien,” I repeated, my gaze seeking out the new Devereaux bride who was apparently Tess and Lila’s key to freedom. I found the smiling, walking stick figure on the far side of the pool, looking like the trophy wife that she was.
But that’s the thing, Tess had told us. She’s not the trophy. He is.
I know, I know. I didn’t get it either. But here was the lowdown according to Tess.
The big news she’d been sitting on for more than a year now?
Big Daddy Devereaux wasn’t nearly as wealthy as people believed. Oh, he was still raking it in, but he was also spending outside of his means. Tess had discovered this while interning in his financial department during high school. Since she was blood, his accountant had been a little more loosey goosey about sharing his information.
And, from reading between the lines, Lila and I gathered that what information hadn’t been given to her, Tess had hacked into or spied on in her own sneaky way. What she’d discovered was that her father was leaking money like a sieve. Between some bad investments, a few failed TV shows, a handful of properties that had lost their value, a high cost of living to keep up with the Joneses, and a boatload of alimony payments, the old dude was losing money faster than he could bring it in.
That’s why Love on the Range is so important to him, Lila had said.
Tess had given her a nod. Exactly.
I looked to Lila now and found her keeping an eye on Brandon, who was talking to some guy from their school I hadn’t met yet. “Hey,” I said, not daring to reach for her the way I wanted to. We were toeing the line as it was, standing here off by ourselves, away from Brandon and the rest of the crowd. “We didn’t have a chance to talk much since your sister hit us with the news. You doing okay?”
She smiled, and it was a genuine grin. Impish and adorable. It made me wonder what Lila would have been like if she’d grown up with normal parents, surrounded by people who were actually nice.
But then again, if she’d been raised any different, she wouldn’t have been the girl I knew today. And this girl… This was the girl who owned my heart.
She leaned over and lowered her voice. “I’m better than okay. If Tess is right and we can find some leverage…” She trailed off with a grin that spoke of triumph. Of hope.
This was my Lila.
This was also a rare sight, and one I didn’t want to lose. Not again.
“We’ll find it,” I promised. I itched to touch her again, but I made do with shifting a little closer and lowering my voice. “We’ll get you out of here.”
Her eyes grew all soft and sweet as she nodded. I’d never truly understood until I’d gotten here just how kept Lila was. I mean, she’d always joked about being Daddy’s princess but what she’d meant was, she was her father’s pawn. Sure, he spoiled her when she played her part well, but when she didn’t…
I tensed at the memory of his voice, of the way he’d spoken to her the one time I’d overheard their conversation. My fists clenched under the table as I stared at the older man now, working the room like he really was some visiting royalty.
What I wouldn’t give to have the guy alone in a room. To show him that not everyone cowered before him. That someone out there was willing to take him on for the way he tre
ated Lila.
But Lila, it seemed, wasn’t focusing on her father at the moment, she was eyeing the door that led to the house. “Where’s Tess?” She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “She’s been cagey all week, which means she’s learned something.”
I grinned over at her. I wasn’t sure I’d ever understand her relationship with Tess, but to me, it was endlessly amusing. The week before, as Tess filled us in on her news, Lila kept whispering, “you little sneak,” but it was clear to me—and probably Tess too—that Lila said it in awe, not judgement.
Yeah, well… this sneak has nothing on Vivien, Tess had said as she’d pushed her glasses up her nose.
I watched Vivien now as she made the rounds as hostess on Devereaux’s arm. It was still hard to believe, to be honest. But I supposed maybe that plastic mask of hers made the perfect disguise.
See, it turned out that while the world believed that Vivien was Devereaux’s latest trophy wife, it was actually the other way around.
Apparently, Tess had caught Vivien after one of Devereaux’s infamous “ragefests” as Lila put it, and Vivien had spilled the beans. Vivien was rich. Like, filthy rich. But her ex-husband had made a fool of her when he’d dumped her for a younger model, and she’d been cast out of her Real Housewives of Beverly Hills-type circle of friends.
And so, when Devereaux came sniffing around, cash poor but with the power of a king in this town—she snatched him up. It was her money that was funding Love on the Range.
It was her money that was keeping Grayson Devereaux afloat.
But while Vivien might sound like a pull-string baby doll and look like a mannequin, Tess swore that she had brains. Or her lawyer did, at least.
She didn’t sign that marriage license without a prenup. And for the first time in Devereaux’s string of marriages, he’d actually gotten the raw end of the deal.
The prenup wouldn’t be such a big deal if Devereaux was a decent guy. The clauses were the usual, apparently—if he was caught cheating, he’d forfeit her money. That sort of thing.
But for a guy like Devereaux, who was used to taking who and what he wanted whenever he wanted, one misstep could mean the end of his cash flow from his new sugar momma.
Princess of Hollywood (The Glitterati Files Book 2) Page 9
