Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
I love you, Sunny.
The words echoed in Sunny’s ears hours later as she blinked open her eyes. The sun wasn’t quite up, but it was past six, so she could legitimately stop pretending to sleep and get up.
She’d rolled to the edge of the bed after the whisper he hadn’t meant for her to hear, so she didn’t disturb him when she dropped her legs over the side of the bed and stood.
Gabe’s face was smashed into the pillow, and his arm splayed out toward her side of the bed like he’d reached for her during the night.
He’d always be reaching for her.
She needed to go now before…before…
It was already too late. But she’d rather shave her head the day before an audition than admit she loved him, too.
Tiptoeing into the bathroom, she checked her phone. Texts from Mom and Dad waited for her reply. Increasingly urgent reminders that they needed her there in two days.
Long-distance wasn’t an option. Not living in LA with her celebrity parents. The tabloids had cataloged her early dating life, and she’d built up a reputation as a love-em-and-leave-em heartbreaker until she’d learned to keep her dates on the down-low. LA was too much to ask of him.
Though between projects, she’d have time to visit him in Ohio. Could the magic of their road trip, the days and nights in sparkly Vegas, survive a phone-only relationship until then?
If anyone could do it, it was Gabe Armstrong, the most loyal person she’d ever met.
She turned on the shower. She didn’t want to scrub off the million kisses Gabe had placed on her. She didn’t think she could, anyway. They were part of her skin now, like freckles or moles or pores. Like an invisible tattoo marking her, reminding her.
Maybe he’d be different. Maybe he wouldn’t reject her. Maybe they really could build a relationship like his parents’, one that was real.
She’d ask him about long-distance. But first she’d pack her things in case he said no. If he rejected her offer, it would crush her.
Rejection sucked. She knew that from a lifetime as the unexceptional Lafortune.
After turning off the shower, she slipped on jeans and a T-shirt, brushed her teeth, put on makeup. Not wanting to make noise with the dryer, she combed through her hair and left it to air-dry. Then she gathered up all her things from the bathroom and opened the door.
Gabe was awake. He sat up in all his massive nakedness, his broad shoulders pressing against the headboard and the sheet puddled around the vee of his hips. Acres of tantalizing olive skin contrasted with the whiteness of the hotel bed.
He said nothing right away, but the way he scanned her from her damp hair to her armful of beauty products told her he saw straight through to the whirling fear in her brain.
“You’re leaving.” It wasn’t a question.
“You know I have to be there by Thursday. And I need some time to prep for the audition. My parents keep calling to remind me.” They didn’t trust her to follow through. She had to show them she would.
“Don’t do it like this. Don’t run away.”
“I’m not running anywhere. The point of this trip was for you to meet your family—which you’ve done—and for me to get back to LA. It’s time for part two of this adventure.” She dumped the stuff onto the bed and went to the closet for her suitcase, hoping he hadn’t heard the tremor in her voice. Ask me to call you.
“Will you come back?”
She set the suitcase on the bed and zipped it open. He wasn’t talking about coming back to Vegas or even about going back to Ohio. He was talking about coming back to him.
“Maybe. I?—”
“Or let me visit you?”
She’d never expose her gentle giant to the entertainment media. In LA, they’d dig up his painful past and splash it across the internet and onto the covers of those checkout-line magazines. Was a long-distance relationship fair to either of them, considering she knew it couldn’t last? She was a Lafortune, and Lafortunes could play romance on screen but couldn’t manage it in real life.
“I need to do this audition with my mom.” She tossed the items from the bathroom on top, not bothering to pack it well. So what if her shampoo bottle opened and spilled all over her clothes? She’d always associate the clothes with this trip, with Gabe. She’d have to burn them.
“I get that. I understand about family. But stay long enough to have breakfast with me. I’ll get dressed. Give me ten minutes.”
Of course he understood about family obligations. More than that, he understood her. His steady brown eyes bored into her. Pleading for a few more minutes. Her own traitorous heart skipped in answer. It was too late. She’d already stayed too long to leave unscathed. When those brown eyes turned cold like her father’s, it would hurt that much more.
The answer came from the primitive part of her brain that didn’t care about any of that. The one that craved more time with this beautiful, kind, strong man. “Okay.” She zipped her suitcase and tried not to ogle his naked body as he passed her. “I Cain’t Say No” from Oklahoma! jangled through her head.
When the shower came on, Sunny checked the room for anything else she might have left behind. If everything was packed, she could grab it and go after breakfast. She wouldn’t be distracted by all the places they’d made love—no, had sex —in the room. She wouldn’t get sucked down into Gabe’s brown eyes, yearning for another sexy growl.
Her phone charger. As she reached for the plug next to the bed, Gabe’s phone rang on the bedside table. The ring she’d heard several times a day since they’d left Columbus, always Darlene and work. The display read Brandon. After a few rings, it stopped. And three seconds later, it rang again. Brandon. Maybe it was a family emergency. Should she pick it up? It was crossing a line to touch someone else’s phone. The ringing stopped. But when it started right up again, she answered it.
“Gabe’s phone. Sunny speaking.”
“Who?”
“A—a friend. He can’t come to the phone right now.”
“A friend.” Suspicion sharpened his tone.
“That’s right. Can I pass on a message to him?”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know you, and I know all of Gabe’s friends. How do I know you haven’t stolen his phone?”
It was kind of sweet, actually, that he was so protective of his cousin. So she played along. “You’re Gabe’s cousin. You went to some fancy business school and now you’re helping with Beach Island while he’s away.” She wanted to say “meddling” instead of “helping,” but even though she might never see Gabe again after today, pissing off his relatives wasn’t kind.
“Fine. You’re his friend.” His tone softened. “How’s he doing?”
Oh. Gabe must’ve talked to him before he and Michael had made up. Of course he’d told his cousin how anxious he’d been about reconnecting with his birth family. And now Brandon was worried about Gabe and how he was feeling. Sunny’s heart swelled. Gabe would be okay. He had family, both biological and adoptive, to care for him after she left.
“He’s doing better now,” she said. “He and his brother bonded. Later today they’re going to see if the state has his real birth records.”
“His real birth records?”
In those four words, she knew she’d screwed up. Her jaw dropped open. No words came.
But they didn’t let just anyone into fancy business schools. Brandon was a smart guy. “You’re saying Gabe was adopted?”
“I didn’t say that. He’s totally not.” She squeezed her eyes shut. Shit, what had she done?
“Where are you two, anyway?”
“Gotta go. I’ll tell him you called.” She mashed the button to disconnect the call.
“Who was that?” Gabe’s voice behind her made her jump.
She whirled and found him shirtless, drying his hair with a hand towel. “I—I’m really sorry. Brandon kept calling, so I picked it up. I thought it was an emergency. And I—I didn’t know you hadn’t told them. I’m sorry.”
His face turned the color of ash.