Chapter 34
LUKE
Sam was an asshole. While he’d been honest, he didn’t have a diplomatic bone in his fucking body.
I felt the second Aspen tensed at his comments about her being an actress.
We’d been kissing, which wasn’t fake at all, and then he reminded both of us that all she was here for was to make me look good.
Aspen was more than arm candy. She was stunning in that dress, but she was stunning completely bare.
Or hiking in the woods with a couple kids.
Or leading one of her yoga classes. Hell, even hungover.
Besides my parents, she was the only one I met who grounded me, who made me see how fucked up and shallow everyone around me was.
If someone needed to change, it wasn’t Aspen.
“What can I get you?” the bartender asked.
I looked to Aspen. “White wine, please.”
If I got this part, and fuck, I hoped I did, there was eight months of travel and filming. For the first time, I caught on to the fact that I would be away, far fucking away, from Aspen. That her standing beside me wasn’t fake. That I wanted her at my side.
But this movie was epic action/adventure, not a simple TV show that was filmed on a movie set in one location. The hours were brutal, but everyone went home at the end of the day. And I went to my barely furnished real estate investment. Either way, Aspen wasn’t going to be there.
As I told the bartender what I wanted, someone called Aspen’s name. While I expected to make small talk with people I knew, I wasn’t expecting her to know anyone.
Beside me, she went still. Her fingers clenched mine and I whipped my gaze to hers. Her eyes were wide in surprise… and something else. Who’d called for her? I turned, found a man walking our way.
“Shit,” she whispered, staring at the approaching man.
I leaned down. “You okay?”
She nodded, swallowed hard. “Not really.”
Whoever the man was, she knew. And didn’t like. I’d never seen him before. Sixties, salt and pepper hair, navy suit.
“This is unexpected,” he said. His dark gaze was on Aspen.
She didn’t say anything until he was directly before her. “Hello, Father.”
Father? What. The. Hell? Oh shit.