Chapter 10 #2
He grabs her hand. “Winnie, wait.”
“It’s okay, Ty.” She glances at the woman again, then back down at him. “Think about what I said. If you want me to stay, give me a puzzle piece. And if you don’t, then that’s fine too. Really. Just do what you want. That’s all I’m asking.”
She slips away.
The blonde woman glides smoothly into her place, takes the seat beside him, and turns a thousand-watt grin in his direction.
“Hi. I’m Mary Ellen. I’m twenty-three. I live in Nashville.
And I’m in pharmaceutical sales, but my real dream is to be a singer.
Do you want to hear something? Dolly Parton is my idol. ”
Before he has a chance to get a word in, she tilts her head back and starts belting out some song he doesn’t recognize.
Tyler blinks once.
Twice.
Yeah. I can’t do this right now.
He jumps to his feet. It’s boorish and rude, but he can’t help it. He needs to find Winnie. He needs to explain, with actual words this time. He needs to—
A petite woman in leather pants loops her arm through his and yanks him to the side. He’s met her before, Nina something or other. She’s one of the producers.
“What are—” he starts to argue.
She interrupts him to call over her shoulder, “We’re taking five.”
“No, we’re not. I’m finding Winnie,” he says, trying to break out of her grip. But she’s surprisingly sturdy for her size, and he doesn’t want to hurt her.
“Give me five minutes, and if you still want to go find her, you can.”
“I don’t want to wait five minutes. I want to talk to her now.”
“From the looks of it, the two of you have been waiting a hell of a lot longer than five minutes to have this conversation. So what’s a little more time?”
“She thinks I don’t care.”
“To be fair, you didn’t really give her a reason to think otherwise.”
“I know,” he practically growls and finally gets his arm free. They’ve walked into the grass around the outer edges of the mansion, beyond the glow of the patio lights, mercifully removed from the cameras and the crowd. “That’s why I need to go find her. She deserves to know how I feel.”
“Which is?”
“I love her.” The words come easily this time, as if they’ve been itching for an opportunity to finally escape through his lips and find life outside his dreams. It’s freeing to finally admit it, not just to himself, but to the world.
A weight’s been lifted. He almost laughs. “I really fucking love her.”
Nina rubs her brow with a sigh. “I had a feeling you were going to say that.”
He frowns. “Is there a problem?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“On how willing you are to play along.”
“I don’t follow.”
“The way I see it, you have two choices. You can run inside, find Winnie, confess your undying love, and completely ruin my show. Or you can be patient, listen to me, and get everything you’ve apparently ever wanted.”
Tyler’s hackles rise. “And if I say I don’t give a damn about your show?”
“Well, I can’t be sure, but the first thing my executive producer will probably do is call that friend of hers at TZone and tell her to run that story she’s been holding back about your payments to those drug rehab facilities.
And while I myself would never condone this, I probably won’t be able to stop one of the assistants from leaking to the press that you and Winnie plotted to come on this show together from the very beginning, that you lied to all of us about your relationship just to get a free trip around the world and exposure for her business.
Did she tell you about that, by the way?
She quit her job in New York to go full-time with her freelance design company.
I’m sure the romance readers across America, including many who watch our show, won’t care that she wanted to manipulate them for her own gain.
Your female fans, though? Eesh. That’s out of my wheelhouse.
I can’t begin to predict how they’ll react to your gaslighting them for months about coming on this show when you had a girlfriend back home the entire time. ”
While she speaks, his stomach turns. He’s never been one to take kindly to threats, but the picture she paints is too convincing to ignore.
He’s had enough experience in the limelight to know how every word can be twisted, every look misjudged, every lie polished into a gleaming truth.
His publicist is a miracle worker. But what about Winnie?
He can’t just throw her to the wolves, then stand by while they feed on her carcass.
“Or?” he asks simply, his tone bleak.
“Or,” Nina continues, cheery and unperturbed, as if they’re discussing the weather and not the complete dismantling of two people’s lives, “you play along. You don’t talk to Winnie tonight.
You give some of the other women your attention.
I get the little bit of time I need to build up the storylines for the season. And we both win.”
“How long would I have to wait?”
“Not long,” Nina answers with a wolfish grin, aware she’s on the precipice of winning. “How about your first one-on-one date? That way the two of you can talk without all the other women around. It’ll be better for you both.”
“Right.” He snorts. “Because you’ve only got my best interest at heart.”
“I do.” Nina pats his arm consolingly. He aches to swat her away.
She laughs at whatever it is she reads in his eyes.
“Don’t believe me if you don’t want to, but I’ve been doing this for a long time.
What do you think is going to happen to Winnie if all thirty of those women in there see you chasing after her for a second time tonight?
If you make it so completely obvious to all of them that they don’t have the slightest chance in hell of winning your heart?
She’s going to be stuck living with them for the next six weeks if you decide to keep her.
And it will go a lot smoother for her if she at least has the chance to make a friend before the rest of the women start ripping her to shreds.
We can be vicious creatures, Tyler. Take it from someone who knows. ”
“Our first one-on-one?” he asks, churning the idea over in his mind.
He’s been in love with her for as long as he can remember.
Surely, a few more days can’t hurt, not if what the producer is saying is true.
And much as he wants to deny it, he knows deep down that it is.
He’s spent enough time around Winnie to witness firsthand how vile some people can be.
She’s come a long way from those schoolyard days.
He won’t be responsible for putting her through pain like that again.
“Your first one-on-one,” Nina confirms.
“Deal.”