Chapter Ten
“Love is blind; friendship tries not to notice.”
Otto von Bismarck
Jack
I never thought I’d say this, but I was glad Sienna showed up when she did.
If not, Ivy might have gotten me to spill my guts.
I wished she would just drop it. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate her care and concern for me, but I didn’t need to give her any more reasons to doubt the viability of a romantic relationship with me.
My family—if you could even call them that—was nothing like Ivy’s. No need to torture her with my memories and scare her away. The stubborn woman was already giving me a run for my money. Hadn’t she felt how amazing it was to wake up next to each other that morning?
Her sleepy smile, and the way she had laughed first thing upon waking up, had made me want to capture her supple lips and show her exactly how I felt about her. But then she’d said, “Good morning, friend,” and just like that, ice-cold reality doused my plans.
And here I’d thought I was such a genius, telling her she was right about men and women being able to be friends. Sure, she might have relaxed around me, but she was also apparently prepared to die on the hill of platonic male-and-female relationships.
“What do we do? What do we do?” Ivy’s eyes darted around, panicked.
I’d known running into Sienna on this trip was inevitable. I’d just hoped it would be later rather than sooner.
“Just act like you can’t get enough of me,” I said with a teasing air, but I meant every word.
“I’m being serious here,” she gritted out.
“I am too. The more she believes we’re together, the quicker she moves on.”
At least I hoped. And with any luck, Ivy would finally figure out we were the real deal. But more and more I worried it was going to take more than luck. I needed a miracle. A Christmas miracle.
If only I believed in them. I’d given up on Christmas and miracles a long time ago.
“Ugh. Fine.” Ivy grabbed my hand and marched us over to the rink like she was leading me into battle. She sure knew how to keep a guy’s ego in check. Not that mine wasn’t still mostly inflated.
Unfortunately, judging by Sienna’s outfit—and the matching energy radiating off her friends, Blair and Margot—they had come to ice-skate, too.
All three wore coordinated pastel plush coats, tailored leggings, and sleek boots. No doubt designed by Margot and Blair. Their alliance with Sienna was more transactional than personal, though their online praise of her made it sound like a friendship written in glitter.
Truthfully, Margot and Blair were far too nice to be close friends with someone like Sienna. But they faked it well. Sienna had put them on the map in the fashion world. And for that, they’d sold their souls to her.
In some ways, I had done the same. Sienna knew how to carefully craft webs and lure people into them. It didn’t help that our on-screen chemistry was palpable. And I had been attracted to Sienna at one time. But I regretted letting our professional lives spill over into our personal ones.
Sienna’s radar was still intact and even though a horde of teen girls had surrounded her and her friends, she zeroed in on Ivy and me. Her eyes lit up and said, It’s showtime.
Oh, hell.
If that wasn’t scary enough, my phone buzzed alarmingly in my pocket. I’d been in Hollywood long enough to know something unpleasant was about to go down. I tugged on Ivy’s hand to slow her while I reached into my jeans and fished out my phone.
It was my PR manager, Tori. This wasn’t good. She knew better than to call me while I was on vacation unless it was an emergency.
I maneuvered Ivy behind one of the dozens of decorated trees in the square, trying to afford us some privacy.
“What’s going on?” Ivy whispered, swallowing hard, noticing the name flashing on my phone’s screen like she knew a hammer was about to drop.
I wanted to tell her there was nothing to worry about, but I couldn’t. All I could do was wrap an arm around her waist and pull her to me before I answered the phone.
“Tori,” I murmured.
“Jack, I hate to interrupt your trip, but we have a situation. Reports are circulating claiming your relationship with Ivy is staged to promote your upcoming movie about friends to lovers. It’s gaining traction fast, and we need to decide how to handle it before it spirals.”
I didn’t have to guess who’d started those rumors. Damn it, Sienna.
“You know I hate commenting on my love life,” I growled.
“Sorry, you don’t have a choice,” Tori responded in her no-nonsense way.
“We can go either one of two ways here. I can send out a statement outright denying it, or you can start posting some authentic photos of you and Ivy to put to bed any rumors. My suggestion is the latter. Yes, I know, it’s not your favorite option,” she added as an afterthought. “But it will be more effective.”
I could feel Ivy tremble against me. What had I done? All I wanted was to make Ivy see we belonged together. I never meant to thrust her into the spotlight like this.
“I’m going to need to call you back,” I snapped, even though this wasn’t Tori’s fault. That blame was all mine.
“You have ten minutes to decide.” She unceremoniously hung up on me.
It didn’t bother me in the least bit. Tori was the best of the best, and I liked her take-no-prisoners attitude.
“What’s going on?” Ivy’s voice warbled.
I shoved my phone in my pocket and wrapped my arms around her, letting myself selfishly sink into her warmth while gazing into her beautiful, worried eyes.
“Ivy,” I said with every tender feeling I had for her. “Please don’t hate me.”
She bit her lip. “Um . . . please don’t start sentences like that.”
I smiled, although there wasn’t anything pleasant about this. Except Ivy being in my arms.
“We have a situation,” I breathed out.
“I don’t like situations, Jack.”
“I know. And I’m sorry, for the hundredth time. But Sienna has decided to play dirty.”
Ivy gasped. “Dirtier than she already has been?”
I nodded, confirming her worst fears.
“What is it? Am I a gold digger? Pregnant with your child?”
If only. I would be ecstatic to announce Ivy and I were expecting a child together.
“It’s worse.” I tensed. “It’s the truth.” Ivy’s truth, not mine. “A sliver of truth,” I added. “And sadly, sometimes in my world, the truth isn’t better than a lie. Public perception is everything.”
Ivy tilted her head. “What are you talking about? What truth?”
“There are reports circulating that I staged our relationship to promote my upcoming movie about friends to lovers.”
“What?” she spat. “That’s ridiculous. Do people do that? Do you do that?” she chastised me.
“Of course not. But yes, it would surprise you what studio execs and PR teams cook up. They are all about strategic leaks and fake dating rumors. Anything to sell their movies.”
She gripped my jacket, her breath coming out so fiercely it swirled in white wisps between us. “How are you going to fix this?”
I cleared my throat. “I think you mean we.”
“No. No, I didn’t. You got me into this mess.”
“Well . . .” I said playfully. “I mean, it was you who confirmed to Sienna we were a couple.”
She wrinkled her cute button nose at me. “Don’t even try to pin this on me. You’re the one who panicked and blurted that we were a couple. You prematurely blurted, Jack.”
“That doesn’t sound right.” I broke through her defenses, and she laughed.
“Okay, that sounds terrible. But,” she whined, pressing her forehead against my chest, “I didn’t sign up for this. I hate this.”
“I know,” I sighed.
“So, what do we do?”
I rested my chin on her head. “How do you feel about posting some authentic couple pictures of us?”
She stilled. “How authentic are we talking here?”
I tried not to let myself think about all the delicious possibilities, knowing how Ivy would feel about it.
“Enough to make the rumors go away.”
Silence stretched between us. She knew enough about my world to understand what I was asking.
I closed my eyes, visions of finally tasting Ivy’s lips dancing through my head. Did that make me a cad?
Ivy leaned away, searching my face as if looking for the answer, bewilderment and fear etched into her features. What was she so afraid of?
As if she could read my mind, she whispered, “I don’t want to ruin us.”
Damn. Her words carried a TKO kind of punch. Yet they also confirmed to me that she had thought about us crossing the line of friendship. And she was afraid of what was on the other side of that line.
How did I make her feel safe there?
That was a question I didn’t have an answer to.
But I knew this. “Believe me, Ivy, that’s the last thing I want. I’ll just tell Tori to release a statement denying the accusations.”
Ivy let out a breath and fell against me. “Thank you.”
I held her as tight as I could, feeling gutted that she was thanking me when she should hate me. I wanted to tell her the truth, but it was obvious—she preferred the lie.
The lie that we were just friends.