Chapter Nine #3
When she caught his gaze on her, her manicured brows pulled even tighter together. Her forehead didn’t register a wrinkle, though.
Oh, Cammie. What the actual fuck are you doing here?
But he knew. She was there to talk him out of marrying Aurelie. He suppressed a groan and met her halfway between Paige’s driveway and the house.
“What do you think?” he asked, sweeping his hand behind him like a showman. Her gaze followed, but there was nothing in her features that told him she saw, nevertheless appreciated, the expanse before them both.
“Charming. Listen, we need to talk, Jace.”
“I figured as much since you don’t seem like you’re here to take a stroll.”
She glowered at him.
“I came all the way here because I figured you’d listen to reason if I could look you in the eye and tell you what a mistake you’re about to make.”
“Say what you came here to say, Cammie, but be very careful. I’m not in the mood to be told what is or isn’t a good decision for my life. You can tackle my image, the jobs I sign on for, but tread lightly with the rest.”
A war raged across her features. Her lips quivered, and her cheeks turned a cherry red. She was contemplating just how much she wanted to tell him off, that much was obvious. But in the glint of her eyes, he registered fear. He was a huge part of her client base.
“I’m sorry for what I said about you,” she started. He raised his brows. “And her. I was frustrated to be the last to get the news. Can we talk inside?” she asked.
He nodded. He understood why she was worried, but it didn’t excuse her language.
“Sure.”
“What happened to your house?” she asked as he led her toward Paige’s home.
It was the first time Cammie had spoken to him in months, where it sounded like the Cammie he’d first met in LA: confident but humble, willing to hustle to get what she wanted, but kind, real.
He felt bad for letting her walk into a hornet’s nest unknowingly, but she had come here of her own volition.
“I leveled it. I decided to build something more suited to my tastes. I’d like it to incorporate more of the land. You know, a deck, vaulted windows, and all that. I’ll be using it for a functioning farm, so it’ll be nice to have a place to come home to.”
“Will you be up here enough to manage it?”
He didn’t want to go there with Cammie. Not right now. His acting career might not be completely over, but his time in LA was, that much he’d solidified today.
“I will,” he said, picking up his pace. From the sounds of it, she struggled behind him as he made his way to the front door of Paige’s place, but he didn’t turn around to check.
“Whose place is this, then?” Cammie asked, breathless and covered in a thin sheen of sweat despite the cool spring temperature. Though it was a pretty far cry from the normal workout she got in Pilates, the open air would do her good if she let it.
“The neighbors. He’s a rancher as well, and she’s a doc in town. I knew her and her brother growing up.” He didn’t elaborate. An odd sense of ownership fluttered in Jace’s stomach. This was his home, his people. Talking about them to strangers seemed like a betrayal of sorts.
He opened the door tentatively. Inviting Cammie to meet Aurelie was a bigger betrayal than the rest. If Cammie said anything negative to his wife, so help him…
He took a hesitant breath as he looked around.
Aurelie was nowhere to be seen, yet the aroma of her coconut shampoo hung lightly in the air like a drug.
God, how was it possible he ached for her, missed her already?
Fuck, he should have known distance with this woman was impossible the moment he’d almost run her over.
“Grab a seat. I’ll be back in a sec.”
However, just before he made it out of the kitchen, Aurelie came from the back of the house, a laughing Maddie on her hip. Dressed in a tank top that showed off her toned shoulders and perky breasts, sleep shorts as casual as Cammie was overdressed, Jace’s eyes widened as he took her in.
She was fucking beautiful. Pride welled in his chest, as if he’d done a damn thing to earn it.
Aurelie’s face lit up when she caught his gaze.
“Hey, there. Look who just woke up,” Aurelie said. Her voice was charming. Authentic. Sexy. It calmed the uneasy feeling that rolled through his stomach, rose into his chest.
As if announcing her own arrival, Maddie cooed.
“Aww, she’s adorable,” Cammie said behind him. Aurelie’s head whipped around, and Jace’s gaze pinned on her face, gauging her reaction to the stranger in her home.
“Thanks,” Aurelie said, her voice reticent. She turned back to Jace, her mouth open as if she were about to ask a question. From the look in her eyes, Jace bet his ranch that it wasn’t going to be can this woman join us for dinner?
“You must be the doctor,” Cammie declared, striding up to Aurelie, her hand extended.
Aurelie took it, her gaze still on Jace.
Before either of them could correct Cammie, she added, “Thanks so much for taking care of our Jace while he’s here.
We sure are excited to have him home, but it’s good to know he’s being treated so well while he’s away.
I’m sure he just loves time with this little one, doesn’t he?
” Cammie said, her voice taking on a childlike tone as she squeezed Maddie’s cheeks.
Maddie let out a small whimper that threatened to morph into a wail. Aurelie shushed her, a look of sheer incredulity on her face.
Jace froze. Cammie really wasn’t putting the pieces together. Which meant she hadn’t seen his social posts. The corner of Aurelie’s mouth was pulled up in a smile that brought back the uneasy feeling in Jace’s stomach.
“Oh, I don’t mind taking care of him. It’s my job, after all. As for this little cherub, we can’t wait to have our own one day. A few, actually. Right, hon?”
Jace bit back a laugh, though the look on Cammie’s face was decidedly devoid of humor. Why he thought his new bride couldn’t handle her own was beyond him. He should have been more prepared to come to Cammie’s aid than Aurelie’s.
“Excuse me? Jace doesn’t want—”
“Yeah, I think we’ll wait at least a few months, you know, let the honeymoon stage run its course, but after that, we plan on having as many as we can.” Jace could have jumped in, should have, maybe, but not if he was going to help Aurelie sell their lie. At the moment, the risk was worth it.
“So, you’re… You’re not the doctor, then?”
Aurelie laughed, a small bubble of sound that rang against the walls.
“Oh, no. I’m just a nurse. Paige, the doctor, is my best friend.
Jace and I are watching her daughter while she and her husband are away for their anniversary.
But I’ve been so rude, not properly introducing myself.
I’m Aurelie, Jace’s wife. You must be Cammie, his agent. What a pleasure to meet you.”
Jace was careless enough to let slip a chuckle, earning him a scowl from Cammie. Aurelie would do just fine in his world if she had to. God help anyone who crossed her path on a feisty day.
“You’re married?” Cammie hissed. Any hint of laughter building in Jace’s chest evaporated as she wheeled on him. “You married her without consulting me, after being up here less than a week? You’re going to ruin your career, Jace, and there won’t be anything I can do to salvage it!”
He took a deep breath and stepped back to put an arm around Aurelie.
“Maybe I don’t want to salvage it.” Another truth leveled at him only after the words left his mouth. That is certainly an interesting development.
“You don’t mean that. Jace, you and I have worked together for a decade now. Tell me you’re not going to throw that away for—”
“Careful,” he growled.
She threw up her hands. “I’m just saying, you have the opportunity to take that job you’ve been fighting for since we met. Don’t you still want that?”
He thought about it for a split second. Yes, the role would give him the most challenging acting experience he’d had to date. But when it came to authenticity, nothing held a candle to what he felt blossoming in his heart for Aurelie or the future he saw on his ranch.
He saw long rides to move the cattle to pasture, saw nights on the porch with Aurelie beside him, her belly swollen with their child.
Fear gripped his chest. Then he let that go. It wouldn’t do him any good to think about that just then.
“I don’t think I do. I’m sorry, Cammie.”
Cammie’s eyes watered, and he felt more than a little guilty for stymying her career along with his own. Without Jace, she didn’t have much of a business.
“Me, too. You’re on your own, then, Jace.” Her heels clacked across the wood floor as she saw herself out. It wasn’t how he’d wanted that meeting to go, but he didn’t regret a moment of what led to it.
Because, with his arm around Aurelie, anything fake about his relationship dissolved in that moment. He wasn’t alone at all. Like it or not, he had a family to protect, and he’d go down swinging to do just that.
Even if one of the casualties was the life he’d lived before, it was worth it. Or at least he hoped it would be.