Page 9 of Rocks You Like a Cabernet

My eyes are wide in disbelief. There’s nothing up here but another sofa and cramped bookcase after cramped bookcase. At any other time I would be mystified by this stunning personal library, but right now I’m not believing what I’m seeing.

There’s only one bedroom.

There’s only one bed.

“He wouldn’t,” I say to myself, not realizing my whisper carries down the open space.

“Apparently he would.”

Covering my face and closing my eyes, I try to take a deep breath and tell myself everything will be okay. I need just a moment to be dramatic and then I will shake it off and find a way to get through the next couple of days.

The space wasn’t big, but there was a whole forest to explore. I could spend my days outside rehearsing lines and not seeing Henrik until I came inside and…bunked down on the sofa.

Shit. What a nightmare.

Letting my hands fall, I accept that Cameron did this to test us, and square my shoulders.

I’ll be fine. I’ll get through this. I repeat my new mantra over and over in my head as I descend the stairs back to the main area.

“You take the bedroom,” Henrik says, grabbing his duffle and walking to the sofa.

“No, you take it. You got to the room first.”

Giving me a look of both amusement and pity he shakes his head. His hair momentarily falls into his eyes before he pushes it back.

“Naw, that was just a silly race. Take the bedroom. I’m perfectly fine here.”

“I don’t need your pity Henrik,” I say with more force than I mean to.

“I’m not pitying you Bryn. But I have slept in far worse and much more uncomfortable places than a plaid sofa with a million pillows.”

I open my mouth, unsure of what I’m about to say, when he cuts me off. “For the love of God, Princess. Stop fighting me. Just take the room.”

I don’t reply. Instead, I spin on my tiptoes, grab my suitcases and march to the bedroom. Only stopping when the door has been slammed behind me and my back is resting against the wood.

It’s not until I’m safe in the room that I let myself admit that I’m taking this grudge too far.

I’m not mad anymore at Henrik. The loathing that simmered in my belly every time I looked at him has morphed into something else. I now have to play the bitch card to keep the act going and it was getting exhausting.

Yet, if I was going to let the past go and act semi-normal around him for the rest of our time here, that meant I would actually have to talk to him and air out my frustration. Maybe then we could move forward as…amicable colleagues? Whatever, something along those lines.

I just had to summon the courage and energy to have that conversation.

Blah.

Chapter Six

Henrik

If I had cell service, I would be calling Cameron to give him a piece of my mind.

It was one thing to send us away to work on faking better chemistry and to flame the romance rumors so our show would flourish. It’s something else altogether to strand us in a one-bedroom cabin with nothing to do but read, puzzle…and chat with a woman who hates me.

What fun. Not.

We wouldn’t even be able to scroll mindlessly on our phones for four days because there was no wifi. Hell, the TV even looked like it was twenty years old and had a built-in VHS player. Had we gone back in time!?

Bryn stayed in the bedroom for most of the morning. I can’t blame her. After the weird moment we shared, things feel different. Not a bad different, but I’m also not sure it’s a good different either. Only time will tell.

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