Page 49 of Wish You Were Mine

I returned to the table, glancing over my shoulder to make sure I hadn’t been chased.

“What did you do to upset the hottie?” Toby asked, raising his glass to his lips.

“She wanted to meet Kennedy,” I said.

He gaped. “And you told her no? Are you crazy?”

“I didn’t feel like bothering Kennedy for nothing.” I gave him a warning look.

He ignored it. “Well, I’m more than happy to make the introductions…provided you don’t mind, Kenz?”

Kennedy sighed. “It’s fine. Go ahead.”

Toby smacked his glass onto the tabletop hard enough that we all cringed and shot to his feet. “Be back in a minute.”

“Sorry,” I said to Kennedy.

She grimaced. “You know I don’t mind meeting fans. I just feel icky that Toby is trying to use me to get a girl.”

A few seconds later, Toby was back, dragging the woman behind him by the elbow. She jerked away, patted her silky black hair into place, and offered her hand to Kennedy.

“Hi! I’m Chanele. It’s so nice to meet you. I’m a massive fan—especially of your movies with Gray Anderson. You two are so good together.”

Liam scowled, and she must have noticed, because she giggled nervously.

“I mean in movies,” she said. “I’m sure you and your husband are obviously better for each other in real life.”

“Thanks.” Kennedy smiled at her kindly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Chanele. Where are you visiting Destiny Falls from?”

“Wellington. Some friends and I are staying at the Ski Resort.” She looked around as if searching for them but came up empty. She scanned the faces around the table. When her gaze landed on me, she glared.

I glared right back. She was welcome to offer whatever perks she wanted to secure an introduction, but I didn’t have to take her up on it just because she was pretty and felt entitled to a man’s attention.

Toby sat, and Chanele did another visual sweep of the table, her face falling when she realized there were no unoccupied chairs.

“I’d be happy to sign something for you, if you’d like,” Kennedy said.

Chanele brightened. “Yes, please. Can we get a photo too?”

“Of course.”

Chanele passed her phone to Toby and circled around to stand beside Kennedy, who rose from the chair. There was no way to avoid having others in the photo since the pub was so crowded, but Chanele didn’t seem to care. She beamed at the camera. The flash went off, and a moment later, the overhead lights dimmed.

Kennedy returned to her seat.

“The show must be about to start,” Nate said, the obvious implication being that Chanele should go back to her friends.

“Wait. Let me give you my number,” Toby said, and entered it into her phone before giving it back to her.

Chanele hovered for a few seconds longer, as if hoping a seat for her would materialize out of nowhere, but then she thanked Kennedy and backed away, bumping into someone as she did so.

“Hey!” they protested.

“Watch it,” she snapped back, throwing another little wave over her shoulder as the crowd closed around her.

“Well, that was fun,” Nate said. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Grace, but I’m glad you write under a pen name and aren’t as famous as Kennedy.”

Grace chuckled. “So am I.”

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