Page 52 of (Not So) Famous in Paradise

He scoffs and shakes his head. “I’m not that cold-hearted. I’m mad as hell, and I hate her.” Now he takes a drink, finishing off the bottle before looking at me with red-rimmed eyes again. “But I’m not over her. This really stings.” He glances down and runs the back of his hand under his nose. “This morning I thought I wanted to marry her. But you and Britta were right. I should have listened to you.”

I ignore the tightening in my chest and reach for my phone. My hands are shaking as I hold it up and push record. “Could you say that again? Britta will want to hear it, and I’d like a record for posterity.”

Making a joke is the only way I can cover my conflicting emotions. Just because Zach is free doesn’t mean I have a chance with him.

“No way.” Zach grabs my phone, his fingers wrapping around mine. “And the only way I’ll agree to go along with this fake dating idea is if you make a solemn promise never to tell my little sister I said she was right.”

“Really? Are you sure?” I lower my arm, and he lets go of my hand. “Because there’s no endgame in sight. I don’t know what the producers will want after this first season. If this works, we may have to keep fake dating. Anyone you get involved with will have to know that, and your relationship will have to stay secret. Including Carly…if you do get back together.”

My gaze travels to Zach when I say Carly’s name. He doesn’t react, just chews his lip. That’s his thinking face, and I prepare myself for him to change his mind.

“But it will help you, right? The producers think it will work?” He drags a hand over his short-cropped beard.

I nod slowly, cautiously.

“And what happens if I say no?”

That’s the question I’ve been dreading.

I shrug. “No big deal. We keep things the way they are. Let people think what they want. I think the show will be a hit whether we pretend to be more than friends or not.”

I’ve never lied to Zach before, even when it comes to sharing a brutal truth. For example, telling him the woman he wants to marry kinda sucks.

A few hours ago, I was willing to face the consequences of telling Jeannie no. If Zach’s on board, I don’t have to, but I don’t want him forced into any decision to protect me. I know he’d do it—even if he and Carly hadn’t broken up—if he thought the show was at risk.

His lip pulls at the corner. “I disagree.”

The words don’t compute. Is he telling me he disagrees with the fake dating plan? He doesn’t want to do it anymore?

“You disagree with what?”

He turns his palms face-up. “That the show will be as big a hit without a romance between us.” A smile spreads across his face. “People love romance. We can blow the whole home reno show industry out of the water while we’re creating open floor plans and putting in kitchen islands.”

I laugh at his poking fun at the “open floor plan” trope that’s as standard to home reno shows as meet-cutes are to romance. “Really? You’re on board.”

“Of course I am.”

I throw my arms around him. He squeezes me tight, and this feels like more than just a friend hug. Zach is doing this show forme.Not because he thinks the producers aren’t giving me a choice, but because he wants the show to be successful.For me.

I’m reveling in this knowledge when he whispers into my hair. “We’re going to make Carly so jealous.”

Chapter 20

Zach

My phone buzzes long before I’m ready to wake up on Saturday morning. The pounding in my head is due to the second bottle of wine Georgia and I opened to celebrate our “relationship,” and it’s not my own bed I’m waking up in. It’s Georgia’s couch.

I reach for my phone on the coffee table and open one eye long enough to find the accept button. My eyes are closed again before my head hits the pillow Georgia must have stuck under my head last night.

“Hello,” I mumble, hoping I sound more coherent to someone else than I do to myself.

“Georgia?” the shrill voice on the other end pierces my brain, and I jerk the phone away from my ear. “You sound terrible.”

I open my eyes and see I’m holding Georgia’s phone, not mine. But before I can explain anything to the very loud lady, she’s talking again. “I got your text. Glad you got Zach on board because the producers were threatening legal action if you didn’t. Both your contracts explicitly state you’ll follow what’s scripted. My assistant pored over them to see if there was any way to refuse, but like I said yesterday, this show is your ticket. You want to cooperate.”

My head clears enough for me to realize the voice is Georgia’s agent—Jennifer? Joannie? Jeannie. The other thought that is clear is Georgia lied to me about it not being a big deal if I said no to all of this. We both could have been sued.

Worse than that, she didn’t tell me I was contractually obligated. Not that I can blame her for that. I’m the one who didn’t take time to read the contract. But I trusted her and Jeannie to tell me if there was anything I should be aware of.

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