Page 113 of Bad Reputation

That was the thing about being in love: you had a person who was ready to slay dragons—or reveal his personal life to the press and unleash his scary lawyer on jerks—to take care of you.

She turned her attention toward the computer. It seemed right—perfect, actually—that Cole had put her pothos on the console table behind the couch. It was the only thing of Maggie’s in the house, and displaying it there was his way of sayingI want you to put down roots here. No matter what else comes, I want you to stay.

“Cole and I are together,” she told Jack, and Cole’s fingers contracted, hard, around hers. “I know that people are curious about the timing, and I do want everyone to know it happenedafterfilming. We both take our professional responsibilities very seriously. But that detail is all that I think we owe anyone.”

Jack bit his lip to keep from smiling. “Fair enough. And Tasha?”

“Tasha is one of my closest friends in the world, but we’ve never been romantically involved,” Cole said.

“Yeah, her email to me reads ‘If anyone watchesWaverleyand thinks Cole and I have chemistry, that’s because (1) we’re actors and (2) Maggie Niven is an incredible IC. Kissing Cole is about as exciting as folding my laundry.’ I skipped several words in there I won’t be able to put inmy story about this conversation. It ends, ‘And FYI, the only man who could ever break my heart is my partner, Ryan Baris.’”

“Which Ryan would never do,” Maggie said. Wanting to change the subject, because honestly, they’d all given the press more than enough today, she asked, “So how’s Libby?”

Cole had been right the other day: if the press was going to gossip about actors’ love lives, turnabout was fair play. Besides, the thought of bubbly, Gen Z Libby with stodgy elder-millennial Jack was delightful.

That broke Jack’s control, and his grin popped out. “Making trouble. I’ve lost track of how many interviews she’s done the last few days.”

Because while Cole and Maggie had been wrapped up in this drama, Libby’s story about Vincent had been out there, steamrolling the entertainment media. Part of why they needed to get this wrapped up was to get the focus back where it belonged: on taking down that predator.

“She’s amazing,” Maggie said.

“Yeah,” Cole echoed, “she’s definitely worth holding on to.”

Maggie had a feeling that he wasn’t only talking to Jack and that he wasn’t only talking about Libby.

“I intend to,” Jack said. “Thanks for talking to me, you two.”

“Our pleasure.”

Maggie pushed Cole’s laptop closed and twisted to face Cole.

He was staring at her with a rapturous expression. “Ourpleasure?” he echoed.

“Yup.” Then she kissed him. Softly, then ... less softly. When his arms came around her and he half hauled her into his lap so that he could really, really kiss her, that was when the magical rightness stole in.

It made sense that Effie Deans had wrecked her life for the love of a roguish man. Maggie couldn’t blame her in the least.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered against his mouth between kisses. “Getting fired again, it was triggering for me, and I—”

He pulled back. “No, it’s okay. I understand. AndI’msorry. It was my freaking agent who caused the entire mess.”

“I can’t imagine how much that must have hurt.” What little she’d known about Drew, she hadn’t liked. But the guy being a little suspicious wasn’t the same as him actively hurting Cole.

“It did,” Cole admitted. “And even if he was trying to get me back in line, I cannot believe he included you in the mess. I’ll never forgive myself for what he did to you.”

There Cole went again, diving on any and all grenades that happened to bounce past him.

“Iforgive you. Actually I don’t think I even need to. It wasn’t your fault.”

“I’m just getting started. I’m going to have my lawyer reach out to the director ofThe Mid List. There must be something we can do, and—”

“No, I don’t want you to do that. The more I thought about it, the more I could see their position.” Maggie hadn’t messed up in the way that, say, Vincent Minna had. But given how delicate on-screen intimacy was, her conduct had to be above reproach. And some reproach wasn’t misplaced here. “I think it would be better for me to find something else to do.” The words made her stomach queasy, but Cole’s hold on her—firm and certain—meant she could face it. Maggie believed in herself and in her relationship with Cole strongly enough to know she could handle it.

But he was still fighting for her. “You know Zoya will still want you for season four ofWaverley.”

“Except I don’t want to spend four months in Scotland next year.” Four months without Cole.

He watched her steadily, let what she wasn’t saying out loud soak in. “Is that why you told Jack we were together?”

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