Page 206 of The Hopelessly Bromantic Duet

I swallow the rest of the sentence.There’s a great shop on your street in Manhattan. Want to go shopping there?

As he pays for the shirt, my heart squeezes painfully, aching with unsaid things.And don’t forget I’ll fix your laundry room door. And I want to take you to a baseball game. And playpinball at my favorite arcade. Maybe it’ll become your favorite too.

I want that future badly, but I have to get through the here and now. Tomorrow night will be here soon, and we’ll need to play the part of boyfriends at the concert—the roles our agency wrote for us to fix the messes we made of our careers.

But I want to be more than his concert date. More than his travel companion for publicity events.

I want to be the man by his side.

Except, our track record is a warning sign.Stay in the slow lane.

I’ll just have to keep pumping the brakes on this real fake romance a little longer.

26

REALITY CHECK

TJ

Jude is busy the rest of Friday afternoon. Slade arranged for a publicity assistant to escort the rising star to a handful of various interviews in the city, meeting with entertainment press about the movie and the Oscars.

That gives me plenty of time alone in the hotel room to bang out another chapter. I settle into the couch and write my ass off.

When I finish in the early evening, I check my texts. My app is drowning in messages from my friends about sushi tomorrow.

They’re all in. Jason, Luke, and Christian too. Jason lands tomorrow, as he said, but Luke’s here and wants to know if we’re free tonight. Christian asks who’s up for a few rounds of poker tonight.

Cards with new friends and my guy? Kind of sounds... perfect, so I reply:Let me check with Jude when he gets back.

I hit send, then re-read my message. Something just feels right about making these kinds of plans, this kind of way.

I’m about to exit the app when a new text from my brother pops up.

I never replied to his earlier one. I’m officially a very bad twin. I click open his note.Fine, don’t tell me shit, but you look happy. Nice pic in The Hollywood Scoop.

Pic? What pic is he talking about?

Nerves prickle along my neckasI sit bolt upright and jump onto the blog. Scrolling the home page, I spot a piece titledWhat Happens in Vegas...

With terror in my veins, I open the blog post.

The hottest new Hollywood ship was spotted by yours truly this morning. Jude Fox and TJ Hardman indulged in this too cute for words selfie after an Egg-asmic breakfast at The Invitation. They are so adorbs they’re warming this jaded blogger’s cold, black heart.

Good thing this romance is heating up. If the wheels keep falling off theTop-Notch BoyfriendWebflix train, Hardman will need someone to turn to when the project derails.

Dread coils in my gut.

That’s why the blonde from earlier looked eerily familiar. She’s Rikki Finch, the blogger.

I click over to my contacts and hit Mason’s name at the speed of sound. I barely have time for hello. “What is thisHollywood Scooppiece all about?”

“TJ, what have I told you about the gossip blog?” He sounds exasperated.

I’m sure he once bequeathed wisdom to me on the topic, but I can’t remember where I stashed that chestnut. “I don’t know. Just tell me. My heart is racing at a thousand miles an hour.”

“Get a drink. Take a bath. Listen to some music.”

“I hate baths,” I grumble.

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