Page 65 of One Bed

Bea closed her eyes and waved at the screen. She tried to get up but Gib’s arm around her waist and his hand on her thigh kept her pinned in place. ‘I’m so embarrassed right now,’ she muttered.

‘Don’t be, I didn’t see much,’ Navy assured her.

Judging by his immensely cheerful tone, he’d seen enough, so Bea kept her eyes shut. She’dneverbe able to look him in the eye.

‘It’s nice to meet the fabulous Parker Kane, although I didn’t expect her to be half-naked,’ Navy said, still laughing.

Gib tensed, and Bea’s eyes flew open, and she caught Gib making a slashing motion across his neck. Had Gib’s cousin really linked her with Parker Kane or was she finally losing her mind?

‘Navy, youfucker,’ Gib muttered and slammed his computer closed.

* * *

Bea scrambled off Gib’s lap and wrapped his shirt around her, wishing the world would stop rocking. ‘Whatdid he just say?’

Gib grimaced, stood up, and ran his hands through his hair.

‘You know who I am?’

He pointed to his laptop. ‘That wasn’t how I wanted you to find out. I wanted you to tell me yourself.’

She was struggling for air and couldn’t make head or tail of his statement. She pulled in a few deep breaths, but her heart didn’t stop racing, and neither did the world stop spinning. ‘That’s pretty rich considering you won’t tell me anything.’

He winced and she knew her arrow had hit its target. She stomped into the cottage and sat down on the edge of the divan, barely aware of the rough fabric on her exposed butt cheeks and the springs poking into her skin. ‘Have you told anyone?’

How much damage control did she need to do?

Gib pulled the coffee table close to her and sat on it, his knees brushing hers. She slammed hers together to keep from touching him. He knew her biggest secret, and she thought she might shatter. ‘No, I wouldn’t do that to you, and neither would Navy.’

‘I don’t know Navy at all. I barely knowyou.’

‘That’s not fair, Bea, you do know me.’

Oh, bullshit. ‘I know you live in Nashville, that your parents died, and that you don’t do relationships.Whoop de doo.’

She dragged her fingers across her forehead. They’d moved off the subject. ‘How did you find out I’m Parker Kane?’

He rested his forearms on his knees and let his hands dangle between his legs. ‘That day you spilt your coffee, I picked up your notebook and read a few lines. You’d circled an acronym, GMC, and left a note to send out a newsletter.

‘I sent Navy a text, asked him what the acronym meant—’ He saw her narrowed eyed stare and shrugged. ‘I was curious. He explained they were terms used by writers and wannabe writers.’

Shit. ‘That’s still a leap to identifying me as Parker Kane.’

He rubbed his jaw. ‘After our fight, I was talking to Navy, telling him what happened between us.’ Oh, stunning. Now his cousin knew she’d acted like an overzealous fifties housewife.Excellent.

‘I mentioned to him that in addition to the acronym, I’d read something about a Pip and rapids. Navy told me I should stop reading your private stuff?—’

‘Good of him.’

‘But he also connected the dots, and suggested you’re Parker Kane. After reading book one, I know you are, too. I hear you, I hear your voice in the words on the page.’

Bea pulled her knees onto the divan and rested her forehead between them. A part of her was happy he knew –she wanted him to know –and a part of her was terrified he, or Navy, would out her. Because the only way to keep a secret was not to divulge it in the first place.

Gib’s hand skimmed across her hair. ‘Can you tell me why you feel the need to hide behind your pseudonym, Bea? You’re a great writer, and you’re doing so well that my cousin wants to rep you, and he’s a picky bastard. Why aren’t you out there, taking the credit you deserve?’

She lifted her concrete-block-heavy head. ‘How can you ask me to open up to you, when you can’t do the same for me?’

‘Because you are so much better at it than me, Bea-baby,’ he murmured. He held her gaze, his eyes brimming with sincerity and begging her to trust him. The hell of it was that she did. She knew he wouldn’t tell her secret. Hell, he’d known for days, but he’d kept his curiosity at bay. He’d been waiting for her to tell him.

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