Page 31 of Tropical Inferno

“I need you,” she sobbed. “I need you here—I can’t do this by myself again, facing the press, hounding me at work, my apartment… I can’t! I had another nightmare last night and I’m so nauseous I can’t eat and I. NEED. YOU!” By the end she was shouting through her tears, hiccupping.

“Shh.” He dropped his voice a couple of octaves, hoping it soothed her frayed nerves. “You’re okay. I’m going to take care of it and I’ll make sure the press leaves you alone. I can’t come back to Hawaii right now, but—”

“You have to. Dammit, I said I need you!”

“Honey…”

“Are you mine, Garrett?”

“Always.”

“Am I yours?”

“You know you are.”

“Is there a really obnoxious bruise on your right shoulder?”

He couldn’t help it; he chuckled. “Yeah. There is.”

“Then get your ass on a plane and come back to me.”

He sighed heavily, opening a new tab on his laptop and pulling up the travel site he used.

“What are you doing?” she demanded when he hadn’t answered her.

“I’m online looking for a flight.”

“Oh.” Her voice became a soft whisper.

“You have to think about this, babe… I can be on a flight first thing tomorrow morning, but I don’t know what this is going to change. I can weather the media with you, I can defend you, I can protect you—but in the end, I’m can’t throw Culkin under the bus. Publicly, I’m still going to be the guy who said that horrible stuff about your brother. The media is going to have a field day with you for dating me—not me, but you. The terrible, selfish slut of a sister who doesn’t even care about her poor brother, who almost died. I’m telling you, that’s where it’s going to go if you stay with me.”

“The only opinion that matters to me is Jamie’s, and once I tell him about Roger Cucumber, or whatever the hell his name is—none of this will matter.”

“It will matter to me. I don’t want people saying that kind of thing about the woman I love.”

She caught her breath. “Did you just say you love me?”

“Aw, come on—all that romantic nonsense was a little too intense to be simple pillow talk, don’t you think?”

She sniffled. “I hope so.”

“Listen, I have a call coming up with my agent, and if I’m coming back to Hawaii tomorrow, I have a bunch of stuff to do. Can you lay low until I get there, okay?”

“I will.”

“Think about what I said, Maddie. You’re going to wind up getting hurt—again—if you choose me.”

“You don’t know me as well as I know you, I guess.”

He paused in confusion. “What does that mean? Maddie?”

She hesitated. “You’re really coming back, right? Do you promise?”

“I promise.”

“I’ll see you soon then.”

17

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