Page 31 of Ignacio

“Who are they?”

“The biggest production company in the South. If they’re interested and sign on, the movie is as good as done.”

“Ohmigod! What? That’s amazing. Way to bury the lede.”

Ignacio chuckled, and the low sound was sexy and enticing. His whole face changed—softening, brightening. Her insides ached with the need to reach out and touch him and bury herfingers in his soft curls. Instead, she buried her fingers in the clothes in her suitcase—a pitiful substitute for what she really wanted to do.

“I meet with them on Tuesday.”

Delta noted his tempered reaction. “You should be way more excited than you are,” she remarked.

“I don’t want to put the cart before the horse,” he explained.

“You haven’t changed a bit.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, sounding offended.

“You don’t like to get too excited about good news.”

“Because in the blink of an eye, good news can turn into bad news. You know that.”

“True.” She let out a little laugh.

He tilted his head. “What are you thinking about?”

“That time you auditioned for the soda commercial back in middle school.”

He paused, and then his eyes lit up as he remembered. “Oh damn, I forgot about that. I had to pretend to like that awful drink.” His upper lip curled in distaste.

“It was so gross.” Delta wrinkled her nose. She had been proud of him and insisted her father buy an entire case. “It tasted like carbonated cough medicine.”

“Worse. I warned you, but you didn’t listen.”

“I was certain it couldn’t be as bad as you said.”

He chuckled, his voice warm at the memory. “I had my first national commercial, only for them to call me the next morning and say, ‘We’re going in a different direction.’” He shook his head, and his curls tumbled around his face.

“Um, it probably didn’t help that you were running through the halls at school singing ‘All I Do is Win’ by DJ Khaled.”

He laughed again. “I did do that, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you did.”

“You’re right, that probably didn’t help.”

“Hey, at least you didn’t suffer for very long. You landed a shampoo deal a few months later.” Because of his beautiful hair and the success of the initial commercial, the brand created a series of commercials that played nationally and elevated his profile.

“Thanks to Yvonne. The exposure changed my life.”

Despite their personal conflict, deep down she wanted a win for him, and a small part of her was pleased by the amount of information he’d shared.

Ignacio straightened from the wall. “It’s late.” He went into the bathroom and came out with his toothbrush.

“That’s all you need? Do you have clothes in the spare room?” Delta asked.

“No.”

“Then…”

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