Page 345 of How to Kiss a Hawthorne Brother
“It wouldn’t be, but that’s the easy part.”
She bites her lip. “What’s the hard part?”
“I would need you to come to Los Angeles with me for the movie premiere.”
Her face goes white. “To like,goto the premiere? Isn’t that a big deal?”
“Pretty big,” I say. “Red carpet. Lots of cameras. Questions, though they would only be for me. You wouldn’t have to say anything.” I keep going, hurrying through the worst of it all at once. “I would also need you with me during the press junket. You wouldn’t be on camera then, but all the journalists interviewing the cast would see you there with me, and it would make asking about my relationship with Claire seem moot.”
She breathes out a slow breath, a little bit of color returning to her face. “It sounds like you’ve given this a lot of thought.”
“Jonihas given this a lot of thought. But I know Claire well enough to know this is the only thing that might shut her up.”
Audrey nods. “I get it. I really do, but Flint, I don’t know the first thing about how to act on a Hollywood red carpet. I wouldn’t know what to say. And I definitely don’t have anything to wear.”
“Don’t worry about that. One email from my publicist saying my date to the premiere is in need of a dress, and you’ll have three dozen in your hotel room by the time we get to LA.”
She lets out a little disbelieving laugh. “Okay, but what about everywhere else? You’ve seen what I wear every day. That’s basically my wardrobe. Work pants. T-shirts—”
“Don’t forget the bush disguise,” I add with a smirk.
She reaches over and smacks my arm. “Don’t make fun of me! Sometimes I need to blend in when I’m working.”
“I believe you,” I say. “Audrey, don’t worry about the clothes. I’ll buy you a whole new wardrobe if I have to. You’ll deserve it if you actually agree to go along with this crazy scheme.”
“If I were one of my sisters, that’s all it would take to get me to agree. But I just don’t—”
“What if I give you access to my land for the rest of the summer?”
Her eyes go wide, but then they quickly narrow, like she’s already two steps ahead of me. “Justfor the summer?”
She’s negotiating. That has to be a good thing. “To the squirrels living in my backyard, yes.” I think about the various research sites she’s told me about that fill the forest behind my house. “To the rest of the acreage, you can have access indefinitely.”
She sits up a little taller.I’ve got her.
“For you, and any of your associates at the university,” I add.
“You would do that?”
I shrug. “I wanted the woods for privacy and a buffer from any future development. But it won’t hurt anything to have a bunch of biologists hiking around. As long as everyone steers clear of the house.”
I can almost see the thoughts flying through her brain. She’s probably already cataloging all the experiments she had to abandon but can now continue.
It occurs to me that had I known it would make her this happy, I would have offered her access to the land anyway. No strings attached. I’m a little disappointed that now I can’t.
She laughs to herself as she drops back into the sofa cushions. “I can’t believe I’m actually considering this,” she says. “Me.Maybe I’ll be able to convince a few journalists, but Flint, anyone who knows me is going to immediately know it can’t be real.”
I’m sure she doesn’t mean for her words to be an insult, butman,this woman is giving my ego a beating. Who cares if I do like her? Audrey couldn’t make herself any clearer. She’ll never feel the same way about me.
“Good thing you’re such a recluse, then,” I say, defaulting to what comes easiest to me. When all else fails, I can always crack a joke. “What are we talking, here? Ten, eleven people?”
She rolls her eyes. “Shut up. I know more than eleven people. It has to beat leastfifteen.”
I grin. “I think those odds are good enough for us to take our chances.”
She gives her head another shake. “Girlfriend to a movie star,” she says, like it’s the most preposterous thing she’s ever heard.
“Maybe let’s drop the movie star thing,” I say, nudging her knee. “I’m just a guy, Audrey.”
