Page 22 of The Exception

“The way you do it, it is.” This was easy and fun. “Who's your favorite character you played?”

Eli slipped his hand down to brush mine. It was easy to tangle my fingers with his. The spark was incredible, and at the same time the gesture felt natural.

“Can I go withme?” He asked.

Interesting. “Yes, but you have to tell me why.”

“None of the fictional ones got to enjoy your company.”

Was that sweet or too much? I wasn’t sure, but it made my cheeks heat. “That’s a bit over the top.”

“It’s completely sincere.” He turned, doing the same for me so we stopped and faced each other. “If you prefer, which answer gets me more of the making out?” He stepped toward me until my back was to a steel box. His body was so close I felt his heat, and temptation spilled through me.

Any of them. As long as I got to feel his lips on mine again. His hands on my body. “You,” I said.

“See? And also, Thank God. I’m marginally better in that role than any other.” He teased his fingers over my cheek, and the way he searched my face made my heart stop.

“Only marginally?” I teased.

He dragged his thumb over my bottom lip. “I’m an actor. I have to be at least a little good at being someone else.”

Fuck me. No, really. I’d let him right here. How did he do this to me? “Then how do I know the kisses are real?” I kept my tone playful.

“I think you know.” He brushed his lips over mine, and I was pretty sure I whimpered. “A brilliant, driven, observant woman like you?” He pressed his mouth in harder, deepening the kiss. “You must know how much I want you.” His voice dropped an octave, and the next kiss was enough to curl my toes.

It certainly felt real enough. All of this. I wanted to keep going. There was no reason to stop and move to a more private location, was there? Or to pause for dinner? We could stay here and be naughty and see how much we could get away with, tucked behind storage boxes on a makeshift movie lot?

“Funny meeting you both here.” A new voice interrupted the moment.

Was guilt making me hear things? Because I swore to God that sounded like Joystick.

8

joystick

Yesterday,when the news about my opening a restaurant hit social media, it wasn’t a big deal. Publicity was important and regardless of who had leaked the information, speculation would benefit me.

When I woke up this morning to rumors that I was opening a strip club, that my goal was to corrupt Salt Lake City and bring Hollywood debauchery to town, I changed my mind about wanting this kind of coverage. Local outlets were saying I needed to be stopped. I’d had two real estate appointments cancel on me in the last few hours.

Since then, I’d spent my day doing damage control. Trying to stop the flood of bad press while figuring out where the issue started. On occasion, a site would get a wild hair up their ass and decide to do awhere are they nowkind of piece on me. Those tended to lead to unwanted attention.

This felt different, though. It didn’t have a source, and it had grown in a very inorganic way.

If Anonymous wanted to stop me, though, this wasn’t the way to do it. I was still determined to plow forward with my project, but now it wasn’t just because I wanted it, it was also out of spite.

Half of the work I did was flooding my own social media and that of friends and contacts, with videos and posts of me sayingI’m not opening a strip club anywhere, but when you do see what I’ve got planned, you’re gonna love it.

Since I wasn’t the same kind of name anymore, I didn’t keep a PR team on retainer. I preferred handling my own social media anyway.

In the afternoon, my agent called. “Great job on the rebuttals.”

“Thanks.” I might be friendly with them, but I knew this was a business relationship, and if I looked good, they made more money. Which at least meant they were being sincere in this case. If my response had sucked, I’d be hearing about it.

“I found Elijah.”

Hearing those words made my heart flip and a little smile danced on my face. Though, it also made me suspicious. It’d only been a few days since I asked for the favor of tracking Eli down, and even if it only took a few hours to find the information, I expected it to be withheld a lot longer. “Don’t keep me in suspense, where is he?”

“He’s on set, and it’s not a secret or anything, so you don’t have to pretend finding him was a coincidence.”

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