Page 120 of Love on the Byline

“Really?” Her entire demeanor changed, the fire returning toher eyes.

“There you are.”

Smiling, she paused. “Rory worked on a case inPhilly. I can’t believe I didn’t put two and two together. Hang on.” She pulledher laptop between her legs and opened up a file. “He couldn’t be referring toYara Bujold’s case, could he?”

“I’m not sure but you can ask him. He’s out on the patiowith Bran.”

She stared at the wall opposite them. “This is...wow. IfDiamond Moon is connected to Yara’s case, to Marcus Kaine, then this crosses statelines. We could be looking at federal crimes, here.”

“Rory will be at your disposal,” he promised.

“I can’t afford to pay him.”

“I can.”

She was shaking her head before he could get the words out.“No, I can’t allow you to do that.”

“Allow? Blake...” He took her hand. “Am I wrong in thinkingthat there’s something here?”

Her smile warmed him from the inside. “I hope so, but thenI’ve kind of carried a torch for you for a long time.”

Fuck, his heart had wings and was about to fly right out ofhis chest.

“Then, let me do this. It’s not just about you, I care aboutthe center. I work with those kids every week. I’m not going to sit by and letsome fucking lowlife use their dreams against them. Not when I can do somethingto help protect them.”

She pulled her bottom lip into her mouth as if she weretrying to hold back words.

“What?”

Her eyes were half-lidded. “When this is all over, you andme are going to need some serious alone time,” she said, her voice a bit raspy.

Ollie liked hearing how much he affected her. “What makesyou think I can wait that long?”

Blake couldn’t believe the wild swings of her luck.Photographed in the arms of a notorious Hollywood fuckboi—not that Bran hadlived up to that rep. From what she’d observed, he was no more obnoxious thanany other former-jock-turned-action star she’d known. Which was, admittedly,only him.

And now she had the first actionable lead on the peopletargeting the students at Play L.A.

“We need a game plan,” Ollie said as the four of them—her,Ollie, Bran, and Rory—sat in Bran’s office going through photos of Bran fromthe last few months.

Blake was shocked to see the ones allegedly lifted from hisphone. “Those came from the Gazette?”

“Sonja sent them to me directly,” Bran’s agent, Clark, saidover the speaker. He and Noelia had jumped on a call to try and mitigate thedamage. Apparently, Sterling Studios was in a tizzy and Bran’s new contracthung in the balance.

“And you think she had these photos of me, Bran,and Val snapped at the thing the other night? I’m not sure I buy that.”

“That woman is capable of anything,” Bran groused.

“To what end? I work for the Gazette,” she argued. “It wouldonly look bad for them. Right?”

“Except she’s not bound by the same ethical standards thatyou are, Blake,” Noelia said.

“Doesn’t stop her from needing to sell ads.” Clark added.“And, no offense to you, my dear, but my concern is Bran’s contract withSterling. You’ve been linked to Blake in these new photos. We can use that toour advantage, can’t we?”

“Use...me?” She felt a pit forming in her stomach. Was shebeing played here?

Bran frowned down at the phone on the desk. “What are youproposing?”

“I’m not proposing anything,” Clark replied, sounding alittle defensive. “But you and Val have maintained you’re just friends. And nowwe have photos of you with another attractive young woman, nameless for themoment, that isn’t Val...”

---