Page 121 of Love on the Byline

The implication hung in the air and she felt cold, suddenly.She folded her arms around herself.

“You want Blake to be Bran’s new flavor-of-the-month?”Noelia asked.

Bran’s gaze snapped to hers, his forehead creased, but heremained silent.

“Not in the biblical sense,” Clark said. “Unless, youknow...but that’s your business. I’m only wondering if we’re missing a goldenopportunity here. Assuming Blake is right, and the photos aren’t fromher paper, then the outlet that sent them doesn’t know who she is.”

“Those are a lot of variables,” Rory said.

“Blake isn’t here to solve Bran’s image problems,” Olliesaid. “We’d be throwing her under the bus, once people figure out who she is.If they haven’t already.”

“By the time they do, her exclusive will have run and we cansay the photos were misconstrued. That she accompanied Bran to the event aspart of the story.”

She could feel Ollie’s eyes on her, but she watched Bran.Watched him consider Clark’s idea.

He looked at her. “It’s a big ask.”

“It’s fucking rich, that’s what it is,” Ollie said.

She reached out and found his hand, linking their fingerstogether and loving his instinct to come to her defense. Even if she didn’t needit.

“Blake,” Noelia began. “How certain are you it’s not theGazette behind those photos of the three of you?”

“Not one hundred percent,” she admitted. “But we might havea card to play if we find out it was, something not even my boss knows.”

“What’s that?” Ollie asked.

She looked at him. “They don’t know we went to schooltogether. That I’ve known Bran for years.”

Ollie’s lips parted, his expression one of admiration andsurprise. “Why didn’t you tell them?”

She shrugged. “Call it a hunch. There was alwayssomething...weird to me about the way Sonja insisted I take this assignment. Ifit’s her way of killing two birds with one stone, this might be our ace in thehole.” She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. “I’m mixing my metaphors.”

“You always did,” he teased.

“But the point stands. This is something we can use if thenarrative gets away from us.”

Ollie put his hands on her arms and turned her to face him.“Right now, you’re just a woman in a photo. If we go with Clark’s idea, andyou’re identified as a journalist before your article runs, it could ruin you.”

“Young reporter sleeps with movie star to land exclusiveinterview,” Rory said. “The headline writes itself.”

“My reputation would be shot. No outlet would come near my storyon Diamond Moon,” she said as the gravity of the situation settled over her.

“We can’t do this,” Ollie said, looking past her. “Bran,tell me you’re not seriously considering this.”

“Ollie.” She put a hand on his cheek and pulled his focusback to her. “The chances of me staying anonymous are slim to none, even if Idon’t have much of a presence online. That ship has sailed. What we cando is figure out a way to use this to our advantage.” She turned back to theroom. “All of us—Bran, the center, and the kids.”

“And you?” Ollie asked.

The truth was, no matter how this played out, her name wasgoing to suffer, whether it was in public or merely put on a list of “reportersnever to hire.”

“I need to go to the office tomorrow and talk to my boss,Gideon.” She held up her hand to hold off Ollie’s protest. “I’m not going tomention any of our suspicions about Sonja. I’ll see if he brings it up. Gidisn’t underhanded like this, at least I don’t think he is. And he’s pretty easyto read. I’ll know.”

“We need to schedule the photos,” Bran said. “The sooner thebetter, so you can get your piece out quickly.”

She nodded. “Agreed. I can call my photographer and move upthe time. Here in La Jolla?”

“No,” Bran and Ollie said in unison.

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