Page 17 of The Fangirl and the Playboy

We kiss for a few more minutes, oblivious of the world around us as the windows fog up, blocking the rest of the world out. When we realize the movie has started, we laugh. We haven’t even rolled down the window to grab the speaker so we can hear it. As she moves to do so, I grab her wrist and pull her toward me for another quick kiss.

“I’m coming back for you, Willow Bardin,” I say, my voice firm and sure. “When all the crazy dies down, I’ll be back in Evening Shade as often and for as long as I can.”

“Promise?” she asks, hope shining in her gorgeous eyes.

“I swear it.”

ChapterNine

Willow

After the usual Monday morning rush, the shop is empty. I’m busy cleaning up spilled coffee and scattered grounds when the bells above the entrance jingle. I look up with a smile, a warm greeting on the tip of my tongue, then groan instead when Keegan and Pressley march in, determined expressions on their faces.

Shit. Time to pay the piper, I guess.

The reprieve I bought myself with them at the lake yesterday is over, and they’re obviously here to drag every juicy detail about my dislike of Gavin out of me. My assumption is proved correct when Keegan stops just inside the door and props her fists on her hips.

“I know you’re working, but don’t try to use it as an excuse to get out of this, young lady. You have some explaining to do, and you’re going to do it now, before Pressley heads back to Seattle in a couple of hours.”

With that proclamation, she turns the lock on the door with a definitiveclick,then flips the open sign in the window to closed.

“Hey,” I start to argue, but her stern expression cuts off my complaint.

“We can’t afford any interruptions,” she says firmly, and when I look to Pressley for help, that one just shrugs and heads for a table.

Heaving a sigh, I set about making three mochas while they sit. When I carry the drinks over and set them down, I cross my arms over my chest and give them each hard looks.

“It goes without saying that everything I tell you has to stay just between us. That means no telling Trace or Bram.”

I move my gaze between them as I say those last three words. Pressley lifts a finger and makes an “X” motion across her chest.

“I promise,” she says solemnly.

When I arch a brow at Keegan, she huffs. “Fine.”

Not a promise, by any means, but apparently the best I’m going to get. Blowing out a long breath, I slump into my chair and take a sip of my drink before speaking.

“I met Gavin when he was here filming Curse, and over the course of the next year while he was filming Phase and Wane, we grew…close.”

“How close?” Keegan asks, catching that tiny pause in my statement.

“Reallyclose,” I say, feeling my cheeks heat.

“How did I not know this, and why am I just finding out about itnow?” Keegan blurts, looking offended.

“No one knows,” I say with meaning. “Now do you want to hear it, or not?”

“Sorry,” she says, offering me an apologetic smile for her outburst. “Please proceed.”

“We were only friends for a long time, then when Phase was wrapping up, he finally kissed me. When he came back to town to film Wane, we jumped headfirst into a relationship. We…fell in love. At least, I thought we did,” I say, my vision blurring as my mind spins flashes from the past.

“What does that mean?” Pressley asks in a quiet voice.

At the same time, Keegan asks, “Did you guys ever…?”

I shake my head at Keegan, answering her question first. “I wanted to, but I was only seventeen and he was nineteen. He couldn’t risk the legal ramifications, especially with his career taking off. Plus, I was still a virgin at the time, and he refused to be my first, then disappear on me when the movie wrapped. At least, that’s what hesaid.”

Then I look at Pressley. “It means I fell in love with him, but everything he ever said to me was a lie.”

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