Page 51 of The Fangirl and the Playboy

I can wait until tonight. The anticipation makes it even better.

I wave at Bram as I head for a table, and he gives me a little two-finger salute in return. A waitress appears next to me in an instant, and I order the chicken Caesar salad with a glass of iced tea.

I want to keep it light if I’m going to be eating greasy pizza and drinking beer with Willow tonight.

And…my smile is back. I can’t seem to stop.

“Hey.”

I’m ripped from my thoughts at the word, and my gaze darts up to see Trace standing beside me.

“Mind if I join you?” he asks when I greet him in return.

“Of course,” I say motioning toward the chair across from me.

“Thanks,” he says, sliding into the chair.

The waitress reappears, and he orders a steak sandwich with fries with a lemon-lime soda. When she walks away to put in his order, he returns his dark gaze to me.

“How’s everything going? Is the rental okay? Do you need anything?”

“It’s good,” I say, then pause as the waitress returns with our drinks before picking back up. “The place is actually really great.”

“That’s always good to hear,” he says, his pride of ownership shining through his expression.

He stares at the condensation dripping down the side of his glass for a moment, then his eyes flick up to mine.

“So, you and Willow, huh?” he asks, and my muscles stiffen. He must be able to tell, because he chuckles and shakes his head. “Relax, this isn’t the ‘hurt my sister and I’ll hurt you’ talk, though thatistrue.”

“Never expected anything less,” I say, then tilt my head. “But I don’t plan to hurt her. I don’t know where this thing between us will lead, if anywhere, but I do care about her.”

“I can tell,” he says. “And she cares about you, too. I don’t know exactly what went down between you in the past, and I’m not particularly happy she kept it a secret from me, but she’s a grown woman who makes her own choices. And if she chooses to forgive you for hurting her back then––and I remember now that she was hurt even if I didn’t know at the time what the cause was––then you must deserve forgiveness.”

“Did you happen to catch the Julia Warner interview on Entertainment Today the other night?” I ask, and he looks confused at the change in topic.

“No, but Keegan couldn’t wait to tell me all about it. Why do you ask?”

“That’s why Willow forgave me and decided to give me another chance.”

“I don’t follow.”

I bite my lip, unsure how much to tell him. But I’m all-in with Willow, which means I need to be all-in with her brother, too.

“I fell in love with your sister when I was nineteen years old,” I say slowly. “I wanted to make things work with her after the movie wrapped. I planned to visit as much as I could and fly her out to L.A. to visit me after she turned eighteen. I was determined to have her in my life in any way, shape, fashion, or form. Whatever I could get, I’d take.

“But something happened that spun out of control before I could get a handle on it. Julia needed my help, and instead of asking for it, shetookit by kissing me in front of the paparazzi. She misread something between herself and a local girl, and was trying to make it look like we were together before the girl could spread any rumors about Julia’s sexual preferences. She wasn’t ready to reveal that bit of truth about herself, yet.”

“Oh,” Trace says, his eyes unfocused like he’s mentally putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

“My agent stepped in, and we kind of got forced into this farce of falling in love while our characters did the same. Willow found out about it before I had a chance to explain, and when I tried, she shut me down without listening. She was convinced I’d betrayed her.”

“Sounds about right,” he says with a nod, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “Willow has always been a bit stubborn.”

“So, now you know,” I say. “I did let her down, just not in the way she thought. I let her down by not warning her first when the whole thing spiraled out of control. I waited, and that single day cost me everything.”

“And you think you can make her happy now?” he asks after digesting that.

“I’m certainly going to try,” I say, the words a solemn swear.

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