to me like an adult for quite possibly the first time in my life. “You sure?”
I felt it like a jolt. Her respect. That’s what this was. She was letting me decide if I trusted Jack enough with her prized secrets. With our secrets.
I swallowed down a thick lump. Damn these stupid emotions, they were turning me into a giant wuss. I took a deep breath and looked at her gaze point blank. “I’m sure.”
Jack’s arm tightened around me in response.
“Okay, then,” Tess said with a sigh. She gestured toward the lounge chairs behind us. “Make yourself comfortable and hold your questions until the end.”
Ten
Jack
“You know,” I said to Lila and Brandon as we hung out at one of the few non-crowded standing tables surrounding Lila’s father’s pool. “I’d thought I’d discovered hell when I first got to this town and found myself on the set of Love on the Range.”
Lila laughed across from me as Brandon toyed with her hair. “And now?”
I leaned back to watch the two of them be all cozy for the crowd. “Now I know I was wrong. That was nothing compared to this.”
“You hate canapés and champagne that much, huh?” Brandon joked.
I waved a hand in their direction. “Watching my best friend hang all over my girl,” I spelled out. “This is some kind of torture you two worked up to pay me back for keeping secrets, right?”
Brandon laughed. Lila’s grin was adorably shy and totally uncharacteristic. What was even crazier? She blushed. “Your girl, huh?” she said.
I arched a brow. “Too much?” I mean, it hadn’t even been a week since we’d officially gotten together as a couple, and between schoolwork, filming, and her need to keep up appearances with Brandon, we hadn’t had much time to ourselves.
All the same, I’d never been more certain of anything in my life. So it was with relief that I watched Lila shake her head. “Not too much. I’ll get used to having an alphahole for a boyfriend at some point.”
“And until then you have me,” Brandon teased.
“Exactly. You’re the total opposite. So really, I can have my cake and eat it too.” Lila wagged her eyebrows teasingly. “I’m a lucky lady.”
I rolled my eyes. I’d been kidding about this being hell. Kind of. I mean, I totally got that nothing was really going on here. That it was all for show.
But that didn’t make it any more fun to watch. Especially when I was stuck on the sidelines thinking about how I wanted it to be me playing with that hair. Maybe sneaking kisses when no one was looking…
But that was the thing. At this party for the cast and crew of Love on the Range, everyone was watching.
Brandon was the star, after all, and I’d been on the set long enough to know that Lila had a star power of her own. The kind of power that came with being the executive producer’s daughter and the star’s girlfriend.
So, basically, they were the center of attention, especially at this party of co-workers and co-stars.
I hadn’t seen Amber show up yet, but then again, she was probably waiting to make an entrance.
I’d heard the rumors on set about her too. The grumblings about the new diva in town. Even some catty rumors about how she’d gotten the part because one of the higher-ups wanted to sleep with her.
But whatever. Amber wasn’t my problem right now. I reached for my glass of champagne and grinned.
In fact, I didn’t have many problems right now.
Lila tipped her head back with a laugh at whatever it was Brandon said.
Well, aside from the fact that my relationship with Lila had to stay secret for a while, I didn’t have a problem. I didn’t mean to glare, exactly, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a little bit jealous that he got to be the public boyfriend to my girl.
Brandon caught my eye, and his own widened. “And that’s my cue,” he said, taking a step back and holding his hands up to show he hadn’t crossed the line.
As if I ever thought he would.
He gave Lila a wink. “I’m gonna go work the room. You two have fun, but…” He leaned in close. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“Yeah, yeah…” Lila playfully shoved him away. “Go make nice with your fans.”
We watched him walk away, straight toward a group of Lila’s high school friends they’d invited. I narrowed my eyes at that guy who never took his eyes