her room. Past midnight.
It was too late for them to talk. She was half-asleep on her feet, and he had to be exhausted after such a long day. The sound of the front door opening made her squeak in alarm. She was too nervous to act normally, so she slid under the covers. She didn’t need to pretend to be a sleep for long. Thanks to the baby, she fell asleep soon after Landon came to bed and wrapped his body around hers.
The next morning, her eyes opened at the crack of dawn, and she didn’t wait for Landon to wake up. She sneaked out of bed and headed for Landon’s unoccupied room, grabbing some clothes on her way out. Once she was washed and dressed, Aubrey set out for a long walk down the hills.
All the courage and strength she’d scrounged up last night seemed to have evaporated into thin air. But she had to tell him. They were leaving Bosque Verde tomorrow, and she needed to know where they stood before that happened. She had to know she wasn’t his shameful secret. That they could build a real future together.
She was blind and deaf to the beauty surrounding her, barely conscious that her feet were moving. When a hand grasped her arm, she jolted back to reality with a startled scream.
“What was that for?” Landon looked more alarmed than she felt.
“I didn’t hear you coming. You scared me.”
“How could you not hear me? I called out for you loudly enough to scare the birds out of the trees.”
“Well, I didn’t hear you.”
“Fair enough, and I didn’t mean to startle you.” Landon raked his fingers through his hair, standing shirtless and barefoot in front of her. He must’ve scrambled out of bed to catch up with her. “Now, do you want to tell me why you’re avoiding me?”
“Whatever made you think that?” Aubrey asked with a guilty flush creeping up her neck.
“You were pretending to be asleep last night. I wanted to talk to you in the morning, but you weren’t in bed. I saw you walking down the driveway, so I ran after you. And you know the rest of the story.” He heaved a deep sigh and mussed his hair some more. “What’s going on?”
Aubrey stared at the ground and drew little circles on the dirt road with her Vans-clad toes. She wasn’t ready to talk. Fear clamped its teeth into her, and she wanted to run. Coward.
“Damn it, Aubrey. Just talk to me. Something’s been bothering you since your final shoot,” Landon said. “Please don’t shut me out. I need to know what’s going on.”
“Don’t push me.” She hated how petulant and pathetic her voice sounded. Where was her resolve and bravado now?
“You’re the one trying to push me away.” He stepped toward her. “Please tell me what’s going on. I can’t do this. I don’t want to leave you in Weldon and be on my way. I don’t want this to end. I want to be with you.”
“You mean you want to keep me as your dirty little secret.” The words flowed out of her before she could stop them. That wasn’t where she’d wanted to start. Not at a place of hurt and fear.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I heard you.” Her accusation hung between them. “I heard you talking with Stan after my last shoot. I heard you tell him that I’m nothing to you.”
“Goddamn it, Aubrey. You know why I had to say that. How could you even think I meant it?” His voice cracked over the last words. He took a deep breath before continuing, “I know I should’ve brought it up first, but I wanted to find a good time to talk to you. In a calm, rational manner. But I wish you’d told me you’d overheard us instead of hurting like this.”
“Are you telling me you’re ready to go public with our relationship?”
Landon drew back as though her words were daggers flying toward him. “What are you saying? You heard Stan. We could stop the crew from leaking the rumors, but this is our wake-up call. If people find out about us, it could destroy both of our careers. The whole point was to restore Comfort Zone without destroying our reputations. That has always been the plan, and it still is.”
“That was the plan before we got together. But now that we’re involved, we can’t go on hiding like this.”
“We have no other choice.” His lips pressed into