Why Resist a Rebel - By Leah Ashton Page 0,60
shrugged. ‘Something fun. Temporary. Private.’
He shook his head. ‘How can you believe that? I’ve spent more time with you in the past few weeks than I’ve spent with another woman ever.’
He ignored yet another eye roll, his blood starting to simmer in anger. Why was she doing this? Why would she deny what they had?
‘I’ve told you more than I’ve told anyone. I’ve revealed more of myself to you—given more of myself to you—than I thought I was capable of.’
More than Estelle—or anyone—had thought him capable of.
She was staring out of the window, through a tiny crack in the curtains.
‘You’ve gone through a tough time,’ she said, as if she was choosing her words carefully. ‘I was just the girl who happened to be here. The distraction.’
‘That’s just a word,’ he said. ‘It’s meaningless, and it isn’t true when it comes to you—not any more. Not since that morning you came into my room prepared to bodily drag me onto set.’
She wasn’t listening. ‘When you go through really emotional events, it’s natural to attach yourself to someone—’
‘You’re just making this up as you go along,’ he said. ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’
She crossed the trailer, putting more space between them. ‘No,’ she said, ‘I think I do. This was never supposed to be anything serious. And it isn’t.’
‘Is that the issue, Ruby? You don’t want serious, so you’re ignoring what’s happening right in front of you? I didn’t think I wanted it either, but I can’t pretend this isn’t happening. I won’t.’
Ruby just shook her head, still avoiding his gaze.
‘You told me on the beach the other week that you learnt you didn’t need anyone, years ago. I get that. I definitely get that. But I’m not like the men from your past. I won’t let you down.’
Now she turned to him, her gaze suddenly sad. ‘How, exactly, will you manage that?’
‘To not let you down?’ he repeated.
She give a sharp nod. ‘Yes. What exactly have you planned for us beyond this film, and beyond this awards night?’
He was silent. Honestly, he hadn’t thought beyond that. He just knew he wanted Ruby.
She smiled, very slowly. Dangerously. ‘Let me guess—we’d go back to Beverly Hills.’
‘I guess—’ he began. It made sense, he supposed.
‘And I would work where?’
He knew this wasn’t leading anywhere good, but found himself helpless to change the direction of the conversation. ‘I don’t know. I live in Hollywood. So—’
‘So that’s where I’d work.’
He ran a hand through his hair. ‘Damn it, Ruby—I was just inviting you to the AFAs. That’s it. We don’t need to plan out every second of our future together.’
‘That wasn’t what I was asking you to do,’ Ruby said. ‘Not at all.’
She walked towards him—past him—to the trailer door.
He couldn’t let her leave, not like this, and in two strides he was in front of her, blocking her exit.
‘Ruby, I’m new to this, too. I don’t know what I’m doing.’ He managed a dry laugh. ‘Obviously. But—I just know that things feel right with you. Different right, special right. I haven’t felt this good in for ever. And don’t you dare attribute that to my dad.’ She snapped her mouth shut. ‘I can’t describe it, Ruby, but I’m not ready to let it go. I can’t let you walk away from this.’
She caught his gaze, her eyes a richer brown than he’d ever seen them. ‘Try and describe it,’ she said, so softly he leant closer to catch the words.
‘Describe it?’ he repeated, then, gradually—he understood what she was asking.
‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Describe what we have, what it is that you expect me to give up so much for—my privacy, my independence, the career I love, a lifestyle that suits me perfectly.’
Love.
That was what she was asking. Was this love?
His mind raced, whipping about in circles but coming to no meaningful conclusion. It was a word he rarely used, that he’d never said to anyone but a blood relative.
Was it even possible to love someone after so little time?
Little vignettes of their time together mish-mashed in his brain. At the beach, in bed, alone together on set, talking, laughing, loving.
He cleared his throat. ‘I never said I wanted you to give up anything for me.’
She twisted the door handle, and it clicked open loudly in the heavy silence.
Then, without a word, she left.
And Dev was powerless to say the words that might bring her back.
Ruby walked briskly back to the production office, deftly handling the standard peppering of questions and minor dramas