Why Resist a Rebel - By Leah Ashton Page 0,62

nodded. ‘Yeah, a romantic drama, something a bit different for me.’ Dev then spent a few minutes describing Lucyville, some of his co-stars, and making generic comments about how much he was enjoying working again in Australia—which, he realised as he said it, was actually true.

Beside Sam, Jared slowly relaxed before Dev’s eyes.

What had Jared honestly expected him to do? Say something inappropriate? Grunt a response? Throw food across the table?

He realised he’d tensed his jaw, and that his back had become stiff and unyielding.

As Sam chatted away, asking questions about the film industry and about LA, Dev forced himself to relax.

He couldn’t get angry with Jared. Or Brad.

They were just protecting his mum, and had absolutely no reason to believe that today was the start of something new. That he wouldn’t let her down—let them all down—again.

If this was a movie, the script would probably call for him to dramatically jump to his feet—to declare his grief for the loss of his father and for the loss of more than a decade of time with his family. For never meeting his niece and nephew before today. He’d use words and phrases like a tragedy and regret and I can only hope you can forgive me and that type of thing, and then all would be forgiven, and the camera would pan back, and they’d all be one big happy family. The End.

But life didn’t work like that, at least not in the Cooper household.

Today was not the day for dramatic declarations, and it was not the day to expect a magic wand to be waved and for everything to be okay.

It was, and remained, simply a step in the right direction.

He needed to earn a conversation without tense undertones. And he intended to.

Ruby was the first person to tell him he was being stupid to wish the family he had away. The words had resonated more than he’d realised—when he’d been unable to sleep, when the words had been piled on top of all the other snatches of memory and guilt that filled his subconscious to the brim. Even now they still resonated, even when sleep came—mostly—much more easily.

That was a very stupid thing to say.

So to the point, so straightforward. So Ruby.

It was why he was here. She was why he was here.

‘How is Ruby?’ his mum asked from the head of the table, reading his mind.

‘The blonde from Mum’s party?’ asked Brad, and Ros nodded.

‘I liked her,’ she said.

‘Me, too,’ Dev said, without thinking. Then he cleared his throat. ‘She’s well, I think. I don’t really know—we’re just colleagues. She’s the Production Co-ordinator.’

As of three days ago, it was all true, but still the words felt just like a lie.

Three days since whatever had happened in his trailer. Even now he wasn’t sure what had really taken place—or what he could’ve done to ensure a different ending. Sometimes he was angry at her, and frustrated at the crazy assumptions she’d leapt to; how unfair it had been of her to put words into his mouth, to assume the worst of him—and to fast-forward their relationship to a point where they needed to consider anything beyond the next night, or next week.

But other times he was furious with himself. Furious for letting her walk away, for not running across Unit Base—screw what anyone thought—and saying whatever he needed to say to get her to stay. Furious for not considering how she’d react, not considering what a public relationship with him might mean to her—a woman still scarred by the gossipmongering of her past. Of course she didn’t want to open her life up to the world for a fleeting fling.

But would she do it for something more?

Because what they had couldn’t be on her terms any more—no more secrets, no more end dates.

And she hadn’t wanted to hear that, hadn’t wanted to consider it.

Until love had come into it. Out of nowhere. And love just wasn’t something he was familiar with. That he knew how to do.

The conversations around him had moved on, but he barely heard a word.

Had it been out of nowhere? Had it been so shocking, so unexpected?

Yes, he’d told himself.

But now—it was a no. An honest, raw, no.

Everything he’d told her in that trailer, about what he’d shared with her, what he’d revealed—that came from a place of trust, of intimacy, of connection.

A place he’d never gone before—that he hadn’t been capable of going to before.

A place of love.

In his mother’s back yard he