TAMING HOLLYWOOD'S BADDEST BO- Max Monroe Page 0,99

to win this woman’s heart, I think to myself.

Rocky would lose her shit if she knew about this. In the best way.

The thought urges me to break the silence in the car.

“So, I took your advice.”

Billie’s big green eyes turn toward me. “What advice was that?”

“I called my sister.”

“Wow. Really?” Her eyes go wide, and her lips part in surprise. “How did that go?”

“Well, to be honest, not good,” I admit. “Before I left Alaska to come here, I tried to call her with the number I had saved in my phone, but I quickly realized it wasn’t her current number. Adele tracked down her new number for me, but I’ve left Rocky so many damn voice mails, and I’ve yet to get a response back. So, yeah, it’s not really going…at all.”

A sigh escapes my lungs. “I feel like a real bastard, to be honest. I have no fucking clue what she’s up to these days, and it’s all my fault. Truthfully, I don’t blame her for not wanting to return my calls, but I’ll keep trying. She deserves that much from me.”

“You could probably Google her to see what she’s up to,” she teases, and I snort.

“I’m not fucking Googling my baby sister. No way am I going to use gossip columns to get an update on her.”

“I can definitely understand that,” she says, her voice the most relaxed and calm it has been since she arrived at my house this morning. After a brief pause, she softens her tone a little and asks a question I should have been expecting. Billie Harris never leaves it simple. “What about your parents? Do you think you’ll try to get in touch with them?”

“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “It’s something I need to think about, but I really don’t think I want anything to do with them.”

“That makes sense,” she says. “But if my opinion is worth anything, you’re doing the right thing with your sister. I don’t know her, obviously, but I think you both need each other. I don’t know what I’d do without mine.”

“Your opinion is worth everything,” I say quietly, and Billie’s eyes meet mine. “To me, at least.”

Her lips part slightly, and fuck, I want to watch her more. I want to search her eyes and ask her what she’s thinking right now, but I’m driving this fucking car.

Instantly, I bring my eyes back to the road and focus on the priority—getting Billie to the studio safely.

And the car stays silent for the rest of the ride.

She mostly stares out the window, and I drive.

Until I take a right turn into the lot.

Once the security guard at the gate greets us and lets us through, she turns in her seat to face me as I park the car. “So, are you going to tell me why you lied to me about your car not working?” she asks. “I mean, it’s pretty darn obvious this car has zero issues. It’s a freaking brand-new Porsche.”

The answer is easy.

“Because I wanted to see you,” I say and cut the engine. “I always want to see you, princess.”

Billie sits there, stunned.

And there’s a part of me that wants to lay it all out there and tell her how I feel and what I want, but our time is short.

We need to go inside and start our day.

Son of a bitch. Time is not my friend right now.

“You ready?” I ask, and she nods her head and clears her throat.

“Uh…yeah…”

I hop out of the car and round the front to open her door for her.

“Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

And then, side by side, we head toward the studio.

I don’t miss the fact that Billie doesn’t keep her usual distance between us.

Instead, she’s right there, right beside me, her petite arm lightly brushing mine as we head inside.

A good sign? God, I fucking hope so.

Billie

I always believed one broken bone was easier to break a second time around under stress. Google, however, says I’m wrong as I scroll through the search results while everyone parties around me.

We’ve been in Austin, Texas, for a few days now, and we’ve managed to tackle every single one of the scenes that we needed to film here, two days ahead of schedule.

In the world of film production, that is a rarity.

To celebrate, Serena insisted the team spend the evening drinking and dancing and just having fun at this little dive bar in the middle of downtown. The joint is called El Camino, and I’ve found they serve the