“Here we are. Central Park.”

Stone followed Gina up the stairs that led out of the underground station, blinking in the bright sunlight. March in New York was warmer than March in Alaska by far, and it was a sunny day. Over the park, the sky stretched clear and blue over the tops of the budding trees. It was a poor substitute for Alaska, but it beat out the palm trees and smog of Los Angeles.

Gina took his hand as they crossed the street to the park entrance and gave him a playful smile from under the bill of her Yankees hat. “I’m not going to chance losing you again.”

He’d chosen a Mariners cap from the display in the souvenir shop. Gina had sent him a puzzled frown and asked, “You follow baseball?” Her question incited a panic in him, and he’d babbled out a reply. “Yeah, I mean, when I can. We’re off-the-grid, but not, like, on another planet. Sometimes we go into town. But not . . . not often.”

Gina was too perceptive, and he was a terrible liar. He’d have to do a better job of keeping his mouth shut. In truth, he followed the Mariners because he’d been born just outside Seattle, but that didn’t fit the Alaskan identity, so he wasn’t supposed to mention it.

Dirt and asphalt trails wound this way and that in the park, and holding Gina’s hand as they meandered down one of the trails was nice. Really nice. He shouldn’t be getting any closer to her, for fear of letting something slip, but more than anything right now, he wanted the distraction of human connection.

The path turned to orange bricks. Up ahead, an ornate stone railing looked out over a large round fountain with a majestic angel rising out of the center, arms outstretched. A pigeon sat on the angel’s head.

“Bethesda Fountain. My favorite spot in the whole park.” Slipping her sunglasses into her jacket pocket, Gina boosted herself up to sit on the edge of the railing.

Stone stared at the statue in the fountain. He’d seen this before. In movies, not in person. But he couldn’t ask Gina about it, because she gave him a suspicious look every time he said something about pop culture. “Nice.”

“My senior photo was taken here.”

“Oh yeah?” He couldn’t tell her where he’d gone to high school. The official Living Wild story was that he and his siblings had all been homeschooled by their mother, but it wasn’t entirely true. He and Reed had gone to a regular high school in Alaska.

Gina pointed to a spot to the right of the fountain. “That’s where I stood with my friends. Imagine five hundred teenagers packed into the space below, and the photographer standing right here.”

Stone moved in and slipped an arm around her waist. Sure, Gina had superior balance, but it was a long drop. This close, he filled his lungs with her tropical-sweet scent. When she turned back to face him, her lips parted, and her cheeks pinked.

Every so often, he caught her looking at him like this. Usually she turned away, but not this time. This time, her gaze dropped to his mouth and she licked her lips. His pulse beat heavy in his throat.

They were close, like they’d been in the train station when she’d thrown herself onto his lap. Now, there was no sense of danger. Just desire.

She slipped her sunglasses back on and slid down from the rail, breaking the moment. “Let’s go down and see the terrace.” She took his hand again and led him down the steps.

So, hand-holding was fine, kissing was not. It made a weird sort of sense. After days of dancing together, something as casual as linking hands was nothing. A friendly touch, that’s all. But kissing? That would complicate matters, and as much as he wanted to taste her lush mouth, Gina’s actions made it clear kissing was off the table.

When they reached the bottom, they circled the fountain while Gina regaled him with funny stories from her high school years, like the time Natasha had fallen into the water.

“I guess I pushed her,” she added. “It was an accident, though. I swear.”

He let out a low chuckle. “I’ve pushed my brothers into lots of bodies of water. Not by accident.”

“My mother would have been so pissed if my siblings and I had done stuff like that. We tried not to do anything that made more work for her. She worked hard enough as it was.”

He wanted to ask what that meant, but didn’t. If Gina wanted to tell him something, she’d say it. She was entitled to her secrets.

Lord knew he had plenty of his own.

She led him underneath the terrace, where it was cool and shaded. A ceiling of beautifully painted tiles spread out above them, supported by ornate columns.

She started to say something, then raised a hand to smother a jaw-cracking yawn.

Stone almost laughed, but then he caught the yawn, and they both ended up covering their mouths and wearing sheepish grins.

“You were saying?” he joked.

“I guess we didn’t sleep a whole lot last night.”

“Hard to sleep on a plane full of celebrities.”

She tucked her hand into the crook of his arm. “Come on. I know where we can go.”

They climbed the stone staircase back up to the road—well, one of many roads. Gina led the way, but she didn’t talk anymore. A quick glance at the sky told him they were walking south. They passed a large gray band shell. A few people on rollerblades zipped around the open space. Nannies pushed babies in carriages. Old men slouched on park benches. Overhead, the trees along each side of the walk formed a canopy of new green.

The smells of spring were everywhere, a combo of dirt and water and green that spoke of growth and rebirth. The park was beautiful, an odd mix of city and nature that managed to maintain a relaxed vibe even while bikers zipped along the main roads, and cars cut through to travel crosstown. It was a haven of peace in the city that never slept, a way to witness the beauty of the changing seasons without giving up the amenities of modern living.

“I always try to visit, when I can.” Gina gazed up at the budding trees. “The park is beautiful all year long. For spring walks, outdoor summer concerts, fall foliage, and snowball fights.”

He pictured her in this park, in all seasons. “You love it here.”

“I do. This is my city. I didn’t want to leave.”

“No?”

“Don’t sound so surprised. My family’s here. All my memories are here. I’m sure you understand not wanting to leave your family and home.”

He grunted in reply. That concept was growing more complicated the longer he was away from Living Wild. Sure, he missed Alaska, but the rest of it? Not so much.

“But the opportunities are in Los Angeles, so Natasha and I packed up and moved. My dream is to have homes—and work—in LA and New York.”

She’d moved three thousand miles across the country for ambition, for career. To follow the entertainment business to its home base. He could admire how far she’d gone to follow her dreams, even if he didn’t understand the impulse.

He looked up at the sky, spreading bright and endless above them, edged in on the corners by tall buildings, and sighed. “I just want to go back to Alaska and live a quiet life.”

She slipped her arm around his waist and gave him a squeeze, her warm body snug against his side. “You will.”

He wanted to tell her about life in Alaska, how much he loved the place but hated filming the show, but for now, it was enough to just walk with her.

Before long, they approached a giant field.

“Ta-da!” Gina raised her arm in a flourish. “I give you . . . the Sheep Meadow.”

“Huh.” He made a show of looking around. “I don’t see any sheep.”

She shook her head at him. “They’re not here anymore, silly. It’s just for lounging.”

The lawn was enormous—it had to be over a dozen acres—and ringed by trees, with buildings rising beyond. It was peaceful, though. People sat in the grass, or lounged, as Gina had said. He followed her over to a spot in the middle, in full sunshine.

After spreading out both of their jackets, she sat on one and patted the other for him to join her.

“Gina, I don’t mind sitting on grass.”

“Oh, right.” She giggled. “Sorry, I’m delirious from lack of sleep. Cut me a break.”

But when he sat beside her, she shook her head and patted her lap.

“Lean back. And take off your hat. I want to play with all this glorious hair of yours.”

He’d be a fool to argue. With his head resting in her lap, his tired body relaxed amid the smell of fresh spring grass and Gina’s signature sweetness. Stone closed his eyes, soaking up the warm sun and Gina’s soft, sensuous touch in his hair. Her fingers sifted through the strands with gentle tugs, stimulating the nerves in his scalp and sending answering bolts of pleasure through him. Reclining like this, knowing her head was just above his, was an exquisite torture, but he didn’t want it to end.

When her strong fingers moved to massage his scalp, he groaned.

“You like it?” she asked, voice breathy.

“Mmm.” He didn’t trust himself to reply. He liked it too much.

But the week’s activities had taken their toll, and he started to nod off.

“Stone.” Gina’s voice was right by his ear.

He cleared his throat and opened his eyes. “Yeah?”

“Let’s take a nap.”

He shifted over to make room for her on their jackets and pillowed his head on his arms. She stretched out beside him and cuddled against his side, a warm, soft presence.

“I set an alarm on my phone,” she said. “When it goes off, I’ll take you to get some New York City pizza, and then we’ll go uptown to my mom’s place.”

“Sounds like the perfect day.”

He closed his eyes. Drifted off. And woke when her phone beeped.

Gina sat up to fish it out of her pocket. He wanted to pull her back down beside him.

“Huh? It’s a phone call.” She pressed the phone to her ear. “Hello? Oh, sure, he’s right here.” She passed it to Stone, her expression sleepy and puzzled. “It’s for you.”

Stone stared at the sky while the guy on the other end rattled a name at him that sounded vaguely familiar, along with a series of instructions. He grunted a few times in response, then ended with, “Fine, I’ll be there.”

He hung up and gave the phone back to Gina.

“What was that all about?” she asked.

“Dinner. With some of the Living Wild execs. At the hotel.” He blew out a breath. “Sorry. Your mother—”

“It’s okay.” She cut him off before he could find the words to explain how much he’d rather have a home-cooked meal with her family. “Work comes first.”

He ground his teeth. Work didn’t come first, not for him. Family did. He always dropped everything to come to his family’s aid. It was why he was here in the first place, to make the money to pay off the bills from his mother’s hip replacement.

Right now, the pull of family—real family, crammed around a dinner table to eat and fight and laugh—warred with the commitment he’d made to his own family back in Alaska, to do whatever it took to keep their secrets and make Living Wild a success. When was the last time they’d had a family dinner that hadn’t been filmed?

He also just didn’t want to leave Gina. He didn’t want this day to end.

“I don’t want to go,” he finally said. “But I have to.”

“I get it, Stone.” Understanding was written all over her face.

She walked him to the corner of the park and took him out to Columbus Circle. After giving him detailed walking directions, she sent him on his way.

Probably for the best that he wasn’t going to visit her family. If her mother’s steak was any good, he’d likely do something stupid, like propose marriage on the spot. And if today had shown him anything, it was that Gina would never be happy with the kind of life he dreamed of having.