CHAPTER THIRTEEN
WILLOW AWOKE AT two in the morning to an empty bed. Her heart sank with old heartache, and just as quickly, she chided herself. She wasn’t going to allow her seventeen-year-old stupidity to stand in the way of her adult happiness. Blinking away the haze of sleep, she spotted Zane sitting out on the balcony overlooking the lake. He was shirtless, leaning forward. She pulled the blanket around herself and padded across the floor. He turned as she pulled open the glass door. His hair was still damp from the shower they’d taken after their sexcapade. It looked like he’d pushed his hand through it, pulling it away from his face, making his chiseled features appear even more defined.
The corners of his mouth tipped up despite the serious look in his eyes. “Hey, babe. I hope I didn’t wake you.” He reached for her hand, holding papers in the other, and guided her down beside him on the wicker sofa.
“You didn’t. Everything okay?”
He pulled her closer, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, and kicked his feet up on the railing. “Yeah. I couldn’t sleep.”
“Worried about your film? Is that the script?”
He shook his head. “Don’t you have to be up at the crack of dawn?”
She snuggled in closer and smiled up at him. “Yes, but when I go to bed with a hot guy and wake up alone, it kind of rattles me.”
He pressed his lips to hers. “Sorry.”
“So . . .” She eyed the papers in his hand. “If it’s not your script, what is it that has enough power to drag you from my bed when I’m naked?”
“You mean besides the fact that you talk in your sleep?”
“I do not!” Holy cow. What did I say?
He laughed. “Maybe. Maybe not.”
“Zane Walker, if I do talk in my sleep, it’s about recipes or something innocuous.”
“How do you know I’m not going to sell your trade secrets?”
“How do you know I didn’t videotape last night to use as blackmail when you turn into an asshat?”
“Touché, sweet girl.” He leaned in for another kiss.
“So what are you doing?”
He sat back, his eyes skirting over the lake. “I had forgotten how beautiful it is here at night.”
“Nice change of subject.”
He pushed a hand through his hair and faced her head-on. The tension around his eyes and mouth made her stomach knot up.
“You’re right, and I’m sorry. I promised to be honest. I’ve never shared this with anyone before, so cut me a little slack.” He waved the papers. “You know how I said I wanted more out of life?”
“Yes.” She sat up a little straighter, preparing for whatever shoe was going to drop.
“I’m sure you’ve heard the reason I took this role was to drive my career in a new direction. Romantic suspense, which could then lead to romantic comedy and all those silly love stories.”
“It was all over the media. You have to be excited about kissing Remi Divine. I assume you have kissing scenes.” Remi Divine was his beautiful twenty-four-year-old costar. America’s sweetheart of the moment.
“Wills.” He shook his head. “Yes, I have to kiss her, but acting kisses aren’t like real kisses.”
“Do your lips touch?” she teased.
“Uh-huh.”
“It’s a real kiss.” She snuggled closer. “But I’m not jealous or anything.”
He cocked a brow.
“Okay, maybe a little. But I’m a big girl.” I know how to hide it well. She pushed that green-eyed monster away and locked the door behind it. “Anyway, isn’t the change from action movies to romance what started the uproar with your focus group?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, that and other things. The truth is, this role is just another role for me. I thought it was the roles I was taking that were leaving me feeling empty, but after filming so much of this movie, I know that wasn’t it. As I said earlier, acting was the only thing I was good at. Not good in class? No problem. I’m athletic. I’ll become the star quarterback. Girls didn’t care that my family was poor. They saw a cute guy and made me popular. Have a poor family that doesn’t want to help themselves or help you become something more? No problem. I’ll do it on my own. Acting, acting, acting.”
He pushed his hand through his hair again and shifted, putting space between them. “Making friends was easy because of Ben. Your brother didn’t give a shit about my unambitious family or my crappy clothes or any of that. He saw me. You saw me. Your family saw me, except maybe Piper. I think part of her saw right through me.”
Willow took his hand. It was hot, nervous hot, and her heart hurt at the thought of him believing that for all these years.
“Zane, Piper didn’t think you were acting. She thought you were leading me on. That we’d hook up and I’d get hurt.”
He slid her an uncertain look. “Well, she was right.”
“But we hurt ourselves. You didn’t hurt me. I know that now.” She moved closer, needing the connection for what she was about to ask. “Do you feel like you’re acting with me now?”
His eyes warmed, and he pulled her closer. He lifted her chin and kissed her softly. “For a long time I wasn’t sure who the real me was. Nobody in Hollywood talks to me about anything real. They talk about movies and women and parties and awards that I don’t give a rat’s ass about. It’s easy to be the wild guy. Good-time Zane, the partier who lives life on a whim. But when I came home for your parents’ anniversary party in the spring and we went fishing with your dad, things changed.”
He looked down at the papers in his hands, and when he met her gaze again, his eyes shone with new light. “Not a single person in your family asked me about acting, or the latest gossip, or what movie I was doing next. You mentioned wanting a bookstore in your bakery one day, and Talia and I brainstormed about ways to get through to kids who have trouble with academics so they don’t end up feeling lost. It’s so different when I’m here. Ben and I played basketball, and Piper gave me hell about anything she could. And your mom tried to get me to use her Sweetwater Spice soap. Remember?”
He laughed, and it brought a lump to Willow’s throat.
“You remembered . . .” All that?
“And more. Your dad asked me what my goals were for this year, and when I answered, I realized I had told him the truth. Not the Hollywood bullshit I spewed out in LA. You guys know me in a way no one out there ever could.”
“That’s called family,” Willow said softly, knowing it was a touchy subject for him.
Emotions swam in his eyes. “Yeah. Being back here is torturous bliss. It’s the place I desperately wanted to escape to prove myself, and in doing so, I got lost. But you never let me fully disappear. You were always there, a text away, turning me down but reminding me of the person I really was. I am not acting with you, Wills. Maybe sometimes when you’d blow me off and I needed to suck it up to remain sane I’d hide behind that fun-guy mask. But not now. No.”
“Z—”
He touched his lips to hers in a tender kiss that felt as though he was sealing a vow.
LYING NEXT TO Willow, listening to the even cadence of her breathing as she’d slept in his arms, had changed everything for Zane. He knew she was worried about his reputation, but he also knew, from every second they spent together, that she was it for him. Willow was as real as real could be, and he didn’t just want to show her how much he loved her; he wanted to be the best man he could for her. He’d gone out to the balcony to read over the project he’d been toying with recently.
“After talking with your dad, I went back to something I’d started—and put away—a long time ago.” He laid the papers he’d been holding in her lap and placed her hand over them.
She glanced down with confusion in her eyes.
“Go ahead, take a look.”
She picked up the papers and scanned the title page. “Beneath It All? A screenplay by—” Her eyes widened. “You wrote this?” She flipped to the first page without waiting for an answer.
Anxiety crawled up his spine. “I haven’t shown it to anyone, and it’s probably crap. It’s gritty and not at all like what you’re used to seeing in the theaters.”
“Shh.” She leaned her back against his side and pulled her feet up on the cushion. The blanket parted, revealing a flash of skin between her breasts.
“Wills, are you naked under there?”
“Mm-hm. Shh.” She flipped the page and continued reading.
He ground his teeth together. Well, that took care of his nerves. Now he was too busy thinking about her naked to worry about what she thought of the screenplay.