I woke feeling as if I had run the world’s sexiest and most satisfying marathon. Penny was curled up against me, that perfect ass of hers pressed up against my cock, which was hardening at the memory of our hot fuck against the wall. Whatever had changed between us in the past few days, I was damn grateful for it, because I was having the best sex of my life with someone I actually cared about.

I was about to wake her with an encore of said hot sex when my phone buzzed from the nightstand. At first I ignored it, but then it buzzed again, and again, and again. Whoever was calling, they were pretty eager to talk.

Squinting at the screen, I groaned when I saw who was waiting for me on the other end. It was either good news with her or bad news. I had a feeling it was bad.

“Stella,” I greeted my agent. “Why are you calling?”

“Don’t play coy with me,” she shot back. “You know why I’m calling.”

“Trust me,” I sighed. “I don’t.”

My attention had focused back on Penny, who had rolled away from me, giving me a great view of her naked back and ass. The blanket slipped low around her waist while she hugged a pillow to her chest and continued to sleep.

“Go look at TMZ,” Stella ordered. “And get back to set. Now.”

I winced at her urgent tone. Hanging up, I pulled up the website and found pictures from the night before dominating the front page. Pictures of me punching a guy in the face. I looked fucking furious—almost like an animal—my eyes blazing and my jaw clenched. Of course, they didn’t have any pictures of the guy I had decked from before that moment—when he had been grabbing at Penny and her friend like a goddamn barbarian. Nope, it just looked like I had gone after some random dude like a raging asshole.

The lede for the article? “Bad boy movie star Jax Hawthorne spends his evening off in London drinking hard and punching harder.”

The quotes didn’t help. Mostly because they were from the random dude who claimed that I came out of nowhere and sucker-punched him, looking for a fight, and had gotten him kicked out of the club.

No mention of what a dick he had been.

My heart sank. This was bad. This made me look exactly like the guy I was trying not to be, and undid everything that Penny’s presence had been intended to fix. Now we were back at square one—that is if I was still in the running for the Captain Atom role after this.

“Shit,” I swore out loud.

“What’s wrong?” Penny rolled over, sleepily blinking at me.

I showed her the pictures, and she immediately woke up.

“But that’s not how it happened!” she protested. “This isn’t the truth at all!”

“It doesn’t matter.” I got out of bed and pulled on my clothes. “Come on,” I told her. “We need to get back to work.”

It was a quiet and somber ride back to the hotel, and when we arrived, both Stella and Tyler were up in our suite. Neither of them looked happy.

“Do I still have a chance?” I asked immediately.

“You’re not off the list,” Tyler told me with a sigh. “At least, not officially. But you just went from ‘long shot’ to ‘hasn’t a hope in hell.’ ”

“Fuck.” I ran a hand through my hair.

“This whole thing is crazy,” Penny spoke up. “Jax was protecting me, not starting a fight.”

“It doesn’t matter.” My agent shrugged. “They got the fight on film, and that’s what people are going to see.”

“What about Emmy and Charlie?” Penny asked. “They can back Jax up!”’

But Stella shook her head. “They’ve had their own rash of bad press in the past—Charlie’s bad-boy reputation still lingers. Even if he tells the press what happened, his association with Jax might not help the narrative either.”

I wanted to punch someone. Again. It seemed so unfair that my career was being determined by things that didn’t have anything to do with my acting ability.

“We have to do damage control if we want to salvage this,” Tyler told us firmly. “We need a new story to redirect everyone. Something that makes you look like you know you messed up but you’re working to get back on track.”

“What about us?” Penny suggested. “The relationship. We could do some more staged photos, something romantic maybe?”

I was surprised to hear her offering to parade in front of the press—and touched, too.

Stella shook her head at the suggestion. “You two are old news. People already saw that the two of you are dating and it gave you some goodwill, but unfortunately this incident has probably undone most of it. You need something bigger.”

“He could convert to Buddhism?” Stella suggested.

“Or, there’s always rehab,” Tyler countered. “Anger management.”

I shook my head. This was ridiculous. I wasn’t going to go around lying like that. Sure, the fake relationship with Penny was pushing the limits on truth, but even that felt like something real now, not a total show for the press.

“What if we got engaged?”

My head whipped around. Penny was looking nervous, but determined.

“An engagement?” Stella asked.

“You and Jax?” Tyler echoed.

The two of them exchanged a look, and I could already see the wheels turning in their heads.

“That could work,” Tyler said slowly. “That could work great.”

“Bad Boy reformed,” Stella agreed. “True love sets him on the straight and narrow.”

“Come on, guys,” I protested, but they didn’t listen.

“Great idea, Penny,” Stella told her, beaming. “Jax has to make an appearance at an awards show this weekend, and you can walk the red carpet with him. Answer questions. Be adorable and in love. Flash the shiny ring. Wait, we need a ring.”

Immediately, she whipped out her phone and began making lists.

“Something big,” Tyler added. “Something that says that Jax knows he messed up, but he is dedicating his attention to his fiancée from now on. No more partying at bars or staying out late or getting into fights.”

The two of them got up, talking a mile a minute over each other.

“This is going to be great,” Stella said. “We’ll make it happen.”

They left the room, both of them focused on their phones and the new task at hand. Penny and I were alone. I turned to her. She looked a little pale.

“Penny,” I said quietly, and she jumped as if she had forgotten I was there. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

She looked at me for a moment, and I held my breath. I knew that it would be great to combat the rumors, but I also couldn’t deny that I wanted her to stick around. Whatever was happening between us was just getting started, and for her to offer something like this, it had to mean she felt the same way.

Right?

Penny swallowed and gave me a smile.

“We made a pact, didn’t we?” she asked, and it took me a moment to remember that she was talking about our original pact, the one we had made fifteen years ago. “Technically, if we’re following that, then we’ve always been engaged,” she added.

I laughed. “I guess so,” I said, feeling relieved. “So you’re OK with this? I mean, I have to warn you, things are only going to get crazier.”

“I know,” she said, and took a deep breath. “But if it helps you get the role, then sure. It’s worth it.”

I had to swallow back the emotion that suddenly surged through me.

She cared. About me, and my career. She wouldn’t be signing up for this otherwise.

“Thank you,” I told her, pulling her into a hug. I held her tightly, vowing she wouldn’t regret this for a second. “I promise I’m going to be the best fiancé you’ve ever had.”