I felt as if the world had dropped out from under me. But what could I do? I was in an expensive, borrowed gown, gussied up like a proper movie star’s girlfriend, here to support said movie-star boyfriend. That was the deal—that had always been the deal. Never mind the kisses and the sweet words and the mind-blowing sex. When it came down to it, they didn’t mean a thing.

I told myself that I shouldn’t be upset—I shouldn’t even be surprised. A temporary arrangement—that’s how Stella’s contract had defined it.

Yet, things had changed—hadn’t they? Or maybe I had just hoped they had.

Because I was falling in love with Jax.

I saw him from across the room, and my heart squeezed tightly in my chest. Forget falling in love, I was already head over heels for him.

I watched him talking with other actors, schmoozing with directors and producers. He was totally in his element—comfortable and happy and glad to be there. This was what he wanted to do, and as much as it broke my heart, I was glad I got to help him do it.

He caught my eye across the room, and his face seemed to light up. At least, my poor, wounded heart hoped that it did.

I took a step towards him, hoping that I could be strong, that I could fake it for the rest of the evening, but with the next step, I felt tears gathering in my eyes, and before I could stop them, they began to spill down my cheeks.

Jax’s smile immediately vanished. I spun around, pushing through the crowd, needing to get out of there.

One of the hallways was blissfully empty, so I leaned up against the wall and took several deep breaths, trying to keep my crying under control. I was ruining my makeup. I wouldn’t be able to go back to the party like this, not with the proof of my misery trickling down my cheeks.

“Penny?” Jax’s voice broke the silence of the hallway. “Penny? What’s wrong?”

I turned away from him, but he placed himself in front of me anyway.

“You’re crying,” he said, and I could hear the concern in his voice. “Why? Tell me, Penny, I’ll make it right.”

I didn’t even know where to begin. Somehow, I managed to swallow my tears and meet his gaze—his worried gaze.

“I spoke to Olivia,” I told him, surprised I could keep my voice level.

“OK,” he responded, his eyebrows furrowed.

“She told me about the new plan,” I said. “About what happens after you’re done with me.”

He looked at me blankly. “What plan?” he asked. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I told him everything that Olivia had said, and the confused look on his face grew.

“Is that what’s going to happen, Jax?” I asked, my heart aching. “Is our breakup already in the works? Which tabloid will get the scoop this time?”

“It’s not like that,” he insisted. “I don’t know where they came up with the idea, but I haven’t agreed to any of it.”

“They,” I repeated, sick to my stomach. “So you do know what I’m talking about.”

“Stella mentioned something,” he admitted reluctantly, “but it’s not like anything’s been agreed. I swear, Penny, I would never do something like that without talking to you first.”

“Yet, you don’t seem terribly upset by the idea,” I pointed out, feeling a rush of emotions. Sadness, anger, heartbreak. I hated all of them. I felt so dumb for allowing myself to get this deep. For forgetting what this had been from the start. A lie.

Jax shook his head violently. “That’s not what I mean.”

“So tell me, what do you mean?” I asked bluntly. “What’s going to happen now?”

He blinked at me. “What do you mean?”

“With this.” I gestured my hand, where the giant diamond sparkled. “How long are we going to keep this up? Until you get the Captain Atom role, or longer? Does what I want even matter, or are you just going to wake up one morning and decide it’s time for Phase Two?”

“I thought you wanted this too.” Jax looked hurt.

“I don’t even know what this is,” I exclaimed, my heartbroken frustration spilling out. “Because right now, it feels like we’re leading some double life. In private, things feel real between us, but then I have to come be paraded around for the press, with staged photo ops and leaked stories, like it’s all pretend! That’s not what I want, Jax.”

“So what do you want?” Jax demanded.

I could see that he was frustrated too, but it didn’t make me feel any better. Because he was just frustrated that I was going back on our deal.

“I want to know if any of this is real,” I said, my voice quiet.

He went still.

“Of course, it’s real,” he told me, his eyes searching mine. “I care about you.”

“You care about me,” I echoed. It was like salt in my wound.

“We’re friends,” Jax continued, oblivious to my heartbreak. “This whole thing only works because we’re friends. That’s what made it so perfect. I couldn’t have faked it with anyone else.”

I felt as if he had ripped my heart right out of my chest.

“Well, I’m not faking it anymore,” I said, barely whispering now.

“What?”

“I’m falling in love with you, Jax,” I confessed. “It’s not pretend for me, not anymore.”

He stared at me, and I thought I saw real emotion in his eyes. For a moment, I believed he would say the same thing. Confess his love and sweep me into his arms, the way he would if we were characters in one of his movies.

But this was real life, and there were no cameras around to capture the half step he took back from me.

“I . . . don’t know what to say to that,” he said, looking away. “That wasn’t part of the deal.”

“I know,” I told him, wanting to reach out and shake him. Convince him that falling in love wasn’t as tragic and terrible as he had always believed. “But it’s happened anyways. Surprise,” I added, deadpan, but he wasn’t smiling.

Jax sighed. “It won’t last,” he told me sadly. “It never lasts. You just got caught up in the romantic gestures and script and . . . We’ll just let it pass. And then we can go back to how things used to be.”

I knew he was talking about his parents. I knew he believed that love was where they had gone wrong. That it was because of their emotions that their marriage had soured, but I knew that it wasn’t so simple. Nothing was ever that simple. And if you really loved someone, you fought for them.

But Jax would never understand that. Which is why I couldn’t allow myself to stay with him. Because I could spend the rest of my life falling in love with someone who didn’t trust himself to love me back.

And no matter how crazy I was about him, I deserved more than that.

So even though it was the last thing I wanted to do, I took a step away from him.

“I don’t want things to go back to the way they were,” I told him, trying to keep my voice steady, trying not to cry. “I can’t be your fake girlfriend—fiancée—anymore.”

“Yes you can.” Jax sounded a little desperate. I wanted to believe that some of it was because he was afraid he was going to lose me, but the practical side of me knew that it was because he was afraid of what would happen to his image. He was worried about losing the part—not me. His career was what was important to him. It always had been, and it always would be. I would never come close.

“Ignore what Olivia said—that’s not the plan—that was never the plan,” he insisted.

“But it’s a good one,” I told him, trying to make him understand. “It could get you everything that you want.” I felt tears crowding my eyes. “I’m not what you want, Jax. I was the means to an end, and even if you don’t follow through with this new plan, another, better one is going to come along eventually. I was a good temporary solution, but that’s all I ever was.”

“Penny—” Jax tried to stop me but I held up my hand.

“This wasn’t real to you,” I said tearfully. “But it’s real to me, and if we continue like this, it will hurt too much when it ends. So let’s just end it now, when I can still deal with the pain.”

“I can’t believe you’re doing this,” Jax said, his voice hoarse. “I know this is all new to you, but I thought you were done playing safe. I thought you were done being scared to take chances.”

Tears slipped down my cheeks. He didn’t understand. He’d never understand.

“Please, Penny. Take a chance on me,” he said, imploring me. “We’ll have fun, I promise. We’re perfect together like this. Nothing has to change.”

“It already has,” I said sadly. “At least playing it safe keeps me from getting my heart broken.”

Then I slipped off my engagement ring and shoved it into his hand.

“Goodbye, Jax,” I told him, and then I walked away.