Back at her condo, Kate poured two glasses of wine. She handed one to Josh, and they walked to the window to take in the view. Ben and Jerry clattered into the living room, tails wagging. She shooed them onto the balcony to use their doggy grass.

Josh raised an eyebrow. “You keep grass on your balcony for the dogs?”

“Easier than walking them.”

“I’m sure you could hire someone to do that.” Josh stooped to ruffle Jerry’s fluffy head as he scampered back inside.

“I have someone who comes twice a day, but I keep odd hours, so it’s just easier to be able to let them out when they need to go.”

“How do you feel about that?” Josh asked the dog at his feet.

Jerry cocked his head, his blue eyes bright.

She laughed. “Jerry’s deaf.”

“No kidding.”

“You really wouldn’t know, other than the blue eyes. We have a few hand signals, but mostly he uses Ben as his ears.”

Josh held her gaze. “There’s something ironic there, a famous singer with a deaf dog.”

“Probably.” She looked down at her dog. “Jerry’s special. He’s like the calm in my storm.”

“How so?”

“Maybe he’s more in touch with his other senses because he can’t hear, but he’s just really attuned to me. There’s something primal about not needing words to communicate, right?”

“Definitely.” He gave her a look that set her pulse racing. “Are they brothers?”

She nodded. “Littermates. They’d be lost without each other, I think.”

“I’m fuzzy on little dog breeds. What are they?”

“Maltese.”

Ben joined them, and both dogs moved off to the kitchen in search of crumbs.

Josh set their wineglasses on the end table and drew her in close. His eyes gleamed with hunger, yet he’d remained oddly hands-off since that blistering kiss outside Tosca. Time to figure out where they stood.

She clasped her hands behind his neck. “I like you, Josh, and I’d like to see where this thing between us is heading, but I should be up front about the fact that I’m not looking for a serious relationship. I’m only in New York for two and a half more weeks, so that’s all this could be.”

He stood there for a long minute in silence, clearly wrestling with his answer. His arms tightened around her. “I want that too, but…”

She pressed closer in his arms and tilted her head to his. “But?”

“I think it’s better if this ends tonight.”

“You don’t look like that’s what you want.” On the contrary, the look on his face had her pulse racing and desire tugging low in her belly.

His gaze dropped to her mouth. “It’s not good for me to have my face in the tabloids, for a number of reasons.”

“Well, I think we’ve established that I can be discreet, if that’s your only objection.” Her breasts were pressed against his chest, and she felt his heart pounding. She trailed a finger over his lips. “I mean, I understand if you’re not attracted to me…”

He groaned. Attraction was definitely not a problem. Lust battled something else across his features, something alarmingly intense, maybe even painful.

She sucked in a breath and stepped back. “But you’re not really a casual fling kind of guy, are you?”

He reached out and drew her back in. Pressed against him, she could feel exactly how much he wanted her, and her body ached in response. “No, I’m not, but this isn’t a good time for me to get serious either.”

“So…?”

“Yes.” And then he kissed her.

Damn, the man could kiss. He nipped at her lower lip, sending a bolt of fire straight to the restless ache between her thighs. Her hands fisted in the soft cotton of his shirt as she kissed him back. Their tongues tangled while his hands roamed from her hair down to her ass, lifting her up against him.

“Mm…yes,” she gasped. His kiss was overwhelming in every toe-curling, panty-melting way. Warmth pulsed through her veins. She’d never felt more aware of every inch of her body, from the magic of his mouth on hers to the frantic pounding of her heart to the firm grip of his fingers on her ass.

Yes. More. Everything.

“Kate.” His voice was low, rough, edged with the same urgency she felt growing bright as a spotlight inside her. His touch, by contrast, remained gentle. He popped the top button of her blouse, tracing a finger over the lacy trim of her bra before pushing it aside to cup her breast. His thumb scraped over her nipple, drawing it into an aching peak.

She pushed him onto the couch, her fingers sliding over the hard contours of his chest. Josh sucked in a ragged breath. At least she wasn’t the only one in danger of losing control. And yet, she had the unexplained feeling he didn’t plan to take things much further tonight. It was a heady feeling, not to be rushed. To be seduced until she was ready to beg for more.

And oh yeah, she was ready to beg.

Josh bent his head, kissing his way down her neck as his fingers gripped her through the thin denim of her jeans. She groaned.

Hell, two could play this game.

She yanked his shirt from the waistband of his jeans and slid her hands up his back. His skin burned beneath her touch. She trailed her fingers through the tangle of curls on his chest. It was Josh’s turn to groan. His arms tightened around her, pulling her flush with his body so that his hard cock pressed against her belly.

The desire throbbing inside her blazed. She wiggled closer, and Josh lifted her hips to bring their bodies into alignment. He rocked her against him as his mouth devoured hers.

Yes, yes, yes…

They kissed, touching and teasing until she was so turned on, she could barely think. And still he made no move to undress her. She yanked his green polo over his head, kissing her way down his chest to the waistband of his jeans.

His muscles tightened beneath her touch, and his breathing grew erratic. When she looked up, he claimed her mouth with a kiss that completely short-circuited her brain. Her ears started to ring. No, wait. Her cell phone was ringing.

Josh lifted his head, his hazel eyes liquefied to gold. Then he brushed his lips against her bare breast, nipping and teasing her sensitive flesh.

Oh, dear Lord.

Whoever was calling could wait. She yanked the phone out of her back pocket, intending to silence it, but the sight of Harry’s face on the screen was like a bucket of cold water dumped over her head. “It’s my manager. He never calls this late unless it’s important.” She drooped in Josh’s arms as she connected the call. “Harry?”

“Are you at home?” Harry asked.

A sinking sensation plummeted through her gut. “Yes. Why?”

“I have something I need to discuss with you, and it really can’t wait.”

“Okay. Give me fifteen minutes.” She ended the call and tossed the phone to the couch beside her. “Dammit.”

What in the world did Harry need to discuss with her? The way her week was going, some guy she’d never met had probably put out a sex tape, claiming she was the star. After fake nude photos and a long-lost half sister, what else could it be?

“I’m so sorry,” she murmured, resting her forehead against Josh’s.

“Don’t be. It was about time for me to head out anyway.”

So she was right. He hadn’t been planning to have sex with her tonight. Interesting. Josh was full of surprises. And now she couldn’t help wondering, if he had her boneless with desire without even taking her clothes off, what was he capable of in bed? She pressed her face against his bare chest and inhaled his scent. “I’m pretty busy the next few days, but maybe we could grab coffee in the park again tomorrow?”

He lifted her up and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “It’s a date. And speaking of dates, I’m invited to a cookout with some coworkers this weekend. Want to come?”

At that moment, she’d have gone anywhere with him. “I’d love to.”

After he left, she stood for a long time with her back against the door. She’d been wined and dined by a lot of men, but never anyone like Josh.

She hadn’t dated those first years in New York while she was struggling to make a name for herself. Men hadn’t even blipped on her radar. Then she’d hit the top of the charts, and suddenly, she was the object of everyone’s desires. Charming men, men with money and influence, men who dazzled in the spotlight, and they’d wanted her. They’d take her out and show her off in front of the cameras. Sometimes things continued behind closed doors, but most of the time, it was just for show. After a few weeks, they’d part ways. No hard feelings.

She’d developed a reputation for dating men in the business. But they’d all wanted Katherine Hayes. Her image, her popularity, her fame. Until Josh.

Harry knocked, interrupting her from her thoughts, and the look on his face when she opened the door tightened the vise over her stomach. He had bad news to deliver, no doubt about it. She swallowed hard, resisting the urge to wring her hands as she led the way into the living room. Harry sat across from her on the couch.

“You were with Josh tonight,” he said, watching her closely.

She nodded, as warmth fluttered through her chest.

“He seems to make you happy, and that makes me happy.” Harry cracked a smile. “It’s about damn time you met a man who cares more about you than the spotlight.”

There was more truth in those words than she was ready to admit. “Yeah.”

Harry’s gaze shifted to the window behind her. “I met with your mother this afternoon.”

Her spine snapped straight. “Wait…what?”

“She’s been calling every number she could get her hands on, looking for you, and somehow she got her hands on a lot of prominent numbers. She even called Vince.”

“Holy shit.” Her mom had called the head of her record label? “Why?”

“That’s what I drove up to Connecticut to find out. You two have been estranged for as long as I’ve known you, so I was suspicious of her timing.” Harry gave her a sympathetic look.

He’d gone to Connecticut. He’d been to the house…

Cold sweat slicked her skin.

“She lives in an apartment in New Haven,” Harry said. “Works in a school cafeteria.”

She’d moved. Kate released a shaky breath. Her mom was the school lunch lady now. The irony almost made her laugh.

“According to Doreen, she had no idea who you were until Lori Booth came around a few weeks ago, looking for you.”

“Are you serious?” She’d always assumed her mom kept tabs on her. How had her own mother not recognized her when her face was plastered on every magazine in America?

Harry looked amused. “Quite. And now that she knows her daughter is Katherine Hayes, she’s rather anxious to get in touch. She wants money. Or fame. Maybe both.”

“No,” Kate said softly, looking at her hands. The room fell silent, so quiet, she could hear the traffic eight floors down on Central Park West.

“You no-good little whore. You’re dead to me.”

The last words Doreen had ever spoken to her echoed in her ears.

“I wish it were as simple as that,” Harry said, “but the unfortunate reality is that she’s going to milk this for all it’s worth. Unless we placate her, I’m afraid it won’t be long before she starts selling tales to the tabloids.”

The reality of that sat in Kate’s gut like a bunch of rotten eggs.

“There’s something else,” he said, reaching out to take her hand. “She’s sick, Kate.”

Her head snapped up. “Sick?”

He nodded. “Lung cancer.”

Cancer. Tears welled in her eyes. “Shit.”

“I know, hon.”

She lurched from her seat and walked to the window, staring down at the darkened expanse of Central Park, glowing here and there with streetlights illuminating its paths. “She disowned me when I was seventeen. That was the last time I saw her.” Memories of that night sparked behind her eyelids. Fear. Pain. Blood. She drew in a ragged breath.

“And that’s on her,” Harry said. “I’ve known you long enough to know that you don’t hold baseless grudges. Besides that, you were only a child. So don’t you dare feel guilty about any of this now.”

“Is she dying?” Ice trickled through her veins, numbing the pain.

“I don’t know.”

She stood in silence, absorbing his words.

“What I do know is that she’s stirring up trouble. On top of that, we’ve got a girl claiming to be your half sister, and these photo leaks to the tabloids feel an awful lot like the start of a smear campaign.”

Kate said nothing as he spoke her most private fears aloud.

“Whatever happens, we don’t want Doreen going to the tabloids.”

She nodded. It was time to face her past. “Do it, then. Set up a meeting with her.”

---

Kate stood with her back against an old oak tree on Saturday afternoon, sipping from a cold bottle of Blue Moon as she listened to the two women on the other side of the tree gossip about her.

“She says they’re fake, but did you see them?”

“Just once…a quick peek, by accident.”

“I subscribe to that gossip blog, but anyway, they looked pretty real to me.”

Kate swallowed the retort that rose on her tongue. She’d smother them with sweetness instead. They didn’t call her America’s Sweetheart for nothing.

Before she got the chance, Molly Silva walked over with a smile. “Have you played cornhole before?”

“No.” And she was beginning to wonder what the hell she’d been thinking to accept an invitation to Josh’s friend Gabe’s annual cookout. To hell with this whole plan to keep his face out of the tabloids.

“It’s pretty easy,” Molly said. “We’re playing pairs so you and Josh will play together. You each get four sandbags. If it goes in the hole, it’s worth three points. If it lands anywhere else on the platform, it’s one point. At the end of each round, we tally up the points to see which teams move on. Come on, let’s toss a few practice bags.”

Kate shoved away from the tree. She couldn’t resist a pointed glance toward the two busybodies standing by the fence. Their faces flushed as they realized they’d been overheard. Kate smiled to herself as she followed Molly to the practice target. She selected a bag with periwinkle swirls and orange flowers. “Did you make these?”

“Sure did. Just a bunch of dried lentils inside.”

Kate slung her bag at the platform and watched as it soared over the box to land in the grass beyond.

“Most girls throw short,” Molly commented. She tossed her red-checked bag to slide over the side of the platform, just missing the hole.

Kate swept a lock of hair into her ponytail and resisted the urge to glance at her watch. She now understood exactly how Josh must have felt on their date at Bóheme.

Gabe and Molly lived in a lovely little colonial in Englewood, New Jersey, just over the George Washington Bridge from Manhattan. From what she’d seen of the inside, their home was clean, warm, and inviting. The kitchen was painted a sunny yellow, with white lace curtains and a clock shaped like a chicken over the sink.

The backyard was bursting with people: Josh’s coworkers, their spouses, and a gaggle of kids shrieking as they ran laps around the trees in back. She heard conversations in several different languages, reminding her that this was, after all, a gathering of the foreign language department.

She looked around and spotted Josh on the patio, conversing with another man in Spanish with a beer in his hand. She’d never felt so acutely aware of the fact she held nothing higher than a GED. She had never lived in suburbia, with backyard cookouts and cornhole tournaments, cheerful banter over beers and burgers. She’d gone straight from the trailer park to Malibu, with a few brief stops in between.

She tossed another bag, this one skidding off the side of the target.

A woman named Elaine walked over, applauding loudly. “Wow!”

Kate kept her eyes straight ahead. She knew the type. Elaine would probably spend the afternoon trailing her around like a hyper puppy. The less attention she gave her, the better.

Molly shot Elaine a baleful look and invited Kate to go for a walk. They strolled to the deck together for fresh beers. Molly chattered about last year’s tournament and the showdown that had gone on until one in the morning before a winner was crowned.

Kate smiled. Despite the gossip, weird looks, and awkward silences from some of the other guests, Molly was genuinely sweet and fun to be around.

“It’s good to see Josh looking so happy,” Molly said, placing a hand on Kate’s arm. “You know, after what happened.”

Kate nodded, but she didn’t know, of course. And she had no business wondering what Molly meant. None at all.

With fresh beers in hand, she and Molly walked back to the practice target. They tossed sandbags and chatted as the competition got underway.

Josh came up beside her, leaning in to press a kiss against her cheek. “We’re up next.”

He stooped to toss a bag that went sailing to land beside her first one in the grass behind the target. Molly was right; he did look happy. It was fun to see him with his friends, relaxed, casual, and totally in his element. Her presence had put him under all kinds of scrutiny this afternoon, but it didn’t seem to faze him in the least.

Maybe she could learn from Josh’s “who cares” attitude.

“You guys are screwed,” Molly said brightly. “Gabe and I are going to kick your butts.”

“We’ll see about that.” Josh protested, but Kate suspected she was right.

She and Josh went up against Francine the French teacher and her husband Mike for their first round. Out of her four bags, Kate scored three points, landing one lucky bag in the hole, the rest in the grass. Josh fared worse with two points, hitting two on the platform and none in the hole.

“We kind of suck, don’t we?” he whispered as Molly tallied up the points. His hand rested on her arm, and she leaned into him.

“A little.” She looked up and saw the laughter in his hazel eyes. Her heart flopped in her chest. It was ridiculous, but last night, as she tossed and turned in the wee hours, she’d fantasized about those eyes until she fell asleep.

She and Josh had shared two coffee dates in the park since their dinner at Tosca, but between his schedule and hers, they hadn’t been alone since Harry interrupted them Wednesday night. Tonight was fraught with possibility.

Something of her thoughts must have showed on her face, because Josh’s gaze heated, and his fingers tightened on her arm. She winked, then slipped away to grab another sandbag. Who would’ve thought a cornhole tournament with a bunch of college professors would turn out to be fun? She was glad they squeaked by to round two, however narrow the margin.

---

Josh and Kate munched on chips and drank beer while they got their butts kicked in the tournament. She mingled with the other women while he chatted with Gabe and José. With the exception of Elaine Tooky, who had been following her around awkwardly all day, everyone else seemed fairly unaffected by her celebrity status.

“Dude, she’s not at all what I expected,” Gabe commented.

Josh glanced over and saw Kate chatting with Molly, Francine, and José’s wife, Elizabeth. She was gesturing at something with her beer, laughing as Francine shook her head. She looked the opposite of a superstar today in jeans, a lavender tunic, and matching flip-flops, her hair pulled back in a ponytail.

“I’ll admit, I haven’t been able to picture you dating a fancy celebrity. She just seemed totally not your style,” Gabe said.

“She’s not like that.”

“I see that now. You guys look good together.”

Josh shrugged. The truth was, when he let himself forget her full name and everything it entailed, he liked Kate a hell of a lot. And she’d gone out of her way to keep him out of the tabloids. In fact, she’d really surprised him with her ability to keep things under wraps.

He’d been fighting his attraction to her from the moment they met, held at bay by discomfort over her celebrity and the knowledge that he had nothing emotionally to offer in a relationship. It was a tortured side effect to realize that while he might not be able to offer a woman his heart, his body had needs he had long neglected, needs Kate had reawakened with blazing intensity.

And then she’d offered him absolution. Two weeks. No strings. He still should have walked away. Dating Kate was playing with fire, and yet, he couldn’t get her out of his mind. Despite their missteps, he’d seen glimpses of a Katherine Hayes her fans would never guess: a girl still smarting from the rejection of her father, struggling to make peace with his death, and desperate to keep her pain private from the prying eyes of the press.

He’d enjoyed himself more today than he had in years. Her energy was infectious. When he was with Kate, he laughed more, joked more, looked forward to tomorrow. And he was damn well dying to get her somewhere private and finish what they’d started Wednesday night.

He and Kate were eliminated from the tournament by the third round. They mingled and ate burgers as they watched Gabe and Molly crowned this year’s champions. They stayed until almost midnight, leaving exhausted, stuffed, and mosquito bitten.

“I like your friends,” she said as they got into the car. “Molly’s really sweet.”

“I’m glad. They liked you too. Sorry about Elaine.”

“Eh, it happens. I had fun.” She leaned in to press a kiss against his lips. Lust spread hot and potent through his veins.

“Me too.” He kissed her back, breathing in the scent of earth and fresh air on her skin.

“I have next Saturday off too,” she said. “We should go away together for the day. Maybe Newport? I love the ocean, and I haven’t been there in forever.”

“Yeah, that would be great. I haven’t been there in a while either.”

Even at this hour, New York was a busy creature, glittering beneath the dark sky as they crossed the George Washington bridge. He parked his rented Dodge Caliber and turned to her. “Before I forget, I made something for you.”

Her eyebrows drew together. “You did?”

“A playlist,” he said quickly. “On Spotify. It’s Spanish guitar. You said you liked Latin music, but you didn’t mention flamenco. Give it a listen and see what you think.”

She pulled back to stare at him, and his stomach plummeted. What kind of idiot gave music to a woman like Katherine Hayes? He wanted to beat his head against the steering wheel. And then the strangest thing happened. Her face lit, and she kissed him as if he’d given her a three-carat diamond.