Dare to Desire (Dare to Love 2)

“Did anyone even think of just asking me to go along?” he asked through clenched teeth. Because no way in hell would he have said yes.

She wrinkled her nose. “Well, your agent said you were waffling about wanting the job. He figured you just needed a good push and a reminder of all you’ve been missing out on to get your head back into the game. So to speak.”

“He had no right to lie to me.”

“Part of the reason was to make things between

us seem natural. If you knew someone would be shooting cell phone pictures tonight for gossip rags, would you have been as relaxed with me? I was an actress before the news gig.”

“Incredible.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “Did you or my genius agent, or even the network executives, ever hear of the concept of free will?” he asked, rising from his seat. “You can set up all the press and fake publicity you want, but it won’t make it real. You can’t make me want to take this job.”

He’d been counting on the test to see how he felt in front of the camera. He’d needed to hear the concept for the show, to know what kind of commute it’d entail. But nobody had laid out details for him yet. And he’d been taken in by his own agent, someone he ought to be able to trust.

“You can’t say you don’t want it,” Allison said. “Or that you wouldn’t be great doing it.”

“None of that matters when I can’t trust the people around me.” He stormed away from the table, pausing at the front to take care of the bill. Afterwards, he headed back to his hotel, furious and frustrated.

What a bust the entire day had been. And by the time he finally ended up in his hotel room, it was close to midnight, and he couldn’t call Madison because, after the day she’d probably had, she would be fast asleep.

* * *

Madison arrived at work in the morning, her mood down and foul. Not hearing from Alex had her on edge, and it took everything inside her to think positively and not jump to the worst possible conclusions. If this relationship was going to work, she needed to learn how to trust.

She walked into the office and immediately headed for the break room, needing coffee to keep herself running this morning. As soon as she entered the small room, conversation stopped.

Madison glanced at the two women she recognized as secretaries for the PR people. “Hi,” Madison said. “I don’t mean to interrupt. I’m just going to get coffee, and I’ll let you get back to your conversation.”

“Have you seen the sports blogs this morning?” Gail, one of the women, asked Madison.

Madison shook her head. “No. Is there something good in them?” She added milk and one sugar packet to her coffee, stirring as she asked.

“Yes, actually,” the other woman said.

“Madison!” Riley came running into the room, interrupting the conversation. “I’ve been looking all over for you. We need to talk.”

Madison turned to her friend. “Sure. I just want to see what has them so interested,” she said, gesturing to the other women.

Riley shot them a glare Madison didn’t understand. “Later. What I have to say is urgent,” she said, grasping Madison’s hand and pulling her out of the room.

“What’s wrong?” she asked Riley, digging her heels into the carpet, concerned.

“Not here. Come on. Let’s go into your office.” Riley began pulling her once more.

“You’re scaring me,” Madison muttered, letting her friend drag her into the room, where she shut the door and locked it behind them. “Riley—”

“Okay, sit. And listen. There’s something in the morning gossip columns that you need to see. But you need to let me show you, and you need to not jump to conclusions, no matter how bad things look.”

Her stomach flipped over, and she lowered herself into her chair. “He hasn’t been in touch.”

“What?” Riley pulled a chair close to her and sat down.

“Alex. That’s what you want to show me, right? There’s something about him in the blogs? It makes sense. Because since he left, I haven’t heard from him. Not once.”

Riley clasped their hands together, but Madison was numb inside and out and barely felt her friend’s touch. “There is an explanation. I’m sure.”

“Just show me. Is it in Behind the Bleachers with Ben?” Madison asked of the infamous website.

Riley nodded.