His Southern Sweetheart

With nothing left to say, Brittany ran through the couple’s embrace and headed back inside. “Was it something I said, Brittany?” Amelia called out with a cackle. She turned back to face Nate, expecting to see his smile. She got anything but, including a cold chill. “Nate?”

“So you were never fired?”

Uh-oh. She gulped down a swallow of panic. “No.”

“I’ve been busting my ass trying to get you to fall in love with Southwood and you had no plans on staying.”

Amelia reached for his hand but he stepped to the side. “Nate.”

“And the only reason you’re here with me this weekend is because you couldn’t stand being at home?”

“Nate,” Amelia began. She’d just made her decision to stay in Southwood and now her plans threatened to crumble. “Nate, I wanted to tell you the truth.”

“You just couldn’t find the time? You’ve been taking this time off to work on your pitches for more shows. You got my niece involved in them.”

“Nate,” Amelia said again, trying to reach for him. “I was going to tell you.”

“Save it, Amelia,” said Nate. “I need to get out of here.”

“Fine, let’s go. Let’s go sit at the bench on the pier and talk.”

Nate shook his head. “Nah, I’m good. I need to be alone.”

His icy glare tore through her. Tears threatened her eyes. Amelia stood on the balcony and watched the love of her life disappear into the crowd. Heartbroken, Amelia kicked out of her shoes and took off for the beach.

* * *

Nate hated the spotlight on him. Because of the awards, Nate had to get up in front of hundreds of people at the Crystal Coquí Ball and present one to a boutique owner in Villa San Juan. His family might have discovered the island, but it was the people who made it up and kept it going. After giving the award, Nate avoided the questions from his family members. Everyone wanted to know what had happened to Amelia.

“If you and I have any sort of friendship left, you’ll help me escape.”

Nate glanced down beside him as he stood at the bar. Natalia’s frantic eyes widened. “What’s going on?”

“I am trying to hide from that man over there.” Natalia nodded her head in the direction of a man holding court with some other camera crew people. “He works for MET and he’s one of the producers for my show.”

Anger seethed through Nate’s veins. So had Amelia been using him as well, for this trip, to come here and get whatever reality show news she could get? How stupid of him for trusting her and believing in her. “Did Amelia call him in?”

“Amelia?” Natalia repeated with confusion in her voice. “No, she’s been keeping quiet about me being here. She’s allowed me to have a normal weekend for once. Can you help me out?”

“Wait, what?”

Natalia cast a nervous glance over her shoulder. “I ran into Amelia earlier.”

“You don’t think she called her friends?” Nate snorted.

“Friends? William has it in for Amelia. They’re after the same seat at MET Studios,” Natalia said. “Or at least they were.” She playfully tugged at the lapels of his jacket. “So congratulations are in order? I hear she has walked away from it all. I guess deep down inside she couldn’t escape her Southern roots.”

“What?”

A commotion sounded off from the paparazzi on the other side of the room. Natalia nudged Nate’s arm. “I’ll tell you all about it if you can get me and my friend out of here. You know where all the hidden doors and rooms are in Torres Towers.”

Eager to find out what Natalia was talking about, Nate led Natalia and her mystery man out of the ballroom through the old servants’ hallway. Along the way she gave him an earful and he realized more than ever he needed to find Amelia, and fast. He’d made a huge mistake. But when he returned to the room she was gone—a sad dose of reality he was going to have to face.

Chapter 13

Amelia knew karma was biting her in the tail the minute Cay snapped the second button of her overalls. It had been a full week since she’d last seen Nate. She never realized she could miss someone so much.

“Oh, come now,” Cay teased, “don’t look as if the last nail was hammered into your coffin.”