Escorting the Actress (The Escort Collection 2)

"That's not surprising." I swirled the wine around in my glass. "After all, you never admitted that you bashed in my face with that textbook." I laughed until I saw her face, which looked both ashamed and livid.

"You just had to bring that up, didn't you?" She sat up straighter and took what looked like an aggressive sip of her wine. "I knew it wouldn't be long. But you know the truth—you deserved it. You actually deserved a lot worse. For a lot of things. You were lucky that I had proper Southern manners. And that I was a chicken shit most of the time."

I bit my tongue. I wanted to argue with her. I wanted to make her feel bad about almost breaking my nose all those years ago. But the thing was, she'd been right to do it. The things I'd said to her that day came back to me in a rush.

"I'm sorry I brought that book up," I said stiffly.

She looked at me for a bit, and I saw her anger bubbling just below the surface. I wasn't sure if it was just because she was around me, but she seemed angry sort of a lot.

I blew out a deep breath and decided it was time to be a big boy. "But I'm more sorry that I was that mean to you in the first place. I was pretty awful back then."

Lowell's hand wobbled her drink a little, almost spilling it, as if I'd knocked her off balance. "You were pretty mean." She was quiet for a second, seeming to think it through. But when she looked back at me, the anger was gone from her face. "But all kids are—they're cruel. Teenagers are even worse."

"I know. But I shouldn't have teased you about being from Texas. Or that training bra."

She laughed then clapped a hand over her mouth. "I can't believe you remember that. And by the way—it was not a training bra."

"That's what you said." I felt the anxiety drain out of me. "But I still want to say I'm sorry. You were, like, eleven."

"Thank you for the apology." She was quiet for a second, taking another hefty gulp of wine. Then she laughed again. "You got what you deserved anyway. Bang bang." She giggled.

I had to laugh too. I remember feeling stunned that she'd whacked me like that. Then we were just sitting there, shaking in a fit of giggles and trying not to spill our wine.

Finally Lo wiped the tears off her face and calmed down. "I did not expect to ever have this conversation with you, especially under these circumstances."

"I hear that," I said.

We were both lost in our thoughts for a little while after that.

"So you were saying," I said. "About the paparazzi."

She nodded. "They loved you. My agent and my so-called PR team loves you. So you're in."

I beamed at her. "I guess you're stuck with me. I am a b

it of a keeper, you know."

"We'll see." She put her half-full glass of wine on the table and stood. "I gotta go to bed. Early shoot tomorrow. Unless Lucas fires me before we start."

"Want me to come with you?" I asked.

She raised her eyebrows and backed away. "Um... no."

I laughed. "I meant to the set tomorrow, not to your room right now. Unless that's an option. That is what you're paying me for, after all."

Lo's face flamed. "No to tonight. As in no way, no how, no sir. You can come with me tomorrow if you want, but you'll just be sitting in my trailer all day. If I'm lucky enough to still have my job."

"Sounds good. It'll be just another opportunity to express my undying devotion for my sexy, talented, remorseful girlfriend."

She nodded, the blush still hot on her cheeks. "Okay. You're good at this, you know that, Kyle? You might wanna think about a major in marketing when you finally go back to school. I think you have a real future in PR."

"Thanks for your vote of confidence," I said, feeling simultaneously flattered and patronized.

"Anytime." She smiled at me uncomfortably. "G'night, Kyle. Thanks for saving my ass." I smiled, but she frowned at me. "Not grabbing it. Saving it."

"You know you liked it," I called after her as she backed toward her room. "At least more than you thought you would."

* * *