Escorting the Actress (The Escort Collection 2)

Or two.

Gigi was staying out in the room with us too, doing nothing to earn her commission except flicking her hair and smiling. Tori and Shirley sat in the kitchen, drinking coffee and vigilantly checking every website known to man for signs of trouble. They were also researching Caribbean resorts for our honeymoon, but fearing reprisal, they'd made me promise not to tell Lo.

Finally the lighting was arranged, the sound check was done, and it was time.

"So," Jose said, smiling and sitting on the couch across from us. He was a reporter for the Entertainment network, and he'd always seemed like a nice guy, always polite and smiling, no nasty questions. "I landed the exclusive interview of the year. Thank you. I thought that bitch from XYZ was gonna get it."

"She wasn't an option," Lowell said, smiling at him. "We wanted to save the good stuff for someone we liked. By the way, love the jacket."

Jose beamed at her, and she beamed back. The girl had been studying me. And she was pretty good.

"We're ready when you are, Jose." I twined my fingers through Lowell's and took a deep breath.

"Three, two, one," the camera man said.

"I'm here with Lowell Barton and her fiancé, Kyle Richards. Kyle, up until yesterday, I thought your last name was Jordan. Can you catch me up with what's been going on?" Jose asked.

I put on my best smile, making sure my dimples were on full display. I was going to need them. "Well, Jose, it all started eight years ago…"

Lowell

Jose blinked at us. "So you're her stepbrother?"

"That's right. Well, I was her stepbrother. For a few years."

"And eight years later, you were her escort? Do I have that right?"

"That's right. Lowell hired me after that incident with the police. For damage control," Kyle said.

I gritted my teeth. It had been my idea to tell the truth, but it was still an ugly truth. I noticed that Lucas's PR woman had gone from looking grim and tapping into her phone to watching raptly with her mouth wide open.

"And then you two… fell in love?" Jose asked.

"Correct."

"And got engaged?" He sounded incredulous.

"That is also correct," Kyle said.

"And it's real?" Jose leaned forward on the couch, his hands clasped together. "You can tell me the truth, you know. America wants to know."

"It's real." Kyle smiled at him and pulled me close. "Are you married, Jose?"

Jose nodded.

Kyle gave him a long look. "So when you proposed, you knew it was real, right? Like you had to marry your wife? That you had to make it official and show the world that she was yours?"

Jose smiled and nodded again. "It's been six years, but yeah, I remember. That's how it felt."

I rubbed Kyle's back. What he'd said gave me the chills. It was exactly how I felt.

"For us," I said, jumping in, "it should have been a difficult decision. In some ways, it was. I had some feelings for him in the beginning, but I didn't act on them. There were just so many obstacles."

Kyle tucked my hair behind my ear, and I squeezed him again.

"But then I realized that the only obstacles were the things I let stand in my way. I was worried about my career, about our parents… and I still worry about them," I said. "But I wanted to do the right thing for me. Because you only get one life, right? And when you finally meet the person you want to spend that one life with, you have to be brave and go for it."

"Wow," Jose said. "Kyle, you're a lucky guy."