Back To You - A Second Chance Romance

“What the fuck do you mean toxic? And single playboy?” I wasn’t going to let that ruin my chances with Kate. I had to handle this the right way. If I did that, I knew things would work out. “I’m not ending things with her.”

Carter gave a sound of frustration. “Listen to reason, would you? Your fans don’t want to hear about you being in a relationship. They want you to be single and flirting with models and starlets, not shacking up in the Amazon with some nobody consultant who didn’t have anything nice to say about them.”

What? I was so taken aback, it took me a minute to process what he was suggesting. Had Kate said something unflattering about my costars or the crew? I started to second-guess what had happened. Apparently, everyone was freaking out, and I’d been too busy to ask her what she talked about. She had been so upset about the fact that she hadn’t gotten time to talk about the department, so what had she been talking about?

She was no doubt taken by Arthur’s charms. He had a way of making himself seem so personable at times, just like he had with Tess. And that’s when he did the most damage.

“I don’t care what everyone wants.” I wasn’t in the mood to even think about the popular opinion.

“Look, don’t waste your time with that woman. Ben is going to handle everything.”

“Handle? I’ve had enough of other people handling my life. You’re fired.” I hung up the phone as he shouted for me to wait, and when I turned and stormed off toward my house, Austin ran up behind me.

“Hold up. You just fired your publicist?”

“Yes. No one is going to tell me how to handle my relationship with Kate. It’s my life.” I kept going, and he followed, trying hard to keep up.

“What the hell happened?”

“Arthur fucking Scott, that’s what!” I was going to kill that sweater-vest-wearing jerk.

Austin’s eyes widened. “Oh, no. The shit’s about to hit the fan.”

“No, it’s already hit the fan. I have to find out what she told him. I need to get my hands on that article.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Kate

When I arrived on set, I had the strangest feeling that everyone was shooting me daggers. And it wasn’t in a what’s she still doing here kind of way, but almost as if I’d insulted their mothers or stolen their lunch from the community fridge.

I didn’t let it bother me. Instead, I went on about my business and headed into the building to the round-table room. On the way in, I found Tess standing in the hallway alone, sobbing.

“Tess?” I walked over to console her, but she rolled her eyes and took a step back from me like I was contagious. Then she pushed a magazine at me. “I got one lousy mention. ‘The female lead goes to capable actress, Tess Sinclair.’”

“Are you talking about the Arthur Scott interview?”

She looked at me as if I had some nerve. “Are you serious?”

Ben stormed past us both on his way out of the building with his phone to his ear, and Tess folded her arms and glared down her nose at me. “Didn’t you even read it? Do you know what kind of problems you’ve caused?”

“Problems? Me?” I didn’t understand. I thought back to the interview and how everything had gone okay. “Why is it my fault?” I glanced down at the page when Tess poked her finger at it, and when I saw the featured photo, I wanted to crawl under a rock and die.

There, as big as life and for all to see, was Jake and me kissing passionately against a tree next to a passion-fruit vine. The headline above it read: Jake Storm’s Adventures in the Amazon.

“Where did they get this photo?” I asked, feeling the blood rush from my face as my hands tingled. I read on, and the article didn’t even bother to feature the movie. Instead, the article was solely about Jake and me and our torrid behind the scenes love affair.

I had never felt so violated. “What gives them the right?” I mumbled as I read more. The entire movie was an afterthought, and Arthur Scott must have asked everyone on the crew about us because he’d pieced together enough for it to be salacious.

“I’m so sorry, Tess. I didn’t say a word about Jake and me. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. I’ve known him my whole life, and well, we just rekindled things a bit.”

“A bit? Are you serious?” Tess wiped her eyes, and I could see the anger in them. “I mean, I knew you were talking a lot and that you had to be spending your time somewhere, but you never even mentioned that you and Jake had a past!”