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“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“What do you think of him?”
He’s broody, and serious, and bossy, and kind, and sweet, and funny.
“Meh.” The shrug I gave to accompany my answer made my shoulders feel stiff.
“Really?”
My instructions were crystal clear. Be his friend. Be his ally. He’s probably convinced himself he’s in love with you. Make him believe Grayson means nothing to you. Then hopefully, by extrapolation, he’ll think that he does. Okay. Here we go.
“Yeah, of course. I mean, he’s a very powerful man who’s great at what he does. But who wouldn’t be, with all that money?”
“Hmm.”
What was that supposed to mean? Was I going too hard? I glanced at Daniel, looking for reassurance. At his nod, I pushed on. “It’s not like he’s dragged himself up from the dust, is it? Not like other people.”
“Other people…like me?” For fuck’s sake, he sounded like a desperate, needy child.
“Yes, Ethan. Exactly like you.” I hated this. Fuckinghatedit. “Pulling yourself up with your own grit, you know? I can’t imagine how hard that must have been.”
“It was.”
“Exactly.”
He cleared his throat. “So, I…uh…I thought…”
“What did you think? You can tell me.”
“I thought there was really something between you two. That photo, at the fundraiser…”
“Nah, just good acting. There’s nothing between us.” I broke out in a cold sweat at the lie, feeling like I couldn’t catch my breath.
“So you feel nothing for him?”
“That’s right. I feel nothing for him.”Go on, say it.I dragged in a deep breath and squeezed my eyes tight. “I just wanted a recording contract and, you know, I’ll do anything to make my dreams come true.” I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood.
Ethan gave a low chuckle. “Well, it worked.”
I forced myself to laugh back. “Did it ever!”
There was silence on the other end of the line, making me pull the phone away from my ear to see if it had gone dead.
Then, ever so softly, “Can I tell you something?”
Hastily putting the phone back to my ear, I said, “Of course.”
“I…I think…I think I might be in love with you.”
“You think, or you know?” I was going to vomit.
“I know. I’m in love with you. I love you. Tell me you love me too. Just say it.”
That was a bridge too far. I just did not have the strength for that. But I knew I had to say something. “I have trust issues, so I don’t love easily. But I do have feelings for you.”Fuckingblerch.“And I honestly think, if we got to know each other well, I could fall in love with you.”
Deep breathing echoed down the line. So disgusting. “I can live with that. I need to tell you something else.”