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Drugs, Lies & Secret Rehab for Loomis Powell. Inside His Personal Crisis.

I practically scoff aloud when I read it. There’s another beside it that’s not much better.

Loomis Powell Homewrecker! His Secret Lover Exposed and Where They’ve Been Hiding.

I feel bad for him. Obviously I don’t know the story, but I can’t imagine what it’s like to have lies blasted about you all over magazines and the internet. Or the fact that he has a kid he’s trying to keep a secret. No wonder he goes out in disguise.

“I heard he’s been in seclusion because his face got cut up during some kind of accident on his last film with Tinsley Monroe. It’s mentioned here in this one. It says he was doing drugs and fell on set, and now his addiction is out of control from the pain medication they gave him for it.”

Now I do snort a laugh but cover it as a cough when they glare at me. I roll my eyes at them when they turn back to their gossiping. I saw him last night, and his face was fine. I mean, it wasn’t his, but there were no scars, and Loomis doesn’t do drugs. Tinsley wouldn’t be friends with someone who did, and neither would my cousin, Stone, and I know the two of them have gotten close now that he’s Tinsley’s husband.

Girl One picks up the magazine and starts thumbing through it until she reaches the page she wants, while the elderly woman whose turn it is takes forever unloading her cart item by item, refusing the help of the bagger and using a dozen paper coupons I didn’t know they still printed, and why didn’t I go to the drugstore instead of here? I should have known. This place is always a shit show.

“Here.” She taps the glossy page. “It says it right here. No one has seen him since he finished shooting his film in London, and even during that time, he was only seen on set and was staying in an undisclosed residence. There’s speculation that he’s pulling out of films, too.”

“So maybe it is rehab,” Girl Two states. “Isn’t that where all celebrities are when they go into hiding?”

“Or maybe he’s hiding out with a secret lover.” Girl One’s eyebrows bounce suggestively, running her manicured nail over the cover of the second tabloid, right over Loomis’s face. Shepicks it up along with the other one as they finally head up to the food belt to put their salads on it as they continue to speculate and flip through the tabloids.

“Do you think he’s screwing around with Tinsley? They’re attached at the hip.”

“Nah. She and Stone are solid. Besides, he better not be having an affair with anyone who isn’t me,” Girl Two teases, and both women fall into a fit of giggles. “Seriously, though. I bet he’s doing all this to stir up drama. I mean, his face is everywhere right now, and he’s been in a million movies over the last few years. It’s likely all a PR stunt.”

“Probably,” Girl One agrees. “But could you imagine if any of this is true? Isn’t he supposed to start filming here in Boston soon?”

They continue to prattle on, and I pull out my phone to text Tinsley—not Loomis—to tell her about the local grocery store gossip when someone shifts in behind me a little too close. So close I can feel their coat rub against mine and their hot breath by my ear.

I start to move away, ready to turn and glare that they’re not following the universal bubble space code of conduct, when they whisper in my ear, “And here I thought Boston was a safer place for a chap to hide out than London or LA when the famous Fritzes rule the town.”

I gasp only to cover the sound with my hand as I spin around to find him once again in disguise. Today he’s wearing a black beanie with long brown hair that touches his shoulders. His eyes, glasses, and nose are the same as last night, only now his face looks… rounder, and he has a beard with it. I’d never have recognized him.

He smirks. “You look familiar. Aren’t you my new girlfriend?”

I roll my eyes at him. “I believe I broke up with you last night. You were already getting clingy, and since you stalked me here, I’m positive I made the right call. But I’m flattered our brief relationship meant so much to you.”

“You wound me, Keegan. Brutally. You told me you were going to the supermarket last night. Therefore, not a stalker. Truly though, what are the odds of running into you two days in a row?”

“Evidently better than you’d think for a city.”

My gaze drops, and I notice the stroller he’s gently rocking, Fen all bundled up and fast asleep with a blanket covering him from the chest down. And what is it about a gorgeous man taking care of a child? I see it all the time in the hospital with the new dads weeping and holding their tiny babies, and I swear, it’s the ultimate ovary explosion almost every day.

But this tatted, sinfully hot man who gives off the bad boy vibe while actually being so incredibly sweet and kind is just lethal.

“My secret lover exposed, and I’m a homewrecker?” Loomis chuckles, his gaze on the tabloid headline. His eyes crinkle at the edges when he says, “I think they’re on to us.”

“Clearly,” I quip, matching his tone. “You’re what tore me and Alden apart, and now we’re hiding out. Possibly at rehab given the number of pills I have in my possession at the moment.”

“Tragic, really. Here I was hoping to keep our love affair a secret.” He leans in conspiratorially. “You won’t tell anyone I have an addiction to ibuprofen, will you?”

“Depends on what’s in it for me. I’m all about flashy tabloids and getting my face in the news.”

“I’m positive I can think of something to entice you,” he replies, his voice dropping seductively and making the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stand at attention. His smile iswarm and inviting, but beneath his playful eyes and teasing lilt, there’s an undercurrent of something else.

“Next,” the clerk calls out, and I spin back around a little too fast, far too flustered, and drop one of the pill bottles. I bend to grab it, but Loomis is there before I am. Our fingers brush, and that undercurrent now comes with a spark that makes my heart skip a beat.

“Allow me.”

“Thank you.” I release a silent breath and clear my throat and… whatever that all was… away.