Page 7 of MOM

I crack a grin. A genuine one this time.

"It's a beautiful evening, so I suggested we take a walk by the beach. You said, sure, on one condition. I said, what's that? You said, when we get back to my place, we do the thing. I played dumb, the thing? You smiled and said, you know, my favorite thing in the world apart from bodybuilding. I go, oh, right…crocheting."

My breath catches. "How do you know about that?"

He tips his chin up, his striking blue eyes gleaming. "I'm very thorough with my research."

I have no idea how he uncovered that since it's most definitely not publicly available information, but for some reason, it doesn't creep me out. If anything, it makes me like him even more. He's thorough and capable, and maybe with his help, I really will be able to get through my most serious PR disaster.

That's perfect," he says, running those eyes up and down me. "You're relaxed already. Stay in that zone, and take my hand."

I've been waiting to hear him say that.

I engulf his hand in mine. It fits squarely in my palm. Clasping my fingers around his, I start walking like I'm on cloud freaking nine.

We get to the end of the living room.

"Did you feel that?" he asks. "Better, right?"

"Yeah." I make a low rumbling sound to clear my rushing heartbeat from my ears. "Better."

4

Decker

It's D-Day.

Rocky and Zane are making their official public debut. Unannounced, of course, because that would be too obvious. And not in LA, since that would raise suspicions about why they'd never been seen together before.

We're a two-hour drive away in Ojai, a mellow valley town with day spas and gorgeous pink sunsets. The perfect backdrop to launch their relationship.

Unfortunately, only one of them is with me.

"Zane hasn't arrived yet?" Rocky asks as I step in from taking a call on the balcony.

"Rockslide," I mutter.

I've known Zane for a few years, and as much as I love him, he's not great at the wholedoing things on timething. That's why I got him a driver and made sure he got picked up well in advance to beat peak hour traffic.

I hadn't counted on mother nature being against me, though.

"Is he okay?" Rocky asks.

"Yeah. He's fine. But with the road closures, the best thing was for them to turn back."

Rocky glances around his suite. "Oh."

The original plan had been to make it seem like he and Zane were spending a few days together here following the d-slip scandal. They'd have dinner. Walk the streets. Get treatments. Plenty of opportunities to get spotted and snapped.

Returning to the same hotel would make it abundantly clear they were indeed a couple.

I booked two separate suites, one for Rocky and one for me and Zane with two rooms so he and I could hang out in betweenhis fake boyfriendery duties. Guess that won't be happening now.

"What should we do?"

"There's not much we can do," I reply. "The road is closed both ways, so it looks like you and I are spending the night here."

If Rocky is disappointed, the smile he's flashing sure does a good job of disguising it.