Page 20 of Endeavor

“You’re not wrong. And yes, there have been a fair number of ladies.” I turn my body toward her. “It’s hard, you know? These women throw themselves at me and I’m only human.”

“Did you ever cheat on any of them?”

I laugh sarcastically. “I’d have to be with one long enough to cheat on them and that’s not happened. Well, not often. And when it has, I’ve only been with a single woman for a few months. I guess you can say that I’m relationship-challenged.”

She giggles. “Relationship-challenged. Maybe there’s some sort of Hollywood fix for that.”

“Doubt it.”

“Oh, come on. Your parents had a great marriage. Surely, you know it’s possible to have a good relationship.”

I cringe at her words because she doesn’t know a thing about my parents’ actual relationship. “I guess I know it’s possible, but it’s still difficult. When you travel all the time and you wake up constantly in a new time zone, it’s hard to have a relationship that sticks,” I answer honestly.

“Rhett has a girlfriend,” she points out.

“Jackie? True, but he knew Jackie before he was famous, so she doesn’t count.”

“Oh, I see, there’s a famous rule. Once you get famous, you can’t have a relationship.”

“No, that’s not what I mean. It’s just harder, a lot harder.”

“If you say so, Casanova.”

I grin at her use of the name. “Well, I guess I do say so.”

She gazes into my eyes for a long moment, neither of us says anything. “You’re not how I thought you’d be.”

“How’d you think I was?”

She opens her mouth to speak when the door opens, and out walks Will. Emma jumps up and walks over to him.

“Just two stitches,” he declares, holding up his bandaged hand.

“That was fast. I’m glad you came here,” she says as she looks at his hand. I stand and walk over to them.

“Glad you’re all patched up, man.”

“Thanks for bringing me,” Will says, holding out his good hand to shake mine.

“The car’s just out here.” I motion to them. They follow me out, and I drive us back as Will tells us about his ER adventure. By the time we get back, I realize he’s not a bad guy, he’s just still figuring himself out.

“I should get him home,” she says to me as we reach the house.

I pull out my phone and turn it to her. “Give me your number. I’ll text you. Message me when you get home. I’ll worry otherwise,” I state. She looks at me with curiosity but takes my phone and punches in her number. She then texts herself.

“There, now you have my number. Use it wisely,” she says with a wink as she turns and heads toward the guest room to presumably get her things. I glance down at the phone and grin. She’s entered her name as Emma Baldwin, Badass Documentarian and Monopoly Player. But it’s her text that has me laughing.

Me: This is the number of Grady Daniels, sucky Monopoly player, decent driver, slightly arrogant musician, and a somewhat nice actual human.

Chapter Nine

Emma

I wake up to my phone pinging.

Kate: What? No details? Seriously?

I laugh as I read her text.

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