Page 46 of Sidelined By Love

“Zoe,” I interrupt.

He nods, tracing the line around his mouth with his thumb and forefinger. “Zoe, I like you. I’m a fan of your work, and I’ve heard mostly positive things about you from other directors.”

Hope bubbles in my chest.

“Which is why your current . . . reality really surprised me. Some of my producers don’t want me to even consider you. Too much drama, they say.”

The bubbles pop just as quickly as they arrived.

“I understand their concern.” Pressing my lips together for a long beat, I try to find the right words. “I didn’t anticipate landing on the cover of the tabloids during my last project. I made a naïve mistake, and I’ve certainly learned a lot from that experience. I promise you, it won’t happen again.”

“So what do you have to say about today’s headline?”

My stomach plummets to somewhere near the earth’s core, and even though Knight’s lips keep moving, all I can hear is the thunder of my pulse. Head spinning, I try to make sense of his words, but I can’t.

Today’s headline? Like a new one? Like not about Joe and Marissa and that confrontation at the restaurant in South Africa?

It takes every bit of my training and experience to hold it together, to play the role of the calm, cool, and collected woman. One unphased by whatever is going on.

Even though I have no idea what that is.

When Knight pauses, I offer a light chuckle and wave it off. “Oh, today’s? Which one do you mean?”

Bronco can clearly sense the stress in my voice, his body shifting against my feet, his nose nudging my knees. A pat on the head doesn’t do much to calm him down, so I try to ignore him.

Meanwhile, Knight doesn’t really respond to my lame joke. “There’s more than one new story about you today?” He pauses, his narrow mouth dipping into a serious frown as his dark brown eyes squint at his camera. “I mean the pictures of you all over Grant Reddington.”

My heartbeat triples, and I press my hand to my chest like that’s going to help it keep from racing out of my chest.

Of course it’s not. But a girl can try.

I have todosomething. Because this is the worst. Grant’s been nothing but a friend to me—a friend who doesn’t want tokiss me. But still. He’s never asked me about Joe or tried to dig for more info on why I was basically kicked out of Hollywood. He’s taught me how to throw a football. I’m not great, but that’s not because of his teaching.

And he was only being kind to me on the Incline.

Honestly, those guys who were following me and Kenna gave me the creeps. And even though I said I could make it back to the parking lot on my own—well, I’m so glad I didn’t have to.

Grant was just taking care of me the same way he takes care of Kenna.

I’m basically like a niece. Or a cousin. Or another distant family member with zero kissing privileges. Clearly that’s why he ended our could-have-been first kiss.

And this is absolutely not the time to be rationalizing why he pulled away. Or wishing he hadn’t.

Forcing myself to feel nonchalant—not just trying to appear like I feel it—I smile at Knight. “Oh, that? Grant and I are old friends. We’ve known each other for years. He plays for my dad’s team, you know.”

“So, he’s not ‘the rebound guy’?” He suddenly holds up his hands. “Their headline, not mine.”

I laugh that off too, tucking the phrase away to ponder later. Grant couldn’t be anyone’srebound guy. “He really just came to my rescue. I’m staying in Colorado with my Nan right now, and we happened to be hiking at the same place. I didn’t wear the right shoes—silly of me, I know—and when my shoe broke, Grant helped me get back to my car. It was all very innocent.”

I want to tell him that the tabloids are just looking for another story about me. Making up scenarios about me serves them a whole lot better than the truth. But that’s the problem, isn’t it?

If Knight hires me, that will definitely become his problem, too.

Scrambling for some way to smooth it all over, I offer a lame, “We’ll get it cleared up. It’s nothing to worry about.”

He nods slowly but doesn’t quite smile. The corners of his mouth tighten, which tugs them up, but there’s no joy in his face.

“Between you and me, Grant has been helping me prepare for this role.” I immediately want to pull those words back in, but it’s too late.

---