Page 14 of The Big Scoop

My shout echoed through the trees and hung in the air like something deadly. Harrison just stared at me and I stared right back at him. We stood there, staring at each other for what felt like a lifetime before he spoke.

“What is it, Gwen?” he asked slowly. “What happened back at the house? Why are you trying so hard to get away from me?”

“Why are you tearing down the Pines!?” I shouted back.

Harrison gave me an odd look and cocked his head to the side like I’d just said something he didn’t understand.

“Yeah, see…what do you mean by that?” he asked. “I heard you mention something about this place earlier, which is why I thought you might be here, but I—”

“Oh, don’t pretend like you don’t understand!” I snapped, slapping him hard on the chest. “You and that son of a bitch, Tony Russell! You’re going to tear this place down and ruin it!”

“Gwen,” Harrison said slowly. “Honestly, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, you don’t?”

“I bought up space for my new factory out on Caravan Road where the old drive-in was. I don’t own this.”

He’s lying!

“Bullshit,” I replied.

“Not bullshit,” he countered. “I’d tell you if I did, but I don’t. If that’s the story you were planning on running on me, well then I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but there’s no story.”

“You’re just saying that…”

“Gwen, you have read many things about me, I’m sure,” he sa

id. “That I’m a playboy, a ladies’ man, a genius, a ruthless business man—but have you ever heard anyone accuse me of being a liar or a cheat?”

I felt the ball of anger inside me beginning to dissipate. Could it be true? Were the rumors Jeff had heard not true?

“No,” I admitted.

“Thank you,” Harrison said with a sigh. “Now, who’d you hear this from?”

“My editor told me.”

“And who told him?” he asked.

“I—he didn’t say,” I admitted. “He said it was a rumor.”

Harrison smiled and chuckled to himself. “A rumor started by this Tony Russell guy no doubt to get you off his ass. That sound about right?”

Shit…

Harrison was right. How could I have been so stupid? I’d been after Tony for so long that when he saw Harrison move into town, he knew he could paint him as the villain and get my attention off him. So he started the rumor, it reached Jeff, and Jeff put me on the story.

“Yeah,” I admitted. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

I hung my head in shame. I felt like an even bigger failure now than I already had. I’d let Harrison throw me completely off my game—so much so that not only had I let myself get involved with him, but I’d missed the real story because I was too busy wrapped up wallowing in my own anger and self-pity.

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Harrison said as he stepped close to me and put his hands on my waist. His touch was warm and I didn’t pull away. “We all get taken sometimes. But what matters is we keep fighting.”

“Yeah…” was all I could manage to say.

“Like you, for instance,” he said, bending down so his face was close to mine. “I could have given up today when you ran out of my house…but I didn’t.”

A heat swept through my body. Every nerve in my body suddenly cried out as an undeniable desire took over.

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