Page 5 of Secrets in the Deep

“Because I want you to know.”

Did he not see that it hurt her to hear his voice? It hurt just to look at him. Because all she could see was everything she’d lost. “I’m going to walk into my trailer, and I don’t want you to followme. I don’t want you to watch me go. I just want you to turn around and leave me alone.”

Something deep inside her called out the lie. Only the last part. Itdidhurt to have him so close. But there was also this other part of her, a part she wasn’t quite ready to acknowledge, that felt like a little piece of her old self was returned to her when he was close.

But she couldn’t afford to listen to that. She was here for a job. She had a life outside of Montana. One she’d built without him. A life he’dforcedher to build without him.

“Emi—”

“Don’t.” Her voice was so quiet she wasn’t sure it crossed the distance.

The nickname hurt. It all hurt. Him. This moment. Them.

And she wanted away from all of it. Far, far away.

2

The pain in Emily’s eyes twisted something sharp in Ryan’s chest.

Hewas the reason she was in pain. Him. What he’d done.

“Em—” He stopped. Corrected himself. “Emily.” The name felt wrong on his tongue. She wasn’t Emily to him. She’d never been Emily. For the entire five months they’d dated, she’d always been Emi. “We’re going to have to live in the same town while you film this movie. I’m going to be on set?—”

“You can keep your distance.”

Could she? He wasn’t surehecould. Even now he felt like his entire body was leaning toward her, with no permission from him.

“Please.” He stepped closer. “We can’t just talk?”

Her palm suddenly pressed to his chest, rooting him to the spot. And that familiar warmth, that touch…fuck, it made his heart stutter like it suddenly remembered her.

“Everything okay?”

Ryan looked up to see a guy stepping out of a nearby trailer. He was tall. Not as tall as Ryan, maybe six one. There was a faintsheen to his blond hair, like it was full of hairspray or gel, and his cheeks were too pink. Blush, maybe.

Ryan knew this guy. Not because they’d met. He’d seen him in movies and in the media.

The guy looked at Emily’s hand on his chest, then at Ryan. “There a problem here?”

“No, Preston, there isn’t.” Emily’s hand dropped.

But shit, he still felt it there. The imprint. The warmth.

She ran her hand down her thigh, like she was trying to relieve pain in her leg. “I’m going to my trailer.” She shot him one more glare. A silentdo not follow me.

Ryan watched her walk away, noticing the familiar sway of her hips. The way her waist-length blonde hair flowed down her back like honey.

It wasn’t until she’d reached the top of the trailer steps and opened the door that she cast a glance over her shoulder at him.

Her lips parted, her hazel eyes darkening.

Yeah, Emi, I’m still looking.

Then she was gone. Inside the trailer and out of view.

“I think you forgot to tell me who the fuck you are.”

Ryan looked back at the guy. Damn, even the wind didn’t move his hair. Not a thread. “Didn’t forget. You didn’t ask.”