Page 75 of Secrets in the Deep

“Oh. Thank you.”

“I swear I’ve watched every one of your movies. Some more than once. When I found out you were coming here, I think I almost passed out.” Her smile widened. “How’s shooting going?”

Emily lifted a shoulder. “It’s getting there.”

“Are you coming inside?” Connor asked.

Emily looked to her right. They were outside The Pancake Bar. She hadn’t even noticed. And through the window sat Ryan’s entire team. Ethan sat next to a woman in a pale pink dress. Joel, with Polly from Bloom. Zac was there. Even Ryan’s sister.

They were eating and laughing and they just looked…happy. Relaxed. Like there was nowhere else they needed to be.

A yearning suddenly hit her hard and fast in the belly. To havethat. Friends. Real friends. Who laughed with you because you were funny, not because you were famous. Who smiled with you because they enjoyed your company.

Ryan shook his head. “No, we’re going?—”

“I’d like to join them.”

He frowned. “Are you sure? We have a reservation at the Thai restaurant.”

“Can we cancel?”

“We can do whatever you want.”

“I’d like to join your friends.” She looked back through the window. “I haven’t spent enough time with the people in your life.”

He kissed the back of her hand. “Done.”

“Great!” Connor led them inside.

Emily was introduced to Maggie, Ethan’s partner, before sitting between Nora and Ryan.

Nora grinned at her. “Hey, Hollywood.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “Emily is fine.”

“What about ‘Emily Prior, Queen of Film’?”

Raven leaned across the table. “I was being serious with what I said out there. I fangirled so hard when Connor said he’d met you.”

“I think I choked on my coffee.” Maggie laughed.

“Trust me, my life is exactly like yours. Just a few more people see my work.”

The women laughed, and yeah, they were right. Her life wasnothinglike this. She lived in California and spent her days dodging media and paparazzi and working with people she had nothing in common with. Her Friday nights were not spent in cozy cafés, eating pancakes and sipping coffee with friends.

Ryan’s deep chuckle sounded beside her.

She looked at him. At the curve of his lips. At the way he treated his team like they were family.

I want this. The quiet words whispered in her head. Not after her next movie. Not in a few years’ time.

Now.

“Tell me the truth,” Polly said, tugging Emily’s attention back to the women. “Is Michale Bates as conceited and entitled in real life as I think he is?”

“Worse. He travels with his own entourage.”

The table laughed…and for the next hour, Emily ate and drank with people who made her forget that she’d ever had to perfect a fake smile. Her stomach actually started to hurt at how much she laughed.