Yet he had no idea who she was which meant he’d never once really seen her—she’d been in the same room as him and she’d been invisible. Her heart raced as she murmured, “So you say now.”
“Red or white?” She craned her neck and saw that he was in a wine cellar.
A few sips for courage. She sucked in her lips and decided tostart with small truths as she said, “White. A pinot grigio is my favorite.”
He snapped his fingers. “That’s the stuff I should know about my girlfriend.”
He sauntered back in his designer jeans, blue Henley shirt that matched his eyes, and his hair growing out for his new role and her heart and body melted. Matthew was here, pretending to be a rock star, and sexier than any movieor TV screen she’d seen him on.
Tonight was different than all those times in his sister’s house—she’d taken a courageous first step to find him and tell him the truth about her feelings. For months she’d seen his kindness with his nephew and realized he’d be a great parent, because he listened to the boy and guided without raising his voice. In fact, she never once saw him upset aboutanything.
The day she’d heard how some ex-girlfriend had broken up with him via text message, she’d softened while he’d be on the patio enjoying his breakfast.
She’d made him coffee and hoped it helped—wanting to tell him that a serious relationship deserved an in-person, adult conversation. Instead, she’d watched him sip his coffee. Now she sighed, glanced away as he handed hera glass he’d poured, and ignored the heat in her veins. “There is something bigger.”
He brushed against her hand, and a wave of goosebumps grew. She looked up at him as he said, “Okay, let’s sit and you tell me.”
Her sudden plan to talk to him and figure out what was next in her life would come to an end. And then she’d settle into figuring out how to do interior design that shestudied and never used, seriously, and not just pine for love. She took a sip and wished she could freeze this second and never tell him.
She followed him and sat on one of four couches. She trembled and drank, then stared down into the white liquid. “This might be a deal-breaker, but I won’t hold it against you. I’ll take my suitcase and get a car if it’s too much to handle.”
Hepatted her knee. “And where would you go? It’s night now.”
Hotels never closed. The pang in her heart couldn’t be helped as she glanced up and said, “Doesn’t matter. I need to tell you thewholetruth.”
He held his barely touched glass between his legs and squared his shoulders. “What’s going on?”
Thunder and lightning wasn’t good enough of a description for the storm in herchest. She sucked on her lips and ignored the tingles she now had as she squeezed her eyes shut. It was time to tell him. “I wasn’t completely honest about how I know Jennifer and your family. Well, I was, but I was holding back, which is dishonest. You should know.”
He gulped the white wine and then put his glass on the small table beside him. “Yeah, that makes me pause. So what’s goingon, Ashley?”
Now or never. She refused to look at him as she told him everything. “I… I was the surrogate for Peter and Belle’s baby. Jennifer offered to pay off my student loan debt if I took a nine-month temporary job and had a baby for her. She said it wasn’t her egg, and I accepted the cash.”
“You had…” His voice trailed off and she dared to look up at him. She’d expected furybut his furrowed brow emitted confusion. “Why would you do that?”
Bills. A way out. Being a maid is no one’s dream. She didn’t move a muscle as she said, “I was making payments on loans that were way out of proportion to what I was getting paid.”
He jumped out of his seat on the couch and paced. She imagined that any moment he would order her to run upstairs, get all her belongingsand leave. Matt said, “Wait. Peter said the surrogate was Elizabeth’s maid.”
Ding. One point for him. Her heart calmed the slightest bit. She put her glass down near his as she said, “Yes. That’s also true.”
Matt widened his stance as she stood and then crossed his arms as he said, “Peter paid you millions to sign off on your rights to the baby and disappear.”
Over. Understood.She wished this was different, but it wasn’t. Her heart was on the floor, ripped out of her body, but she wasn’t crying. This had been the risk she’d been willing to take to get him to see her, Ashley Romero. She nodded. “He did.”
Matt didn’t point toward the door. “So why work for Jennifer on a movie set when you have money?”
How could she explain? She ran her hands through herhair. If she admitted the last part of her truth, that she dreamed and wished and hoped he’d see her and fall in love, but never had, how she never could even say “hi” near him because she’d always been afraid to shine as Jennifer was the family diva. She hadn’t actually staged a house or pursued interior design for the same reason she couldn’t speak to him… fear that someone might laugh at her, likeher moter and aunt.
She wasn’t an entire fool. “Because… I don’t know what to do with my life now. I almost bought a house with the money but then I realized I’d never once followed my own dreams. Ever. I needed a change. Tomorrow Jennifer wants me to meet her son.” She thought of the babe she’d carried at the same time her cousin was also pregnant. “I don’t want to.”
His gaze narrowedwith compassion. “Why are you telling me this?”
His ability to express emotion was why he was an award-winning actor. He knew how to reach for the gut and twist. She wrung her hands in front of her, unsure how to answer that question. She stayed on the path of truth. “I guess because I’m being honest now. I’ll go.”
She turned and her cheeks stung with embarrassment. She’d alwaysexpected him to dismiss her. What had she been thinking?
Ashley headed to the staircase as silence clung in the air.
