“Wait. That’s not true.” Matt’s heart raced now. “Where did you read that?”
“It’s all over the Mom Blogs.”
This wasn’t the work of someone online who’d figured out Ashley’s former profession—could it be?
Not that it should matter, his mind screamed.
Andy said, “Well, don’t dispel that rumor until you’re filming the first movie.”
But he had no contract with Ashley to be his pretend girlfriend, and he hadn’t wanted one.
Not now.
He’d hoped Ashley was his for realand that maybe they had a shot at something more, not love, but not temporary either.
Andy wasn’t exactly someone he was friends with. He walked toward the door and heard Ashley humming.
Okay he probably didn’t from upstairs, but he’d heard her singing and dancing while she’d cooked yesterday and assumed she’d do the same now—he imagined her lighting up his kitchen and wanted tobe there.
“Look, I’ll talk to you later, Andy. Email the details on where I’m supposed to go for the audition.”
“On it,” Andy said like he was already hitting send.
He hung up the phone, cleaned up and headed down the stairs.
As he neared the first step he heard the humming he’d assumed he’d hear from Ashley. She was a breath of fresh air in his life.
His insidessettled as she hummed along with salsa music.
The way her hips swayed both calmed him and made him ache for again. He walked over as she cut an avocado and pressed his hand on her lower back. “Ashley, have you read the news about us?”
Her lips pursed as she met his gaze. “Is it bad? Do people hate my hair?”
He chuckled. There was no way Ashley had a PR machine that might helphim, unless it was Jennifer. The thought hit him hard as an obvious answer. He didn’t want to be in Jennifer’s debt. “No. It’s the opposite. We didn’t even have to set up an interview to tell anyone you were my sister’s maid or my brother’s surrogate.”
Ashley sliced the bready while wearing his t-shirt that was more like a dress on her with her long legs bare and bare feet. “Wait. What?”
He took out his phone and searched for one of the articles with their names. The first looked good and he took out one of the articles for her to glance at as he said, “According to the articles, we were secretly dating the whole time and just waiting for Peter and Belle to get their baby.”
She put the knife down and turned toward him. “We talked about telling that story. Did you-”
“No,” he interrupted. She hadn’t told Jennifer—they’d been wrapped up in each other since they’d come home from the hotel. There’d been no time. He reached for her hand. “I was just as surprised. There’s also speculation we’re planning a wedding.”
“A wedding?”
“Yeah. The blogs say you want to be a June bride.”
Her tossed her already long hair and she tilted her head.“Hmm. My cousin, Jennifer…”
Her voice trailed off and like it was perfectly timed, his phone rang. He took it back from Ashley. “And my sister’s calling. She must have heard the same thing.”
Ashley picked up her knife and shrugged. “I’m slicing the carrots. Talk to her.”
Right. He nodded and clicked his phone to answer. “Elizabeth.”
Her peppy voice meant she was happyas she asked, “Is Ashley with you?”
Yes, but why would she want to know that? He paused, glanced at Ashley, who added the carrots to a frying pan. “She’s right here.”
