He laughed again, coming up beside me to wrap his arm around my waist. I sighed and rubbed the top of my head against his shoulder. “No actual cockroaches,” he said, steadying me as we walked down the rocks toward the water. Then he twisted his mouth to the side. “At least I don’t think.”
Nice to know.
We spent the next hour hiking through the cove, stopping every now and then to step away from the blowholes scattered throughout the place. “What would happen if I jumped in?” I asked at one point, as the salty spray hit my skin, moistening it.
He flicked the tip of his tongue over his full lips. “You would tumble to a certain death.”
I turned to him, placing my hand on his chest and biting the inside of my cheek. “Thought you’d always look after me?” I asked dramatically.
“As much as humanly possible,” he replied.
We stretched out in a shadowy portion of the cove, in front of a cave that I refused to go in, and I let the sunlight that occasionally hit our spot warm my bare feet. “We can go diving off that over there if you really want to jump off something,” he said after a long, lazy silence. I followed his pointed finger to a steep collection of rocks that dropped down to whirling white water.
Giving him a sharp look, I shook my head.
I’d been pulled under too many times to count since coming here and that was the last thing I needed.
“I’m not the best swimmer,” I whispered, turning my body into his. I rested my cheek on his bicep, and he looked down into my eyes.
“I know.” He reached out and stroked my hair back from my forehead. “But I’ll catch you when you fall.”
My heart skipped a beat, and I glanced down between us at the blanket, messing with a snagged string. I took a shaky breath before replying, “It’s hard letting go.”
We both knew I wasn’t talking about the cliff, and he was silent again for a long time. When he spoke, his voice lowered.
“I’m falling in love with you, Wills.” He slid his fingertip over my lips, hushing my response. “You drive me crazy. I mean, it started out as this need to get you out of my head, but the longer I’m with you—” Giving me a sad smile, he lifted his shoulders.
My throat went dry. I’d heard declarations of love from more guys than I could count, the first being Tyler and the last being Gavin, but they’d never looked at me like this whole cove could tumble around us and they wouldn’t even notice.
I parted my lips to speak, but he replaced his finger with his own mouth, kissing me slowly, carefully, as if I’d break. I was barely aware that I was crying until he drew back and my tears had left streaks on his cheeks.
Using the pad of his thumb, he swiped them away from my skin, and then kissed his fingertip.
Why did he have to do things like that?
Why did he have to tell me he was falling in love with me when I had no idea what would happen after this movie was complete?
“This has been the best month of my life and, Cooper I—”
Half dozen flashes, all from a distance, slammed against my face, making me flinch, exposing me. My heart jumped into my throat as I faced a cameraman several feet away, standing on rocks as he happily snapped pictures of me. Of Cooper and me. I covered my face, but he continued to take photos. Strong arms encircled me and steadied me to my feet.
“Let’s go,” Cooper said in a rough voice, burying my face into his shoulder. I felt him shift. “If you come close to her I’ll break that f**king thing in your face.”
We left my shoes. And the blanket. And I left behind the words I’d wanted to say to him as we rushed to his Jeep with the sounds of the camera following us.
I’m falling in love with you too, Cooper.
Chapter Seventeen
Finding my photo plastered on the homepage of nearly every gossip blog and magazine in the country had always been a frustrating pill that I’d choked on and swallowed before moving forward, somewhat, with my life. But seeing myself all over the Internet with the guy I was slowly drowning for, finding my face posted up beside his dead mother’s photo as columnists made comparisons between the two of us was one of the worst feelings in the world.
Inside Cooper and Willow’s Love Nest
Willow Avery Trains with Surfing Prodigy Lover on Kailua Beach
Hilary Norton’s Son Makes Waves with Disgraced Actress in Sunny Hawaii
The headlines went on, and each time I read a new one, I just wanted to stick my head into the sand. A week after the run-in with the paparazzo on my birthday, Dickson called a conference with both me and Cooper in his trailer. As we sat across from him, I wrung my hands together.
Cooper’s reached down, prying my fingers apart before giving me a smile meant to calm me down. I tried to return the expression but the only thing I accomplished was a clenched jaw and feeling sick to my stomach.
“You’ve been doing amazing, Willow,” Dickson began.
“Thanks,” I murmured.
He worked his thumb and forefinger over the bridge of his nose. “But I’ve got to admit I’m a little worried about the two of you.”
I frowned. I’d had producers confront me about everything from showing up late to work to stumbling onto set too high to remember my lines but never for dating someone. Especially when that someone wasn’t even a member of the cast or crew.
“Why?” I asked, my voice raising an octave.
Dickson leaned forward, resting his elbows on the laminate desk he was working from. A hundred emotions washed over his face as we all sat in complete silence before he finally settled on one: regret.