Love and Rumors: A Summer Sisters Beach Reads Contemporary Romance (The Summer Sisters Book 1) (23 page)

He turned and made eye contact. His eyes were sad, heavy.

“I’m not prepared to live on the fringe again. I have obligations, too, Hailey. I have responsibilities. I’m not a do-nothing star who has lived an easy life and goes along for the ride. There’s a lot of work involved. So if you want to help me, you have to do it on my terms.”

“I can’t believe you’re not willing to consider that there might be a different option.”

“You want to know me?”

She nodded.

“Then let me paint a picture. My parents had medical bills they’d been carrying for years. Dad’s not able to afford health insurance that will cover him, and every once in a while things go to hell. I’ve paid for all of that. I bought them a house in a decent neighborhood where they don’t have to worry about someone shooting up their front yard. Then I bought it back from the bank after one of Dad’s medical mishaps. I sent my brother to rehab. Then college. Started an anonymous college scholarship in the community where I grew up so other kids could get out. And I made all sorts of community development promises I’m about to renege on.” He began ticking things off on his fingers. “I have an agent who depends on me. A publicist. An assistant. They all rely on me making a living, so they can pay their mortgages, feed their kids. There are producers who could lose everything if I don’t bring it all to the table. I don’t just sit on screen and look pretty. There’s a lot of work involved. And I pay a helluva lot in taxes, too. I have commitments. And being the celebrity car-crash everyone wants to read about in the tabloids is my way of meeting them.”

Hailey swallowed. “I’m sorry, I never realized.”

She wanted to tell him being a bad-boy wasn’t the only option and that she understood obligations, but he continued on, a storm rocking his voice.

“That’s exactly it, Hailey. You have no clue about me, my life. You’ve only met the version of me that you want to see. The guy on vacation.”

She lurched as if she’d been slapped.

“You have all these assumptions about me, but you’ve barely even bothered to try and learn more about me.” He stood and moved closer to her. “Did it ever occur to you that this image you look down upon is something I’ve carefully cultivated? That it’s actually part of a large, overarching, multiyear career plan? That this image is actually something planned out? That I know what I’m doing?”

She blinked. Why would he slander who he was? Finian Alexander was perfect.

“You sold yourself out?”

He nodded, his eyes sad but fierce.
 

“Why would anyone choose to be a disaster when they could be living their real life?” She blinked back tears, not understanding why being such a loser in the public eye seemed like the best option.

“Have you not been listening?”

Hailey hugged herself, turning away. “I just don’t understand.”

She’d had to take jobs that didn’t fit with who she wanted to be, but she’d always kept her goals in mind and was always working toward them. But Finian seemed to be rejecting that path entirely. Everything real. And if he was rejecting everything real in his life, where did she fit in? Nowhere.

She lowered her head with a sigh.

Finian gripped her arms, ducking his head so he could see her face.

“My agent has a full-fledged plan. A plan he’ll put into action if I don’t pull my head out of my you-know-what and get some publicity. He’s ready to leak made-up stories that will shorten my career. Yes, it will launch me temporarily, but not for long. This is a fickle business, show biz, and I need sustainability, Hailey. I depend on the work that comes in due to my image. Others do, too. So I have to ensure everything I put out there lines up with that image in order to shut up my agent, and get the roles I want. Being a bad boy is easy to maintain, because people do half of it for me. They’re always looking for the bad side and that’s something that is hard to screw up.” He pushed a hand through his hair. “Or at least it was before I met you.” He flashed her a crooked smile. “Being this good boy you want, it’s difficult, Hailey. That’s going to bring criticism I can’t handle. I’m not perfect, and the image you want to present to the world is one I can’t maintain. I’m not that guy. I’m human.”

She sagged, knowing she couldn’t convince him to see her side any more than he could convince her to see his. “Finian, can you go wait in the house? I need to think.”

Unable to breathe properly, she placed a hand on his chest, and despite the pain inside, pushed him out of her studio, locking the door behind him.

* * *

Right. She’d just locked the object of her affections out of her studio.

She sagged against the door, needing its support. She’d found the layers she’d been looking for and that had scared her. She’d had no idea he had all those obligations and commitments and was helping so many people. It made her own problems look insignificant. So what if she lost a piece of land? He was saving
people
.

But why couldn’t he see that his false image wasn’t doing him any favors? That it would cripple him further down the career line and that it would eat away his soul? She’d tried the whole commercial thing and it had hurt her like she’d been swimming through shards of steel.

How could anyone live like that?

How could Finian?

But more importantly, why would he
choose
to live like that when there were other options? It didn’t matter what you did with your life, there was never enough money. So why not do what you loved? If he let the world see who he really was he’d go so much further. So, so much further.

Hailey didn’t even know why she cared what he did. It wasn’t as though they were in love and were planning to spend the rest of their lives together in Hollywood. That would be a recipe for heartache. She may as well tie her heart to a major highway and wait for a transport truck to smush it. If he wanted money and a bad reputation, then what was it to her? It wasn’t her job to show the world that he was a great guy, or convince him that he could make more money by following his heart.

There was silence on the other side of the garage door. Had he given up on their argument that easily?

She blinked back tears and sat at her computer, staring at the folder of images she’d taken of him being the man she and her sisters had always dreamed of. Someone kind and caring. Sexy. She clicked through sweet images of him with Tigger, the turtles, with fans. With him dappled in sunshine. A handsome, intelligent man with more depth than he cared to show. The world needed to see this side of Finian. The world would
love
this man. She couldn’t keep him to herself—and not when she knew it could help him achieve his dreams.

Determined, she selected ten photos and uploaded them to her agent, along with intriguing captions, creating a story of the Finian she knew. It wasn’t enough to ruin his current persona, but it was enough to show Finian what she had in mind for an image makeover. He might never forgive her, but he also might be thanking her for the next sixty years.

Her hands shook as she moved to her worktable. She looked at the stack of framed photos for her show. Finian was right; she was a hypocrite. She was hiding behind the commercial photos, instead of selecting the more arty ones. The ones where she’d followed her heart.

She glanced at the closed door, then carefully tucked away the original stack of photos before framing the others, one by one.

If Finian only knew the risk she was taking by choosing artistic photos.

But it was her reputation. It mattered more than money, didn’t it?

And if she was right about following one’s heart, then everything would turn out okay.

She shook her head and smiled. She and Finian were so much alike and yet so different.

There was a knock on her door and her heart sped up.
Finian
. She glanced at her computer and draped the dust cover over it as though it would profess her guilt if he saw it exposed.

Slowly she unlocked the door and peered out into the midday sun.

Finian pressed her palm against his lips, kissing it. “I’m sorry you can’t rebuild me the way you want to. It’s not you, it’s Hollywood.”

“I know….”

“I don’t want you mad at me.”

She cocked her head. “But wouldn’t that be good for the image and all that?”

“You know me better than that.”

She drew a line down his chest with her finger. He moved closer, siphoning the air from between them as he tipped up her chin. “What do you see?”

She stared into his eyes, absorbing their intensity. “I see someone who wants to be larger than life and who will be quoted in fifty years. Someone who makes a difference. I also see a wonderful man denying his true side. You know the world would love the real Finian as much as I do.”

“You love me?” He shot her one of his sexiest grins.

“You know what I mean.” She slipped out of his grip, retreating as she gave him a sassy glance over her shoulder. “Women like me don’t go for men like you. We like men with five-year plans.”

“I have a five-year plan. It involves being bad to the bone.” He grabbed her elbow, pulling her to him so he could shimmy his hips against hers. “Besides, you keep telling me I’m not bad.”

“I was wrong. You’re a bad, bad boy.” She pushed him away, unable to stay mad at him. He was like a big balloon full of life and joy.

So damn likable.

Finian released her, his face suddenly serious as he fell into her old armchair. He heaved a sigh laced with exhaustion and frustration. “I don’t know what to do, Hailey, but I can’t be that Renaissance man you want. Not yet.” He cleared his throat, jaw tight. “Are we still working together? Because if we are, I need to set some boundaries and I need to have the final say on my image.”

She shifted her gaze away. She’d already broken that rule.

“There are some things I am willing to do with my image—a lot, in fact—but there are some things that would destroy me within a week.”

She knelt in front of the chair, clutching his face. “I want to leave a mark on your life, Finian. A marker you can go back to and say,
‘
That was where my life changed, and it was all because of Hailey Summer’.”

“Trust me, there will be a mark, Hails.” He pulled her into his lap, kissing her temple.

“If I’m going to work with you there needs to be a certain artistic element. If not, then you have to pay me more, and I have to remain anonymous.”

“Okay.”

“I want to work with you, Finian. You energize me in ways I can’t figure out. But I can’t be selling this whole bad-boy side and shooting tabloid photos unless there is a spin to it that allows me to use my artistic, creative side.”

“Fine. We’ll figure that out shot by shot.”

She pressed a hand against his chest. “Do you trust me?”

He gave a light laugh. “Not especially. You tend to slap me a lot.”

She shook her head and smiled. “I know your audience, Finian. They are people like me and they are ready for real. They crave it.”

“
Do
you crave it, Hailey?” He pushed her off his lap so he could stand. “Because it seems to me that you get enough real life. You need the lighter side. The joy and frivolity.”

“I’m…I’m getting better at it.”

“Because that’s what Finian Alexander provides—a break from the mundane for two hours or less. Nothing more. It’s all I am. And it’s what people need.” He clutched her chin, his voice softening. “Even you.”

“You also provide hope, Finian. Hope for a better world, a better future. Letting out your real side can only add to that. When you are real is when I like you the most, and let go of all my burdens.”

His eyes softened with affection and pride.

“But, Hails, is that what you’re doing with your show? Creating hope? Leaving your indelible mark on the world? Letting your artistic side out to play?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. Thanks to you, I scrapped the commercial images and I’m going to hang the more artistic ones. The ones I
feel
. I’m choosing art even if it means breaking my sisters’ hearts and taking a big financial risk. You taught me that.”

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t.”

“I have to be true to myself and I can’t keep hiding behind what works. You might not be there yet, but I am.” She pulled him into her arms, kissed his lips. “As much as that surprises me, we aren’t that different. We’re just making different choices and taking different paths. You’ll see what I mean.” She tugged him toward the door. “Come on. I want to share something with you.”

* * *

Finn moved with an intense focus, his actions purposeful. Hailey’s photos were amazing. She’d taken every one of the most stellar shots from the pile of incredible pictures in her studio and framed them. There wasn’t a single commercial shot like he’d expected. He still didn’t understand what she’d meant about breaking her sisters’ hearts, but he understood having to make decisions that sometimes went against what family members thought was for the better good.

Here in Simone’s two-story boutique, he’d ended up pushing Hailey aside, a map popping into his mind of where each photo should be hung. Getting to work with her images was a privilege, and it stirred up his creative side as he imagined himself as an artistic director as he moved around the old converted house.

This was his role, and he was getting deeper into the zone and hanging pictures faster than Hailey could prep them.

He could see the whole story laid out in her images. The conflict here in the entry hitting people as soon as they came in, the resolution finalized on the top floor. He was breathing shallowly, finding the excitement of creating with her work invigorating.

Hailey had left to find more hooks, and he could hear hurried chatter and giggling in one of the side rooms. He smiled and switched two photos. Hailey’s friend Simone, the store’s owner, had been staying out of the way, plying them with coffee from a small pot in her office, and running ideas by Hailey.

The energy was contagious and consuming. Fun.

Finn slipped into the entry to grab an armload of images for one of the smaller rooms, and heard Simone shush Hailey. “I can’t believe you slept with him,” she said in a whisper that carried through the empty building.