Ship-Wrecked (Love Is... Book 6)

them, and it’s a romantic comedy. We need to get you in the news with a positive spin, and we need to get people’s eyeballs on you and their butts in the seats of your movies. It’s critical that this run of pictures is successful, and I want to give you the best shot that I can.”
“What exactly are you proposing?”
She looks over at Keith again. “We’ve been talking, and I think we’ve come up with something that will boost your exposure in a good way. A mutually beneficial situation.”
My pulse ratchets up. “Mutually beneficial for who?”
“I want to set you up with one of Keith’s clients. He has a tendency to get in bar fights, and you have a tendency to go on sad little ice cream dates with your friends.”
My eyebrows scrunch together. Sad little ice cream dates? I don’t pay her 15% to put down my comfort food preferences. “Listen—”
“I think you two would look great together, and nothing sells more than a bad boy changed by the love of a good woman. And he’d dote on you, you’d become the next hottest ship.”
“The next hottest ship?” I ask, wondering how on earth she even knows that word.
“Absolutely.”
“You think the way for me to move on in the public eye is to get involved in a…in a showmance?”
Claudia and Keith answer simultaneously. “Yes.”
“You want me to fake date someone for publicity,” I say, like some kind of idiot who can’t completely grasp the concept. It seems insane, but Claudia’s insane ideas have always had huge, positive effects on my career.
And, if I’m honest with myself, I know she’s right. I had gained some steam from being the wronged woman, but now, three months later, Cam and Angelica are still together and I’m still going to Salt & Straw with Kendall on Saturday nights.
Maybe a showmance isn’t the worst idea.
“Who is it? Who do you think should be my fake boyfriend?”
Keith looks through the glass doors behind me and motions for someone to come in.
The air in the room swooshes as it does, and I give myself a moment to calm down. I put Gigi on the cushion next to me, then stand up to meet my fate.
Only I’ve already met him.
“You?” I ask, completely stunned as I stand face-to-face with Wall of Muscle.
“Me.” He laughs, and it makes my knees kinda weak. “I’m River,” he says, offering his hand.
I want to kiss him again, and that’s how I know that faking anything with this guy is the first stop on a road to disaster for my heart. I should say no, I should ask if there’s anyone else. I should pretend I have a stomach ache and vacate the premises.
Instead, I take River’s hand. This tingling warmth rushes up my arm when his skin touches mine.
“I’m in big trouble,” I whisper. My brain’s filter is completely gone.
The corner of his mouth quirks up. “What?”
I clear my throat. “I’m Skye.”
“Skye,” he repeats, like a prayer. “It’s good to see you again.”

Chapter Two
River and I must stand here for too long gazing at each other with dopey grins on our dumb faces, because Claudia clears her throat to break us out of it. When I look over, she and Keith both look like a couple of cats who ate canaries.
Like they know they’ve made a good match.
A good fake match. It’s incredibly important that I remember that.
“You two know each other?” she asks.
I shake my head. “No. Well, kind of…yes? We just met downstairs. Gigi took off to make friends with a golden retriever and River here caught me when I got caught up in their leashes. And he saved my coffee.”
“A true prince,” Claudia teases.
Hearing her name, Gigi lets out an anxious whine. I look down, and her little paws are resting on River’s calf; she’s just begging to be picked up. River obliges her, and she gives him a few kisses in return.
“The dog’s owner came back, by the way” he says. “It was a girl, her name is Maggie.”
The fact that he actually stayed makes me smile. “The owner or the dog?”
“The dog. I didn’t ask the owner’s name, although I can go back down there and find out if you really wanna know.” He playfully makes a move toward the door, and I grab his big bicep to drag him back.
“Not so much, no. So…I’ll be honest, my first instinct is that this is a bad idea, but all the things I’ve thought were bad ideas turned out to be great ones because Claudia is a genius, and that’s why I keep paying her.”
“Thanks?” Claudia says, unsure if she should be offended.
River looks over at Keith. “I don’t know if I’d call you a genius, but…”
Keith laughs. “I’d worry about you if you did.”
I take a seat and River follows, still holding Gigi.
“Just so we can get better acquainted, you’re here because I’m a…what did you call it, Claudia?”
“Jilted girlfriend,” she provides helpfully.
“Yes. Although I guess now it’s jilted ex-girlfriend. My ex was a costar in a movie of mine, and we became involved on set. Apparently that’s a habit of his, even when he’s already in a relationship.”
A look of unchecked fury on my behalf flashes across his face, but it melts into a sympathetic look that I’ve come to hate in the month since those pictures came out. Somehow it’s nice and comforting on him.
“Yeah, I read about that.”
I nod, closing my eyes. “Of course you did.”
“I’m sorry,” he says like he genuinely means it. “You’re here because I could use a little…” he looks over at Keith for some help.
“Reputation boost.”
“I heard you like to get into bar fights. Mmmm, unchecked male aggression.”
From the way he rolls his shoulders, I can tell my assessment rankles him.
“It’s not unchecked, it’s targeted at a specific person, a…a group of people, for reasons that…” he looks over at Keith and Claudia, who are hanging on the edge of their seats, waiting for an explanation.