Page 16 of Shine For Me

I snort. “That’s a fucking understatement.”

He clasps my shoulder. “But you still get to be in charge of your life and your choices, man. You’re allowed to say no to things if they aren’t right for you. You want to be home more? You want to take a break? You’re the only one who gets to make those calls.”

I rub at my forehead, unsure of how to explain this. The thing is, my decisions don’t just affect me. There’s an entire team of people with a vested interest in my career. My agent, my manager. A PR firm. Companies that have signed me for endorsement deals. Producers who have put a shit ton of money into the projects I’m involved in. Making the wrong choices would directly affect every one of those people.

But how do I verbalize that without sounding like a giant, self-important douchebag?

In the end, I bite my tongue and give my brother a slap on the back. “Yeah, I know. I’ll talk to my agent about scheduling in a decent break after this next movie.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see River studying my face and I know he’s not buying it. But he doesn’t press me, and I’m grateful.

Except his topic change isn’t much better.

“So let’s talk about the actress,” he says. “What’s going on there?”

I shake my head. “You warn me about Vega and CeCe, yet here you are, being a bigger gossip than either of them.”

“It’s not gossip,” he argues. “It’s brotherly concern.”

I snort. “Sure, buddy. You’ve always been the pinnacle of brotherly protection.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means every single time I’ve ever been in trouble it’s because I was stupid enough to follow you.”

He thinks about that for a moment before shrugging. “Fair enough.” He takes a long pull of his beer before turning to me. “Seriously, though. What’s going on with you guys?”

“Nothing is going on. She’s a friend.”

“Didn’t look like a friend in those pictures of you from last night.”

I shake my head. “Don’t you have better things to do than read gossip blogs about your little brother?”

“I have a google alert set up for you.”

I turn to gape at him. “You do?”

He shrugs, like that’s perfectly reasonable. “Need to keep an eye on what you’re getting up to.” He points the beer bottle at me. “And you’re changing the subject.”

“I’m changing the subject because there is no subject. There’s nothing going on with June. She’s a friend and a co-worker.” I feel a stab of frustration when he raises his eyebrows speculatively. “She’s helped me a lot since I started in the industry. We get along. She understands what it’s like to grow up with a famous parent. And the press goes crazy when we show up at events together—which helps both of us.”

“I get all that. But you’re missing an important fact here.”

“Which is?”

“That woman looks at you like she wants to have your babies.”

I nearly spit out my beer and end up choking on it, instead. “What the fuck, River?” I splutter.

He pounds on my back while I cough. “Do you honestly not see it? She’s head-over-heels.”

“Bullshit.” He raises his eyebrows. “Seriously, Riv. She doesn’t feel like that about me. We’re just friends.”

“You weren’t watching her when you picked up Harrison. When that girl saw you with a baby her face got all…” he makes a dopey, lovesick expression that I’m sure June has never worn a day in her life.

“You’re delusional.” I don’t like the way this conversation is making me feel. There’s a weird stutter in my heart rate, and my cheeks feel strangely warm.

“I’m telling you, Juniper Cain is into you.” He nudges me. “The question is, why does that make you look like you’re going to pass out? She’s a rich movie star. She’s totally hot—“ He holds up a hand. “According to some people. Not thatIthink she’s hot. I am only attracted to my very beautiful wife.”