Found by Karen Kingsbury Read Free Book Online Page B

care.
    When he spoke, he breathed the words into her hair. “There’s something you have to know … before you leave.”
    She pulled back just enough to see his face. Her cheeks were wet, and the hurt on her face was once again transparent. “Tell me.”
    He brushed his cheek against hers, drying her tears. He allowed himself to get lost in her eyes. Even if this were the last time. “Katy Hart, I’ve loved you since the first day I saw you.” The tears were there for him too. He breathed in hard through his nose and stared up at the sky. When he had more control he looked at her again. “If there was a way out, I would’ve left my world in a minute to be with you.” He wanted to kiss her, but he didn’t dare. “Don’t forget that, okay?”
    His admission only made her look sadder. Her tears came faster. She crooked her finger and pressed it to her lips. “Goodbye, Dayne.”
    He heard the sound just as she was leaning close to hug him once more. The pounding of feet against the pavement, the click of the camera. “Katy, quick . .
    . go.” He shielded her with his body, tried to block the photographer’s view, but it was too late. There were two of them now, and they were only twenty yards or so from Katy’s car. He could only hope they didn’t figure out who she was. He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I meant what I said.”
    As fast as she could move, she opened her door and slid inside. It took her only seconds to start the car and back out of the spot. As she did, her eyes met his, and again he was absolutely sure about her feelings. Because the look she gave him said everything her words never had. Not that she had feelings for him or that she’d wondered about what they might’ve had. More than that.
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    Even if their connection was ending before it ever really began, she loved him.
    She loved him as much as he loved her.
    He savored her look as long as he could. Then he blinked back tears, turned to the paparazzi, and flashed his famous smile. “Hey, guys, let up.” He held out his hands, his expression frozen for the cameras. “I’m all yours.”
    “Who was she, Dayne?” It was a big, bearded guy. One of the regulars. He was out of breath from running up the beach, but even so he kept snapping pictures.
    “We’ll find out eventually. Come on, tell us.”
    “Yeah, Dayne.” The other guy was a wiry twentysomething-new to the shady business of lurking around the back doors of celebrities. “Make it easy on us.
    Give us her name.”
    “All right.” He shrugged and gave them a practiced grin. In the distance he heard Katy pull her car onto the highway and speed off. “You caught me. Another day, another actress. What can I say?”
    “Was it Kelly Parker? It looked like Kelly.” The bearded guy had a line of sweat dripping down the side of his face. “Tell us it was Kelly and we’ll leave.”
    Dayne walked to his Escalade, watching them the whole time, smile still frozen in place. No one would’ve known that his heart was breaking in half. “Now, now …” He kept his voice upbeat, loud enough for them to hear. “Actresses get feisty when you give away their secrets.”
    “Then it is Kelly.” The young one jabbed his fist in the air. “I knew it!”
    “You guys are too smart for me.” Before Dayne climbed into his SUV he waved big.
    “See ya.”Ś
    His smile died the moment he slipped behind his tinted glass. She was gone. Katy was gone, and there might never be another moment like that between them again.
    Not ever.
    He turned the key in the ignition and backed up, leaving the photographers standing there wondering. Let them think it was 37
    Kelly. She would be with him soon enough. What mattered was that they didn’t know about Katy. That and they hadn’t seen his tears, hadn’t seen his heartache.
    As he sped off, he realized that he too was breathless. Not from running up the beach, like the paparazzi. But for pulling off the acting job of his life, smiling for