There it was in tiny black letters.

One step closer…

Her mind went blank, and she waited for understanding to register. She didn’t hate it. It felt…intriguing.

But why?

She was obviously missing something. One step closer to what?

It was unlike Will to be cryptic.

And that bothered her more than anything.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Hollywood can never compare

to a good book.

—Brynn Dalton’s Rules for an

Exemplary Life, #61

I’m telling you right now, up front, I don’t like gore.”

Will grimaced as he set a bowl of popcorn in her lap. “And I’m telling you up front, if you call my classic horror collection ‘gore’ one more time, you’ll never get laid again. At least not by me.”

Brynn gave him a smug look. “What makes you think I need you?”

“You may not, but she does,” he replied, gesturing crudely between her legs.

“That’s disgusting,” she said, stuffing a handful of popcorn in her mouth. And so true.

They were lounging on Will’s nonwhite couch, and she was wearing ancient booty shorts from college, and one of Will’s undershirts. Her hair was a mess, and she didn’t have any makeup on beyond the remnants of yesterday’s mascara.

And she felt the most fabulous she had in months. Years. Maybe forever.

“I could get used to this whole life-vacation thing, ya know?”

Will gave her a bland look over her shoulder. “Perhaps that’s a sign that this shouldn’t just be a vacation.”

She took a small sip of wine and considered. “Nah. If I live like this forever I’ll get huge.” Again.

“Great, maybe your boobs will grow.”

Instead of getting offended, she found herself grinning confidently. “You like my boobs.”

“Sure, when I can find ’em.”

Her smile only widened as she licked buttery salt off her fingers. This was just right. Her and Will bickering like old times with the added benefit of sex. And wine.

And apparently horror movies.

“So how many of your lady friends have you subjected to this?” she asked as he finally pulled a DVD case from the shelf.

“What do you mean ‘subjected’? Chicks love this.”

“You haven’t put any of them through this, have you?”

His hands paused for a second. “No. None.”

Brynn’s smile faltered slightly. This wasn’t supposed to be special—it was supposed to be like any other of his short-lived fling.

She certainly wasn’t looking to be different in Will’s life.

Although perhaps it was inevitable that their situation be unique. Lifelong enemies didn’t become temporary lovers every day. Though Brynn was no longer sure that sex was all they were doing anymore. There’d been plenty of it over the past few days, and yet here they were getting ready to watch his scary-movie collection together.

Not at all typical fling behavior.

When she’d hatched her ridiculous, spontaneous seduce-Will-Thatcher plan, she’d had it in her head that they’d alternate between tearing at each other’s clothes and going back to having nothing to do with each other.

But it had been a week since they’d screwed on her couch, and the days that had followed hadn’t been anything like she’d been picturing. She hadn’t counted on moral support, or lazy Sunday breakfasts, or friendship.

But here they were.

“Okay, so what is this?” she asked skeptically as he plopped down beside her on the couch and dug his hand into the popcorn bowl. “Psycho? Scream? That Nightmare on Elm Street business?”

He shook his head, eyes already locked on the screen with a dreamy expression. “Night of the Living Dead. Totally classic. You’re going to love it.”

Brynn let out the smallest of sighs even though she wasn’t the least bit put out. She’d never been a movie buff, but she had to admit, there was something kind of nice about being curled up on a rainy summer night with margaritas and popcorn. And a hot guy.

Whom she might or might not hate. Leaning toward not.

Brynn’s jaw dropped open as the opening credits rolled. “Tell me this movie isn’t in black and white.”

“It’s from 1968, Princess, of course it’s in black and white.”

Brynn slumped farther into the couch and prepared to be thoroughly bored. “I never pictured you as the type to watch old movies,” she muttered.

He turned his head, and she felt his gaze on her profile. “Never pictured you as the type to watch them with me, but here we are.”

It was almost an exact echo of what she’d been thinking, and for some reason, hearing him say it did something funny to her stomach. Instead of responding, she pretended interest in the movie.

Which, in fact, turned out to be horrible.

“That has to be one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. Zombies? Really?” Brynn said after the misery ended.

He shook his head. “Never gets old.”

“How many times have you seen it?” she asked, turning to face him. “You were quoting it, for God’s sake.”

“Admit it, you liked it.”

I liked that you liked it. Okay, this was getting ridiculous. It was Will. Just a few weeks ago she was trying to run him out of town and refusing to give him store-bought cookies, and now she was freely offering her cookies.

“It was awful,” she said, picking out a half-popped kernel from the empty bowl. “I get that it was like a big deal way back when they barely had movies, but I didn’t get it.”

“So you wanna watch another one?” he asked, standing and stretching as though she hadn’t spoken.

His gray UW T-shirt rode up as he extended his arms above his head, and Brynn’s eyes lingered on the strip of flat abs he’d just exposed.

“Or we could do something else,” she purred slyly.

His eyes briefly ran over her, and did that hot, glowy thing that got her going every time. “What did you have in mind?”

Brynn pretended to fiddle with her tiny shorts. “Well, it’s no zombie movie, but…”

He pounced on her like something stalking its prey and she giggled as he went straight for her neck. “What is it with you and doing it on couches?”

“We haven’t broken this one in yet,” he said, accidentally-on-purpose letting his hand run over her breast.

Brynn gave a little moan, and moved to accommodate his weight on top of her. “So true, how dare we have any uninitiated furniture!”

He dipped his head toward hers, pausing when his lips were just an inch from hers. “How about I kiss you and then we watch The Birds.”

“How about you do me and then you can watch whatever movie you want while I fall asleep.”

“Deal.”

But before he could kiss her, the jarring noise of a cell phone blasted from the coffee table. Will let out a little groan before reaching out to grab it. Brynn fully expected him to silence it and get back to, well, her, but instead he looked at the screen with a thoughtful expression before answering it.

“Soph, what’s up?” he said, holding the phone to his cheek as he pushed away from Brynn.

Her stomach clenched in panic. He was talking to her sister? While they were in the same room? Hell, in the same house?

Brynn frantically scrambled to sit up, clamping a hand over her own mouth as though to keep herself quiet, even though she had absolutely no intention of letting her sister know that she was in the same vicinity as Will Thatcher.

“Not up to much, just watching a movie…” he said.

Brynn let out a little sigh of relief. He hadn’t quite said he was alone, but neither had he volunteered that he had lady company.

“They’re not gore,” Will was saying. “Why do you people keep calling them that?”

Brynn’s eyes bugged out at what he’d just let slip and she clamped a hand on his arm in warning. He glanced at her with a shrug and she shook her head vehemently.

Will merely tilted his head as though to indicate he didn’t understand, and Brynn’s temper spiked slightly. He knew exactly what she was after, and was intentionally being difficult. It wasn’t like Brynn wanted to keep secrets from her sister, but this thing with Will…If anyone found out, she would never live it down.