“I never knew you were raised in an orphanage.”
She nods. “Just one of my many adventures, yes. So please try to see me as a person, a person – yes, I shall say it again – just like you, and not some supreme empress overlord. Although I do like the sound of that.”
I giggle and she smiles, as though that was her goal, to begin with.
“I can’t tell you without putting you in an awkward position.”
“What do you mean?” she asks.
I repress a groan, warning myself not to show any impatience with Maximillia despite her proclamations that I can trust her.
“It’s a secret,” I tell her. “And it involves somebody else on this set. Neither of us would want anyone else to find out.”
She narrows her eyes, leaning forward, her eyes suddenly alight. “A secret? Now I have to know. And don’t worry, my dear girl. Keeping secrets is one of my specialties. I swear I will die before I tell another soul. You have my word.”
I bite my lip, the desire to share bubbling up inside of me. I’ve never had very many close friends – okay, any close friends – and I’ve always envied other people for their ability to talk through their problems rather than just dwell on them.
“You might not believe me,” I murmur. “You might think I’m a crazy person with delusions of grandeur.”
She folds her hands, staring supportively at me. “Try me.”
So I do.
I start from the beginning.
But once I’ve begun, I find I can’t stop. The words erupt out of me as though a dam has burst. I start with our first kiss in the restroom – leaving out the steamier parts – and then go on to his declaration earlier today.
“He said he needs me,” I whisper. “He said he wants a future together. A family. And do you want to know the craziest part?”
She laughs quietly. “We haven’t reached the crazy part yet?”
I recoil, tilting my head at her tone. But she quickly offers me a smile, letting me know she doesn’t mean anything by it.
“Go on, Bria,” she says softly.
“I feel… I feel exactly the same. All that insane stuff he said, about having a future, a family – I want it. I want it so freaking bad. But when he brought it out into the open like that, all I could think about was how I’m going to disappoint him. Or maybe it’s a trick. Except I don’t feel like it’s a trick.”
Maximillia sits back, folding her arms, watching me quietly for a few long moments.
“What?” I ask.
“I’m just thinking,” she murmurs.
“About?”
I can’t hide the desperation in my tone, my need to hear some kind of validation for what I’ve told her, for somebody to make sense of it.
“I’ve worked on several movies with Braden,” she says. “We’re not what you’d call close. In fact, I don’t think Braden is close with anyone. Except you, it sounds like. But what I was thinking was… Braden has never shown any interest in a romantic partner before, at least not from what I’ve seen or heard. And there’s a big chance I would’ve heard, believe me. Word gets around on a set. Unless you’re having sneaky meetings in the restroom, of course.”
She laughs, smiling, taking the sting from her words.
My heart quivers, feeling like it’s growing bigger inside my chest, full of hope.
“It’s very unusual,” she goes on. “If anybody else said something like this – if Tyler ever said something similar, for example – I’d tell you to run as fast as you can. Or go for a quick ride with him if that’s what you want. I’d tell you they’re using some nonsense actor’s line to get you under their thrall. But with Braden Braxten… I think you need to speak with him, Bria.”
Nerves sizzle in my belly, uncertainty spreading as I think about the way I left things last time, just walking away from him like that.
“We’ve sort of got this habit of walking out on each other.” I laugh quietly, without much humor, as the nerves carve an endless path through me. “I’m not sure he’s going to want to talk to me.”
“Bria,” Maximillia says firmly, forcing my gaze to hers.
She stares hard at me, eyes flashing.
“If what you’ve told me is true, if you really feel like you are meant to be with this man…”
“I do,” I say passionately.
I haven’t told her about the crush I’ve had since I was a teenager, about how long I’ve dreamed of tasting Braden’s lips, of feeling his hands on me.
But it’s there, buzzing inside of me, calling out for me to listen to the message.
Be his. Let him claim you.
“And he says he feels the same,” she goes on. “I won’t pretend to understand it. I won’t pretend it makes one bit of sense to me. But I also don’t think you can afford to ignore this. Whatever the circumstances are, you need to get to the bottom of it. Because things like this, closeness like this, it doesn’t happen often. If ever. You owe it to yourself to talk to him.”