"Ellie," I murmur. For the first time in years, the thought of her as I wake up is comforting. I reach out an arm to secure her warmth against me again. Instead, I'm met with a cold mattress. Sitting up with a frown, I rub the heels of my hands into my eyes. "Ellie?" I call out, squinting into the semi-light sneaking through the curtain. The bathroom? The balcony? Please, let her be somewhere. Anywhere but gone. When I get to the bathroom, I freeze. "Shit!" Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

Grabbing my shorts off the floor, I take out my phone, but there's nothing from her. I hit redial on Calshae's number, rubbing my forehead. This is not good. You fucked up, Wyatt.

"Need a ride?" The buzz of the hotel in the background almost drowns out her voice.

"Yes." I yank on clothes from my packed bag, pressing the phone to my ear. "To Ellie's."

A beat of silence. "Wyatt, you'll miss your flight if I take you to Ellie's right now. What happened?"

I check the clock on the bedside table and realize she's right. I'll be lucky if I make my flight as it is. Being with Ellie last night made me forget anything else existed. I didn't set an alarm. Tanvi won't ever agree to watch Jamal again if I don't show up.

"Fuck," I murmur, yanking at the tips of my hair. "I'll be down in a minute."

Tucking my dirty clothes from the floor in my bag, I practice deep breathing. I sweep the room for anything I might have left behind and try to keep a level head. Maybe it's not that bad. Maybe she'll be reasonable. Then, I stand in the bathroom doorway. A piece of paper is propped against the bottles. In giant letters, Ellie scrawled one word: LIAR. Picking up each bottle, I throw them at the shower wall. A few are glass and shatter. The sharp tang of alcohol fills the room again. Rubbing my face, I sigh and call Tommy.

"I need the name of whatever family lawyer you turned up," I say as soon as he answers.

"Hello to you, too, Wyatt. Why would you want that? Your little family promotion parade yesterday was gold. TMZ has eaten it up. They're running with their version of reality. You, Ellie, Haven—a secret family for years—everyone was duped."

"I fucked up." I sink into the desk chair. My leg bounces. I need a run. Or go box. Something physical. The flight home will kill my nerves.

Silence greets me on the other end of the line. "What'd you do?"

"I was drinking," I admit. Even saying the truth out loud is a betrayal. How could I be so stupid? "There's no way in hell Ellie's going to let me near Haven now."

"Who knows?" Tommy automatically goes into damage control mode. He's scrambling for a pen and paper, I'm sure.

"No one. The hotel owner's daughter thinks I poured them all down the drain. I think I had myself half convinced I did."

"Hmmm..." Tommy taps the pen on the table. "The owner's daughter, she believed you?"

"Yeah, I think so." I hope so.

"Bluff. Have her confirm to Ellie you weren't drinking, that you poured all of them down the drain. Come back at her hard, full of confidence."

"With what?" Adding more lies to the mix seems like a bad idea, but if I'm honest, I will sink any chance I have with Ellie and with Haven. She's not going to believe I can control the drinking.

"You and Ellie have been getting along?"

If this morning hadn't happen, I would have said we'd been getting along very well. Even before last night, there'd been an ease between us, as though we both remembered how good it could be if we just let ourselves go there. That ease will be gone now. I lean forward in the chair, resting my elbow on my knee, letting my head fall into my hand. "Yeah," I manage to croak out.

"We still need a costar for your next movie."

I laugh. "Seriously, Tommy?" She's not going to agree to be anywhere near me. I'll have to fight tooth and nail to see Haven after this morning.

"It's not a terrible idea. The publicity will be huge."

"Which she'll hate." Tommy is used to me, who loves the press. Ellie has never been a fame whore like me.

"You can insist Haven comes to set. You can prove to Ellie you can stay clean and sober. You can do that, can't you, Wyatt? Be sober?"

"I wasn't drunk. I just had a couple drinks. I didn't know Haven was my kid. I came back from Ellie's—I started to pour them down the drain. Just a couple. That's the truth."

There's a knock on the hotel door.

"Not sure how much the truth matters anymore, Wyatt, my boy. You're gonna have to spin this like you've never spun anything before. Your drug and alcohol filled exploits over the years haven't exactly been discreet."

"I know that." My voice is tight as I cross to the door, checking the peephole. "I gotta go." I hang up and swing the door open in one movement.

"We're not going to make it." Calshae enters the room before I invite her in. "Were you drinking? Smells like alcohol in here. Please tell me you and Ellie didn't get drunk last night and sleep together."

I raise my eyebrows, gaping at her, momentarily at a loss for words. What do I answer first?

"Oh, Lord." She gapes. "Which part of that is true?"

I wince. "We were not drinking last night. But I did throw empty mini-bar bottles at the shower wall."

"Why?"

"Ellie found them in the trash after I fell asleep last night. Then, she left."

"Can you reschedule your flight?" She grabs my carry-on suitcase and deposits it by the door.

"I need to get back to Jamal." My phone is heavy in my hand. Tanvi will understand if I call, just as long as Anna's still on her bender and not trying to bang down her door. "When's the next flight out?"

"Three hours." She checks her watch for confirmation. "I'll have enough time to take you to Ellie's, for you two to hash it out, then to the airport. The hashing part will need to be quick." Her dark eyes are sad when they meet mine. "Maybe you shoulda let me have someone clean your room."

"Maybe." Of course, that might mean I'd have someone selling Wyatt Burgess on a Bender stories to the press. Not quite true. Truer than I'd like.

"How many bottles were there?" She peeks into the bathroom door and retreats.

"All of them." I don't mention the phone call to the front desk to order more in a moment of weakness. Luckily, she doesn't spend long enough in the bathroom to count the bottles lying around. The unbroken ones would screw my story right away. "Would you." I clear my throat, gathering my nerve. "Would you consider telling Ellie you never saw me drinking, never smelled any alcohol on me?"

Calshae gives me a rueful smile. "That's all true. It's just...I don't know that you weren't drinking. I know you told me you poured them down the drain." She eyes me. "I'll bet you've learned a thing or two about how to cover your tracks over the years?" Her voice rises at the end and her eyebrows go up.

I've brought my A-game to this conversation. My facial expression is going to match these words. I will not crack. She needs to be in my corner or Ellie will never let me near my daughter again. "I know what's at stake. I was not drinking." If she checks my room bill, she'll know I lied. I just need to get through this first meeting with Ellie, convince her that her instincts are wrong.

"But you still drink?"

"Not anymore."

She chuckles. "Poor Ellie. How does she ever know when you're telling the truth? Your ability to sidestep a direct question is astounding."

I sigh, frustrated. "Will you help me or not?"

"I'll help you. I think you want to be better. I'm not sure you're there yet. You can keep your foot in the door. You're going to need a crowbar to get Ellie to let you back in all the way."

If a crowbar is what I need, I'll find one. No matter what it takes, I'm wedging myself into Haven's life and Ellie's too. "Will this fit on your bike?" I point to my suitcase.

"I can make it fit. I'll meet you downstairs." She picks it up. "We're going in the back entrance to Ellie's place?"

"Yes. Can you get in touch with her security?" I'm already dialing Carolann, my travel agent to get on a new flight.

"Yeah, I can do that." Calshae shoves the suitcase out the door.

I turn my back to her while I fill in Carolann, and then call Tanvi and tell her my flight's been delayed. She could easily check my lie, but she won't. No matter how things go with Ellie, I'll be back in L.A. today. She tries to talk about Haven, but I brush her off as kindly as I can, saying we can chat about my daughter over tea when I get back to LA.

To get to Ellie's house, Calshae takes us on a long detour to lose the paps trying to follow us. The ride gives me too much time to think about how angry Ellie's going to be. I lied. I'm going to keep lying. But I'm done drinking. That certainty needs to beat like a drum in my head when I talk to Ellie. I must convince her I'm clean and sober.

Dipping into the path, Calshae glances behind her before accelerating down the tight route. Parking in front of the side entrance, she lets me off.  "Do you want me to come in?"

"Yes," I say, gruffly. "I need you to tell her what we agreed."

Climbing off the bike, she knocks on the side door.

Nikki answers, a weary expression on her face. "Haven's here, Wyatt. Ellie's barely holding it together. You were drinking?"

Each of her phrases is a bullet to my gut. "I wasn't drinking. Ellie doesn't understand. I need to talk to her."

Nikki glances over her shoulder and then whispers to me, "Matt's on his way here." Her eyes connect with mine. "I don't know what happened between you two last night, but I can guess from how Ellie's been acting."

"She won't go back to him now."  Will she? Ellie will throw up any roadblock she can find to keep me from Haven.

Nikki raises one eyebrow. "I wouldn't bet on that. She might love you, but she'd never risk Haven's welfare if this is how you're going to behave." She steps back to let me and Calshae in the house. "Matt will take her back, if she asks him. Makes a strong case for why letting you in the door was a mistake. You don't know him."

My heart rate increases two-fold. He can't be fine with what happened between me and Ellie last night. Who wants to be second choice? I'll email him a blow-by-blow account of this week if I have to. She's not going back to him. This week wasn't a mistake.

When we come through the kitchen and into the living room, Ellie rises from the couch, her tear streaked face is a bullet to my heart. My gut clenches. I did this. After telling her she wouldn't be sad with me anymore, I've ripped her heart out. "Ellie." I shove my hands in my pockets to keep from sweeping her up, comforting her.

Holding up a hand to ward me off, her other one presses into her chest. "No. You've been drinking. You promised me you were clean." Her voice catches. "There's nothing you can say right now. Nothing."

Calshae's intake of breath is audible in the room. "I never saw him drinking, never smelled alcohol on him. He poured those bottles down the drain in a fit of rage."

Ellie crosses her arms. "Did you see him do that?"

"Yes." Calshae doesn't look at me, doesn't elaborate.

Ellie's jaw clenches, and she comes around the couch. Her brown gaze scans my face, searching for the truth. It's buried deep. All she'll find is my lying confidence. She comes almost toe to toe with me. She turns to Calshae. "I don't believe you." Then, she looks at me, "I don't believe you, either."

"You'd be wrong." Confidence oozes out of my voice. Whatever I have to say or do, I'm going all in today. She's not shutting me out.

"Supervised visits, that's all you can have." She whirls to leave my side.

"Perfect. That'll work out well on our joint movie." The words are out before I can reconsider. Ah, well. Maybe Tommy was on to something. At least this way, she'll be forced to spend time with me, and I will not screw up again. I understand the stakes now. I didn't before. When I let the liquid roll down my throat, warm my stomach, sooth my rage, I didn't know about Haven. Ellie was hiding something, but I didn't know what. If I'd known, I wouldn't have allowed myself the luxury of a few drinks.

"I'm going out to the bike." Calshae ducks out of the room to the kitchen. Clearly, she doesn't think Ellie's going to take my suggestion very well.

Ellie scoffs. "I have my own commitments. Just because Kathleen Kirkton flaked out, doesn't mean I step in. Any movie with the two of us would be a media circus."

I swallow, pushing my anxiety down, and I raise the stakes. "I'll take you to court. I have a lawyer lined up."

She glances at Nikki. There's no surprise on her face. Evelyn must have told her. Nikki rises from the couch and disappears down the hall. Is she going to monitor Haven or giving us privacy?

"Court wouldn't go well for you." Ellie doesn't meet my gaze.

"Who knows? I'll take my chances."

"Haven," Ellie says. "She doesn't deserve to be dragged through a messy court battle."

"You don't believe I haven't been drinking. Fine. I have a promotional tour—it's not long. Then I start work on the Kirkton project. Step in for her. Give me a chance to prove I'm not the man you think I am."

"You couldn't stop drinking for a week. Why would I tie myself to you for months?" Her tone is scathing, all hint of her hurt gone.

"We're already tied for years. Her name is Haven."

She lifts her hair and lets it fall and then gathers it up, letting it sit over one shoulder. "Why this project?"

"Why not a movie project? We'll both have a few weeks to cool off. Then, we have a few months to work together. During our down time, we can figure out this family thing."

"I'm off the table. There will be no relationship between you and me. We're not anything. We're co-parents. We're not a family. I know you're lying to me. I know it." She points her finger at my chest. A deep shuddering breath only partially conceals the sob rising into her throat, leaking into her voice. "And it breaks my heart that I let myself believe anything else last night."

A sob escapes her, and I wrap my arms around her, my shirt absorbing her tears, my heart breaking with hers. "I'll prove you wrong," I murmur into her hair. "Do the movie. I'll prove you wrong."

The security intercom buzzes. Ellie pushes away from me, sniffing and wiping her tears as she goes to the wall. Matt's here. My anguish at her tears turns to blind rage. "You can't be serious right now." I throw up my arms.

With both hands, she wipes away the last of her tears. "I'm going to tell him everything. All of it. Then he and I, we'll figure out what we're doing."

"You can't pretend like last night didn't happen," I burst out.

"I'm not pretending. I'm going to be honest. We have a no bullshit policy." She looks me up and down. "It's probably one you and I should have adopted."

"Sure. Let's do that. Tell me last night meant nothing."

Ellie steps toward me, anger vibrating off her. "It meant everything to me." Her voice fills with agony. "And then I found twenty mini-bar bottles in your garbage." She points her finger at me again. "Tell me the truth. Did you drink them?"

"No," I fire back. "I'm not drinking."

Her shoulders drop, all the fight going out of her. "I'll do the movie. But I'm doing it for your relationship with Haven. That lie—the one you just told me—it cost you us. I can't trust you."

Should I tell her the truth right now? Spit it out. Deal with the consequences. Supervised visits, court battles, more lost time. She's giving me the movie. Months of time. I can win her over. Show her that whether or not I was drinking here, she can trust me. I'm not going back to my old habits.

There's a knock at the side entrance to the kitchen just as a text pops up on my phone from Calshae. I need to go, or I'll miss this flight too. When Ellie moves past me to answer the door, I grab her arm. She stills but doesn't make eye contact.  Bending my head, I spit out, "If he takes you back, if you go back to him—you're both fools. You don't love him. If you did, it wouldn't have my name on your lips last night."

She wrenches her arm away from me. "You got me for one night. Maybe it'll be his name I'm saying every night from now on."

I splay my hands on the island. She pulls open the side door, her movements jerky, angry. I grit my teeth. She's not going back to him.

Matt steps in and looks at both of us, wary. "I didn't expect to see you here, Wyatt." He doesn't reach for Ellie. He might not know what happened, but he senses something has shifted. A little nudge might tip him completely away from her.

With my most charming playboy smile, I look at Ellie like I've just eaten her for breakfast. "I found some of Ellie's things in my hotel room. I wasn't sure how many pairs of underwear she owned."

Ellie sucks in a sharp breath, almost a gasp of disbelief. Grabbing a spatula from the bucket next to her, she throws it at me. She's not very sporty. It sails wide. Still, I'm lucky the bucket wasn't full of knives. Even people with bad aim sometimes hit a target.

"You're an asshole, Wyatt."

I shrug. Sauntering around the island, I hold out a hand to Matt. "You're a better man than me. I never could share her." The sting in my cheek is surprising. I half expected him to hit me, I didn't expect her slap. Ellie's staring at her hand like she doesn't know her own limb. She was never much for violence. "Probably deserved that." I rub my cheek and tug Ellie to my side to kiss her temple. "I'll see you in a few weeks."

"Wyatt, I..." Her expression is stricken, conflicted.

"It's okay, Ellie. Really." She's ignoring Matt. When she stares at me, plain as day, for everyone to see, love shines out of her eyes. She might be furious with me for more than one reason, but she loves me.     I step out the side door, and I glance at Matt to make sure he sees how she's looking at me. I take the helmet from Calshae. I might be a liar, but her face is full of truth.

They're done.

When I climb onto the back of the bike, Calshae says, "Did you get what you wanted?"

"Not yet," I say. "But I'm one step closer."