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She nodded ier “Maybe just one”
God, he wanted nothing , happy face Instead, he pushed the cart in the direction of their next stop
Chapter 5
While Collin put away the groceries, Raevynn stood under the hot spray of the shower in the guest bathroo the water wash away not just the night’s sweat and gri with her
heavy application ofdown her hair—but also months’ worth of stress and mental exhaustion Or at least asthe circumstances
She knew one night away froe her life, nor even would a week’s absence froht But this ti her what to do and all the people pulling her in different directions until she felt she was merely a shell of her former self A puppet for everyone else to direct and comht have envisioned for her career
Tonight with Collin, while running through Wal kid set free of all the restraints that had tied her down for so long, Raevynn had recognized just how orchestrated her actions had become the past few years That all semblance of joy and fun had been sucked out of her, because her hectic schedule, which her mother was mostly responsible for, didn’t allow for playtirown hollow inside, as if an integral part of who she was, beyond the fa
She’d learned to put on a convincing sns she’d been hired to proht photo for an interview or article Outwardly, she appeared to be living a charrateful for the opportunities that had come her way, but the truth was, she was tired, overworked, and unhappy
She lived in a pretty, shiny bubble with no real friends to hang out with, no place where she could just be her true self No real relationships with people she trusted enough to open up to and not feel judged or used for their own purposes Too s and opinions disnificant, and she’d found it o with the flow
But stuffing all that resent to keep a cork on a shaken-up bottle of cha to erupt in spectacular fashion, and the fallout wasn’t going to be pretty and she’d end up following in the footsteps of Brittany Spears’s, Amanda Bynes’s, and Lindsay Lohan’s public meltdowns
Raevynn grimaced at that possibility as she rinsed the conditioner fro she could chop off the ass-length strands into a shorter, sassier, modern style that didn’t require soto happen, either, according to her mother, because then they’d lose millions in hair product endorsements
Finished with her shower, she turned off the water and towel dried her body, then her hair, sreeted her She’d desperately needed this peace and quiet in her life and in her head right now, to think about her future clearly, without any interference froent, or all the other handlers Joyce had hired to keep Raevynn’s ie and her brand squeaky clean
And she owed Collin for giving her the opportunity She thought about how much fun she’d had with hihs they’d shared as they’d shopped Despite everything that had happened between theo, he was still so easy to be with With Collin, there were no pretenses or expectations of having to be so she wasn’t He didn’t treat her as a celebrity, didn’t look at her as an international superstar
No, he still just viewed her as Raethe girl who’d grown up next to his house and had been his sister’s bestie And if she wasn’t mistaken, by the heat she’d seen in his eyes, the awareness in his touch when he’d held her hand, and the attraction that had sparked between theht, she’d like to hope and believe he still felt so for her That maybe now, he looked at her and saw the woman she’d become, because if a different and more intimate kind of opportunity presented itself, she wasn’t opposed to exploring that inviting option with him
After braiding her hair so she didn’t have to blow it dry, which took her at least an hour, Raevynn wrapped the towel around her body and walked into the adjoining bedroos of clothes and toiletries on the bed, and she ruh the purchases until she found the cute paja on a clean pair of panties, she donned the silky ca shorts, thenroom area