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Ben taps his fingertips together like some sort of anxious cartoon character. “All we’re suggesting is that it might be beneficial for you not to…quell these speculations.”
“Like, you’re saying I don’t deny it.”
Ben nods. “You don’t have to officially address anything.”
“So, what, you just want me to pretend to be dating Ian?”
“No, no, nothing like that,” Ben assures me. “All we’re saying is”—he glances at Gia, who gives him an encouraging look like a parent encouraging a toddler to admit they did something wrong—“that you could let them continue.”
“And how would I do that? We already released the episode.”
“And it was the highest-viewed episode in a long time,” Gia points out.
I like Gia, I really do, but she could be a little less subtle.
“I understand that,” I say slowly. “But that still doesn’t give me any sort of opportunity to improvise another apparently sexy spoon-feeding.”
“You and Ian are friends, right?” Ben pipes up with enthusiasm. “Surely it wouldn’t be a struggle to just…spend time together.”
“Spend time together,” I parrot.
“Out in the open,” Gia tacks on.
I can feel the frown tugging at my lips; sure, it’s entirely possible that Ian and I would spend time together at some point, especially since he’s living with my brother—but since I just resolved to put a little friendly distance between the two of us, this feels a bit like cosmic irony.
“What does Ian think about this?”
“I’ve spoken to the team’s PR manager,” Ben says. “Ian is completely on board as long as you are.”
I feel a faint flutter in my stomach at this news. I know that Ian is probably looking at this from a PR standpoint only, and that he’s most likely assuming that it will be a piece of cake to hang out with his best friend’s kid sister like old times, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get all squirmy anyway, thinking about him agreeing to be in any sort of romantic rumor mill regarding me.
“I’m sure he is,” Theo grumbles. “With the way the internet is still hounding him about the fiasco with his ex, I’m sure he’s chomping at the bit for a way to take the heat off.”
I feel my pulse skyrocket, a rush of blood in my ears as a weird urge to fight the entire internet washes over me. “Are you saying this could help him with that?”
Theo gives me a look, one that I don’t want to analyze in the slightest because it’s probably laced with sarcastic disapproval. “It’s something positive attached to his name. People are really into the idea of there possibly being something between the two of you considering your history, so I’m sure Ian and his team are happy to further any sort of discussion that doesn’t surround him or his past.”
I consider that, my hands twisting in my lap. It’s completely idiotic to entertain this, given that my not-so-dormant crush is still hanging around—hell, it’s practically a stage-five clinger—but I’ve never been very good at saying no to Ian. Even when he’s not outright asking me to do anything, apparently.
Who am I kidding? If Ian were standing here right now, asking me to help him out, I would throw away every single worry I had in regard to my own feelings and dive in headfirst.
And that’s definitely an issue I need to look deeper at, I think.
“Can I think about it?”
Gia purses her lips. “We’ll want to jump on this pretty quickly. The internet has a short attention span. Something else could come along and make this old news.”
“Of course she can think about it,” Theo practically growls, like a mama bear. “You’re kind of asking her to rearrange her whole personal life for God knows how long—”
“Just until the start of the new season,” Ben corrects. “A month or so at most.”
Theo’s nose wrinkles in distaste, and I know it’s taking everything he has not to be rude to Ben; he’s probably only keeping himself in check because everyone in this room and, hell, probably this city, knows that Ben has a crush on Theo, and Theo isn’t as mean as he’d like people to think he is.
“Still,” Theo goes on tightly. “She can have a fucking day to think about it.”
Gia taps her manicured nails along the top of her desk, sighing. “Look, Dee, you know we would never even suggest something like this if we didn’t think it could be helpful to you and the show. We all know how the numbers have been…” She trails off, but the implication is clear. She shrugs lightly. “We just don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth.”
I know she’s right, and if it were any other man with any other connection to me—it would be a no-brainer. But it’s not. It’s Ian, leading role to every teenage fantasy I had before I even knew what to do with them. Hell, pretty sure Ian led to my first attempts at masturbation. It’s a wonder I can even look the guy in the eye.
