Frisk Me(29)

“Poor Ava,” Carly muttered beside him. “I bet her sister totally keeps old trophies on her mantel and thinks she deserves a gold medal just for being alive.”

Luc nodded in agreement, but his mind was still putting the pieces together. Ava’s sister had her own talk show. And based on what Miranda had said about their parents, it would seem Mr. and Mrs. Sims were putting pressure on Ava as well.

An uncomfortable realization settled over Luc:

What if all of Ava’s exhausting ambition wasn’t even hers? What if Ava did what she did because it was expected of her?

If anyone understood the power of family pressure, it was Luc, although lucky for him, his own ambitions had lined up with his family’s desire to see him join the force.

But there had been something on Ava’s face when she’d let her sister belittle her career. If Ava had been passionate about this America’s Hero story, wouldn’t she have jumped at the chance to tell her sister it was getting national coverage?

And she hadn’t. Instead she’d looked…

Tired. And maybe a little lost.

Luc frowned.

“Good,” the photographer said, circling around Luc with the damn camera clicking. “That pensive, thoughtful look is exactly what Ava’s looking for.”

Luc barely heard him, still lost in thought.

If the polished, perfectly dressed anchorwoman-wannabe wasn’t the real Ava, then who was?

And even more annoying…

Just why the hell should Luc care?





CHAPTER ELEVEN



Wait, I thought your sister came into town for your birthday.”

This from Mihail who stared at her over the edge of the cubicle wall separating their desks at the station.

“That’s what my sister wanted people to think,” Ava said, not bothering to pause in the e-mail she was writing.

“But she flew home. On your birthday.”

“Correct.”

Mihail scratched his long nose with a finger. “That’s messed up.”

Ava sighed and looked up. “Honestly? Her leaving was the best present ever.”

And she meant it. Three days with her little sister had been…hell.

Even though Miranda had spent the majority of it with her oh-so-important contacts, she’d made a token effort of making time for Ava.

Nightmare.

Miranda’s idea of “making time” for her sister was Ava dashing over to Miranda’s hotel every time Miranda had a five-minute break, only to wait awkwardly on the sidelines while Miranda “networked” in the lobby.

But the real icing on the cake was Ava’s “birthday dinner” the night before. It had, of course, turned into a dinner with three other producers in which Miranda had run through the gamut of the Sims family achievements.

Miranda herself, of course, was one of the youngest talk-show hosts in the history of the network.

Danny was the leading authority in international relations.

(It had taken all of Ava’s self-control and good manners to keep from pointing out that expertise on various types of wine did not an international relations expert make.)

Their parents, of course, were Oklahoma royalty and would have been household names had it not been for the unexpected conception of Ava’s brother…

And Ava—how had Miranda put it?

Oh yes. Poor Ava has all the makings of a great anchorwoman; she just needs her big break.

It would have been the perfect time to point out that she had gotten her big break, in the form of Officer Luc Moretti.

But Ava hadn’t said a word, even though it would have been slightly fabulous to watch her sister’s smug smile disappear.

It was bad enough Ava was using Luc Moretti to get ahead in her career, even though it was becoming increasingly apparent that he legitimately didn’t want to be in the limelight. Ava hadn’t been able to bring herself to use Luc’s goodness as ammunition against her family.

She wanted to get her family off her back her way.

So she’d endured the hell of all hellish pre-birthday dinners. As such, Ava hadn’t even been the tiniest bit fazed when her sister’s flight was scheduled for the morning of her actual birthday. In fact, watching her sister get driven away in her fancy town car was the best Ava had felt in days.

Mihail dangled a red and yellow gummy worm in front of her face. She raised an eyebrow, because it was his favorite flavor.

“Your birthday present,” he said.

She accepted the gummy with a smile. “You spoil me.”

“Someone has to,” he muttered.

“Hey!” she said around the gummy. “Quit making me feel like a loser just because my sister didn’t stick around for my birthday. I’ll have you know I have plans tonight!”

Since Ava’s birthday was their “friendship anniversary,” Beth always went all out for the celebration.

In their early twenties it had been all about clubs. Mid-twenties, it was fancy cocktail lounges.

And now that they were officially in their late twenties, and had more respect for things like bedtime, tonight was girls’ night at a fancy wine bar.

And after three straight days of her sister’s crafty belittling, Ava fully intended to drink a bottle to herself.

Her phone rang, and Ava waved Mihail away as she picked it up. “Sims.”