Thank you so much for your continued kind words I do love reading the reviews!

Sorry this is a short one.

CHAPTER 14

Gabi stirred when the sun came up and found herself wrapped into Troy's arms, his breath falling against her hair as he slept next to her.

She felt an instant tingling at being in close proximity to him and she also felt way too comfortable there in his arms.

It was increasingly difficult to keep her guard up when he went and did things like he had last night.

He stirred and tightened his hug around her and she relished feeling like she belonged. She wasn't ready to wake up just yet she thought with a smile as she closed her eyes again.

---

Troy waited for Gabi in the foyer with a take-out coffee and kicked himself for pulling a disappearing act on her this morning.

When he had woken up and his body had kicked in that strong reaction to having her in his arms, he'd had to get out of there before he did something he would regret.

Gabi was about the most beautiful woman he had ever met and he couldn't indulge in his attraction to her without first considering her feelings.

And so he had peeled himself away and walked before his body had any silly ideas and now he waited nervously for her to appear.

"Hey, princess" he said as he held out the cup to her "I got you coffee" he offered with a smile.

Gabi looked at him, her expression unreadable "Okay thank you" she said blandly and he followed her to the car.

"What no insult?" he asked forlornly.

"Sure, you're ugly, but we go through this every day. Don't you get tired of hearing it?" she checked as she sipped the drink as they got into the car with Harry.

"Do I get a good morning today?" he asked huskily from across the seat, hinting at her kiss from the previous day and she bit her tongue.

"Kisses just happen, Troy, you don't ask for them" she quipped.

"Is it just gonna happen today?" he asked as he leaned toward her and murmured in her ear, making her shiver at the tickles it created down her spine.

"It's not looking likely" she returned, afraid to look at him but she did and his eyes were glowing with laughter, his curly smile doing insane things to her gut.

"Damn. I gotta kiss that awful Jordan woman today and I have no creative juices to get me in the frame" he muttered.

Gabi giggled "Does that work on girls?" she wondered.

"What?" he asked mock-innocently, liking that he had got her to smile.

"You're 'I'm a victim, please kiss me' speech" she explained.

"Not really." He said "But there's always a first time right?"

"There's always a first time" she agreed.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked then.

"A little. I feel weird for a couple of days and real tired but I should be okay if I can rest today."

"Feel free to use my trailer; I'm on set all day again"

"I would love to, but I can't." she said quietly.

"You never did tell me what was wrong" he realised.

"Ah…oh it's complicated" she said and looked away.

"It's about me isn't it? And that headline and the chat you had with your dad yesterday morning" he guessed.

The tears threatened at her eyes again but their involvement was too tenuous for her to share this burden.

"That's part of it" she agreed lightly.

"I know you think I'm just an ego, but I can listen, too" he said genuinely and Gabi looked into his serious face, almost crying.

"I just can't talk about it now without getting upset" she said and he nodded, wanting to reach out to her but not knowing where to put his hand.

Her hair was loose so he aimed for her curls and touched them softly, bringing her face to his and showing him the troubled depths of her eyes.

"If my dad says anything to you…" she began unsurely "Just…just…" she struggled for the words "Just don't listen to him" She said quickly and the car stopped outside the set where Gabi exited quickly, leaving Troy frowning.

--

Troy knew he couldn't avoid Gabriel forever. He'd calmed down from their confrontation yesterday in the yard and they'd managed to put their differences aside to carry on filming, but Gabi's words rang in his head as Gabe now approached him before filming began and he was waiting to be called for blocking the next scene.

"There's the hot shot" Gabe said and Troy lifted a brow.

"Morning Gabriel" he said in return.

"I know what you're up to. Gabi is worth ten of you, Bolton and you think you can just add another notch to your bedpost" he accused quietly.

Troy didn't know what to say. He hated the fact that he had let the press present him to the world as a playboy. He wanted to change that perception, but even when he was helping Gabi they had still twisted it into something else.

"I think it's best you stay away" he added in a threat and Troy felt a little knife go through his gut.

He was just getting to know her and she was just letting her barrier down. If he walked away now she'd never forgive him. But her father was one scary man and it dawned on him that was why she was probably single. Not only did she travel constantly like him, but she had this father to deal with too.

It would be so easy for him to step back and stop pursuing her, but somewhere along the line he had got attached to Gabi and he looked forward to their encounters every morning.

He wasn't quite ready to let her go and he had no idea how he was going to deal with Gabriel yet but if Gabi wanted to see him, then he would have to think of a way to fly under Gabe's radar.

--

Gabi busied herself with her work, knowing that she only had one more day to get through and then tomorrow night she was going out with Troy again.

She wondered if he might break their date after her dad had gone mental at him and she had no doubt that her father would tell him to back off.

It annoyed her that her father couldn't allow her to make her own decisions and for the first time ever, she considered her options career-wise.

She was a great PA and there was no reason for her not to start looking for work elsewhere. She was twenty one years old and her whole life did not need to revolve around him anymore. If she truly wanted to break free from him she had to start making some selfish decisions.

She grabbed her journal and started writing some notes down in her book, engrossed in what she was doing.

She went for lunch and was immediately accompanied by Gabriel, noticing Troy was absent and presuming he was eating in his trailer and Gabe tried to make conversation but she stared at him and didn't respond.

"Are you not speaking to me because of that punk?" he asked.

"What do you think?" she asked back.

"I didn't even begin to give him a piece of my mind" he argued.

"Don't even pretend yesterday didn't happen. Or that you haven't already told him not to think about dating me" she said, still angry at their argument in his trailer.

The one she couldn't talk about without feeling her frustration build to the point she would cry with her anger.

"So you're not talking to me?" he asked "And you actually want to date that idiot?" he checked.

"Right, that's it!" she said, standing up. "Unless you can speak to me about Troy without calling him names, don't bother" she said and moved away from the table with her plate, seeing Troy hovering at the edge of the dining area having come round from his trailer.

He was trying to decide if he should get her attention when he had witnessed her little exchange with Gabriel.

She stared at him for a moment and moved quickly away before her dad would notice him there and her looking at him and he watched her go with some degree of regret that he'd made things awkward for her without even trying.

He watched as she juggled her broken bag and smiled as he thought of something that might cheer her up.

--