Rumor Has It (Limelight) by Elisabeth Grace Page A

live vicariously.”
    “Oh, oh, oh! What she said.” Skye pointed frantically at Katie.
    I pushed my chair out from the table and headed to the bar. I needed another drink if I was going to listen to this the rest of the night.

 
    CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
    The next morning I sat on the patio in the backyard wearing my favorite bikini trying to improve my tan. I saved this bikini for those occasions when there was no chance I’d be getting wet. I’d learned the hard way that even if a white bathing suit was double layered, that didn’t mean it wasn’t see-through when wet.
    It was one of those amazing days where the sun sat high in the sky but there was still a nice breeze. It was perfect. Or it would have been if I hadn’t been sitting there replaying the last time I’d seen Mason over and over in my mind.
    The doorbell rang interrupting my pity party. My mom and Ralph had one of those god awful doorbells that played an entire melody so loud it startled you every time it rang. It was hard to miss, even in the backyard.
    I rose from the lounger and went through the house on my way to the front door. I couldn’t imagine who it would be. I wasn’t expecting anyone and my mom and Ralph had gone golfing.
    I swung the front door open to find Mason on the other side. Before I had a moment to react to his presence he started speaking.
    “I’m not letting you do this,” he said and stepped past me into the house.
    I suddenly felt very naked in my bikini and wished I’d thought to put my cover-up on before getting up to answer the door.
    “Mason.” It was all I could say, he’d taken me so unawares.
    His eyes roamed my body as if noticing for the first time I had more skin showing than not. His muscles tensed and his gaze heated as he took me in.
    I tried to ignore my own body’s reaction to being this close to him with only scraps of fabric covering my most intimate places.
    “Did you hear what I said, Ellie? You’re not doing this.”
    “Um…why don’t you come in? I was just tanning in the back.” I motioned the direction to go with my hand and waited until he started for the back of the house, being sure to follow him and not the other way around. I did not want him following me while I wore what now felt like an entirely too revealing bikini.
    Mason was dressed casually in a pair of black basketball shorts, a grey T-shirt that stretched across his biceps and broad shoulders, and a white baseball hat.
    By the time we’d reached the back deck I’d recovered from the shock of seeing him on my doorstep and was able to carry on a conversation once again.
    “Can I get you something to drink?”
    “No thanks. I’m only here for one reason.”
    I swallowed past the growing lump in my throat. “What’s that?”
    “I’ve already said. Stop playing coy.”
    The words alone sounded rude but I could see it wasn’t how he meant them. He was intense. He was looking at me as if he wanted to shake me and ravish me in equal parts. If I’m honest it gave me a bit of a rush to know that I’d elicited such a reaction in him. So sue me. I’m only human.
    “Because you’re not going to let me do this…”
    “That’s right. I know you’re attracted to me and I get why you don’t want to be in the public eye. Believe me, I fuckin’ get it.”
    “My being attracted to you doesn’t change anything.”
    “What can I do? What can I do to convince you that we can figure out a way to explore what’s between us without it meaning our business being splashed all over the internet?”
    “Unless you can disable every smart phone in the country I can’t think of anything.” I crossed my arms over my chest to show him I meant business but quickly changed tactics after I realized it only pushed my breasts closer to spilling out of my bikini top.
    “What if we laid low and stayed out of public?”
    “How’d that work for you before?” Obviously not well because he ignored my question.
    “If you can look at me and say