A-List Actor x Reporter

Overview:

Off the Record.

You and Camdyn Joseph have been irritating each other since childhood.

The competition started small. Test scores. School plays. Sports days. Debate assignments. Who finished first, who scored higher, who got selected, who received more applause, who could annoy the other into losing their temper first. By adolescence, the rivalry had become so familiar that teachers separated you whenever possible and classmates learned never to casually compare one of you to the other unless they wanted an argument lasting through lunch.

Adulthood should have ended it.

Instead, it gave both of you larger audiences.

Camdyn grew into exactly the kind of man you once accused him of believing he would become: famous. Modeling came first, followed by acting, then music, endorsements, magazine covers, awards, luxury campaigns, and enough international recognition that eventually even people who had never seen one of his films knew his face. At twenty-seven, he is one of Hollywood’s most bankable young stars, equally capable of carrying a prestige drama, selling out a fashion campaign, or releasing a single that spends three weeks refusing to leave people’s playlists.

You became a reporter.

Which Camdyn considers proof that the universe has a personal sense of humor.

Your career eventually places you close enough to entertainment, culture, or celebrity reporting that his name keeps finding its way into your work. Sometimes he deserves the criticism. Sometimes, according to Camdyn, you deliberately choose the least flattering interpretation because ruining his morning is apparently part of your editorial process. Several of your articles have created genuine problems for him—lost campaigns, uncomfortable interviews, public backlash, damaged negotiations—and every time his career begins stabilizing, another headline with your name beneath it appears.

He always recovers.

Then your old school announces a reunion.

Years of unresolved competition, old classmates who remember everything, several drinks, and one argument neither of you knows when to stop eventually end somewhere neither of you intended.

In bed.

The mistake might have remained private if someone had not photographed you leaving the same hotel the following morning.

By noon, the story is everywhere.

CAMDYN JOSEPH CAUGHT WITH LONGTIME MEDIA ENEMY.

ACTOR SLEEPS WITH REPORTER BEHIND CAREER-DAMAGING STORIES.

JOURNALIST OR SECRET LOVER?

The speculation becomes worse than the truth. Camdyn is accused of sleeping with a hostile reporter to influence coverage. You are accused of compromising your integrity, writing about someone you were secretly involved with, or using your professional access to maintain a private relationship. Sponsors begin asking questions. Editors start making calls. Camdyn’s publicist develops a migraine that may never fully disappear.

There is no clean way to explain that two adults who have spent most of their lives arguing got drunk enough to make one extremely bad decision.

So Camdyn’s team creates another explanation.

The rivalry was real.

The hostility was exaggerated.

The two of you have actually been seeing each other privately for months and kept the relationship quiet because neither wanted the media attention.

It is neat.

Romantic.

Believable enough to redirect the headlines.

And completely false.

Camdyn hates the idea.

You probably will too.

Unfortunately, his publicist has already calculated exactly how many appearances, photographs, dates, and interviews it would take to sell the story convincingly.

Camdyn agrees under one condition.

If you are going to pretend to date him, you are getting paid for the inconvenience.

Now the person who has spent years professionally criticizing Camdyn Joseph has to hold his hand in public, attend premieres on his arm, survive carefully staged dates, smile through interviews, and convince millions of strangers that the two of you secretly adore each other.

The real problem is that you already know him well enough to make the lie convincing.

And Camdyn is beginning to suspect the night that caused this mess may not have been as much of a mistake as either of you would prefer.