Falling Into Love with You (The Hate-Love Duet Book 2) by Rowe, Lauren (grave mercy .TXT) 📕

forehead repeatedly, like a woodpecker pecking holes into a dead pine tree. Today’s mission? Operation Annoy Laila, with the higher goal of helping her recall, vividly, the sensation of hating my guts, so she can take the lead on delivering the combativeness Nadine has demanded. Obviously, I don’t want to push Laila so hard as to make her genuinely hate me again. The very thought of regressing to those dark days with this gorgeous woman makes me physically recoil. But, for the greater good, I’m more than willing to aggravate the crap out of Laila today, in ways big and small, if it will help her get into character for today’s long shooting day.

Tap, tap, tap. “Wake up!” I bellow into Laila’s beautiful, sleeping face. “Up and at ‘em, baby!”

All things considered, this ought to annoy her pretty well, right out of the gate. Laila isn’t a morning person on a good day, the same as me, and I’m waking her up a full two hours before her alarm. Plus, Laila drank three goblets of wine last night, before we headed upstairs to screw, so I’m betting she’s feeling a particular need for some extra sleep this morning.

Without opening her eyes, Laila bats at my hand as it continues tapping her forehead. “Stop it,” she murmurs.

Tap, tap, tap. “There shall be no stopping!” I boom. “I’ve got a big surprise for you! Wake up!”

Laila squints at me. “My alarm hasn’t gone off, has it?”

Tap, tap, tap. “No. It. Has. Not! It’s only six!”

“Six? What the fuck!”

“Six is the time for my big surprise!” Tap, tap, tap.

Laila swats at my hand again. “What’s wrong with you?”

Tap, tap, tap. “Nothing’s wrong with me, baby! I’m all kinds of right. We’re going to work out this morning before heading into work.”

“Have fun with that. Bye now.”

I laugh with glee. “Get dressed and meet me in the gym in five, or I’ll physically drag you.” Tap, tap, tap.

Laila’s fully awake now. Scowling, she pulls the covers to her chin and rolls onto her side. “I’ll work out tonight after work. I drank too much last night.”

“Fish and Alessandra are coming over tonight, remember? It’s now or never.”

“Never, then.”

Without warning, I yank the covers off Laila’s near-naked body, subjecting her to the brisk early-morning air in the room, and she shrieks and curls into the fetal position. I pull out my phone and aim it at her. “Say good morning to everyone, babe. We’re live.”

Laila shrieks and covers her face with her hands. “Please, tell me you’re joking.”

I don’t blame her for second-guessing me. In all the time we’ve been posting daily “happy couple at home” videos, it’s always been Laila, not me, who’s initiated our videos. And only when Laila is good and ready and has checked her makeup in the mirror.

“Not joking. Look.” As she peeks out from behind her hands, I turn my phone around to show her the screen. “See? Now, say hi to the nice people.”

She waves halfheartedly and says hello. “Sorry, guys,” she says. “We’ll come back after I’ve had my coffee. Say goodbye, Savage.”

I turn the camera lens on myself. “Isn’t Laila adorable when she first wakes up? So cranky! Ha! So, here’s the deal, guys. I woke Laila up way earlier than her alarm, so we could squeeze in a workout before heading off to work today, since we’ve got plans with friends tonight. So, would you guys do me a big favor in the comments and help me convince Laila to work out with me? Only positive comments, please. Give her a pep talk. No trolling. And if it works, we’ll come back later and show you part of our workout.” I return the camera to Laila’s angry face. “Say goodbye to everyone, babe.”

She waves. “When you guys leave your comments, be sure to tell Savage he’s annoying as hell.”

Ha. Operation Annoy Laila is already off to a fantastic start.

I turn off my camera and spank Laila’s ass. “Now, get dressed and meet me in the gym to see your surprise.” With that, I exit the room, and head back to Charlie the Fitness Trainer, who’s waiting for me in the gym.

* * *

    “Charlie,” Laila gasps out, freezing just inside the doorway of the gym. Her blue eyes shift to me. Confusion. Anger. Betrayal. Those are the emotions flickering across Laila’s frozen face as she stares at me in disbelief.

Charlie reaches Laila and gives her a warm bear hug, unaware of his status as my unwitting pawn, and Laila peeks over his broad shoulder to shoot me the kind of scathing look I haven’t seen from her in a very long time. Well, that’s weird. I haven’t even gotten to the annoying part yet—the part where I supposedly find out, in front of Laila, that Charlie is gay and married. And she’s already shooting me murderous daggers? Well, that feels a bit premature . . . and vaguely worrisome. But, oh well. I’ve got a job to do. And I’m going to do it.

“It’s great to see you again, Laila,” Charlie says.

Laila returns the compliment, her face flushed.

Charlie says, “I’ve been following you and Savage on Instagram. Looks like you two are having a blast, living together and shooting the show. Emma can’t wait to see you as a judge. When will the first episode air?”

“Right after New Year’s,” Laila replies.

“Sorry, who’s Emma?” I ask. “Your daughter?”

“My stepdaughter. She and my husband came to visit me during the tour—and when Emma met Laila, she was starry-eyed. And then, when Emma saw Laila perform, forget about it. An obsession was born.”

“Tell Emma to join the club,” I say. But my eyes are on Laila’s, letting her know the full implication of Charlie’s story hasn’t escaped me. Charlie is married. And not only that, he’s married to a dude. Frankly, it was a lot easier than I thought it’d be to pull that information out of Charlie. I thought I’d have to ask him all sorts