Fool for Love

by Mel Curtis

  The manager completed his rounds and the restaurant quieted, as much as a room full of nosey people could be quiet.

  “Then why the mini-dates? Why the public invitation?” She blinked rapidly and worked her mouth, as if fighting tears. “You’ve failed. You didn’t find me the perfect man.”

  “The mini-dates aren’t over.” It took a great effort to keep his ass in the chair when what he wanted to do was throw her over his shoulder and take her home. “I have one more candidate.”

  Maddy glanced back at the lobby. “There’s no one else out there.”

  “It’s me. I’m your last date.”

  That shut her up. And shutting Maddy up was a rare thing. Usually a camera had to be rolling.

  He had to prompt her. “Ask me. Go on.”

  A flush crept up her neck to her cheeks and her gaze slipped away. “Don’t be cruel.”

  He hated that she didn’t trust him. “I was a fool to believe you’d ever betray me, a fool who couldn’t recognize the greatest thing that ever happened to him had walked into his life and gambled everything without even knowing who I was.”

  She blinked at him, but said nothing.

  Nothing was how he felt without her. “You didn’t have any trouble asking the other men,” he said gently. “Ask me.”

  “All right.” She leveled a gaze on him that was so direct he could tell he was on a knife’s edge, ready to be sliced out of her life permanently if things went south. “The man for me is a risk taker. What’s the last risk you took?”

  He could have answered glibly, but now wasn’t the time to skate around his emotions. “I put my heart on the line for the woman I love. I gave her a choice of three wealthy, successful men that I knew could offer her something different than I can.”

  “So you thought Ren could offer…”

  “Fidelity. That man has never cheated on anything or anyone.” Ren would trust Maddy blindly.

  “Was Kent supposed to dazzle me?”

  “No. He’d support your dreams. He wouldn’t be Mr. Happily-Ever-After, but he’d be Mr. Right-For-Now. That guy has more pull in Hollywood than I do.”

  Maddy’s eyes narrowed. “And Senge?”

  “He’s a true risk-taker, a high-stakes gambler, like you. And he has the Midas touch.”

  “Midas isn’t going to be touching me,” Maddy said solemnly with the barest hint of a smile. She glanced down at the card. “Have you ever cheated?”

  He could tell by the way she asked – hard, impersonal – that she expected him to say yes. Anger tossed out a response before he could rethink. “You know I haven’t.”

  “Do I?” Maddy threw up her hands. “This is supposed to be a cone of safety conversation. No more lies.”

  A round of photos ensued. The manager gave up on crowd control, scowling as he retreated to the kitchen.

  It hurt that Maddy didn’t believe him, the same as it must have hurt when he didn’t believe her about the leaked video. “I’ve never cheated on a woman I was seeing.” Blue met her gaze squarely. “I’ve been untrue in other relationships though. I’ve betrayed my sisters, and tried to cheat you out of something that was very important to you, because I considered my image to have higher priority.”

  “And that’s why we’d never work,” Maddy pushed her chair back. Her eyes filled with tears. “You have different values than I do. You lose, Blue. You lose.”

  “Wait, Maddy.” He grabbed her hand.

  She froze in her seat, a mixture of hurt and hope in her eyes.

  “I learned my lesson, Maddy. I told the truth, not just to you, but to anyone who knows how to watch an online video.” He stood, still in possession of her hand, if not her heart. “I’m not hiding behind anything. I’m far from perfect.” His voice dropped. “Certainly, God and all of Hollywood know I don’t deserve you. But I’ll try so damn hard to be the man you deserve if you give me a second chance.”

  Maddy’s gaze fell to the card on the table. When she spoke, her voice seemed as fragile as Blue’s hopes. “Will you support my dreams in every way? Will you consider them just as important as your own?”

  “I will, even if I have to put on a clown nose and an orange wig and dance down Santa Monica Boulevard.” God, help him, because he’d do it for her.

  “Why?” she whispered.

  “Because I love you, Maddy.” He dropped onto the floor on one knee. “My dad may have had good intentions, but he scrambled my emotions to the point where any relationship I entered into was doomed to fail.” He smiled up at her, this strong, wonderful woman who deserved a man ten times better than him. He smiled despite cameras and an audience. He smiled because he loved her more than his reputation or what others thought of him. “And then in you walked with your sass and your belief in the Rules. You had faith in me, even I didn’t.”

  She hadn’t moved. Not toward him. Not further back in her seat.

  So he kept going. “From the moment you told me to stop working my charm on you, I was hooked.” He willed her to give him a sign that she believed him. That she believed in them. “I may call myself a relationship coach from the Dooley Foundation, but you deserve that honor. You revitalized my belief in love. You resurrected the good things about my relationship with my father. You inspired me to listen to others generously, to see their stories, their fears, their dreams – not the size of clothing they wore or where they worked or what they could do for my career. Without you, I’d be just another shallow man in Hollywood, cursing the other shallow men who cut me off on the freeway.”

  “I don’t know what to believe,” Maddy murmured.

  “Believe in me, Maddy. Believe in us.”

  Cora returned with a large gift box. “Hope I’m not disturbing you. It’s his wedding gift,” she said to Maddy. “Mine is my sincere apology.”

  “Incredibly bad timing.” Blue waved his sister away, but not before Maddy opened the box.

  She gasped. “Poppa Bert’s photo albums. But how did you get them? Juan said a wealthy collector bought them the day they went up for sale.”

  “I made a deal.” He’d promised Juan at the pawn shop an introduction to Kaya Anika. And he’d compensated the buyer double the purchase price.

  “It must have been expensive.”

  “You’re worth it.” He pulled her into his lap on the floor, ignoring the flurry of cameras. He didn’t care that they were the center of attention if he was cocooned in her love. “You’re worth it. And I’m going to prove it to you every day for the rest of your life. I’ve chosen to love you, Maddy. I’ll never doubt you again. I’ll prove I’m worthy of your trust and love every day. I’m going to hold onto that feeling of love you’ve given me. I’m going to relive that feeling every morning and every night.” He guided her hand over his heart. “Right here.”

  Her brown eyes, the ones that saw right through him, widened. “You’re using the Rules?”

  He nodded. “I made peace with my Dad and with who I am. I love you, Maddy. Give me a second chance. Marry me.”

  She cupped his cheek with her palm, while a tear tracked down her cheek. “I have a feeling I should be using leverage so I never have to do laundry again. You know, I can’t stand anything that needs dry cleaning.”

  “You’re going to be a busy producer. I’ll hire a housekeeper.” He leaned in closer. “You do love me, don’t you?” She hadn’t said it.

  She nodded, which was enough to send joy zinging through his veins.

  “And you’ll marry me?”

  She nodded, shedding a couple more tears, which he gently wiped away.

  “Then repeat after me.” Blue managed to get them to their feet. “I love you, Blue Rule.”

  “I love you, Blue Rule.” She laughed, a sound that drowned out the noise around them.

  He didn’t need her to tell him she was happy. He could feel her energy and her love running down her arms and into him. He knew she felt like dancing.

  Blue pulled her close, starting a slow dance that would
last a lifetime. “This is the best day of my life.”

  “I seem to recall…” Maddy stopped dancing and drew him close enough to hear her whisper. “…that the next time you had a truly stellar day, you were going to show me something.” Her eyes sparkled with just the right mix of mischief and mayhem.

  “We can’t start our relationship with a broken promise, can we?” He took her hand and ran with her toward the door.

  And home.

  Chapter 37

  L.A. Happenings Column by Lyle Lincoln

  …Get your sexy on! Playboy Avenger thongs and T-shirts on clearance before the end of the month when these ladies close their website for good. Kaya Anika tells me all proceeds will go to the Malibu Small Animal Rescue. Have I mentioned she’s also on staff at Wicked Tantric as Senge’s second in command?

  …Cal Lazarus announced he’s cast Portia Francis and Lon Gleason in the lead roles of his next movie. The Princess of the Suburbs pair hope to bring box office magic to the delayed and troubled production.

  …I’ve got it on good authority that Cora Rule is now offering relationship counseling, a specialty of the Dooley Foundation. Among her first clients? Vivian Gordon, estranged wife of Flash owner, Jack Gordon. I even hear he’s paying.

  The End

  Turn the page to read the next installment of the series.

  It's Only Love

  Chapter One

  “You’re making that face.”

  Cora Rule’s morning’s espresso twerked in her stomach. She crumpled her toes in her zebra Badgley Mischka heels. She wanted to crumple her new client schedule with her new client list, but that wouldn’t be wise in front of her boss.

  “You know the face I’m talking about.” Amber, her half-sister and boss, sat in the same chair in which their father had built the Dooley Foundation. She looked like a cross between a centerfold and a red-headed Disney princess, especially in her emerald green, gauzy peasant blouse with gold lacings over her cleavage.

  Neither sister took after their father in the looks department, thank God. While Amber was Tinkerbell-short and curvy, Cora was taller than average, less stacked than average, with average brown hair. When she was young, Cora’s supermodel mother had compensated for Cora’s coltish, mediocre appearance by making sure Cora wore the latest fashions. When she was in high school, Lucia made low-cut blouses part of Cora’s fashion repertoire. This was, after all, Beverly Hills. Cleavage was de rigueur and – large or small – a display evened the playing field.

  Cora sighed, tugging at the sleeves of last year’s gray, scooped-neck Michael Kors, feeling drab and trapped. In some twisted slight against her mother, her father’s will prohibited Cora from buying new clothes until she achieved her sales quota. If only meeting her sales quota didn’t involve becoming a life coach to a handful of ex-lovers.

  Her gaze landed on the schedule again. Relations with ex-lovers always got messy after you put your clothes back on. And estranged wives of ex-lovers? She did not want to go there.

  The espresso shimmied in her stomach once more.

  The next few days played out in agonizing 3D:

  “Brian, I’m here to help you on a path to self-discovery,” she’d say at eight o’clock Saturday morning. The young screenwriter would raise his carefully groomed brows suggestively, so she’d have to add, “A path that doesn’t include sex.” Because Brian was a sex-addict. She often suspected his life had inspired Californication.

  Then, on to the next ex at nine-thirty.

  She’d smile at Jean Claude and say, “Let me help you overcome your super-sized ego and achieve happiness.” It was a toss-up as to how the stuntman would respond given the last time Cora’d seen him, she’d told him his dick was too small to justify his being such a huge head-case.

  And then there was the estranged wife, scheduled for an initial meeting tonight.

  Hard to be tactful when she had to say, “Vivian, it takes balls to hang onto a man who wants to divorce you. But sometimes you’ve just got to say what the fuck, move forward, find some balance in your life, and a man who appreciates you.” Because Jack Gordon cared about one thing and one thing only – his NBA basketball team, the L.A. Flash. Anything else was superfluous, including the woman he’d vowed to love until death parted them.

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  About the Book and the Author

  This book percolated for years with a combination of things: I enjoy hearing celebrity gossip, I married a Final Four college athlete who later became a coach, I listen to self-help audio books (The Secret is still a favorite), and my mother was obsessed with Richard Simmons when I was growing up. If you mix all that together, you'd get a self-help guru who isn't cool to his kids, who dies and wills his practice to his kids - only he's never told anyone the secrets to his self-help success. You'd also get a cast of characters only Hollywood can provide: a sex kitten reality star, a heartless heart-throb actor, a NBA star with something to prove, a wounded gossip columnist, a driven self-made NBA franchise owner, a sister who needs to grow up, and a brother who thinks he can cut corners and ride the heroine's coat tails. Amber Rule is one of my favorite heroines because she lived in my head for far too long. I hope she's become one of your favorites, too.

  Playing for Love

  It's Only Love

  All My Love

  All She Needs is Love

  Fighting For Love

  Melinda Curtis is an award winning, USA Today bestseller who lives in her empty nest with her husband (her college sweetheart), two small dogs (Yorkie-Shitzu mixes), and an average looking cat (Queen of all she Surveys).

  To receive Free Reads and book release notifications from Melinda sign up here: http://bit.ly/1hQOMIP

  Follow her on FB for series updates and chances to win stuff. https://www.facebook.com/MelindaCurtisAuthor/

  Other Series by Melinda Curtis

  Harmony Valley from Harlequin Heartwarming (fun, touching sweet small town romances)

  Dandelion Wishes

  Summer Kisses

  Season of Change

  One Perfect Year

  Time for Love

  A Memory Away

  A Man of Influence

  The Bridesmaid Series (sweet, romantic comedies)

  The Wedding Promise

  Always a Bridesmaid

  Rescued by a Bridesmaid