by Nina Lindsey
“How do you know so much about him?” Jake opened the menu, deflecting an unexpected stab of jealousy.
“Gossip, usually from Destiny and Aria, or Mrs. Higgins at the Outside Inn.”
“Mrs. Higgins? She’s still running the place?”
“She was going to retire after she lost her husband, but she said keeping the inn going ended up being the best thing she could have done.” Sorrow crossed her face. “We had to remind my mom about that when she wanted to close Sugar Joy after Dad died. She was also thinking about moving away, but now she’s so glad that she didn’t.”
“Have you ever thought about living somewhere else?”
“Why would I want to live anywhere else?” She sounded genuinely surprised. “I love it here.”
“Yeah, but you said your sister might be leaving again, and a lot of the people we went to school with have moved away.” He scanned the dishes listed on the menu. “You never had the urge?”
“No. I lived away when I was in grad school, but I always hoped I’d come back here. When I was offered the position at Skyline, it seemed inevitable.” She shrugged. “This is where I’m meant to be.”
“Hey, Callie.” The red-headed waitress stopped by the table, taking a pen and order pad out of her apron pocket. “Where have you been hiding lately?”
“The usual places. My office or my mom’s trying to keep her from overdoing it. How’ve you been, Tina?”
“Great. Just working and saving up so I can move to Oregon. Todd’s been there for three months now, and he loves it.” The girl slanted her gaze to Jake. “Are you new here?”
“No, I—”
“Tina, this is my friend Jake.” Callie pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “Jake, this is Tina, a former student.”
“Nice meeting you, Tina.” The tension in Jake’s shoulders eased as he extended his hand to her. He had the sudden sense that he didn’t need to worry about his anonymity as much as he’d expected he would have to. The idea was more than a relief—it was an acknowledgement that his instinct to return to Bliss Cove might have been right.
“Nice to meet you.” Tina shook his hand. “Excellent work dragging Callie out for a change. We all used to think she was like a dragon holed up in her lair, only emerging to breathe fire at her students every now and then.”
“Ah, a fierce scholar of Greek mythology.” Jake shot Callie a grin. “The world could use more women like her.”
Tina winked at Callie. “And men like him.”
“I’ll say,” Callie murmured, her cheeks turning that appealing shade of pink.
“What’ll you have to drink?” Tina flipped open her order pad. “We have a whole new bunch of ciders.”
“I have to get up early tomorrow, so just decaf coffee for me,” Callie said.
“And you?” Tina shifted her attention back to Jake.
“Bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a double chocolate shake.”
“Got it.” Tina scribbled on her pad. “I’ll bring your drinks right over.”
After scooping up their menus, she hurried back to the kitchen.
Callie leaned closer to Jake, concern in her brown eyes. “You’re sure you’re comfortable being here without a disguise?”
“I’m sure.”
He meant it, too. Unless his or his family’s safety was threatened, he’d never been rude to anyone asking for an autograph or photo. He knew how fortunate he was to have so many fans, and they were the people who’d helped him get to where he was. By and large, his encounters with them had been warm, gracious, and mutually respectful.
Now, he couldn’t even acknowledge recognition—unless he wanted to risk both exposure or getting roped into another “deal”—and it appeared that in some circumstances, at least, he might not even have to worry about it.
Which also meant he could enjoy his time with Callie even more.
“So.” She took a sip of water, and he couldn’t help watching her lips close around the rim of the glass. “If Sudden Impact wasn’t a good way to break my movie drought, what movie should I have seen?”
“Any one of the greats. Citizen Kane. Lawrence of Arabia. The Godfather. I could name dozens more.”
“You’ve seen them all?”
“Sure. I used to go to the Vitaphone all the time, especially on weekends. They had a classic movie double-feature every Saturday night.”
“They still have the double-feature.” Callie rested her chin on her hand and studied him. “Two classic movies every Wednesday night. Gus used to show them on Saturdays, but he had to start showing a current blockbuster on the weekends. Still, he didn’t want to give up the tradition so he just changed the day.”
“That’s great. I had no idea.” Affection nudged at him. “I saw a ton of classics on the Vitaphone’s big screen. Plus all the iconic ones from our teenage years. I wanted to live at the movie theater.”
“Why?”
Jake shrugged and twisted a straw wrapper around his finger. People knew his father had left them, but no one knew that Arnold Ryan had been a deadbeat and a drunk, prone to throwing punches when he got mad. Or that Jake had battled between being glad his father was gone and wanting him back.
“The Vitaphone was where I first discovered the magic of movies.” He unrolled the wrapper and twisted it up again. “I’d sit there in the dark and just get lost in the story. Everything bad in my life would disappear for two hours.”
The movie theater had been the one place where his father couldn’t touch him, where he could put aside his worry and his bone-deep fear. All he needed to care about was the movie hero’s quest to capture the bad guy or save the universe. He’d known the instant he sank into one of the upholstered, red seats that no matter what obstacle or insurmountable problem came up…the hero would get through it.
Jake had known one thing during those moments. If the hero could survive…maybe he could too.
He lifted his gaze. Callie watched him with warm brown eyes, her chin still resting on her hand. “What was it you loved so much about the movies?”
“That…” He swallowed past a sudden tightness in his throat, not sure he could even articulate it. “The hero always solved the mystery, finished the bad guy, got the girl he loved. Everything worked out. I guess I liked knowing I could count on a happy ending.”
“Now you help create the happy endings.” She sat back, reaching up to fiddle with her necklace again. “From what I hear, at least. My mom said your character Blaze Ripley finally got married at the end of the last movie.”
“Yeah, to his longtime love interest. It was a great ending…one that the previous four movies had been building up to.”
Tina returned with his milkshake and Callie’s coffee. Jake moved his napkin aside so she could set them on the table.
“Be right back with your food.” She bustled toward the kitchen.
“Do you still feel that way about movies?” Callie lifted the coffee cup to her lips. “Do you still get lost in the story and hope for a happy ending?”
Did he? He’d gotten so caught up in the industry and box office returns that he wasn’t even sure how he really felt while watching a movie anymore.
He was saved from having to answer by the arrival of the food. After Tina deposited his plate with a cheery “Enjoy,” he picked up the ketchup bottle and loaded his fries.
Callie eyed his burger with a raised eyebrow. “You’re serious with that?”
“I haven’t eaten dinner yet.”
“We just ate all that popcorn.”
“That wasn’t dinner.” He hefted the burger and took a large bite. “But if we’re judging, you’re serious with the decaf coffee?”
Her mouth twitched. “Touché. I apologize. Far be it from me to come between a man and his cheeseburger.”
Jake nodded his forgiveness and bit into the burger again.
“So will you tell me the long story of why you’re back in Bliss Cove?” Callie took a sip of her coffee.
“Yeah
, but I’ll give you the short version.” He dipped a fry in ketchup. “My agent is in the middle of negotiating my contract for the next Fatal Glory movie, and I got into some trouble with the media.”
Callie’s brows rose. “What kind of trouble?”
“My sister Pam and I were out for dinner at a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard.” Old anger simmered in his chest. “She’d just told me the previous night that she was pregnant, so we talked a lot about her plans, name ideas, that kind of thing. But someone tipped off the press that I was there, and when we left, a huge crowd of paparazzi was waiting.”
He paused and shook his head, his jaw tightening. “I’m used to it…sometimes…but Pam isn’t. And they were especially aggressive because they’d heard I was holding out for a huge pay increase for Fatal Glory 7. So they were shoving and yelling questions about the contract and shit…and of course the flashbulbs were blinding, and then a crowd of spectators and fans showed up, shouting for autographs and selfies…anyway, it got insanely chaotic really fast. Pam was getting scared, and the fucking restaurant wouldn’t call security to help us get to the car.”
“Why on earth not?”
“Because they’d been the ones to call the press in the first place. They wanted the publicity.” Bitterness scraped his throat. “So this one tabloid asshole got into Pam’s face with the camera and yelling stupid questions—are you Jake’s new girlfriend? Are you in his next movie? How long have you been dating? I warned him to back off, and he got nasty. Shoved his way forward and tripped over a step. He plowed right into Pam and knocked her over. The only thing I saw was her lying on the ground, holding her abdomen, and the bastard still taking pictures of her.
“I saw red and just lost it. Yanked the guy back and punched him in the face. He went down like a rag doll. And that was when security arrived…except they came after me instead of the fucking paparazzi.”
He took a swallow of water, smothering latent rage. “Of course, it ended up all over the internet. Photos of me taking the swing. The guy with a bloody nose. Interviews with wait staff saying I was drunk, which was a lie, and then another with some low-life production assistant from my last movie who gave them some crap about my anger issues. You can look it all up.”
“I don’t want to.” Her voice was quiet, and she reached across the table to rest her hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry that happened. Was Pam okay?”
He nodded. “Physically, she was fine, but she was upset. Still is. My PR rep Susan and I issued a statement owning up to what I did and also telling the truth, but it was overshadowed by the reporter threatening to press charges. That would obviously make things worse, especially in the middle of the Fatal Glory negotiations. So I got exiled until things settle down and my agent and the studio work out the contract details.”
He stirred the chocolate shake with his straw and gave a humorless laugh. “Okay, so that wasn’t the short version after all.”
“So why did you come back to Bliss Cove?” Callie rested her arms on the table and leaned closer. “Why not go off to some Caribbean island or…I don’t know. Shanghai?”
Jake shrugged. He didn’t even have an answer for himself, let alone anyone else. Let alone Callie Prescott, who’d always known where she was going and always had her shit together, even in times of crisis like when her father died.
He wiped his mouth with a napkin and tossed it beside his plate. “You ready to leave?”
“You’re not going to finish?”
“I’ll take the milkshake to go.” Jake dug into his pocket for his wallet and headed to the register to pay, adding an excessively generous tip.
After pouring the milkshake into a plastic cup another waitress gave him, he started back to the table just as Grant came out of the kitchen. Catching the other man’s eye, Jake nodded in both acknowledgement and thanks. Grant responded with a tilt of his chin.
It was the male equivalent of an outright hug.
After Jake held Callie’s jacket for her—again resisting the urge to tug her hair from the collar—they walked into the cool night air and started back toward Mariposa Street to their parked cars.
“Hey, thanks for tonight.” Callie nudged him with her elbow. “You were right. I had fun.”
“Don’t worry.” He nudged her back. “I won’t tell anyone.”
“Neither will I. About you, I mean,” she added quickly. “Not that I have anyone to tell.”
Unease rustled in his chest. Exactly what her mother had said about her. He wasn’t worried about Callie telling anyone anything…but he disliked the idea that Eleanor’s assessment of Callie as a “spinster” had been accurate. She was a warm, brilliant young woman who deserved more than just a movie date followed by decaf coffee.
Not that he was the guy who could actually give her what she deserved. Not that he even knew what that was.
He took a sip of the milkshake, catching her sideways glance. He extended the cup to her. “Want some? It’s amazing.”
A smile tugged at her mouth. She leaned forward to close her lips around the straw and suck.
Jake’s breath stuck in his throat. Heat rushed to his lower body. Damned if she didn’t have the most perfect mouth of any woman he’d ever met.
“Delicious.” Straightening, she wiped her lower lip and flashed him a smile. “An action flick, popcorn, candy, and now a milkshake? I don’t know if I can handle all this fun.”
Jake grinned. “Fun looks good on you, Professor.”
“Glad you think so, considering you’re the one who put it on me.”
A current of electricity sizzled between them. Callie broke her gaze first and glanced at her watch. “Almost eleven. I should get home.”
“Are you always in bed before midnight?” Only after the question came out did Jake realize he was now thinking of Callie in bed.
The heat in his veins intensified. He took another sip of milkshake to try and cool off.
“I’m usually in bed before ten.” She took her keys from her purse and stopped by a tan car parked on the street. Was everything she owned—her clothes, car, house—in some shade of neutral?
She unlocked the car, and Jake stepped forward to open the driver’s side door for her. He hooked his hand around the top of the door and studied her.
“You really are good, aren’t you?”
She averted her gaze and fiddled with the keys. “What do you mean?”
“Like you were in high school. You eat your vegetables. Follow the rules. Get your taxes done on time. Return your library books by the due date. Never leave the cap off the toothpaste tube.”
“That’s just being normal.”
A chuckle rumbled through his chest. “Normal people are messy, indulgent, and frequently waste time doing useless things like watching videos of hamsters eating tiny food.”
She blinked. “What are you talking about?”
“The hamsters.” He made a nibbling gesture. “With their little burritos and pancakes.”
“What?”
“Never mind.” Jake shook his head. “My point is that you’re good, but you’re also kind of rigid.”
She huffed with irritation. “I am not rigid. I ate your popcorn and M&Ms, didn’t I?”
“But you’re going to have oatmeal and kale for breakfast, aren’t you?”
“So?” Callie tossed her hair back and took hold of the door handle. “There’s nothing wrong with living a disciplined life, Mr. Hollywood.”
“As long as you allow more time for fun.” He couldn’t resist reaching out to curl a lock of her hair around his finger. “Come with me to the classic movie feature on Wednesday night.”
She bit her lip. “Why?”
“That movie—” he indicated the Vitaphone marquee with the milkshake cup, “—was a terrible way to break your long dry spell. You need a much more exhilarating experience, one that will make you want to go back again and again. I can give that to you.”
Heat sparked behind the wariness in her eyes. She
knew he wasn’t talking about just the movies anymore. And he knew he was diving headfirst into the danger zone. He wanted to.
He leaned forward, boxing her into the space between the open car door and the driver’s seat. Keeping his gaze on hers, he tugged her lock of hair and brought them closer together. Her eyes widened. The air grew thick.
Jake’s heart hammered. He knew how to treat a woman, but none of his former girlfriends had been like Callie. He’d never wanted to kiss a woman more in his life. He’d also never been as scared. A kiss from him could send her running in the opposite direction.
Or not.
Gripping the milkshake cup tighter, he lowered his head and captured her mouth with his. Heat flooded his veins. She gave a little gasp that sank right into his blood. He tensed for an instant, half expecting her to pull away. Instead she closed the distance between them and spread one hand over the front of his shirt.
Then she parted her lips and kissed him back. Thought disappeared. He lost himself in the press of her sweet mouth, the tentative flicker of her tongue, the scent of her filling his head. He cupped his hand against her warm neck and rested his thumb in the hollow of her throat. Her pulse beat quick and hot, like the flutter of a bird’s wings. He wanted to kiss her there, to taste her skin and feel her body writhing under his.
Arousal coursed through him, settling heavily in his groin. He crowded her against the car door and urged her mouth open wider. She tasted like a thousand good things—chocolate, apples, spices. He wanted to devour her. Pressing his hand to her lower back, he brought their bodies together. Her breasts nudged against his chest, intensifying his lustful heat. A moan spilled from her lips into his mouth.
He could have drowned in her, this sweet, brilliant woman with lips like heaven and a warm, pliable body that was hungry for more. He read her eagerness in every panting breath, in the way she curved her leg around his, tightened her grip on his shirt front, arched against him.
God help him, Jake wanted to be the one to give her everything she longed for and needed. He wanted to drench her with kisses and electrify her with touches. He wanted to peel her clothes off and stroke her bare breasts, to discover how she looked when her skin was flushed all over. Then he wanted to open her thighs and—