The media attention around Dean and I had died down quite a bit. They had moved on to harassing the next big star on their list. Dean would just be another man in the list of men I had dated and been totally unsuccessful with. I hoped someday I’d have a nice long list of men who I’d failed with, but one that I finally was able to settle down with.
Dean would long be the guy who I let get away and I wondered about. The connection we had made me think that he might have been the one, but then again, if he had been the one, would he have been so easily pushed away?
I didn’t want to be one of those girls who pushed a guy away and then hoped he would come back for her. My intention really hadn’t been like that at all. I just needed some time to figure things out, and that’s what I took. Now, it seemed like a different time when Dean and I had met. I was searching for freedom from the life I had, and he was there waiting to hand me the keys to a new life.
The world just didn’t work like that. People didn’t just accidently find the man of their dreams or at least that was what I told myself when I rationalized why I wasn’t calling Dean. But I was back in Los Angeles, and it was time to get my hustle going again.
***
“I’ve got a meeting set up for you tomorrow morning,” Jeremy, said when he called me the following Sunday night.
“What is it for?”
“You’re going to do an audition. I’m not sure of the details because they are keeping it really hush-hush, but dress nice. It’s at eight o’clock on the Warner Bros. Studio lot.”
“Eight o’clock? Why do all these directors insist on forcing people to be at their best at the butt crack of dawn?”
“Get a good night’s sleep and be ready. This could be a huge part or a small one; you just never know. But a part in a Warner Bros. film is a step up for sure, any part is.”
I agreed to arrive looking refreshed and ready to read for any part they might have coming my way, and I did. I pulled into the Warner Bros. parking lot at exactly 7:45 a.m. with a full coffee in my stomach and a smile on my face. It was exciting to be invited to a big name studio, and I was going to do my best to show them I was ready for whatever role they might have in mind for me.
Jeremy was right; it didn’t matter if it was a small role or not because it was likely going to be a blockbuster film. The big movie studios didn’t put out many flops each year; they were pretty strategic about their filmmaking and were willing to put up some serious cash for big named actors.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized I wasn’t going to be the lead in any Warner Bros. film anytime soon. They would hire some fancy actress that had a long track record of bringing in ticket sales, and that was just fine by me. Maybe I could be the supporting best friend or something like that; that would be just fine with me.
My nerves started to hit me as I walked into the audition room and saw some of my idols sitting at a table in the front of the room. They were some of the biggest names in Hollywood filmmaking, and I had landed an audition. It was now up to me to prove to them that I would be the perfect actress for whatever role they were looking to fill.
“Hi, I’m Angelina Kent,” I said as I stood in the doorway.
“We know who you are sweetheart,” an older man said. I was pretty sure he was one of the studio executives by the fancy suit he was wearing.
“Here’s the script; I’ll have Bill read the male role for you,” the man said.
“Okay, so should I start now?” I asked.
I felt like a teenager who was auditioning for the school place. Nothing seemed normal to me, and I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing. In the film industry, I was still very green under the collar, and it showed.
“Go ahead and read over the script first,” one of the men said.
From what I could gather, the scene was an emotional love scene between two characters. I hadn’t been prepared to be too emotional, but I was going to give it everything I had.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes for a moment to help get into the character and then began reading the part. Bill, one of the men who were sitting at the table, read the male part. The two of us together were absolutely dreadful. It was my first read through, and I knew they would let me go again, but I wasn’t sure I could win them over after how badly I had just done.
“I’m sorry, can I do that again?” I asked.
The door behind me swung open quietly, and I didn’t dare to turn around and look to see who it was. Everyone at the table seemed amused, though, and as they watched the person walk into the room and stand next to me, I couldn’t help turning a little to see who it was.
“Your co-star,” the man in the suit said. “Dean, can you read through this scene with Angelina please.”
“Of course. It would be my pleasure,” Dean said as he grabbed the script from Bill and pulled up a chair in front of me.
My jaw was open and probably hanging close to the ground as I stood there watching Dean. He looked like a movie star with his black leather jacket on and a little bit of a scruffy beard forming. My heart skipped a million beats.
Dean didn’t hesitate at all and quickly went into reading his part from the script.
“You can’t leave me, Nell; I love you, and that’s enough for us to fix this.”
“Robert, it’s not enough. My whole family was killed, and you expect me to just fall into your arms and live happily ever after. Well, that’s now how the real world works,” I read, and this time much better than my first read through.
“Listen here, I said I love you, and that’s that,” Dean said loudly as he stood up and pushed his chair out of the way. “What kind of woman tries to run away from the man who loves her?”
“Dean … I mean Robert. I’m not running. I’ve got responsibilities.”
Dean smiled at my mess up, and it took everything I could muster not to smile back at him. I wasn’t sure if he was the one who had landed me this audition or if Jeremy really had made it happen, but I still wanted to show everyone that I was the perfect actress for the position.
“Fine, leave then.”
“That’s it. You fight hard for me and then you’re fine with me leaving? Good riddance,” I said as I turned to walk away.
Dean grabbed me and pulled me back to him roughly. So roughly that I slipped and fell right into his arms. His eyes looked down at mine, and his arms stayed strongly wrapped around me.
“I’m not letting you go, and that’s all there is to it,” he said and then leaned down and kissed me.
He wasn’t kissing me as an actor in a movie, though. Dean Morrison was kissing me as a man who loved a woman. I kissed him right back because I loved him too. It didn’t matter how long we had known each other, I knew he was the one, and it scared the hell out of me. But being scared was when the greatest of things happened.
“Cut,” the director hollered. “Besides that little adlib at the end, I think that was pretty damn good. Would you two excuse us while we talk this over?”
“Sure,” Dean said and pulled me out into the hallway.
“Dean Morrison, did you just kiss me?” I said firmly as I tried to pretend like I was angry.
“Damn right I did, and I’d like to do it again.”
“So you got a part in this movie?” I asked as I tried to change the subject.
“Yep, sounds like a good one too. Well, if they cast the right woman in the lead female role.”
“What about our age difference?” I asked.
“Hell, you know Hollywood. Women are supposed to look young as hell even when they are older. I think it will be fine.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t call you.”
“It’s alright,” he said as he moved in closer to me. “I did think about you a lot.”
“Really? How much is a lot?”
“At least twice a day,” he joked.
“Okay guys, you can come back in,” the director yelled. “Okay, we would
like to have you play the lead role in The Outside Hearts with Dean. What do you think about that Angelina?”
I stood there stunned for a minute and looked at Dean and then back to the men behind the desk. This was what I had been waiting for, my big break, and I’d get to do it with Dean. There really wasn’t anything better that I could possibly imagine.
“Yes,” I said as tears welled up in my eyes.
“So are we Facebook official?” Dean laughed.
“Oh yeah, you two are official. Go ahead and announce,” the director added. “We look forward to working with you both.
As Dean and I made it out of the studio, we were surrounded by paparazzi. It seemed totally odd to me that they would have access to the studio lot until I turned back and saw the bigwigs from the film standing there and smiling. If they wanted to cause some commotion online, then putting the two of us in a film together was certainly a good way of doing that.
“Did you two really meet on a dating app?” one of the men asked politely.
All of the paparazzi were politely standing there and filming us. It was a delightful change compared to what had been going on in New York. Perhaps because they had been invited there, the photographers were being nicer, or maybe Los Angeles paparazzi were just more easygoing.
“Yep, we met on Instamatch,” Dean said before I had a chance to answer.
“Do you recommend the app for others to find love?” another man asked.
I reached out and grabbed Dean’s hand and squeezed it so he would give me a chance to talk. I had thought a lot about the app and about the love I had found with Dean.
“You can use phone apps, online websites, or traditional ways to meet the person of your dreams. But no matter what happens, it’s always going to be up to you to make that relationship work. I recommend people do what feels right to them as they search for their perfect match.”
In the background, we heard the studio executive as he announced that Dean and I would be starring in an upcoming blockbuster together. It seemed like the perfect combination of marketing and teasing for the public.
“So are you two officially a couple?”
“What do you think?” Dean said as he dipped me down dramatically and kissed me.
PART III
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 1
Merrick
“So, Merrick, can you tell me why you’ve chosen Millionaire Matching to help you find your match?” the young brunette asked.
“My friend Wyatt here says you are the best. And to be honest, I get asked for a big rock from just about every woman I date. I thought it might be more fun to go into the date knowing that the woman just wanted me for my money,” I said flippantly.
“Yes, I have a couple friends who have gone through your program and were matched up with women that were perfect for them. Merrick has been playing the field for a long time, and he’s ready to find the woman he will marry,” Wyatt said as we sat in the middle of the lavishly appointed office of Patty Stillman, chief matching guru of Millionaire Matching.
I hated that term ‘playing the field,’ it didn’t have anything to do with what I did with the women I dated. As much as Wyatt didn’t understand my dating style, it worked for me. There were natural lulls in my business when investing calmed down, and the people who worked for me seemed to all be handling things perfectly, that was when I dated. I didn’t date when business was busy and I didn’t have time for women who wanted to stick around all the time. Business was always my top priority, well at least up until recently. I found nice women, hot women, whatever I wanted in a woman for that moment, and we spent a few wonderful days together.
Skipping the emotions of a long drawn out relationship had worked very well for me as an adult. I had an upfront style with my women and never lied to them about what I could offer. A week of dating maybe two, then we would go our separate ways and be perfectly content with the relationship that we had.
My female friends were appalled at my dating choices for the longest time. How could I not want to find a woman to marry? Why was I wasting these women’s time if I didn’t intend to have a relationship? They were all very valid questions, and I had very valid answers for them. I wasn’t ready for a marriage or even a long-term commitment. I was giving what I could in the way that served me best. But things had started to change over the last couple of years.
I’d started to have the urge to have a woman around when I got home from work. I’d began to think about what it would be like to go on vacations with the same woman more than once. In general, I started to see the benefits of having a long-term relationship.
“No offense to you, Wyatt, but I really would like to hear from Merrick on why he is here. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m sorry. I’m just here for moral support.”
The truth was, I wouldn’t have come at all if Wyatt hadn’t kept harping on me about it. Even though I had been thinking about relationships, I wouldn’t have had the guts to come to an agency like this one. The near-miss disaster at our bungee jumping a few weekends before had also contributed greatly to my thoughts of the future.
I was content being single; I really hadn’t thought about getting tied down much, only the utmost of initial ideas about relationships until I was laid up in bed for a week and unable to move after throwing my back out. Of course, I could hire people to come help take care of me, but it was the first time I’d realized how nice it would have been to have a woman who loved me there to look after me.
“I threw my back out a few weeks ago while bungee jumping. It was scary, and an eye-opener. I really don’t want to die a single man. I’m a bit jaded when it comes to women though, I’ll admit it.”
Patty Stillman was the top matchmaker in the Millionaire Matching organization, I knew there was no reason to bullshit her. She was known for dealing with the toughest cases and I expected she was use to the lies that men often told when they came to her. I’d done my research on her before agreeing to come in with Wyatt. She was tough and a no-nonsense sort of woman. I knew bullshitting her wasn’t going to be helpful at all.
“Alright, that’s a little better. I do still want you thinking about why you want to find love, though. You know there’s a big difference between finding someone who will marry you and live with you compared to finding someone who actually loves you.”
Boy, she hit the nail right on the head with that statement. I knew exactly what she meant. I certainly could find a hot girl to marry me. The women were constantly throwing themselves at me and willing to do anything I asked of them. I could probably call a half a dozen women right there at that moment and ask them to marry me, and they would say yes. I didn’t want that sort of relationship. I didn’t want a woman who was going to use me.
Time had taught me that relationships were much harder than I was often capable of putting up with. I’d only found a few women over the last ten years that I could keep around for longer than a few weeks. It seemed nearly impossible to find a woman that matched my intellect, sexual drive, and love for life, and who was willing to stick around without a full-on commitment. But that was why I had finally caved in and come to Millionaire Matching; they guaranteed a match, and for the amount of money they charged, they should have guaranteed a marriage as well.
I was open to the idea of a commitment now, not a marriage, but an actual relationship. The trick was going to be finding a woman that I connected with in all the areas that were important to me. A sexual woman wasn’t the only thing I looked for; there had to be more between us. There had to be a spark.
“I’ll think more about it,” I promised Patty. “
I can tell you that I’d really like to find a woman who could replace the demand for a big Rock with a demand for a big Co…”
“Okay, let’s not go there,” Wyatt interrupted me.
“What sort of woman do you normally date? Not the one-night stands, I mean the women you actually date and let meet your friends.”
“Usually independent and very intelligent. Sometimes they are free spirited and artsy, but more often than not, I date women who have careers. Even the one night stands typically have well developed careers.”
“What do they look like? Is there a hair color preference? Height? Body type?”
“To be honest, I love women of all shapes and sizes. Out of the women I’ve actually dated, I would say there were more redheads than anything else. I love redheads. Also, I prefer a curvy figure as opposed to a slender one.”
“Really?” Wyatt asked as he looked at me in shock.
“Yeah, I’m all for healthy women. I don’t want my woman starving herself to death just to fit in a size two. A size six or eight is just fine with me. Even larger as long as she is comfortable with her figure.”
“I can work with that,” Patty said as she took notes. “What do you do in your free time? I understand you run a large corporation, and you were recently bungee jumping. What else do you like to do?”
“I work a lot, but I do get to work from anywhere I’m at. I enjoy extravagant trips and wild outdoor activities like bungee jumping, obviously. I like anything that gets my blood pumping.”
“Do you go to the theater or anything like that?”
“We are friends with Dean Morrison and Angelina Kent, so yes, lots of traveling to movie premiers, and I love the theater here in New York. Although, I don’t go nearly as often as I should.”
“So Wyatt, tell me what Merrick is like when he’s in relationships?”
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