“No, but I know I can make you happy. Tell me that you don’t miss us,” he said, his voice thick and seductive.
Serena wasn’t falling for it. She wasn’t going to be Emerson Bradford’s victim again. “You know what,” she said, her voice cool and calm. “I do miss you, Emerson. I miss your ego. I miss how everything revolves around you. See, I now know what it is like to be important in someone’s life and not treated as a lump of clay to make them famous. That’s all I ever was to you, Emerson. Those days are over and whatever plans you have or wanted to make with that movie, forget them.”
“Serena, I was trying to make things better for both of us,” he said. “When the studio decided they weren’t going to release the movie, I felt as if I let you down. Now, I have a chance to right that.”
“No, you had a chance to right that on our wedding day. You could’ve come to me and told me what was going on. Back then, I was stupid enough to give a damn and would’ve done anything to make you happy. So, I don’t want to hear your sob story. It’s five years too late.”
“The movie’s coming out,” Emerson said with finality. “The public’s already buzzing about it.”
“What?”
“Somehow,” he said, “a few scenes have been leaked on the Internet.”
“Son of a—” Serena snapped her phone shut and released a string of expletives as she stomped over to her laptop. She typed in Emerson’s name in the Google toolbar. When the video clip showed her scene from the movie, she called Kenya immediately.
Antonio kissed A.J.’s cheek as he dropped his son off for his first day of day camp at Discovery Place in Uptown Charlotte. “Have a good day, son.”
“Bye, Daddy.” A.J. ran toward his friend Kashim Richardson.
Antonio headed to Ray’s Splash Planet to meet with county park and recreation officials about a renovation project. When he arrived at the location, Norman was standing outside waiting for him. Antonio pulled his truck into an empty parking spot and prayed the meeting didn’t last long. He wanted to surprise Serena with lunch. He’d missed her last night as he’d shared an uncomfortable dinner with Casey. He’d tried to put on a front for A.J’s sake, but he couldn’t get Casey’s confession out of his mind. What had she expected to gain by telling him that she was in love with him? Did she think he had those same feelings? Had he done something to lead her on?
“Antonio, are you all right?” Norman asked as his friend approached him.
“Yeah, just thinking about something that happened last night,” he said.
“Am I going to be jealous if I ask for details?” Norman quipped.
Antonio smiled, knowing Norman was talking about Serena. “I wish,” he said, growing serious again. “Remember what you’ve been telling me about Casey all this time?”
The older man nodded.
Antonio shook his head and closed his eyes. “Well, you were right, my friend.”
“She made a move on you?”
“Last night A.J. and I grilled some turkey burgers and he wanted to invite his aunt. When he spoke to her on the phone, she said something derogatory about Serena and when I confronted her on it, she confessed that she is in love with me.”
“Can’t say that I’m surprised. What are you going to do about it?” Norman asked.
“I don’t know. A.J. loves his aunt and I don’t want him to lose another person he loves. But I’m not comfortable.”
“Did you tell Serena?”
“Hell no,” Antonio said. “They already had a run-in and I am trying not to have that happen again.”
“Besides,” Norman said with a smile, “you don’t want to do anything to mess up what you have going on with Miss Serena. Don’t tell her.”
Antonio closed his hand on Norman’s shoulder. “She’s really special.” His face lit up with happiness.
“I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time, so whatever she’s doing to you, let her keep doing it.”
The men headed into the building and sought out Torrey James, Ray’s Splash Planet director. When they reached his office, his secretary guided them inside. Antonio looked at the young man staring at the computer screen wondering why he was being so unprofessional. Norman cleared his throat. “Excuse me, are you Mr. James?”
The man looked up and pulled his glasses from the top of his head. “Yes, sorry about that,” he said as he rose to his feet and extended his hand to Antonio and Norman. “A friend of mine in Los Angeles sent me a movie clip and it’s unbelievable. I apologize, gentlemen, let’s get started.”
Antonio smiled at the man, knowing that working with the county would bring more money into his business in the fall and winter when contracts usually dried up, but he couldn’t help asking, “What kind of movie clip is it?”
“I’m not even sure, but the actress is hot! Detrick was telling me she lives in Charlotte and I’m trying to figure out why I’ve never met her. It’s an Emerson Bradford production. If he’d released this instead of those last few movies he made, he’d be cool again.”
“This I have to see,” Norman said, never one to turn down looking at a pretty woman. Torrey turned his monitor toward the men and logged on to the Web site.
Despite himself, Antonio watched the clip and when he saw who the actress was, he nearly dropped to the floor. Norman’s mouth dropped and he turned toward Antonio. “Is that …?” he asked quietly.
Antonio shook his head and Torrey looked from Norman to Antonio. “Do you know her? Can I get an introduction?”
“Norman, can you handle this meeting?” Antonio asked. “I have to go take care of something.” He tore out of the office confused by what he saw on the Internet. Was that Serena and was that simply acting? Why didn’t she give him the details of the movie when he’d asked her about her life in Los Angeles?
I’m tripping. Everyone has a past and this is just a movie, he thought as he got into his truck and started it up. Still, Antonio didn’t like what he was feeling. How was he going to explain it to A.J. if this movie gained a lot of publicity?
He drove to the restaurant, but when he didn’t see Serena’s car in the parking lot, he headed to her townhouse. She wasn’t at home. He wondered if she even knew what was going on.
“Kenya, you’re telling me there’s nothing I can do?” Serena groaned. “This is all over the Internet and it isn’t going to take long for some reporter to link this movie to the restaurant.”
Kenya pulled her reading glasses off and gave Serena a solemn look. “I wish I had better news for you, but from what I’ve uncovered, no studio has purchased the rights to this movie. Emerson is more than likely the leak.”
“That filthy bastard,” Serena swore as she slammed her hand against Kenya’s desk. “I’m sorry.”
“That desk has been hit before. Let me ask you this, other than starring in the movie, what else did you do?”
“I did a lot of rewriting on the script, but that was when I thought Emerson and I were going to get married, so I didn’t press for credit.”
“But you do have a right for compensation,” Kenya said, then pressed the CALL button on her phone and called her assistant, Talisha. “T, I need you to look up some telephone numbers for me.”
“Yes, ma’am,” she said.
Kenya rattled off the names of some major studios in Hollywood and Emerson Bradford. “I need these as soon as possible.”
“All right. Don’t forget, your husband is coming by at eleven,” Talisha said.
“Thanks.”
Serena recognized the smile on her attorney’s face. That’s how she felt when she thought about Antonio or knew she was going to see him. But what if he saw that movie clip? What would he think?
“Are you all right?” Kenya asked when she noticed the frown on Serena’s face.
“No. What if Antonio sees this?”
Kenya shrugged. “Here’s the one thing that you have in your favor. It’s not as if this is some sex tape. It is a movie. You were acting.”
> “But I’m not some celebutant trying to get her face on E! Even if it is a movie everyone in my life might not see it that way,” Serena said, then dropped her head in her hands.
“We’re going to see if we can stop this, but I don’t want you to get your hopes up. If nothing else, we can get you a piece of the box office.”
Serena rose to her feet as her cell phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled the phone out and saw that it was Antonio calling her. “Kenya, I’m going to take this. Call me if you find out anything.”
“All right.”
Serena stepped into the hallway and answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Serena, where are you?” Antonio asked.
“I’m about to head home. Is everything all right?”
“You tell me,” he said. “I saw something on the Internet that—”
“Damn it,” Serena muttered. “Antonio, I wanted to tell you about that. Will you meet me at my place so we can talk?”
“Sure,” he said.
Serena rushed to her car and sped home, hoping she would be able to explain the movie away and Antonio would be understanding about it. And if he isn’t, what am I going to do about it? she thought as she pulled up to her townhouse and saw Antonio leaning against his truck.
She placed the car in park and hopped out. She half expected to see anger in Antonio’s eyes, but instead, he opened his arms to her and gave her a big hug.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
Serena looked up at him and smiled. “Thank you,” she said.
“For what?”
“I just knew that you were going to be upset about this. Hell, I’m upset about this. But …”
“It was a little off-putting to see that,” he said. “Did you know this movie was going to be released?”
“It hasn’t been released,” she said with a groan. “But the vindictive son of a bitch who is doing this is trying to rebuild his career on something I did when I was young and stupid.”
“Are you going to sue?”
“I was talking to a lawyer earlier today,” she said as she held on tighter to Antonio. “You know what makes this tougher?”
He looked down at her and asked, “What?”
“At one time, I thought I was going to marry this guy.”
“Whoa.”
“Can we go inside?” she asked. Serena knew she had to come clean about everything.
“All right,” he said as he dropped his arms from around her. Once inside, Serena headed for the kitchen and made a pot of coffee while Antonio sat on a bar stool and watched her. He could tell Serena was trying to find the courage to tell him what was going on. As the coffee brewed, she turned to him and offered up a weak smile.
She placed her hand on top of his. “When I went to Los Angeles, I wanted to write. I took classes at UCLA and I met Emerson Bradford.”
“He did Sultry Summer, right?”
Serena nodded. “But before that he was trying to come up with his breakout hit. He said I belonged in front of the camera. He wooed me and talked me into starring in this movie. Since I was in love with the man and wearing his engagement ring, I jumped at the chance. But things didn’t work out and the movie disappeared. I found myself standing at the altar alone on my wedding day.”
Antonio took her hand in his and brought it to his lips. “That had to hurt,” he said. “What was his excuse for leaving you there?”
“He has no excuse,” she said. “Until he showed up in Charlotte about a week ago, I hadn’t heard a word from that sorry piece of … for five years, I hadn’t heard a word from him and all he could say about not showing up for our wedding was that the studio declined to release the film and he felt as if he let me down.”
“Sounds like a damned coward,” Antonio said, thinking that nothing would’ve caused him to leave Serena standing alone at the altar. Emerson Bradford was the biggest fool he’d ever heard of.
“He is. And his career has been in a steady decline,” she said. “This is a very sexy movie and I guess Emerson thinks it will put him back on top.”
“You don’t want the movie to be released?” Antonio asked.
Serena shook her head furiously. “It reminds me of one of the worst times in my life. It reminds me how I allowed someone else to take my dreams and turn them into mush. I wanted Emerson to succeed more than I wanted to build my career. Once I took up with him, I dropped out of school, fell into what he thought I should do, and lost Serena for a while.”
Antonio cocked his head to the side and looked at her. “I never would’ve guessed that,” he said. “I took you for the kind of woman who always did what she wanted to do.”
“That’s me now,” she said. “Because I learned the hard way that love hurts a lot.”
Antonio walked over to her and pulled her against his chest. “Real love doesn’t hurt,” he said, then lifted her chin. “When you’re with the right person and everything is right, you’re not going to feel any pain.”
“I guess that’s how it was with you and your wife?” Serena questioned.
Antonio ran his index finger down her cheek. “No. I wish I could say that it was, but it wasn’t.”
She stared at him. All the thoughts she’d had about Antonio and his dead wife danced in her mind. He seemed to notice what she was thinking.
“At first, it seemed as if it was going to be that way, but by the time Marian died, our marriage was over. She was having an affair and had served me with divorce papers. After everything was said and done, I knew I would never allow anyone else to get close to me. Then you walked into my life and I was powerless to resist you.”
“Antonio,” she said.
“Listen to me,” he said. “I’m falling for you and I thought three things when I saw that video clip. One, this had better be a movie—because I didn’t want to think about another man touching you and kissing you. That’s my job and mine alone. Two, as I drove around looking for you, I started thinking this was something that you probably didn’t want out in public, and three, I was worried when I couldn’t find you, thinking what is Serena going to do when she finds out about this?”
Tears sprang into her eyes and Antonio brought his lips down on top of hers, kissing her gently. Pulling back, he looked up at her. “Serena,” he murmured, “I’m falling in love with you.”
“Antonio,” she said, tears falling down her cheeks.
“You don’t have to respond right now, but I want you to know that I’m going stand beside you while you fight this. If Emerson Bradford is behind this, he’d better get out of town because I might have to hurt than man for doing this to you.”
“Thank you,” she said as she hugged him tightly. “I thought I was going to lose you.”
“It’s going to take more than this for you to get rid of me.”
Chapter 21
Since the news of the leaked movie clip got out, Emerson’s phone hadn’t stopped ringing. L.A. movie critics wanted to know when the film was coming out and who the actress was.
Of course, Emerson pretended to be shocked that scenes from his movie had been leaked, then he answered their questions. No, he didn’t have a studio backing him. Yes, he was surprised the clip had been viewed about a half-million times in the few hours it had been online. Yes, he wants the public to get a chance to experience the entire movie and not just some of the sexiest scenes.
The next few calls he took were from Lionsgate. They wanted to know how the movie got online as well. Emerson blamed his assistant.
“But,” he’d said to Luther, “the people want to see this movie.”
“Have you talked to Serena Jacobs? Did she sign off on it?”
“I don’t think we need her to sign off on it. Technically, her signature isn’t needed since I own the rights to the movie. The public has spoken. We need to hammer out a deal and make this happen. You know what I’ve been doing all morning? Fielding calls from the press. They wouldn’t do that if they weren’t interested.”
“Really? All this will turn into is free publicity.”
“Or an ugly lawsuit.”
Emerson slapped his hand against his forehead. “Luther, this movie will be a hit. Are we going to make it happen or do I need to go to another studio?”
“Shake the lawyers, get those edits done, and we will make this movie happen,” Luther said.
Emerson pumped his fist like Tiger Woods, but calmly said, “All right. Thanks, Luther.”
“Make this happen. If we’re going to capitalize on this buzz we have to get it going. When will you back in L.A.?”
“I need a few more days here,” he said, thinking he could focus on one last tango with Serena before the movie was released. He didn’t care what she said. He knew she still wanted fame and this movie was going to skyrocket her image.
“See me as soon as you get back,” Luther said.
Emerson hung up the phone and kicked back on his bed. Serena, my muse, we will be together again and you’re going to leave this banker town as soon as you get a taste of fame.
* * *
Serena nestled her head against Antonio’s chest and stroked his arm. This wasn’t how she expected the day to go. But she was lying in bed with Antonio, feeling safe in his arms. When he’d kissed her and told her he loved her, Serena had melted like ice on a hot summer’s day.
She was a little apprehensive about opening her heart again, but as she snuggled against Antonio while he slept, she knew not allowing love to come into her life would be the biggest mistake she could ever make. Antonio was nothing like Emerson. He was unselfish, and her happiness was just as important to him as his own.
Antonio stirred and turned into Serena. His eyes fluttered open and she smiled at him. “I hope I’m not keeping you from your work,” she said as his hand slid down the small of her back.
“Not at all. I had been planning all morning to steal you away,” he said, then brushed his lips against her neck.
His Sexy Bad Habit Page 18