by Tia Wylder
The Film Board Awards were being held at a beautiful hotel in downtown Los Angeles. As our limo waited in queue for the red carpet, I reached over and squeezed Barnes’s hand.
“I love you,” I said breathlessly.
“Nervous?” Barnes raised an eyebrow. “You don’t have anything to worry about, Gianna. You’re going to win by a landslide.”
I flushed. “I hope so,” I said. “I really do.”
Barnes chuckled. “We’ve really made it,” he said in a low voice. He leaned over and kissed me.
“And I couldn’t be prouder. You make me so happy.”
“You make me happy, too,” I said. “I never thought I could be so happy.”
Our limo inched forward, and I looked out the window, hoping that we were next in line.
“Have you heard from your parents?”
I wrinkled my nose. “No,” I said. “But I did hear from Diane – she’s in college now, in Vermont. She’s really happy.”
Barnes nodded. “Good,” he said. “When she’s done, maybe she can come out here like she always wanted.”
I rolled my eyes. “I love Diane, but she’s turned into a totally different person,” I replied. “If she came out here, she’d never shut up about how we’re all capitalist pigs who love material possessions and money and killing the environment.”
Barnes laughed. “Sounds like she’s really come into her own, then,” he replied.
I nodded. “Oh, she definitely has,” I said. “Trust me on that.”
Our limo rolled to a stop, and the doors were flung open by smiling young men in tuxedos. I didn’t even have to fake a smile – I was so excited and happy that I grinned on my own as I climbed out of the limo, waving to my screaming fans. Barnes followed right behind with his hand in mine. As we walked inside, I felt a huge rush of nervousness wash over me. An usher showed us to our seats, and I looked around the arena, awe-struck. This wasn’t my first time at an awards ceremony, but it was my first time as a nominee, and I couldn’t believe how much different it felt. I felt like instead of being one of the crowd, I was finally one of the special people – one of the people whom everyone admires and envies.
But deep down, I knew that wasn’t because of my looks, or even my acting abilities.
It was because of the wonderful man at my side, who loved me unconditionally.
When the awards started, I leaned back in my seat and waited anxiously. They went through a whole slew of winners before getting to the acting awards, and it was almost three hours later that I began to tense up once again.
When Tony Romero, a famous singer, stepped on stage, I knew the time had come. He grinned as he walked over to the podium.
“Tonight, I’m here to announce the Film Board Award’s Best Actress,” he said, mugging into the microphone with a bright white smile. “And while it was tough – very tough – the board had a clear winner.”
Barnes reached for my hand and squeezed. “This is it,” he whispered into my ear. “This is your moment!”
“The winner of this year’s Film Board Best Actress goes to…Gianna DiFaba!”
For a moment, I felt as if my heart had stopped. Then Barnes yanked my hand and grinned. Mechanically, I got out of my seat and walked on stage. Tony shook my hand, then leaned in to kiss my cheek as he handed me the small golden trophy.
“I’d like to thank so many people,” I said. “Everyone who has helped me – and everyone who has tolerated my primadonna behavior!”
The audience laughed.
“But most of all, I’d like to thank my husband, Barnes Harrington,” I said. “Because without him, I never could have done it. I feel like the happiest woman in the world.”
The audience clapped and cheered.
“And it’s with mixed feelings that I announce my intent to retire from the screen, just for a while,” I said, staring right at Barnes and smiling. “Because I’d like to start a family with my husband, and I want to make sure that our children grow up with a loving mother who is always there.”
Barnes’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious?” He mouthed towards me.
I grinned and nodded, not wanting to let the audience in on our private moment. Warmth spread through my body. Finally, a family with Barnes! I thought happily. I couldn’t wait to get back to my seat to kiss my husband…and to talk about potential baby names.
“Yes,” I said into the microphone as the crowd – and Barnes – went wild. “I am a truly, truly blessed woman.”
As the crowd applauded me off stage, I knew that I’d finally found my perfect fairy-tale prince.
The End
Hope
Chapter One
Jack
“Barnes, I told you, I can’t talk right now,” I said. “My flight leaves in an hour – I’m not even packed!”
Barnes, my best friend, lawyer, and right-hand man since college, snickered. “Yeah, right,” he said with a roguish grin. “Like you ever travel with anything more than a toothbrush!”
I rolled my eyes. “Very funny,” I said, snickering. “Just because I carry a spare doesn’t make me a bad guy.”
“No, it just makes you a man whore,” Barnes said. He was sitting opposite my desk, lounging on the expensive leather couch I’d just bought for my office. After all – the CEO of Trident Gold needs to look presentable…and have a comfortable place for naps.
I shrugged. “It’s not my fault that girls are always asking me to spend the night,” I said. “It’s just my charm.” I winked at Barnes, and he groaned.
“Nathan, I swear to god,” Barnes said, calling me by my last name like he always did when he meant business. “If you fuck this up—“
“I won’t,” I said quickly. “There’s no way.” With a sigh, I got to my feet and stretched, rocking back and forth on the balls of my feet. “Besides, I’m only going for a couple of days.”
Barnes frowned. “Isn’t there a hurricane or something?”
“A tropical storm,” I replied. “Way less dangerous. Rico said flying to Nassau wouldn’t even make him break a sweat.”
“Jesus, how much do you pay that man?”
I smirked. “I’m generous,” I said. “Don’t worry about that.”
Barnes nodded. “Just be careful,” he said. “Those islands, you know, they’re not always equipped to deal with shit like that. Didn’t a few people die the other week?”
“Yeah,” I said with a snort. “In Puerto Rico. No one cares about that country, Nassau is much nicer.” I smirked. “Trust me – I’ve been there before.”
“God,” Barnes groaned enviously, getting to his feet and looking out the window at the snowy Boston weather. “I’d kill to get away – even if there is a fucking hurricane coming right for me.”
I shrugged. “You can always come,” I replied. “I’m not taking anyone.”
Barnes laughed. “What, did Alexandra wise up and dump you?”
“Not exactly,” I said. I wasn’t about to tell Jack that Alexandra, my girlfriend of two weeks, had caught me mid-coitus with her stunning Russian roommate. “I just felt like a solo trip would be…more beneficial. After all, it’s not really a vacation. I’m meeting with shareholders the first day I’m there.”
“Still, at least it’ll be warm,” Barnes said. “The winters here always make me wonder why I never moved back to California.”
“Because it’s impossible to be a serious lawyer on the west coast,” I replied. “Everyone likes that stiff Boston upper lip of yours.”
Barnes groaned again. “Tell me about it,” he said. “I swear – if I get one more high-dollar divorce client, I could probably retire at forty.”
I winced. “I can’t believe I’m thirty-five,” I said, shaking my head. “It seems like yesterday that I was hauling you off the commons after a few too many keg stands.”
Barnes grinned. Despite the threads of silver in his brown hair, he still looked exactly the same as he did on the first day we’d met – as freshmen, at Lager Col
lege. Lager is a typical private liberal arts school – overly priced, mediocre in academics, and with a reputation that precedes it by a hundred yards. Barnes and I had sniffed each other out immediately, and we’d been best friends ever since. It wasn’t hard to believe that we’d gotten along so well: we were both from the same kind of family. Rich, greedy fathers with trophy-wife mothers and no siblings. After she’d had me, my mother told my father she was done with children because I’d come perilously close to ruining her closely-guarded waistline. According to her, that was the moment my father had started stepping out with high-dollar escorts. But if you ask me, my old man was a dog from the start.
That was just one of many things that Barnes and I had in common. We were both from old money families in upstate New York. He’d known he was going to be a lawyer since elementary school, much like I’d always known that I was going to inherit my father’s real estate development company. Dad started Trident Gold when he got his MBA, but I had taken the company to new heights when I took over right after college. Trident Gold had always been a luxury brand – my father saw seven new resorts build, in exotic locales around the world – but I’d doubled that, and I’d only been CEO for fourteen years.
Life was pretty fucking great.
“I know,” Barnes said, snapping me back to the present. “I can’t believe it, either.” He shook his head. “I feel exactly the same. But these damn wrinkles – I’m going to have to get injections again.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re so vain,” I teased. “You get more work done than the girls I go out with!”
“Yeah, right,” Barnes replied sarcastically. “I’m guessing they go under the needle and knife just as much. The only difference is, of course, they wouldn’t admit as much to you.”
“Well, not like it matters,” I said with a grin. “I never date anyone for more than three months, anyway.
Barnes snickered. “And who’s fault is that?”
“I prefer it that way,” I said archly. “It’s not like I’ve ever wanted someone hanging around for longer than that, anyway.”
“You’re such a dog,” Barnes said, but his tone was light and affectionate. He whistled. “I just wish you’d send some of your leftovers my way.”
I shrugged. “You’re welcome to them,” I said.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out, glancing down at the screen. When I saw what time it was, I groaned.
“I gotta get moving,” I said, shaking my head. “Rico’s waiting for me.”
Barnes snickered. “Must be nice,” he replied. “Must be nice.”
I grabbed my toothbrush from my desk, along with a fresh shirt, boxers, and a pair of pants. Since I was only staying in Nassau for a few days, I didn’t need much. The hotel where I’d booked a room surely had laundry service, and they weren’t going to close down just because of a little thunderstorm.
I left the office and took a cab to meet Rico at a private airfield just outside of Boston. He was waiting with my plane – a gorgeous old thing I’d bought at an auction and had restored. When he saw me, he smiled.
“Hello, Mr. Jack,” Rico said. When I stepped closer, I saw that he looked nervous.
“What’s wrong?”
“Mr. Jack, the storm looks like it might be worse than expected,” Rico said. He twisted his hands nervously together. “You haven’t canceled your meeting by any chance, have you?”
I snorted. “Of course not,” I said. “And it’s just a little storm!” I waved my hand in the air dismissively. “Besides, the weather is fine here,” I added. It was true – despite the bitter cold, the snow had stopped, and the sun was peeking through a layer of dark grey clouds.
Rico nodded. “Yes, Mr. Jack,” he said. “I understand.”
The flight to Nassau seemed to take no time at all – there was hardly any turbulence at all – and before I knew it, we were touching down in a tropical paradise. The sun was bright and shining, and the hot, muggy air filled me with a sense of excitement. Barnes may have envied my “vacation,” but I was really looking forward to meeting with my shareholders and getting this straightened out. Nothing – not even sleeping with a supermodel – comes close to the thrill of landing new business. I’d had my eye on acreage in Nassau for about six months now, and I was more eager than ever to close the deal for good.
A private sedan met me at the airport – I’d made arrangements ahead to skip going through customs – and I climbed in the backseat, where I was greeted with an ice bucket and a chilled bottle of champagne. While I didn’t like showing up at meetings drunk, I figured a couple of glasses couldn’t hurt – maybe they’d do something to calm my nerves.
When we got to the Hotel St. Charles – the biggest resort in Nassau – I grinned. It was a great building, with pink stucco walls and fine art in the hallways. But mine’s going to be better, I thought as I took my room key from a smiling girl behind the desk. Mine’s going to be the best luxury resort in the whole damn country.
After I checked into my room – the penthouse suite, of course – I freshened up and made my way down to the conference room. My shareholders – a small group of six men – were already seated.
I flashed a big smile. “Sorry if I kept you waiting,” I said as I strode confidently into the room and held out my hand to shake. “I just touched down. Beautiful weather!”
“Yes,” one of my shareholders, Harry, said. “Too bad about the hurricane.” He glanced out the window as if he expected to see a cyclone of water.
“I’m sure it won’t be that bad,” I said with a grin as I reached for a bottle of mineral water.
“I’ve heard it’s going to be the worst storm in years,” another shareholder, Tom, chimed in.
“Well, we’re not exactly here to talk about the hurricane, are we?” I raised an eyebrow as I settled down in a leather executive chair. “Last time I checked, we were going to discuss the benefits of acquiring land here.”
Tom and Harry exchanged a glance.
“Right,” said Chris, another shareholder of mine. He pulled out a leather portfolio and slid it across the table. “I’ve got the documents drawn up right here.”
“Excellent,” I said, taking the folder from his grip and flipping it open. A bright drawing greeted me – a beautiful, majestic-looking hotel. I flipped through the rest of the papers and felt my grin fading.
“So? Do you like it?” Chris frowned.
“Well, I envisioned guest bungalows and cottages, not a hotel,” I said. “The luxury experience is changing – younger people value their privacy, and they’re going to pay more for that.”
“That would be a lot more expensive,” Tom said.
“I don’t care, I have the capital,” I replied.
I was met with silence.
“What?” I asked. “Why is this so impossible?” I felt a flicker of anger worming through my gut. “Why can’t we make this happen?”
Chris bit his lip. “Look, Jack, it’s a great idea – I never said it wasn’t.”
“I’m sensing a ‘but’,” I said. “Spit it out.”
Chris sighed. “Look, you didn’t hear this from us, but I’ve heard that…”
“Oh my god, stop being such a girl,” I said angrily. “Just tell me!”
“Louis Franchot is looking at the same property,” Harry said, glancing at me with worry lines etched on his forehead. “And he has connections here – he can buy the property for a lot less money.”
“I don’t care,” I said, shaking my head. “I can buy it right now – so, why haven’t we?”
Harry looked deeply uncomfortable. “Jack, that’s the thing – I hate to say this, but it’s already in motion.”
“What?” My jaw dropped. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I wish I was,” Harry said. He frowned. “He bought the property this morning. There’s a small parcel left – enough to build a standard hotel, just like Chris passed over. If you take another look, I think you’ll really—“
“No,” I said, getting to my feet and shaking my head. “Absolutely not. I’m not giving up on this idea, and I’m definitely not giving anything up to that bastard Franchot!”
The table of shareholders was silent.
“Thanks for nothing,” I muttered under my breath. “I can’t believe I flew down here for this!” Whirling around, I stormed out of the conference room and slammed the door behind me.