Stars, Love And Pirouettes (Dance 'n' Luv Series)

by Roy Street

  She leaned in close and whispered. “About you being a secret agent.”

  He belly laughed. “Jenna, I love your offbeat sense of humor.”

  “Don’t play me, Aiden.”

  He paused and stared at her, reading the seriousness in her face. “You’re not kidding, are you?”

  “Okay. I get the message. I promised never to bring it up and I broke my word. Let’s just pretend I never said anything.”

  Aiden studied her, dumbfounded. “You honestly do believe me to be some kind of government operative?” A deep chuckle rumbled through him.

  Jenna slid off his lap and went to the porch railing. “You can stop the games. It’s humiliating and unkind at this point. Sorry I brought it up. From now on consider I have amnesia.”

  “I am not toying with you. I’m not a secret agent. Where did you ever come up with such a wild idea?”

  At first her chin went up in an indignant pose. Then she frowned and tilted her head, looking confused. And embarrassed. “Well, I… it was an accident. I was changing your bedding one day, and I bumped your laptop and saw this document about Briggs, a photint and some other obviously clandestine bits of intel.”

  “Briggs? Oh my God. Do you think if I were an operative I’d be that sloppy? To leave that kind of information lying around on my laptop?”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “What about the phone call?”

  “Phone call?”

  “Don’t take me for a snooper—”

  “Which of course you are.”

  “I just happened to be opening my window when you were out on the deck talking on your mobile. You said something about an agent who died named Jim.”

  “Jim Golan was a literary agent. Died of a heart attack. I am not a secret agent, Jenna.”

  She looked crushed, and Aiden felt it like a blow to the gut. What a fool he was to think she might actually want him.

  His voice went flat. “Now I see what’s going on here. Sorry to disappoint you, my dear excitement addict. But I’m just a boring schoolteacher who likes to write. If you’re looking for 007, try Daniel Craig. No, wait. You’ve already got Sean Risk. I do believe he’s going to be playing agent Monte Blessing in Aftermath, that frikken spy movie everybody’s talking about. So you’re all set.”

  “How dare you judge me this way. Just because I had the wrong idea. Give me a break. Every time I asked you what you did you evaded the question.”

  No way would he tell her that he’d written Aftermath. Not now. “Maybe I don’t feel like talking about what I do.”

  “Then don’t get angry if people jump to conclusions. Or get crazy ideas. Or go off on some fantasy. What if I do have a weakness for exciting men? Handsome alphas who know how to please a woman in bed. As if men don’t encourage it and make their own ridiculous demands? Those gaudy lions flaunting their fancy cars, fat wallets and guido pectorals. Ordinary women need not apply. Only girls with movie star looks will be considered. We all survive in our own way.”

  He snorted. “It’s a jungle, all right. And we wouldn’t want a top-of-the-food-chain ballerina-actress like you turning into a bottom feeder, wasting her time with someone like me. You better go back to your lions.”

  “Is that what you want?”

  He’d expected her to take a stand. To either tell him she intended to do just that. Or to say what his heart hoped for: that he was what she wanted. Throwing it back in his court only frustrated and confused him. “I don’t know.”

  Her nostrils flared. “Tell you what. Why don’t I give you plenty of time to think about it.”

  Jenna turned and marched across the porch, made an effortless jump over the fence to the other side, and disappeared into her room.

  Aiden sank back down to the bench, the starlit night suddenly cold and dark.

  Chapter Twelve

  Jenna barely slept, not that she wasn’t already a chronic insomniac. But even if she had the fiercest panic attack in the world no way would she go out on the porch tonight.

  Because Aiden was out there.

  He stayed there all night. She kept her room dark so he couldn’t see her watching him through her back window. The light from his room cast a glow over his shadowy form, making him appear like some gothic romance hero. One minute he stared up at the stars, then peered into his telescope, the next he paced the deck, rubbing his neck in a way that, frankly, aroused her.

  At one point he looked so sad she was tempted to march outside and put her arms around him. But he was the one who told her to go away. And when she’d asked him if that was what he wanted, giving him a chance to take it back, all he could say was he didn’t know?

  Jenna murmured a couple foul phrases at him and went back to her bed, curling into a ball and crying. When she asked herself why in heck she would be crying over a guy she hardly knew, she couldn’t answer. But that seemed to be the general theme of her life these days. Questions she couldn’t answer.

  Her alarm clock beeped at five a.m. She had an early call on the set of Sunrise Lane today. The first episode of the new season would be airing in two days and the show’s director Tony Pacca wanted to get a few extra close-up shots and re-record some fuzzy dialogue. When Jenna reached the mansion in Southampton where they shot most everything, she threw herself into her work.

  And at Sean. She could tell he liked it. After the morning shoot, he asked her to go with him to Bridgehampton to pick up a new tennis racket.

  He really was quite adorable. And so sexy. How crazy was she to be chasing after another man when her boyfriend was a guy most women would die for?

  Jenna wondered about all that had happened with Aiden yesterday. Was it her fault? She was the one who’d initiated the kiss. But he certainly hadn’t resisted her. On the contrary. The memory of his amazing mouth on hers, his hands caressing every part of her, sent a tingling flood of heat right through her.

  She glanced at Sean. A little guilt surfaced. But only a little because he was busy talking about his workout routine. Which meant he’d go on for a good ten minutes without needing or wanting a word from Jenna.

  They went out to lunch in Bridgehampton. Of course he was recognized. And although celebrities were common in the Hamptons even in winter, a little buzz went around the restaurant, followed by fans asking for autographs and people aiming their cell cams at them.

  “Does it ever bother you?” Jenna whispered to him when they were finally left alone to eat the pasta salads they’d ordered. “You know, having people always watching you?”

  He shook his head. “I love it.”

  “But doesn’t it get intrusive?”

  “Nope. I get off on the fact that everybody wants a piece of me. And don’t tell me you don’t like it.” He stroked a finger down her forearm. “You’re an attention slut if I ever met one.”

  “I am?” Maybe he was right. Jenna thought back to the way she’d always entertained her parents and siblings with her clowning antics. Or the times when she got a new haircut and had to make sure her brother Parker admired it. And her usual straight-A report card that was shown to everyone including Mrs. Royce at the dry cleaner.

  Her older sister Casey was just the opposite. Always giving someone else the spotlight. She’d even given up her hard-earned money for Jenna’s dance lessons when she was in her twenties, as well as her own dream of being a pro, claiming her younger sister had more talent. And Jenna had worked like mad to live up to everything Casey said about her, making herself the star of the family, never even considering she might be hogging the attention away from her big sis.

  Am I a terrible person? Was that what Aiden meant when he called her an excitement addict? She had to admit he’d nailed it on the kind of men that excited her. Larger than life dynamos. Men who liked the spotlight as much as she did. Men who could make her a star, like Chang and Sean.

  So how come she was bored with Sean and sitting here wishing she could talk to Aiden? What a mixed-up mess I am.

  Jenna carefully
masked her upset, not wanting Sean to read her expression, to see she was upset and ask her about it. But then she realized he wouldn’t ask her about it because he didn’t really care. The only things they ever talked about were careers and “the business,” or what he was buying for his new house or how to keep your abs tight.

  The realization struck her. She’d been dating Sean for over a month and she’d revealed very little of who she really was to him. And vice-versa. She didn’t know him a whole lot better than most of his fans. Was that what she was to him? Another fan, only on a slightly higher level?

  Her answer came swiftly. She felt Sean’s hand on her thigh under the table.

  He leaned toward her and murmured, “Perfect day for sex in my hot tub, don’t you think?”

  A panic surged through her. No. She couldn’t even think of having sex with him. Not after the glorious night she’d spent with Aiden. The way he had touched her, the sweet and silly things he’d said. The explosive, mind-blowing passion between them was like nothing she’d ever experienced before.

  “I, um, have to do something for my friend this afternoon. I promised her—”

  “Call and tell her you’ll be late.”

  “I can’t. She needs me. She had a really bad experience with her abusive husband a couple nights ago.” Jenna started telling him about what happened with Rachel, but in the middle of her story Sean turned to the waitress who was ogling him and signaled for the bill.

  When the girl came to the table, gushing over how great he was, Sean teased and flirted with her. Jenna didn’t bother trying to finish her tale. He obviously wasn’t interested.

  As usual, after they left and were driving back to Southampton in his BMW, Sean said, “Your half was twenty-six bucks.” The first time he’d surprised her with this kind of request Jenna had told herself she preferred to split costs when they went out. She was a modern girl and this way she was holding her own, not acting dependent.

  Still, it disappointed her. She wondered if it had to do with something in Sean’s past. “My family had a lot of financial struggles, and I know that left its mark on how I see money and myself and the world. I read on the Net that you came from an upper class family in California. Is that fiction? Did you really have a hard time as a kid?”

  He laughed. “Why would you think that?”

  “Well, you never talk about your childhood. Tell me about it.”

  He shrugged. “It was all right.”

  “And?”

  “Well, you know I played sports. Went out with lots of girls. Even then I was good at that.” He bobbed his eyebrows. “Heh, heh, heh.”

  Somehow his answers were even more disappointing than the behavior she tried to understand. “What made you decide to be an actor?”

  “Every time I saw a movie I’d think: I belong up on that screen.”

  “I wish I could be so sure of what I’m doing.”

  He shook his head. “Look, I know you put your all into dancing, but believe me, once the money and fame start rolling in, you’ll never look back.”

  Jenna nodded, but she wondered if Sean was really that simple of a person or if she was just too complicated. She didn’t bother trying to explain or talk about it. She knew Sean wouldn’t understand.

  But Aiden would. He understood her in a way no one else ever had. In a few short days he’d touched something deep inside her.

  Sean dropped her at the lot where she’d parked her mom’s car. He was still trying to convince her to come home with him.

  When Jenna got home she headed straight for her room. Or rather the room next to hers. She couldn’t wait to see Aiden. She felt certain they could talk out their misunderstanding and start fresh again.

  On the second floor landing she went to knock on his door, but noticed it was slightly ajar. “Aiden?”

  The door swung open at her touch. Her heart sank.

  Jenna had come home craving Aiden’s warmth, but instead she found a cold, empty room.

  She turned and ran downstairs to the office.

  Her mom found her searching the files. “What are you looking for?”

  “Did Aiden Flynn check out?”

  “Yes. Early this morning. Why?”

  Jenna paused. “Just curious.” She knew if she went browsing through his file for a contact number, her mother would ask questions.

  She faked a smile and gave her mother a full report on how things went with the show this morning. But Jenna’s mind was elsewhere.

  On Aiden.

  Would he ever come back? Would she ever see him again?

  Chapter Thirteen

  Three nights later Jenna walked into Yes, Lexi, her friend Lexi’s bridal and clothing boutique in Greenport. The place looked great with huge potted ferns, modern paintings and designer mirrors interspersed with mannequins in creative poses. One leaping, another doing yoga. And typical of her childhood friend, she managed to create a sitting area that was both stylish and cozy with teak coffee tables and peach colored sectionals.

  But tonight no giddy bridal parties or anxious prom moms occupied the short sofas. Lexi held weekly sewing circles where local women got together and made clothing to send to impoverished families around the world. When Jenna moved back to the North Fork, she’d invited her to join.

  The minute she stepped into the shop Lexi squealed and ran to her, hugging her and jabbering away.

  “You were great! Awesome! Fierce! Amazing!”

  A few others gathered around her, too. Helen, an older woman who ran a notary, and Lexi’s cousin Mika, who taught grade school.

  The first episode of Sunrise Lane’s winter-spring season had aired last night. Jenna had been so sure she was going to bomb that she’d refused all invitations to watch the show with Sean, or her friends, or even her brother or sister’s families. Instead, she sat biting her nails in her mom’s living room, cringing at the sight of herself and wincing at the way her voice sounded. “I look like I weigh eight hundred pounds. And I talk like Bugs Bunny.”

  Lauren Richardson sat next to her. “Well, I don’t know anything about those kinds of things, but I couldn’t be more proud of my daughter than I am right now.”

  The shock of it all came the next morning when her agent Marvin called her. “You’re a hit, Jenna. The ratings are through the roof, and the majority of twitter responses and comments on the network’s website are about you. They love ya.”

  Now as she laughed with her childhood buddy, Jenna fell into her old habit of clowning, making fun of her acting abilities and the character she played on the show. She wondered why she sought the spotlight so much when it embarrassed her to get the kind of praise the circle of women showered on her tonight.

  She was grateful when things settled down and everybody got back to their sewing, sharing gossip and small talk and sampling goodies like the apple cake Helen made.

  Jenna had brought new pillowcases to turn into little girl dresses, but Lexi also supplied remnants to be used. Lexi had been making clothes for as long as Jenna could remember, often getting ragged on in high school for the strange outfits she’d worn. Like the bright red, jazzed up Santa balloon pants and tunic she wore tonight. And during the big storm that had hit Long Island the past fall, her friend had whipped up as many hooded jackets as she could to send to families left with no heat.

  After the circle ended at nine thirty, Jenna stayed behind sipping coffee. She and Lexi had planned one more fitting for the gown she’d ordered from her talented friend for the movie premiere. It was also a chance to catch up on the more personal details they didn’t share with the group.

  “Have you seen Rachel and Danielle?” Jenna asked. “My schedule was so full today I couldn’t get over there. I feel so bad.”

  “Don’t worry. You’ve been great. I dropped off some stuff she needed this morning.” Their friend didn’t want to be seen in public with the split lip and black eye still visible on her face.

  Jenna’s heart was breaking for Rachel. “Sad thin
g is she still loves Nick, and most of the time he was a good father to Danielle. But how horrible for that poor little girl to see her dad go from sweet guy to monster and back again.”

  “I know. Abusive men have a sickness. Until he can control his violent behavior, he doesn’t deserve either of them.”

  “Last we spoke she was talking about moving to California to live with her cousin.”

  “She’s decided to go.” Lexi finished her coffee and stood up. “Now let’s get you into your Lexi Rogers special.”

  Jenna followed Lexi toward the area where she did her fittings. She shed her jeans and sweater and slipped into a metallic blue sheath with a mid-thigh hem. Its capped sleeves were a sheer lace that also veiled the dress. “Am I getting fat?”

  “Girl, some one as skinny as you has no right to even speak that word. Now turn around. Did you bring your heels?”

  “Yep.” Jenna dug a pair of silver slingback stilettos from her bag. “Tell me if you think these will work.”

  “I like them.” Lexi circled her, examining the dress.

  “How’d your dinner with Paul go? Still like him?”

  “Can’t complain. He’s boring but reliable. How’s Sean?”

  Jenna lifted a shoulder.

  “Uh-oh,” Lexi said. “Don’t tell me his mystique is wearing off. Well, you can pass Mr. Gorgeous to me anytime.”

  “He’s gorgeous, all right, but I’ve discovered that isn’t enough. Not for me. I want more than that.”

  Lexi raised an eyebrow. “Do I detect a hint of maturity?”

  Jenna laughed. “I doubt it.”

  “Or are you crushing on that buff stargazer who beat up Nick? That day we saw him at the Coffee Cove I could tell you were into him.”

  She twisted a strand of hair around her finger thinking of their argument and how quickly everything had fallen apart. “I really like him, but I screwed it up already.” She recounted her little identity mix-up concerning Aiden. “He was so pissed and insulted. Said I only slept with him because I thought he was a secret agent.”