“This is quite a group you’ve assembled here, Luiz,” I commented, trying to appear aloof in case any dark-haired actors happened to be watching me.
“Yes, well, I wanted to be sure everyone enjoyed themselves.”
Well then you shouldn’t have invited Jason Brady. I thought coldly.
“Um, so how do you know Jason Brady?” I asked as casually as I could.
“Ah, Jason is staring in my next movie – the one about the Vietnam War – a very powerful subject, and he’s going to bring just the right touch to the part.”
Shit. I remembered Jase telling me he was filming a war movie, but I never dreamed it would be one of Luiz’s. Dammit.
“He’s a good actor,” I said, because had I not known Jase intimately, it’s what I would have said, and I didn’t need Luiz or my mom knowing I was freaking out on the inside.
“He’s gorgeous,” my mother chimed in, glancing over at Jase, so he probably knew we were talking about him. Awesome.
“He has a girlfriend,” I said, nodding my head toward one of the most naturally beautiful females I’d ever seen in person. Ellie Carlisle didn’t seem to have a flaw about her. She was all dark hair and ivory skin, and she and Jase looked pretty perfect together. Even I had to admit that.
It was probably better anyway. Mortals like me shouldn’t mix with the gods. But then again, he hadn’t acted like a god around me. But he was a god, and maybe I just needed to move on.
“Luiz,” a good looking guy said, as he clapped Luiz on the back and smiled at me.
I recognized him as Bryan Heller, a twenty-something actor who’d started in Luiz’s last movie and a few more he’d done over the years. Luiz had discovered Bryan when he was fifteen and cast him in a movie about a drug cartel in Columbia. Bryan’s name didn’t give it away, but he’d been born in Costa Rica and adopted by American parents.
He had dark features, searing, almost black eyes and a sharp chiseled jaw. We’d met a few times before as he’d been making his way through Hollywood. Luiz had been a mentor and a friend to him for years, but I wasn’t his biggest fan.
“Ah, Bryan,” Luiz said. “Are you having a good time?”
“I am,” he said, “but I realized there was a beautiful woman here that I didn’t know, so I wanted to come over and introduce myself.”
And that’s why I didn’t like him.
“Bryan, we’ve met,” my mother chastised him in a teasing way, and I made a face, realizing she was trying to be cute.
Bryan laughed.
“I’m only joking,” she said, as she and Luiz laughed along with Bryan.
I wasn’t all that sure what was funny, but then again, I felt very much in the spotlight as Jase watched me speculatively from across the room, so my humor radar was probably off.
“Bryan, this is my daughter, Logan,” Luiz explained, putting his hand on my back to guide me closer to Bryan. “You’ve met her before, but it’s been a few years.”
“She’s the one I was telling you about,” my mother said, and I realized she was going to try to set me up with him. She’d mentioned him to me a few months back, and I was sure she was relishing in the fact that she could play matchmaker. Of course she couldn’t pay me to go out with a tool like Bryan Heller.
“Oh, wow, I remember you,” Bryan said, pulling me into a giant hug, his overpowering cologne flooding my nostrils and almost making me gag. “Alana, you weren’t exaggerating. Logan, you’ve grown into a very beautiful woman.”
“Um, thank you.” I wasn’t sure what else to say.
“Are you here with anyone?”
I glanced briefly at Jase, but he was talking to Ellie as she clung to his arm, so I shifted my gaze back to Bryan. “No, I’m not.”
Bryan’s face broke into a wide grin. “That’s very good news. We’re going to have fun tonight.”
Are we? I was sort of planning on wallowing in the fact that I missed my chance with Jase Brady.
“We are?”
“Absolutely,” he said confidently. “Bryan Heller knows how to show beautiful women a good time.”
“Great,” I deadpanned. Ugh, I hated when people talked about themselves in the third person.
“It’s my pleasure,” he answered, reading my faux enthusiasm wrong. “Can I get you a drink?”
I glanced up and caught Jase’s eye. He was watching me, an expressionless look on his beautiful face. I noticed he was no longer touching or talking to Ellie, but she hovered nearby talking to a director I’d met a few times but whose name I couldn’t remember.
I saw a golden opportunity, so I turned my gaze back to Bryan and said, “Absolutely. I’d love a drink.” Then I linked my arm through his and started to follow him to the bar.
“Logan,” Luiz said, grabbing my arm. I turned to look at him. “You’re not driving tonight, are you?”
Luiz didn’t care if I drank as long as I wasn’t driving. He knew I’d do it anyway and wanted to be sure I was safe. It was realistic and sweet.
I shook my head. “I used the car service.”
He nodded his head in approval. “In that case, have fun.”
“So, are you an actress?” Bryan asked me as the bartender mixed our drinks.
“Uh, no,” I said, making a face.
“Really?” he asked haughtily. “I just assumed since your parents are in the business that you would be too. You could be an actress, you know. You’ve got the look.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d been told that. My mother had tried to get me into acting and had even tried to get me to meet with her agent who definitely thought I could make it in the business, but I’d never wanted that life.
“My dad’s an architect,” I deadpanned.
“Oh?” Bryan questioned, looking over at Luiz and then back at me. I realized Luiz had introduced me as his daughter. He’d done that for years, and I’d never really thought anything of it.
“Luiz is my step-father,” I explained.
“Oh, I got it,” Bryan said, nodding his head. “So, do you work out?”
Only in L.A. would that question not be odd to bring up ten minutes into meeting someone.
“I surf,” I said, growing more and more bored with Bryan Heller with every passing second.
He was your stereotypical narcissistic actor. I’d met guys like him more times that I could count over the years. In fact, it was how I’d pegged Jase to be before I met him. I figured there was no way he could be that good looking and not have a god complex.
“Really,” Bryan said, nodding his head and arching his perfectly shaped eyebrows. “That’s interesting. I took a surf lesson once when I was on vacation in Hawaii. It was fun. Have you ever been to Hawaii?”
I loved how he kept directing the conversation back to things he could talk about that showcased him.
I nodded. “Yeah, we went there a few years ago and once when I was twelve.”
“Oh, right on. I actually just got back from there. It was amazing . . .”
Brian kept talking, and I nodded politely. I might have wanted to get a word in, but he didn’t give me a chance. I glanced at his watch and timed him. Eight minutes went by, and he was still talking, and I was still nodding. He kept on talking for three more minutes, and then Luiz announced that dinner was served, and Bryan finally stopped. By the time he was finished, so was my drink.
“Oh, well, I guess we should head into the dining room. I’ll tell you about my new Porsche over dinner.”
Super.
“I don’t like Porsches,” I lied, only because I sort of wanted to see if I could get a rise out of him.
“Oh, no way. You’d like this one. It’s a 911 Turbo, and it’s so sweet.”
He chuckled to himself, and I bit my lip to keep from laughing. He was such a douchebag. What a waste of a hot guy.
As luck would have it, when we all assembled around Luiz’s dining table, I ended up directly across from Ellie Carlisle, and Jase was to her right. She was giggling and leaning in
to him, whispering in his ear as they sat down. He smiled at whatever she was saying.
“Hi, I’m Ellie,” she said cheerfully and stuck her hand across the table to shake mine. She was a transplant from the Midwest, Ohio I thought, and I wondered how long it would take for her to lose her friendly demeanor in the shark-infested waters of Hollywood.
“I’m Logan,” I said, shaking her hand and doing my best to smile at her.
“Nice to meet you,” she said genuinely.
“Hey Ellie. How are you?” Bryan asked smugly.
“Go away, Bryan,” Ellie said, dismissing him and instantly impressing me.
My eyes went wide, and I did my best to hide the smirk on my face. Dammit. I liked her, and that was a bad thing when I really wanted to hate her.
“Is he your date?”
I realized her question was directed at me.
“Oh, um, we just met, but we’ve been talking,” I said when I realized Jase was eyeing me.
“We just met, but I feel a connection, don’t you?” Bryan asked, putting his arm around me.
I ordinarily would have shrugged away, but in the interest of making Jase jealous, I leaned into Bryan as his cologne overpowered me. I didn’t like the scent at all.
“Don’t waste your time, unless you enjoy hearing the incessant rambling of his voice,” Ellie said bluntly, and she stuck her tongue out at Bryan.
“Hey, I don’t talk that much,” Bryan defended, not giving me a chance to respond.
“Yes, you do,” Ellie whipped back smartly, and I wondered how they knew each other. “So do you guys know Jason Brady?”
I looked up at Jase, who was staring blatantly at me, and caught his gaze. He smiled, so I shot him a dirty look, but not before I felt that familiar twist in my stomach that came from his penetrating green eyes. I swallowed hard, remembering waking up next to him the weekend before. Those green eyes had opened to greet the morning, and when they’d spotted me, they’d brightened. How had I read that so wrong?
“Hi, I’m Jason,” he said, lifting his beer glass in greeting.
Jason.
“Nice to meet you, Jason,” I said, greeting his Hollywood persona and wondering if he was trying to send me a message.
“Hey man, I saw your last few movies. Nice work,” Bryan said, as if he and Jase were in some sort of club. I knew it would now be good form for Jase to respond with the same kind of compliment.
“Thank you,” was all Jase said, and Bryan stiffened beside me. He’d also been expecting a compliment.
“Did you see the latest X-Men?” Bryan asked, and I knew he was fishing. He’d played one of the superheroes in the movie and had gotten pretty good reviews.
“I did,” Jase said coldly, but he didn’t say anything else. He was purposefully snubbing Bryan, and I wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t like him or if he didn’t like that Bryan was touching me. I hoped it was the latter.
All throughout dinner, Ellie, Bryan, and I kept up a good conversation while Jase remained silent. He picked at his food, glared at Bryan when he picked up my hand and complimented how soft my hands were and played with my fingers in what I think was supposed to be a sensual way. It wasn’t, but I giggled anyway.
After dessert, Jase excused himself from the table and walked out to the terrace. I gave him a few minutes before I excused myself and followed him outside. Bryan and Ellie hardly noticed. They were engaged in a heated debate about the best spas in L.A. and were arguing like brother and sister. I’d learned over dinner that they’d met when Bryan had guest-starred on her Disney show a few times, playing her cousin who’d visited her from out of town.
Jase didn’t turn around when I walked outside. He must have heard the door, but he kept his back to me as he leaned over the railing, taking in the view of Luiz’s spacious landscaped backyard. He did stiffen just a little as I walked toward him, my heels clicking on the tile.
“Hi,” I said softly.
“Hey,” he said gruffly, not turning around.
“What’s up with you tonight?” I asked, and he just shrugged. “You barely ate. Did you not like the food?”
“It was fine.”
I sidled up next to him, leaned on the railing and looked up at him. His jaw was rigid.
“Shouldn’t you get back to your date?” he asked coolly.
“Shouldn’t I ask you the same thing?” I fired back.
Jase didn’t respond.
“Jase,” I said, placing my hand on his arm. He looked down at me. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” He glanced back out into the yard again.
I took a chance and snaked my arms around his waist, looking up at him again.
“Your boyfriend isn’t going to like that.”
I rolled my eyes. “Jase, Bryan and I are just friends. My step-father is his mentor, so I’m being nice to him. Besides, you just saw me last weekend. You know I don’t have a boyfriend, so quit pouting. I’m the one who should be upset. You’re here with a real date.”
He tried to pull back, but I wouldn’t let him go. “She’s not my date. I know it looks that way, but our publicist set us up – we have the same one. It’s just for show. She wanted me to be photographed with someone since it’s been a while since I’ve been seen with a girl, and Ellie just broke up with her boyfriend back home, so our publicist wanted to show she was over her ex.”
“Is she?”
“No, she’s devastated, but she has to hold her head up and not show it in public or she’ll be seen as an emotional girl, and she doesn’t want that since she’s trying to reinvent her image.”
“Why do you care if people see you with a date?” I asked, wondering why he was giving into Hollywood’s expectations. He was a mega-celebrity. He didn’t need to do that.
“I’m doing Ellie a favor. She’s a nice girl, and I feel bad for her, so I offered to help her out.” His tone was so cold and detached.
“That was nice of you.”
“I’m a nice guy,” he said flatly.
“You are,” I said genuinely, squeezing him tighter. “So you’re not seeing anyone?”
He cleared his throat. “I thought I was seeing you, but now I’m not so sure.”
“Really?” I asked, my eyebrows knitting together.
“Um, yeah, after you spent the weekend with me, I figured we were okay.”
I was still confused. “But we only talked once this week.”
He sighed. “I was really busy. I’m sorry. My schedule was insane, and with the time change, it was hard, but trust me, Logan, I wanted to talk to you.”
“You did?”
“I did,” he said, thawing just a bit.
“But nothing happened last weekend. You didn’t even try to kiss me.”
He shook his head at me, concern shadowing his face. “After what happened on Friday night, I didn’t want to freak you out. Are you planning on letting go of me?” he asked, looking down at my arms still around his waist.
“No,” I said quickly, and his small secret smile finally quirked his lips. “Jase, I’m a big girl, okay. What happened last Friday freaked me out, but that’s all. You stopped Carter from doing anything that could cause permanent damage. And when I’m with you, I don’t feel anything but safe, okay?”
I watched Jase’s hands ball into fists as they rested on top of the balcony, and his knuckles turned white. “He hurt you, Logan. I can’t get past that.”
“Yeah, he did, but he didn’t hurt us. I don’t want him to come between what we have, because if you’ll remember, he’s also the one who validated that you weren’t involved in what happened to Amanda. It some sick and twisted way, he brought us back together.”
Jase’s fists relaxed the tiniest bit. “Yeah, I guess he did, but still.”
“No,” I said, placing two fingers over his mouth. “Don’t overthink this. I’m stronger than you think. I’m not going to let anything he did to keep me from living my life. He’s an asshole, and I hope he gets what he de
serves. That’s it. I don’t want to talk about him again.”
“But,” he said, against my fingers.
“No buts. Now please, just kiss me already.”
Jase smiled, so I removed my fingers. He ducked his head and slowly brought his lips toward mine, pressing them gently at first, but when my tongue pressed against his lips, his gentleness turned to hunger, and he kissed me like a starving man.
His arms encircled my waist, as he pulled me against him, his lips moving in tandem with mine. I let a tiny groan escape my lips and pressed against him, loving the feel of being safe and warm in his arms.
“Don’t do that, Logan,” he cautioned around my lips, but he kept kissing me.
“Do what?” I asked innocently. Then I groaned again and moved my hand around his waist, snaking it along his washboard abs and down the front of his pants, over the semi-hard bulge I found there.
“Logan,” he groaned, his breath coming quicker as I massaged him gently. “Don’t.”
“Why not?” I asked, applying more pressure when I felt him responding to my touch.
He didn’t answer, but he moved me so his body was shielding me from the door. His breath was coming quicker as I moved my hand up to the waistband of his pants. I pulled out the front of his button-down shirt in one quick movement and moved my hand between his smooth skin and the wool fabric of his black pants. He jerked back as my fingers grazed the top of his boxer briefs, and I smiled against his lips that were still kissing me with fervor and need.
Sliding my hand further down his body, I raked my other hand up his back, mixing the smooth touch against his skin with a rougher touch outside his shirt. He shivered and stopped kissing me.
His forehead fell against mine, and he breathlessly asked, “What are you doing?”
“Forgetting last Friday night,” I said simply, as my hand slid against my goal, and he gasped in delight, sucking a breath through his teeth.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked, the concern in his voice a direct contradiction to the hardness between my fingers as I stroked him evenly.
“Yes,” I said firmly.
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