“You have a photographer going?”
“Two of them. Make sure you’re looking into each other’s eyes when they arrive, okay?”
“That’s not necessary.”
“We want the public to think you’re a couple.”
Damien didn’t answer right away. He was fighting the urge to blow off this fake date altogether.
The things I’m doing to make sure I get to build the entertainment center. Is it really worth it? If the council can’t see my design’s the best, they need their heads examined.
“Damien?”
He sighed. “Fifteen minutes,” he repeated.
The restaurant was one he was sure Geena would call swanky in a dismissive tone. Although it was full, Damien spotted Alexa Worthington right away. She was sitting by herself at one of the best tables next to the window, tapping on her phone’s keypad. Her tight, short dress showed off her slight frame. She had a deep tan, and a long mane of blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders. Yeah, that had to be her. Beautiful was an understatement, although as he got closer he saw she was wearing more makeup than he usually liked. Probably because she was expecting to have her picture taken.
The waiter pulled out his chair, and he took the seat opposite her. “I’m Damien.”
“Alexa.” Her voice was as cool as her light blue eyes. “You’re late.”
Damien flagged down the waiter. “I’ll have a Bud.” He gestured to Alexa’s almost-empty glass. The dribble of liquid left in the bottom was sickly green. “Will you have another?”
“Just a glass of water, please.”
Remembering how Geena had kept berating him for always scowling, he gave her as genuine a smile as he could manage. “Bryce tells me you’re an actress?”
“That’s right.” She frowned. “Does that mean you haven’t seen any of my movies?”
“I hear you were in a film with Max Oberon?”
“That’s right.” Her tone grew a little warmer. “I just love him, don’t you? By the time shooting wrapped we were best of friends.”
“I met him at a charity auction a couple of weeks ago.”
She beamed, and her eyes lit up. “I wondered if you’d get to meet lots of big names in your line of work. Max is getting married soon, unfortunately, and to a nobody. But when you’re as big a star as he is, you can marry whoever you want, can’t you?”
Damien’s jaw tightened, but instead of putting her straight, he opened the menu and scanned it. So she’d called Geena’s sister a nobody. She’d probably never met either woman and it wasn’t worth starting an argument over.
“Have you decided what you’d like to eat?” he asked instead.
“I’ve already had a juice.” She nodded at the remains of her green drink. “That was nutritious and less than four hundred calories.”
The waiter brought Damien’s beer and a glass of water for Alexa, and he ordered a meal. “You’re sure you don’t want something else?” he asked Alexa.
“I’m not eating solid food.”
Damien paused with his beer halfway to his mouth. “Is that a medical thing?”
She laughed. “No, silly. I’m auditioning, so I can’t afford to carry any extra weight.”
Damien ran his eyes over her slender frame while he took a long swig of his beer. Ask him, she was too skinny anyway. And he couldn’t imagine not being able to enjoy a proper meal. An image of Geena eating coq au vin on his couch while she wore nothing but his T-shirt tried to take over his mind, but he wouldn’t let it.
Geena wasn’t right for him. But he was starting to realize that he couldn’t stay the way he was either. Hell, it had only been a few days since she’d walked out on their dinner and already he’d been missing her. No, he didn’t necessarily miss her, what he missed was having someone to talk to and laugh with like they had. He thought he missed her sharp wit, her sense of fun, and her fearlessness, but he could find someone else with those qualities. Someone who’d fit more easily into his life. Someone safer, who he wouldn’t have to worry about. Someone he could control.
Someone like Alexa?
“Don’t you ever eat real food?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Sometimes I snap and pig out. Nobody can be good all the time, can they?”
He nodded. Yes, Alexa could be a candidate. It was probably a good thing that he didn’t feel the same instant, electric attraction as when he’d seen Geena for the first time. What he needed was a rational relationship that made sense on all levels. One ruled by his head instead of… other places.
“Bryce said your image is too wholesome,” he said. “That’s not such a bad thing.”
“It’s funny, because I’ve always been careful to stay away from any scandal, thinking it would hurt my career. But now Bryce tells me that a little bit could actually help.” She reached across and stroked the back of his hand. “That’s where you come in.”
“My bad reputation.” He looked down at her fingers, running along his wrist. Was she thinking this could be more than just a staged date for the cameras?
“That’s mainly because most people didn’t want to hear what you said about King’s Cross. But I hate the Cross. Last time I went clubbing there, I saw homeless people sleeping everywhere. Worse than in the city, even.” Her nose wrinkled. “They smell awful. And they keep asking for money.” She lowered her voice. “I saw one of them urinating on the main street, right in the gutter. Can you imagine? They shouldn’t be allowed to stay there. The police should force them away.”
He grimaced when he recognized a hint of his own words in her mouth, and moved his hand out of her reach. “Away where?”
“Anywhere. Prison, even. They could make a law against sleeping outside.”
“You can’t lock people up because they don’t have a home.”
She furrowed her brow. “But I thought you agreed with me? Didn’t you say you wanted to pull down all the buildings in King’s Cross?”
“I was grieving and angry.” And if he hadn’t visited a homeless shelter, he’d probably still be saying foolish things. It wasn’t Alexa’s fault she didn’t know better.
“Oh look.” She stared out of the window. “There are a couple of men with cameras. Maybe you should move your chair closer?” She stretched out so she could capture his hand and hold it. “Want to kiss me?”
Damien heard Geena’s voice in his head, that first night they’d met at the charity auction. “Kiss me,” she’d demanded. And he’d needed no encouragement.
He looked at Alexa’s lips, at the way she was leaning towards him. Shouldn’t he want to kiss her? She was certainly beautiful. So what was the problem? Maybe if he did it, he’d be able to feel something for her. After all, he hadn’t known Geena for more than half an hour and their first kiss had been like falling mouth-first into an erotic candy store. It was worth a try to see if he could recreate a little of that feeling with someone else.
“Screw it,” he muttered, and bought his mouth down on hers.
Alexa tasted slightly bitter. The vegetable juice she’d been drinking? Her lips were too thin, and she smelled all wrong. Every time he’d kissed Geena, he’d been instantly aroused. Hell, just getting close to her had turned him on. But kissing Alexa left him cold.
He pulled away and picked up his beer, wanting to get the taste of her out of his mouth.
Alexa gazed at him from under her eyelashes and smiled as though their kiss had rated a ten instead of a two. “Mmm, you’re a good kisser.” She turned to look out the window. “You think they got that, or shall we kiss some more? Maybe give them some different angles?”
Damien swallowed a big gulp of beer and shook his head. “Let’s eat.” He looked for the waiter. “My meal is taking too long to arrive.”
“I know.” She nodded at another table. “Can you believe they just served that table of nobodies ahead of us? The waiter should have brought yours first.” She sniffed. “I hope you’re not planning to tip him.”
Was she joking? No,
she looked serious. He knew exactly what Geena would say if she could hear her. Or what Ralph would say, for that matter. He remembered the angry coffee shop owner yelling, ‘I don’t serve entitled bastards like you,’ and found his lips twitching into an ironic smile. How crazy was it that he suddenly found himself agreeing with Ralph?
He stood up and dropped several notes on the table, more than enough to cover the meal and a substantial tip. Alexa Worthington might be beautiful, but she was an uncomfortable reminder of the way he’d reacted to Cilla’s death. That time is over.
Alexa gaped at him, her blue eyes wide. “Where are you going?”
“I don’t want to level King’s Cross anymore.”
“So what? Does that mean you have to walk out on me?”
He shrugged. “Seems that way. Believe me, I’m as surprised as you are.”
Outside the restaurant, Damien walked into a group of not just two photographers, but at least six journalists. Either Bryce had been overzealous and sent too many, or they’d multiplied on their own. True to form, they didn’t hold back.
“Mr. Courtney, are you dating Alexa Worthington?”
“Why did you leave so suddenly? Did you and Alexa have a falling out?”
“Mr. Courtney, did you walk out on her?”
“No comment.” As the words came out, he thought of Geena. She’d be disappointed if she saw more footage of him snarling at journalists. Maybe he wasn’t good at playing nice, but he could force a smile, if only so she might see it and know she’d done some good after all.
He stopped and made himself look friendly. Their surprised expressions made his smile more genuine.
One of the women recovered quickly, and he recognized her from a particularly nasty interview the week before. “Still refusing to rebuild the Kingston?” she snapped. “I hear you’ll be back in court next week?”
He held his smile in place with an effort. “I’ve told the council I’ll build anything they like in place of the Kingston. I’m even willing to gift the land and building to the people of King’s Cross. If they’d only recognize the opportunity, the community could reap the benefit.”
“But you won’t rebuild the Kingston?”
“That building was a hundred years old. Yes, it was a part of Sydney’s heritage, but even if I wanted to I could never bring it back the same as it was. It would always be a modern replica. A fake. Shouldn’t we consider replacing it with something better?”
Although her tight lips didn’t soften, a couple of the other journalists nodded as though agreeing with Damien.
A small amount of progress, at last. He gave them a polite nod and moved away. Thanks to Geena.
21
Damien’s damn phone kept going off, but he ignored it. It always went crazy when he did something the public didn’t like. The fact he’d managed to smile at a group of journalists might have been a minor breakthrough, but it wasn’t news. Him walking out on Alexa Worthington was far likelier to have set the outrage-machine back in motion.
Finally, he turned his phone off. He’d surprised Isobelle by turning up at home in the middle of the day. Then surprised her more by taking Rocky out for a slow stroll around the nearest park. He needed the air and was more than willing to amble so the old dog could keep up.
The trees were starting to turn orange and yellow, and there was a chill to the breeze. He took lots of deep breaths, enjoying the freshness in the air. I should do this more often.
When he eventually drove home, Rocky fell asleep in the car, and Damien’s head felt clearer. Still, he waited until he was back in his living room with his feet up on the coffee table and a cold drink in his hand, before finally turning his phone back on.
Twenty-two messages. Shit. No doubt a few were from Bryce, wanting to go into full damage control mode. Some of the others would be from Rosalind, wondering why he’d blown off his afternoon appointments without telling her.
Before he could listen to any of the messages, his phone rang. Bryce. He sighed and answered it.
“How bad is it, Bryce?”
“Bad?” His PR guy sounded puzzled. “You mean you haven’t seen it?”
“Seen what?”
“Take a look at the Liaison blog. Your sex store owner really came through for you.”
“Hold on.”
Damien went into his office and opened his laptop, then found the site. There was an article about him, but his eye was drawn to the video at the top of the page. He grimaced at the title. Damien Courtney: Billionaire Superhero. Had Geena come up with that?
“Can you see it?” asked Bryce. “Almost eighty thousand hits so far. It’s only been live for a matter of hours.”
Damien pressed Play. He immediately recognized it as the last part of the CCTV footage he’d seen at the police station. The bit where Geena had kneed the skinny man in the nuts was missing. Instead, it started with Damien jumping out of his car and running into the shot. With the man Geena had disabled already partially hidden behind Scarface, it was impossible to see he was already hurt.
Music played over the top of the clip. What was it? Then he realized. It was the fight scene music from the old Batman and Robin TV show, complete with a cheesy ‘Biff’ and ‘Wham’ sounds when he threw his punches, and a ‘Splat’ as the man went down. Scarface lifted his hands in surrender and Damien tore Geena’s handbag out of his grip to present to her. Superhero music swelled and fake credits rolled. Starring Damien Courtney as an avenging hero. Protector of the weak and defender of all.
He snorted. Geena had been anything but weak. Without the music the clip would have been far less dramatic. With it, he looked disturbingly like the hero she was trying to portray him as.
“Excellent video,” said Bryce. “We couldn’t have asked for better. And the article’s good too. I don’t want to get our hopes up, but going viral like this, it could have the potential to sway public opinion. At least take the edge off your bad reputation.”
“Great. I’ll talk to you later, Bryce.”
Damien hung up and dialed Geena’s number. It rang for long enough he was sure it would go to voicemail.
“Hello.” At least she’d answered, but she sounded stiff, not like her normal self.
“I saw the clip you’ve put online and I’m calling to thank you,” he said.
“You’re welcome.”
“You missed out the first part though. The bit that proved you didn’t really need rescuing. You should have posted the entire clip online, so people know what really happened. So they see who the real hero was.”
“I’m not the one who needs my public image mended.”
“Actually, I’ve thought of something else that might improve my reputation.”
“Oh yeah?”
“I’ve been fighting the restoration order for the Kingston Boarding House, but now my time’s up and I have to go back to court. So I’m going to get plans drawn up to rebuild some of the facade, but make it a proper homeless shelter inside.”
It was an idea that had only come to him while he was walking in the park, and he’d planned to mull it over a while and wait until he was sure before he told anyone. Somehow when it came to Geena, all his resolutions went out the window. “It could incorporate a rehab center, with proper staffing and medical care.”
She was silent for a moment. “That’s very generous of you. Would you fund it all yourself?”
He hadn’t thought that part through yet. Another uncharacteristic lapse. “Probably. Yes.”
“What’s the catch?”
“No catch. I want King’s Cross to be safer, and this seems like a good start.”
“Is this still about your need to protect me?”
“You can look after yourself. I saw the whole video, remember.”
She snorted, but when she spoke again, her voice held a little more warmth. “It’s a good idea, Damien. I always said you weren’t quite as mean as you pretend to be.”
“Don’t count on it.”
; “I know better than that,” she said softly, and hung up.
22
“Hi, I’m Rowan.” The handsome movie star held out his hand for Geena to shake and gave her a smile that showed lots of pearly-white teeth. “I believe I’ll have the pleasure of your company during dinner.”
Geena shook his hand and tried to smile back. She’d thought he was good-looking on screen, but in real life he was positively gorgeous. The weird thing was, he didn’t inspire even the slightest tingle. The thought of having to sit next to him and make small talk only depressed her.
Oh great. I’ve got addicted to Damien’s intense glare. If a guy doesn’t look at me like he’s imagining how good I’ll taste, I’m just not interested.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
She sniffed and waved her hand dismissively, gazing around the crowd of assembled wedding guests. “Allergies keep making my nose run.” Oh good, there was Lacey. “Excuse me, I see someone I need to talk to.” As she turned to escape, she caught his surprised expression. Maybe he wasn’t used to women walking away from him.
“Are you okay?” asked Lacey when Geena joined her. She was sipping a glass of champagne and watching Ally and Max having their photo taken in front of the gorgeous sea view.
The day was perfect for an outdoor wedding, making Geena curse the fact she hadn’t worn sunglasses. She tried to wipe her eyes without smudging her mascara. “Freshly broken-hearted people shouldn’t have to attend wedding ceremonies. Somebody should make it a law.” It was the way Max and Ally had gazed at each other all through the ceremony that had done it. She’d had to spend half an hour in the ladies trying to get her waterworks under control.
“When do we have to go over for pictures?” asked Lacey.
“The wedding planner will tell us when they’re ready for us.” Geena heaved a sigh. “I’m sure Ally’s going to love me looking as red-eyed as Dracula in her photos.”
“Oh honey, you don’t look that bad.” Lacey took her hand and squeezed it. “Is there really no chance for you and Damien?”
The Rich List Series: Contemporary Romance Box Set (Millionaire, Billionaire, CEO) Page 35