by S. E. Rose
“That’s great, Will!” I know Will is really into editing. And I’m generally happy he got to make a valuable networking connection tonight.
He grins. “Yeah, it was pretty cool. He said his company is hiring some interns this summer and to email him about it.”
“Will! OMG! Why didn’t you start with that? That’s amazing!”
He shrugs. “What about you? You were talking with Andy Westin and Blythe Daniels like they were old friends.”
I giggle. “Blythe wanted me to tell Andy about my documentary.”
“And?”
“And Andy wants to hear more. I’m going to set up a lunch with him and Blythe for next week.”
“Damn!” Will whistles. “You just struck gold, my friend.”
My friend. Should I take that as he is not interested? Am I reading too much into that? My mind goes into auto-drive.
“Earth to Emma!” Will waves his hand in front of my face, and I blink.
“Uh, sorry. I spaced out there for a moment.”
“You OK? How much did you drink tonight?” His voice is laced with concern.
“I’m fine. Really. I just was remembering the conversation. I can’t believe Andy wants to talk with me. It’s just…crazy. I mean, I had a few minor celebrities lined up to interview, and I am going to interview that indie production company that I told you about, but I never imagined people like Andy and Blythe would care about my project. It could be a real game-changer. Hell, it could change the whole direction of the project.”
“Does that bother you?” he asks, glancing over at me.
I curl my legs beneath me and settle into the seat like I’m at a therapist’s office. “I don’t know. I mean, I was planning on filming over the spring, editing over the summer, and presenting it in the fall, but now…I’m not sure. If I can get some major celebrities to work with me, I don’t want to miss that opportunity, you know?”
“You shouldn’t. It could change the trajectory of your project.”
I nod. “I know.” I bite my lip as I consider this. It could change the whole trajectory of my life.
“You look a little green over there. You sure you are OK?”
I shake off the nerves I’m suddenly feeling. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little overwhelmed.”
“It’ll be fine. You’ll see. How about some tunes?” Will switches on his music, and we chat about the celebrities we saw tonight. It takes an hour to get there, but the drive along the coast is peaceful this time of night. I make Will roll down the windows, so I can hear the ocean waves.
As we approach Malibu, I rattle off the address and use my phone to find the house. It doesn’t look overly huge like I had anticipated. In fact, it seems too small to host an after-party. Will manages to find street parking not far away, which is a miracle of sorts. He gives me a piggyback ride as we walk over there, after I complain about my shoes.
At the gate, I ring a buzzer and give the man on the other end our names. A moment later, the gate opens, and we are greeted by an enormous guy. I mean, like a sumo wrestler, a giant, and a professional weightlifter had a baby. He’s HUGE!
“Miss Baldwin and guest?” he asks.
I nod and swallow.
“Follow the lights up to the house.” He motions to the front door beyond a small lit pathway.
“Thanks,” I murmur as I head toward the door. I take a breath before pushing it open, unsure of what lies on the other side.
Chapter Seven
Grady
I sit in my car parked in the neighbor’s driveway. He’s a producer and an old family friend who is currently out of town. I can see the lights on in Mom’s house. People are milling around with drinks in their hands. Rhett and Max should be up there by now. I’m just not sure I want to party tonight. I get out of my car and walk around the backside of the house to the beach, leaving my shoes at the corner of Mom’s property as I survey the back of the house. There are a few people from the party out on the deck by the pool, but otherwise, the beach is empty. I walk along it for a little while, enjoying the cool night breeze. I need a moment to compose myself, a moment where I can be just me, not Grady the promising former race car driver, not Grady the lead singer of Monumental Mistake, not Grady the son of Ken and Blythe Daniels.
I see someone sitting down a few houses on the beach. As I approach them, I can see it’s a woman in a dress, a very nice dress. Then a security light illuminates my view.
Well, fuck me. It’s Emma, the woman I met earlier. I cock my head to one side as I study her and contemplate my move. She doesn’t seem upset from where I stand, more like she’s enjoying the peacefulness of the solitary beachfront.
I start walking toward her and she turns to look over at me. I can practically hear her sigh. I grin. She thinks I’m a narcissistic asshole. She’s not wrong about the asshole part.
“Hey,” I call out as I walk over to her, my feet sinking into the sand with each step.
She looks up at me, clearly suspicious of my motives. “Need something?”
I shrug and plop down next to her, staring out at the ocean, the waves glisten with dinoflagellates as they crash on the shore.
“Just enjoying the peace and quiet before heading inside,” I admit, surprised with myself for speaking the truth.
“It’s beautiful out here,” she says on a sigh as she pulls her knees up to her chest, crossing her arms over them and resting her chin on top.
“Aren’t you worried about getting your dress dirty?” I ask her.
She shrugs. “It’s just sand.”
I grin again, and motion with my head toward the house. “Most of the women up there would say you are nuts for sitting on the wet sand in such an expensive dress.”
She rolls her head to the side and surveys my face. “I guess I’m not most women.”
I look back out at the ocean to hide my amusement. “Is that so?”
She huffs and slowly stands, dusting off her dress as she does. “I should get back inside. My date’s waiting for me.”
“Why is he not out here with you now?”
“He’s talking with someone and I didn’t want to bother him, not that that’s any of your business.”
I stand to face her, and she freezes like a deer in the headlights. “You intrigue me, Emma Baldwin.”
She rolls her eyes. “Does that line really work on women?”
I open my mouth to speak but she presses a finger to my lips. “Nope, just no. Don’t answer that. It was a pleasure, Grady. I’ll see you around.” And just like that, she takes off toward the house.
I stand there for a long moment watching her fine ass sway as she powers through the sand and back up to the deck. There’s no way that Will kid could possibly handle a woman like that. She’s got too much sassiness for him. But just the right amount for me. Bring it on, Goldilocks, you’ve met your match.
Emma
I find Will standing in the kitchen talking to this guy named Trevor that I’ve seen around school. Turns out Trevor’s mom is an actress and is also friends with Blythe. Oh, the six, strike that, two degrees of Hollywood separation.
“How’s it going?” I ask Will as I playfully bump his arm.
“Good. How was the beach?” he asks.
I shrug. “A little cold, but it’s pretty out there.”
“I’m sure.” He wraps his arm around me and rubs my shoulder.
“Hey! Where’d you go? I was looking for you!” Quinlan asks as she walks into the room.
I point out to the beach.
“Oh, yeah, it’s an awesome stretch of beach.”
She starts to talk about some filming that just finished in the area, but my attention is drawn to Grady as he steps inside the house. He doesn’t look in my direction because a few people are calling his name in the living room. I glance over to see that his bandmates are here. I do love their music, and for a brief moment, I’m starstruck.
Then I refocus on Quinlan because the more mature, less-attracted-to-
bad-boys part of my brain says I’m being irrational and should stay here by my boy-next-door date and my mentor.
“What?” Quinlan asks, clearly catching my eye movement. She turns her head. “Oh, I didn’t see Rhett and Max come in. Have you met them before? The band is super cool. They opened for Bent last year.”
“That’s cool.” I internally am yet again amused by how everyone knows everyone here. Kate used to say this about the political world too. It’s like celebrities are all part of one giant famous people’s club.
Quinlan pulls me away from Will, who’s chatting with Trevor about some professor at the film school. “So, what’s up with you and Grady?”
My eyes widen at her question. “I’m sorry, what?”
“I’ve seen you two staring at each other all night. What did he say to you?”
I laugh off her presumption so that she doesn’t know I’ve been mentally undressing the asshole all night. “Nothing. He’s actually kind of a dick.” I cover my mouth with my hand because I don’t know if calling Grady, a dick is a no-no in front of my mentor.
She shrugs and nods. “Yeah”—she looks over her shoulder—“but a hot dick. I should introduce you to some more people.” She looks around the room to see if there’s anyone I haven’t met.
I smile at her. Quinlan has been great at helping me network since Will and I arrived. I’m thankful to Dr. Stevens for setting her up as my mentor. In addition to showing me the ropes, she also seems like someone that I would genuinely want to be friends with outside of school. I glance back over to Grady and shiver, remembering the heat of his body against mine as we sat on the beach and his shoulder brushed mine.
I look over to see Will is glancing in my direction. He gives me a smile.
Hawke comes up behind Quinlan and kisses her shoulder. She glances behind her and grins as he lays a kiss on her lips.
“You two are ridiculously adorable,” I groan.
Quinlan giggles. “Come on, you want to play pool?”
I shrug. “Why not?”
I tell Will, who’s still deep in conversation with Trevor. He says he’ll come to find me in a minute.
I sort of like that he’s not super alpha and up my grill about going to other parts of the house. My mind momentarily wanders to my last boyfriend who had to know my whereabouts at all times as I follow Quinlan into a game room that has me wanting to move into the house.
It’s a giant room with a cathedral ceiling. There’s a billiard table, foosball table, a card table, and two other game tables set up in corners. There are shelves of board games. A small chess table sits in a snug corner by the window and it looks like it’s being played as it is set up and pieces have been moved.
“Wow!” I manage to say.
There are already people at the pool table.
“How about a game of Monopoly?” Quinlan suggests as she runs her fingers over the board game boxes.
“Really? That game takes a while,” I point out to her. She glances over at me. I’m momentarily jealous of the comfy shirt and shorts she changed into at some point this evening.
“You should change into something comfortable.”
“I didn’t bring any clothes,” I reply as I straighten out the skirt of my dress.
“Come on, let’s get you something to wear first.” She takes my hand and leads me down a hallway, knocking on a door before opening it.
It’s a bedroom. She leads me to a walk-in closet. It’s stuffed full of promotional t-shirts, shorts, running shoes, sweatshirts. She twirls around, throwing her hands up in the air.
“Help yourself,” she says with a grin.
“Wait. What?”
She picks up a t-shirt with a logo of some company on it. “Here. Blythe gets tons of free clothes from companies she works with and she keeps some here for her guests and she donates the others.”
“Oh.” I grab a pair of shorts and a sweatshirt. “Are you sure? I don’t know.”
“It’s not a big deal. I’ve known Blythe my whole life. She’s an old family friend and she would want you, her guest, to be comfortable. Trust me on this. I’ll set up the game while you change,” Quinlan says as she leaves me alone to change.
I make quick work of getting out of my shoes and dress. There are even little sports bags. So, I grab one of those and put all my stuff into it, leaving it in the closet for safekeeping. I shake my head at the fact that I’m digging through the closet of one of the world’s most famous leading actresses.
When I arrive back in the game room, the sound of laughter draws my attention to the game table in the far corner. I freeze. My game just got hijacked by Monumental Mistake. The entire band sits around the table as does Quinlan and Hawke and some other girl sits next to Rhett. If I had to guess, it’s his girlfriend because her legs are swung over his lap and they are chatting with everyone as though their seated position is the most normal in the world.
“Hey! I grabbed some more players,” Quinlan says, waving her hand to beckon me over to them.
Grady pats the seat next to him. “Saved you a seat,” he says with a devilish grin.
I raise an eyebrow as I slowly sink into it.
“Great, I gave you the shoe. Hope that’s OK,” Quinlan says. I shrug, and we begin to play.
Chapter Eight
Grady
Yeah, so I weaseled my way into the game. When I saw her sitting alone on the beach tonight, I knew she was someone worth getting to know. How many people show up at a movie star’s house and then leave the party to be by themselves? And not to cry or have a private phone conversation, just be by themselves. Of course, I’d already shown her my stage persona, the guy I am to most people, the jerk. Winning her over was going to be twice as hard as it could have been, but I’m not a quitter when it comes to the ladies. Now, other things in my life, well, I don’t want to think about them tonight.
I roll the dice and make my move. Everyone is talking smack and chatting in small clusters around the table. I purposefully chose the love seat when Quinlan said Emma was joining us, knowing she’d be stuck next to me.
“So, enjoying the party?” I ask her.
She shrugs. “Your mom’s house is very nice.”
“I see you found the extra-clothes stash.” I nod toward her attire.
She blushes and I want to run my hands over her heated skin. The pink hue contrasts so starkly against her pale skin and blonde hair. “Quinlan said—”
I put up a hand. “It’s totally cool. Most of the overnight party visitors will be raiding that closet at some point this evening unless they came prepared with their own stuff. I mean, who wants to stay in their formal wear all night?”
The pink slowly goes away as she nods her agreement. My turn comes around again and I buy a property. Emma rolls and lands on it and I smirk.
She groans and pays the rent on my property.
“You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?” she asks with a raised eyebrow.
Shrugging, I run a hand through my hair. “I like this game. Do you?” I know my words are intentionally vague and that’s why I chose them, so I could see the pink on her skin again. I don’t know why my immature mind always goes to slapping a woman’s ass when I see her blush, but dammit if that’s not where it goes, and I can’t stop it. I drop my arm in my lap to hide my dick that’s decided to pay attention to my conversation.
“It’s a fun game. I don’t play it often because it takes a long time,” she says. Now, I know full well that she means the board game, but my smirk tells her that I enjoy the double entendre of our dialogue.
Blushing, she turns back to the game. Rhett asks me something and I answer him, while Jackie weighs in on the conversation. But my attention turns back to Emma after she rolls and lands on the space everyone always wants to buy.
“You gonna buy it?” I ask her.
She cocks her head to one side and all eyes are on her. I wait, curious that she didn’t jump on the opportunity right when she landed there.
<
br /> “I’ll pass,” she says as she hands the dice to Quinlan, whose mouth hangs open at Emma’s declaration.
“What!?” everyone yells. There’s applauding, laughter, and confusion on the faces around the table. I laugh.
“It’s so overpriced. I’ve never won from buying it before,” she explains.
There’s more dialogue between players and she definitely gets some shit from the guys who scoff at her decision, but I’m impressed that she holds her own with their banter.
I’m about to tell her that when someone comes into the room yelling her name.
She turns.
“Will cut his hand on some glass and I think you might need to take him to get stitches,” the girl says.
Emma’s up and out the door before I can ask what happened. I follow her as do the rest of our game players. When we reach the kitchen, I can see the remnants of a wineglass on the floor, a dish towel is wrapped around Will’s hand which Emma is examining.
“I can drive your car,” she says as she attempts to look under the dishtowel.
Will pulls his hand back. “No, it’s OK. Really.”
“Will, that cut is deep, man. You should go get it checked,” a guy by the oven says.
Then it hits me, my inner good person finally speaks up before my mind can catch up to the conversation.
“I can take you,” I say. “My car is right next door.”
“Really?” Emma asks, her voice rising an octave in clear surprise.
I look at her worry-laced face. “Yes. You should really get that looked at,” I say to Will as I notice the blood seeping through the towel. Will’s eyes follow mine and widen when he sees the blood. His face goes white and I reach him right before he passes out.
Great. I just rescued the date of the woman I want to get to know. I’m a motherfucking prince on a white horse for the wrong person.
“I got him,” I mutter as I help Will sit down. He comes to right away, looking around in confusion.