Matt

Five o’clock in the morning was too fucking early. But I wanted to fit in a run before the car came at six. As I got to the entrance to the park I stared at the bandstand and smirked. Who’d have thought that the beautiful, tempting girl I’d mistaken as a stalker not only didn’t seem to have a clue who I was, but would end up being my neighbor while I was in Maine?

This really was a small town.

Lana was gorgeous, no doubt about it, and I’d enjoyed our to and fro out on the deck a little too much. She was a woman who could give as good as she got and that was a real turn on. So I’d have to avoid her.

I’d spent the weekend learning lines so I hadn’t seen her again. I was biologically programmed to flirt with women as beautiful as Lana. I just couldn’t help myself. I might not be in a real relationship with Audrey, but getting caught cheating on her would potentially put my image rehabilitation at risk. A cheating scandal was not the way to show the studios you were reliable.

As I came out of the other end of the park, I got an uninterrupted view of the ocean. Growing up in Northern Indiana, I’d always enjoyed being a bike ride away from the lake. When I was around seven years old, I’d come to Maine with my grandfather. When I saw the ocean for the first time, I’d been disappointed it didn’t feel more different to Lake Michigan. But being here in Worthington this time around, it was nice not to feel such a long way from home.

I checked my watch. I had twenty minutes before my car got here. My shower would have to be quick. I had a reputation to uphold, after all. I turned up on time, knew my lines and didn’t do drugs. Ever. Even in the short time I’d been in Hollywood, I’d seen people who were white-hot stop getting scripts because they started to believe their own hype and behaved accordingly. I’d nearly been one of them. In my case it wasn’t that I’d believed my own publicity. I’d just thought I’d arrived and been a little concerned that it wasn’t where I wanted to be. But now I had my eye on the long game.

I stopped just shy of the steps to the deck of the cottage and leaned forward, my hands braced against my knees as I tried to catch my breath.

Lana’s screen door slammed and I turned my head to the side. Damn. She appeared in running gear that fit her like a second skin. Jesus, she had the body of a real woman. So many female film stars looked okay when you saw them in a movie but in person were just a bag of bones. Lana had the ass of a woman who liked a burger, but worked out, too. Seemed like the perfect combination to me.

“Hey,” I called out.

She snapped her head away from the ocean, waved, then headed down the steps toward me. Her breasts were pushed up, as if they were trying to escape her top. For a second I imagined myself running my tongue along the line of her cleavage and then erased the image from my brain as I stood. “You’re up early,” she said, looking up at me. She was a lot shorter than me, which was cute.

“Yeah, I have to leave for work at six and wanted to fit in a run.”

She shifted her weight from one leg to another, slightly swaying her hips. I wanted to reach out and pull her toward me. “I should let you go,” she said.

She didn’t ask me what I was doing, or where I was working. I didn’t need her to know I was a movie star. Not really. If she’d have asked, I’d have told her—I wasn’t a liar. But I wasn’t about to volunteer the information. I liked being just another guy to her. A man who knew as much about her as she did about me.

“You going for a run?” I asked, not ready for her to leave just yet. I knew I’d spend most of my waking hours on set in the coming weeks, and I might not see her again.

Which was a good thing, because I needed to avoid temptation.

“Dressed like this?” She swept a hand down her body. “No, I’m off hunting for bears.”

I paused and she broke into a grin. “Of course I’m going for a run.”

I chuckled. I really liked this girl. “You need to take that show on tour,” I said. “And make sure you wear your running gear. It’ll be a sellout.”

She rolled her lips together as if she were trying not to smile. “Thanks for the tip.”

“Anytime.” I smoothed my hand across my chin as I imagined how the soft skin of her inner thighs would feel against my palms. “I didn’t see you over the weekend,” I said, even though I’d been the one avoiding her. “You and your boyfriend didn’t drop by for that glass of wine.”

I hadn’t seen any evidence of a significant other, but I couldn’t imagine a woman like her could be on her own. The corners of her generous mouth twitched—she understood that I was trying to establish whether or not she was single. Most women would have fallen over themselves to let me know they were interested. Not Lana. It made her all the more intriguing.

“I had to work,” she said.

“What do you do?” Those legs would look good in a nurses’ uniform or a tight black skirt of a sexy office worker. Hell, her legs just looked good, no matter what she did.

“I design jewelry. I have a shop in town.” She glanced at the ocean as if she wanted to get on with her run. I was late for my shower, but I wanted our conversation to continue. She held my attention, and not just because she looked so incredible, but because I wanted to know more about her world that she seemed so confident in. It seemed so far away from the life I led.

“So you work for yourself?” I asked. “That sounds awesome.”

She gave me a tight smile and nodded. I expected her to ask me what I did, but she didn’t. I wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t care or because she thought it was rude to pry. “I’m so sorry, but I’m going to have to go if I want to fit in my run,” she said.

“No problem. I’ll be around tonight, though. Maybe I’ll see you then.” I wanted to know more about her, get to know someone who hadn’t already formed a view on the sort of person I was or what they could get out of a conversation with me.

“Maybe you will.” She ran off down the path between our houses toward the beach. I watched her glossy brown ponytail bounce away. She was just stunning. The kind of girl next door they made movies about.

When she disappeared out of sight, I glanced at my watch. Shit. Ten minutes. I sprinted back into the house, discarding my sneakers, shorts and socks in a trail behind me as I headed to the shower.

All I needed to do was get clean and throw on some clothes. On set, hair and makeup would sort out the rest.

The car pulled up as I yanked my jeans on. I scrubbed my hair with the towel and put a comb through it before grabbing a t-shirt. My phone chimed from my bed and Sinclair flashed on the screen. Shit. He’d probably heard from Audrey’s publicist about the split. I picked up my wallet and stuffed it in my pocket before I answered my cell.

“Are you on the way to set?” Sinclair asked without even saying hello.

“I’m just heading out to the car.”

“You don’t want to be late.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not going to be late. I’m right on time.”

“And you’re keeping it in your pants. No partying.”

I sighed as I locked the front door. I was pretty sure I could have left it wide open and it would be fine in this town.

“My pants are securely on.”

“I can arrange to have Catherine fly up for a couple of nights on your next day off, if you like?”

Jesus, did he mean that to sound as sordid as it did? Catherine was one of the two models I saw casually. But we were old friends who fooled around. She wasn’t a hooker, and she wasn’t on call for me.

Sinclair, like most people in Hollywood, thought that the more famous you were, or the more famous a person you worked for was, the more power you had. And that was how people operated. But not me. I didn’t give a shit about fame or money when it came to how I treated people. People were people, no matter what their latest movie grossed.

“Hold on,” I said as I pressed the phone against my shoulder and reached a hand to the driver. “I’m Matt. Good to meet you.”

He shook my hand with a firm grip, which I appreciated. “Morning, sir. I’m Jed, and it’s my pleasure to drive you while you’re in Maine.”

I slid into the car and Jed closed the door behind me.

“I don’t need you to arrange dates for me. Thank you,” I said into the phone.

“Well, about that. I think we’re going to have to switch things around. Audrey wants to pull out of your deal early, and it’s not like we can stop her.”

Even if we could have stopped her, there was no way I would. She was doing the right thing. “She called me. I’m fine with it. She doesn’t want to split until after the premier.”

“Yeah, so by then the studio won’t give a shit. And we can hook you up with someone else pretty quickly.”

I didn’t say anything. I knew another contract girlfriend was the right thing to do for my career, but at some point I’d like a shot at living a normal life and being a thirty-year-old man—meet a new girl, flirt, fuck and repeat.

I just wanted a time out. A fistful of humanity.

I sighed. “Okay, send me some details.”

“You don’t sound so sure. You’re not going soft on me, are you? This is what you pay me for. These last eighteen months have gone well—true love has saved your soul as far as Hollywood is concerned. All being well, you’re going to be signing onto the Anthony Scott feature in the near future, which may turn out to be your first franchise. We need to be scandal free.”

“We’re not disagreeing.” I tipped my head back onto the headrest. He was right. “But things need to loosen up if I sign with Anthony Scott.” I paid Sinclair to do what I needed, which was to save my career. But at times he forgot who was in charge.

“I think it will be a lot easier for you to start working your way through Victoria’s Secret models when you’re signed on to carry a major studio franchise. But generally, if you want to stay successful, you’ll keep out of trouble.”

I wasn’t sure that I wanted to sleep with a conveyor belt of women. But Sinclair had to see that things had changed. I wasn’t about to go backward. I just wanted to take some control back in my life. I’d like to run my tongue over Lana’s collarbone, fuck her mouth, make her moan as I slid into her. I’d just like the option.

“Yeah, I learned my lesson.”

“So, I’ll send over some resumes tonight. Last night I heard Renee Bromley’s contract just came to an end, so I’ll call her people.”

I rubbed my brow. Renee Bromley? “She’s fucked every guy in Hollywood. Can’t you find me a closeted lesbian?”

“I thought you might like someone who gave you options.”

“Renee Bromley doesn’t give me options. She’s just a star fucker.”

“She’s a star. You can’t be a star fucker if you’re a star. And a relationship with her would bring you a lot of publicity.”

“Surely this is about looking reliable, bankable and scandal free. Publicity is a secondary factor.”

“But it’s still important,” Sinclair said. “It gives you double bang for your buck.”

The last thing I wanted was to repeat the Affleck/Lopez debacle. I didn’t want tabloid column inches. I wanted my franchise, success and the money and freedom that would bring me. “What about a civilian? Someone who isn’t famous.”

“No fucking way,” Sinclair boomed. “I’ll never do that again. We want a woman with as much to lose as you. We need a star on the rise with good management. Someone ambitious who understands the game.”

My whole life seemed like a game with everyone else taking a spot on the board. I might bust his balls, but the guy was the best in the business. “Okay. Point taken. Send me what you have, just not Renee.”

“Deal. But I want someone signed up before you split with Audrey. We haven’t agreed on the story yet, but you can’t be seen as weak and heartbroken. You need to move on quickly, just not so quickly you look like an asshole.”

“Got it. You better get to work.”

“I’m always working. That’s why I’m up in the middle of the night to call my favorite client on his first day on a new movie.”

I laughed. It was God knew what time in LA. I might bitch about how much I paid him, but if I got this franchise, he’d have earned his money.

“Thanks. Now, go get me my franchise.”

I pressed cancel on my phone and stared at the ocean as we continued along the coastal road toward Portland. I caught sight of a brunette beauty running on the sand. There was no way to mistake Lana’s tempting body.

It was important to me that Brian and Sinclair didn’t have even the slightest concern about me and my reliability. They didn’t understand that despite my previous mistakes, there were few actors who had the same drive to succeed that I did. I grabbed onto each rung of the ladder as soon as it came into sight and didn’t let go. I’d had a wakeup call. I wouldn’t need another.