I was surprised when Storm himself drove me to Victoria’s hotel to collect my things. My head was still spinning from waking up in his bed! In my defense, Storm looked much different from his top-of-the-chart days. He looked a lot better. It wasn’t hard to see why I was attracted to him.
My insides sizzled again, and I glanced nervously over at Storm. His strong hands on the steering wheel reminded me of the way they’d felt caressing my skin. His close-cropped hair and strong jaw gave him a serious look, though the missing beard revealed a hint of a dimple when he smiled.
“Sure you don’t want me to wait?” Storm seemed sure I was going to run at my first chance.
“I just need an hour or two, and I’ll get a lift back up to the mansion.” I gave a doubtful laugh. “Are you sure you want me invading your place?”
Storm parked his pickup truck outside the hotel and grinned. “After last night’s crowds, just you won’t feel like an invasion at all.”
“And you really want me to photograph your life?” I asked. The dream job just couldn’t be true.
“Well, more the mansion than me.” Storm shrugged, clearly uncomfortable with any references to his fame. “Tyson is working up a contract so it’ll all be aboveboard.”
He jumped out of the truck, jogged around, and opened my door before I realized what he was doing. “Um, thanks.”
A flash of heat sizzled between us as my hand touched his but then I was on the sidewalk.
Storm shut the truck door and slapped the hood. “See you back at the house.”
I noticed his deliberate downplay and was struck by the awkwardness of his situation. Every day, he had to cover himself up, hide away his talent, for fear of being recognized. It wasn’t so much being recognized but being seen as someone he clearly wasn’t anymore. Fans, though, would never see the difference.
I did. “Leave the back door open, right?”
Storm grinned and that hint of a dimple appeared. He touched two fingers to his forehead in a little salute and then jumped back in his truck. As he pulled away from the curb, he honked the horn and waved.
The honking startled me out of my reverie, and I quickly darted into the hotel. I didn’t want everyone in town seeing me in the exact same clothes I had worn last night. There was even a tear in my pantyhose! I raced up the stairs and knocked nervously at Victoria’s room.
“I was just heading to your mom’s studio to make sure you’re all right!” Victoria ripped open the door and pulled me inside. “And, I gotta say, you look a lot like I hoped you would.”
“Embarrassed as hell?” I asked.
Victoria flopped down on the hotel bed and motioned to the bag she’d brought from my mother’s. “We didn’t know where you’d end up. Susie Q betted on home before midnight, but your mom called it.”
I peeled off the ripped pantyhose and tugged on a pair of jeans. “Called what?”
“She said you’d be out all night and back when there was a little color in your cheeks,” Victoria said.
“No!” I was more horrified by my mother’s prediction than I was by the truth of it. Then I remembered. I flopped down next to Victoria. “But it’s so much worse than you think!”
“Oh, come on, Cora. Everyone’s allowed a fling now and then. You’re single. There’s nothing to feel guilty about.”
I buried my head in my hands. “But I slept with Storm Morris!”
Victoria hooted. “So, the mission was a success?”
I swatted her shoulder. “No, the mission wasn’t a success. We didn’t even talk about him selling the place until this morning. I didn’t realize it was him until this morning!”
Victoria scrambled up to kneel on the bed next to me. “What? I don’t understand!”
“It wasn’t totally my fault. He looks different, and he told me his name was Sean because he didn’t want me to be some weird groupie or whatever. Then he saw your press pass this morning and he thinks I’m a journalist but that what I really want to do is take photographs...” I ran out of air and took a big breath.
Victoria held up both hands. “Whoa. What about the photographs?”
I jumped off the bed and dug through the bag. “I have to go to Caroline’s. This isn’t enough for me to take back to the mansion. Storm has invited me to stay for a few days.”
My friend stood up and grabbed me by the shoulders. “How about we slow down and go back to the part where you slept with Storm Morris.”
I sighed and sat down on the edge of Victoria’s hotel bed. “That’s not too horrible of a cliché? Is it?”
“Are you kidding?” Victoria sat down and squeezed my hand. “He’s known to be such a recluse. In fact, he’s got one of the tamest dating records of any rock star. All long-term, all monogamous.”
“All?” I squeaked.
“All three relationships since his song hit the top forty,” Victoria said.
I don’t know why, but that thought made me warm all over. Storm didn’t have random one-night stands either. I wonder if that’s why he’d panicked and offered me the photography job. It was certainly part of the reason I took it. I had to find out if there was more between us, because I just didn’t know how to have a one-night stand and leave.
“No wonder his manager looked at me like I had antlers growing out of my head,” I muttered.
Victoria laughed and tugged me off the bed and toward the door. “Come on, let’s get to Caroline’s. I can’t wait to hear you explain the part where you’re going to stay at the Morris Mansion for a few days.”
* * *
“Yes!” my mother and Susie Q said in unison as soon as Victoria spilled the news.
“What? How about, ‘That’s insane?’ Or at least, ‘Why?’” I dumped out all the clothes I had brought with me and sifted through the pile while they jostled around me. “No one speaking up with a shred of reason?”
“Who needs reason when there’s love?” Susie Q said.
“I’m so glad someone else has recognized your talent as a photographer. You certainly never listen to me,” my mother said.
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t think that’s what he was thinking. I think he was just being nice. I bet he’s kicking himself right now.”
“But you’re still going,” my mother pointed out.
“Well, someone has to convince Storm Morris to stay so Murtaugh tourism doesn’t dry up completely,” I said.
Caroline gave me a skeptical look but smiled. “Either way, it’s a little vacation, and I think you need that. You looked so stressed when you rolled into town.”
Susie Q handed me a camera bag. “One good shot of Storm at home would be solid gold to the tabloids.”
“And there is that,” I said.
If I couldn’t convince Storm to stay and none of the applications got me an interview, then both my mother and I would need the money a photograph like that could garner.
“And there must be a real connection between you and Storm. Otherwise, none of this would have happened in the first place,” Caroline said.
“Thanks, Mom, but this isn’t some fairytale romance novel.” I hoisted the bags on my shoulders and headed for the door of the studio.
“Hold on.” Caroline grabbed my arm as Victoria and Susie Q stepped out onto the front sidewalk.
“Don’t worry. I have a plan. I’m not just following some whim,” I told my mother.
Caroline shook her head and pulled me closer. “He’s a gentleman?”
I was shocked hearing such a question from her, but I nodded. “He’s actually a really normal guy.”
“Don’t forget he’s also an artist in a slump. He might tell the world he’s done with music, but there’s no way someone with his talent and upbringing can just drop it.” Caroline brushed a strand of hair out of my face. “Artists in slumps can be careless, cruel even. As soon as inspiration strikes, you might not want to be in his way.”
I knew she was speaking from painful experience. The man after my father had been a very talented artist but also volatile. Caroline had kept a lot from me, but I knew it had not ended well.
“I know, Mom, but he’s not like that.” I hugged her. “Plus, the mansion’s so big I might not ever see him again.”
Caroline laughed. “You’re right. You might see Susie Q before you see Storm again.”
I followed her grin out the front windows and saw Tyson flirting with Susie Q on the sidewalk. He leaned against a shiny sports car and puffed out his chest as Susie Q hopped around admiring it.
I bit my lip. Was that why Tyson thought I looked so familiar? There was a definite family resemblance between Caroline and me, and if Tyson was hanging around Susie Q then he had definitely met my mother. I dug into my bag for a scarf and sunglasses.
“Really, Cora, a little sunshine would do you good,” Caroline said.
I ignored her and pushed the studio door open. Before I could snag Victoria and we could make our escape, Susie Q clapped her hands together excitedly.
“Oh, Cora, look! I found you a ride back to the mansion,” Susie Q called.
“It’s no trouble.” Tyson gave me a wide smile for Susie Q’s benefit.
I had no choice but to let him take my bags. While he was putting them in the trunk, I dragged Victoria to the hood of the car.
“Storm still thinks I’m you!” I whispered. “He saw your press pass.”
“And did you say you’re me?” Victoria asked.
“No, I just said something about it being my only way into the party,” I said.
“Then it’s just a little misunderstanding. You’re fine. The mission’s a go, unless you get distracted.” My friend waggled her eyebrows.
I swatted her shoulder and then gave her a quick hug. “Please tell me you’ll come back next weekend, so we can actually catch up!”
“And hear every detail of what happens at the Morris Mansion? I wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Victoria said.
Tyson put down the sports car’s top to impress Susie Q while I slid awkwardly into the front seat. My mother blew me a kiss, and we squealed up quiet Main Street and back to the mansion.
Storm’s manager was less wary now that Susie Q had endorsed me, but I could still feel him checking me out as we drove up the back road. I blushed when we passed the old greenhouse, and luckily, a sound distracted us both.
Tyson let his foot off the gas, and we coasted by, listening to someone playing a guitar in the old greenhouse’s echoing rotunda. He smiled and shook his head.
“Was that Storm?” I asked.
“That always was his favorite hideout,” Tyson said. “Glad to hear him playing again.”
“It’s been a while?”
Tyson stiffened. “Just do me a favor, and don’t mention we heard it. All right? If he just settles down to play, maybe he’ll forget about this whole moving thing.”
“You want to stay in Murtaugh, don’t you?”
Tyson pursed his lips and didn’t answer my question. I was still an interloper, but suddenly it seemed like I had a lot in common with Storm’s manager. Once I proved I wasn’t a gold digger, a heartbreaker, or any other cliché, I knew that Tyson and I would turn out to be allies.
I smiled at him and then at Morris Mansion. Maybe, just maybe, after all my years of practical choices that never really panned out, this one crazy plan would work. My mother’s studio would be safe, and no one would ever have to know I’d been fired and was now flat broke. If I convinced Storm Morris to stay, then everything could go back to normal and I could finally get my life back.