Kate

Two weeks had flown by in a blur of passport photos, talent schedule revisions, approvals, logistics, and of course, shopping that I absolutely could not afford. I had decided early last week that my beat-up, hot-pink American Tourister luggage from college with the wonky wheel wasn’t quite the dignified message I was trying to send. As a result, I had splurged on a sleek black Samsonite with leather detailing, along with a pair of buttery black leather boots that screamed “well-heeled international traveler.” I then topped off my shopping spree with a few other fashionable odds and ends that at the time I thought for sure would boost my confidence and relieve me of feeling like a misfit amongst the jet set. Nothing, however, could have prepared me for the otherworldly feeling I got as the chauffeured SUV that the studio had arranged for me pulled up outside the gated private airstrip in Van Nuys, California. I was definitely not in Kansas anymore.

Stepping out of the SUV, my driver promptly presented me with the handle of my luggage, and with butterflies dancing violently in my stomach, I headed inside the Signature Aviation lounge area. The room had giant floor-to-ceiling windows showcasing the sleek private aircraft as they glided smugly down the tarmac. The airport lounge was almost empty except for a handful of businessmen relaxing on comfy leather chairs and sofas while perusing The Wall Street Journal or tapping away at their laptops, no doubt buying and selling little people like me between sips of coffee. It was the calmest airport I had ever seen, completely devoid of the usual panic and undignified activities that we regular folk endured when we traveled. Not sure what to do, I stepped up to the counter with uncertainty and was greeted by a pretty woman with ice blonde hair and perfectly white teeth. Her name tag read “Rachel.”

“Can I help you?”

“I’m not sure,” I said as I looked around uncomfortably.

“First time?” She smiled kindly.

I nodded dumbly.

“Do you know the tail number of your flight?”

“Umm…yes, I think so …” I rummaged through my giant folder of tour logistics and promptly relayed the tail number that identified the private jet to Rachel.

“Great.” She typed the number into her computer. “Ah, I see that your jet is ready for departure, but the rest of your group hasn’t arrived yet. Can I have your passport, so that I can begin processing you for international travel?”

Rachel smiled at me warmly as I handed over my newly obtained passport.

“Once the full party is assembled, we will escort you out onto the tarmac for boarding. I’ll return your passport to you at that time. In the meantime, can I interest you in a chocolate chip cookie? I just took them out of the oven.”

I stared at her incredulously. “Are you serious?” So this was how the other half lived…

Before the woman behind the counter could answer me, a ball of frazzled energy with wavy blonde hair that fell in romantic ringlets around a sweetheart-shaped face approached the counter, making a ruckus as she frantically tried to scrounge for something at the bottom of her purse and walk at the same time.

“Hi! Please tell me I’m not late?” she said with an exhausted smile just before giving Rachel the same tail number that I had given moments earlier. Noticing me finally, she fell contrite. “So sorry to interrupt. I’m in a bit of a state, as you can tell,” she said in a bright, fairy-like British accent.

“You’re not late, miss. You two are the first to arrive,” Rachel said, nodding to me.

A beautifully warm smile crossed the blonde’s lips like sunshine parting clouds. “Oh, my God! You must be Kate!” she said, taking me in. “Cam described you perfectly!”

“Not sure how to take that.” I grinned.

“It was all flattering. He said you were just lovely. I think he was quite taken with you, actually,” she said distractedly as she finally managed to fish out a cell phone from the giant Louis Vuitton Neverfull bag she carried that seemed far too fancy for her personality or the rest of her Urban Outfitters attire, for that matter. “I’m so happy you’ve joined us, Kate! Evelyn’s usually such a bore. I’m Lizzy, by the way. Cam’s assistant.” She extended her hand to me for a shake.

“Oh, right!”

Lizzy and I had exchanged several emails over the past few weeks but had never actually met in person. “It’s great to meet you finally,” I said, relieved to have such a friendly face to travel with.

“I literally cannot believe Cam isn’t here yet.” Lizzy quickly dialed her phone. It rang just once before I could hear that deep voice just dripping with sex answer on the other end of the line. “Cam, where the hell are you?” Lizzy belted into the phone. I grinned, loving the fact that there was someone else on this trip who wouldn’t be taking shit from the talent. “You promised me you would get here on your own, on time today. I really haven’t time to…” Her last thought was interrupted by a light cough behind us.

We both turned to find the oh-so-delicious Camden Atwood smirking at us as he disconnected the line and approached like a lazy tiger, clad in yet another pair of perfectly hung jeans and some hipster T-shirt that was meant to look vintage but was probably brand new and equal in cost to my entire outfit. He wore that under a buttery soft leather jacket that just made him appear and smell fully masculine.

“Ladies.”

“Cam, for God’s sake! Is Tony with you?”

Cam looked calmly toward the front door where presumably Tony, a large, no-nonsense looking African-American man directed the porter on how to handle their luggage. Tony was clearly meant to be the security muscle on this trip.

“He’s sorting out the luggage. Just relax.” Cam soothed as he tried to hide his amusement at Lizzy’s flustered demeanor as she tried to calm herself a bit.

“I’ve just been getting to know our Kate here,” Lizzy effused, changing topics swiftly.

Turning to me, Cam locked me in his gaze in a way that sent a charge through me. “I’m looking forward to doing the same,” he said as he leaned into the counter so that our eyes were on the same level. He cocked his head with a smile that I can honestly say wasn’t entirely appropriate for the occasion. Just as Lizzy seemed to be picking up on the weird vibes between Cam and I, her attention was drawn to the front of the airport lounge as a fussy socialite type with too high heels and far too short a skirt hobbled in with way too much luggage.

“Oh, bloody hell! What is she doing here?” Lizzy’s smile dropped in utter despair as Cam drew his eyes from me and zeroed in on the bimbo at the front door who waved over at him as the porter began helping her with her luggage.

“Don’t look at me; I didn’t invite her,” Cam said, frowning with concern that marred his perfect face.

Lizzy rummaged through her bag once again to retrieve her phone and quickly scanned through her email inbox and frowned. “Bugger!”

“What?” Cam asked.

“I told the studio to book for the same group as the Comic-Con trip plus Kate. I forgot Amber was with us for that.”

“How could you forget that, Lizzy?”

“I don’t know. I’m still trying to forget her in that awful Wonder Woman cosplay. Dreadful!”

“I can’t say I minded that part,” Cam grinned as Lizzy rolled her eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Cam. I’ve effed this up royally,” Lizzy lamented. “I can send her away if you want. I’ll take the blame.”

As I watched the exchange between Cam and Lizzy, I found myself bracing for Cam to blow his lid as I had witnessed celebs do from time to time when things didn’t go exactly as planned, but happily, no meltdown came. Cam simply sighed, staring at Amber as he seemed to mentally shuffle through his options. With a resigned sigh, he gave Lizzy a forgiving kiss on the head, knowing how badly she must have felt about the mess.

“Amber will have a fit if we send her packing, which will just create more worry for Kate here. I promised Evelyn we’d go easy on her for her first time out with us…” Cam stopped for a moment and turned to me with a raised eyebrow “…unless, of course, you can work your magic again, Katie. What was it you said… ‘wink and I’ll make her disappear’?”

The words brought a smile to my lips as I remembered our first meeting. “I’m afraid you only get to play that card once with me, Mr. Atwood,” I said crossing my arms in defiance. “You’re on your own with this one.” I crossed my arms in defiance as Amber approached. There was, however, something in her fussy gait that made me instantly regret my decision not to bail Camden out one last time.

“Oh, my God, my driver reeked of smoke. I’m pretty sure he just gave me cancer…like I’m positive he did. So gross. Anyway! How is everyone?” she said overly excited as she sauntered over to Cam and plastered an unexpected kiss on his lips and wrapped an arm possessively around his waist. As quickly as I had been able to tell that Lizzy and I might become friends, I was just as certain that Amber and I would not. She looked me up and down disapprovingly while never allowing the fakest of fake smiles to leave her face.

“And who’s this?” Amber asked no one in particular.

“This is Katie, my new publicist,” Cam volunteered.

“It’s actually Kate. Just Kate,” I said emphatically as I extended my hand to Amber.

“Oh, thank God. You finally got rid of that hag!”

“No, she actually works for the hag,” Cam smiled.

“Sorry! My bad,” she said in a girlish “sorry, not sorry” voice. “Well, welcome to the circus!”

“No worries. I know my boss is a handful,” I said apologetically.

“That’s putting it mildly,” Amber said under her breath.

Once everyone had gotten reacquainted, we all picked at the tray of gooey, warm chocolate chip cookies at the front counter as we waited for Cam’s friend James to arrive, whom Lizzy quietly told me she referred to as Richie Rich. He was apparently a native Angeleno and the son of a wealthy tech entrepreneur of some sort. James wore his sense of entitlement on his sleeve in bold colors. I found him irritating almost instantly when he arrived nearly fifteen minutes late.

“So, Prescott, do you think you can get us a reservation at Alo for tonight in Toronto?” James asked, skipping over all the niceties of getting to know me. “I need Cam to meet with a few of my potential investors this evening.”

From what I could understand, James was working on some half-baked dating app that matched singles up based on the cars they drove. He insisted it would be all the rage in LA because how many times have you hooked up with someone who drove a “rank car.” According to James, that was the height of dating disasters.

“Alo is apparently super exclusive,” he continued. “So, if you can’t do it, tell me now, and I’ll find someone who can.”

I raised an unamused brow at this irritatingly bro-ey dude and eyed Cam, who tried rather unsuccessfully to hide a grin, knowing that I was not amused.

“James, is it?”

“Uh, yeah…” he said as though I should have known who he was instantly without a formal introduction.

“Cam has a screening tonight, James. It’s kind of the whole reason that we’re all here doing this little tour. He’s unfortunately not going to have time this evening to do dinner with your…investors or whatever.”

“Seriously?” James asked, eyeing Cam for back up and none came.

“Seriously,” I said calmly.

“I fucking love her,” Lizzy proclaimed as she moved in to grab yet another cookie.

“I think I do, too,” Cam said, not letting his eyes drop from me for a second as he seemed to drink me in yet again from head to toe.

“Whatever,” James said as he moved on to other issues including insisting that Rachel have someone bring the good champagne from the plane to the lounge, so he’d have something appropriate to wash his cookie down with while we waited for the last arrival, Evander.

Now Evander I liked instantly. He was an elegant black man with the sort of fashion sense that couldn’t be taught. It was innately who he was. Everything from his slim-cut trousers and contrasting jacket to his bold suspenders and on-trend newsboy cap, made him look perfectly chic and well-put-together. He had an air of sophistication about him, and you could just tell that he had no intentions of apologizing for being last to arrive. He made a beeline for Cam and gave him a hug, which was really more of a prelude to him examining Cam’s attire from top to bottom.

“I like what we’re saying,’ he proclaimed finally. “I can work with this.” Cam smiled on as Evander quickly surveyed the rest of the group and was clearly not impressed with Amber or James and simply swiveled past them to Lizzy.

“My little Tinkerbell!” he said as he gave Lizzy a giant hug. He grabbed a lock of her somewhat frizzed hair in disgust. “Don’t worry, doll. I have something in my bag for this.” Lizzy just smiled good-naturedly until Evander turned on me with obvious interest. “And who, pray tell, is this fierce little creature?”

Cam stepped up immediately and placed his hand on the small of my back in that possessive way that sent a thrill through my body that went straight to my lady bits. My reverie, however, was cut short by the wary expression on Amber’s face.

“This is our newest addition, Kate. She’s filling in for Evelyn as my publicist on this trip.”

“Upgrade!”

“It most definitely is,” Cam said as his thumb stroked my back gently and our eyes locked for just a moment.

Evander cocked his head and stared at the two of us together quizzically. “Hmm.”

I knew that look. “Don’t get any ideas there, Evander. Let’s keep it profesh, okay?” I said, taking a definitive step away from Cam.

“I am the stylist, honey. I know what looks good on him…and what doesn’t.” Evander’s disapproving eyes darted to Amber for just a second without her notice.

Cam smiled for a moment as his gaze lingered on me and then slowly moved to Amber, who surveyed the situation with marked incredulity. He cleared his throat uncomfortably and headed back to her, just in time to sweep her off to the side, rendering her “special” once again, just as Rachel approached.

“Looks like everyone’s here! Are we ready to get moving?”

“Not just yet,” I heard an imposing voice boom as I watched Tony stride toward me in an authoritative fashion with a packet of paper in hand.

“May I have a word, Miss Granger?” Tony said, casting his no-nonsense glare in my direction. I stifled a grin, knowing exactly what Tony wanted to discuss with me.

“Oh no, Tony, her last name is “Prescott,” I believe,” Lizzy exclaimed.

“Yeah, I got that. Just need to check and see if she’s aware of that fact,” Tony said, not taking his eyes off me as Lizzy and Cam exchanged confused looks but shrugged it all off as James distracted them by topping off their champagne flutes one last time.

“You want to tell me what this is about?” Tony said as he pulled me off to the side.

“Is there a problem?” I said with a smirk.

“If your real name is Hermione Granger then we’ve got no problem,” he said, “…otherwise I need you to sign your NDA properly, young lady.” I grinned guiltily as Tony pushed the nondisclosure agreement that Lizzy had had me sign days before in front of me and then placed a fresh agreement over top of it.

“Little joke?” I said hopefully.

“Very little,” Tony mused as he crossed his beefy arms in front of him, sizing me up. “What’s funny is I would never have pegged you as a practical joker.”

“I’m actually not,” I said as I signed the fresh nondisclosure document meant to protect every major aspect of Cam’s interests in a legal cloak of confidentiality. “I just like to know who I’m working with,” I said, looking him straight in the eye. “Attention to detail…” I pointed directly at Tony— “her, not so much.” I said as I glanced at Lizzy, who was once again ferociously fishing something out from the bottom of her purse. “She’s sweet, though,” I said with a smile. Tony relaxed a bit and grinned at me.

“That she is.”

“Sorry for the little trick. It’s something dumb my mother used to do. She always says that fortunes are won or lost on who’s paying attention and who’s not, in any given situation.” Tony smiled broadly at that.

“I can respect that. Smart lady.”

“Sometimes,” I said, instantly hoping that Tony hadn’t picked up on my thinly veiled melancholy.

He checked my paperwork once more and smiled at me with genuine appreciation. “What do you say, from here on in we’ve got each other’s backs, okay?”

I gave Tony a conspiratorial smile to confirm our new solidarity. “Deal.”

“Well, in that case, let’s get this show on the road!” Tony exclaimed loudly for the whole group to hear.

I surveyed the motley crew of new people whom I’d be with for the next several weeks and took a deep breath to steady my nerves. Here goes nothing!