CHAPTER ONE
Paige Mitchell needed a cup of coffee and a slice of lemon cake and she needed it right away. She’d spent the last hour of her life in a meeting with her agent Kris Hamilton and nothing had been good news. All her dreams were beginning to evaporate before her very eyes. She’d hoped she was close but it didn’t look like it was going to happen.
“We’ll get a couple of coffees and you’ll feel better,” Carrie Johnson said, patting Paige on the shoulder. Carrie handled the business side of Paige’s writing but most of all she was a friend.
“Lemon cake,” Paige sighed. “I want lemon cake too. Then at least this entire day won’t be a bust. I’ll have had sugar.”
“Lots of lemon cake,” Carrie laughed. “And lots of fancy coffee. No better way that I know of to make a day suck less. Why don’t you grab a table and I’ll order?”
There were a few empty ones near the back and Paige made a beeline for the cleanest, setting her purse on the empty chair beside her. She was checking the messages on her phone when the raised voices on the other side of the shop caught her attention. Sucking in a breath, her entire being was on high alert when she saw who it was.
Nate Mason. Movie star. Sex symbol. British Prince Charming.
The handsome actor was currently surrounded by fawning women – no surprise there – and was signing autographs and taking selfies with them. Laughing and smiling, he appeared to be quite at home with his adoring fans.
“Did you see who’s here?” Carrie loudly whispered, placing two plates of lemon cake on the table along with two large vanilla lattes. “It’s him. Flynn.”
Not even close.
“He’s not Flynn. Flynn is a character made up in my warped imagination and brought to life in a series of books. Nate Mason is an actual live human being.”
Settling in the chair across from her, Carrie studied the actor. “Are you sure? Because damn, he is fine looking. Almost too good to be true.”
He was an exceptionally good-looking man. A few inches over six feet, he was tall and lean but still muscular, with long arms and legs. His perfectly chiseled face had a firm jaw and impossibly high cheekbones along with clear blue eyes. All that gorgeousness was topped off with a mop of golden curls that lately he’d kept cut short on the sides.
“He’s real,” Paige affirmed, trying not to stare. “But he’s not Flynn. He’s too…something. And he’s not enough…something else.”
As a bestselling author for the last ten years, Paige had created too many characters to count but none had stuck with her like Flynn had. He was a hero with all the traits that went along with that role, and he was the lead male in her most successful book series. He was also the reason Hollywood had come knocking. There was great interest into turning her books into a feature film. Maybe several feature films.
Or there had been interest. After the meeting today with her agent it didn’t look like any movie was going to be made. Paige was a self-admitted control freak and she wanted to play a part in the making of the film – casting approval, director choice, and more. Kris had broken it to her today that her hopes were a pipe dream. She simply wasn’t a big enough celebrity to get that kind of control. Not enough clout, Kris has said. If only Paige were more famous. More in demand, then she’d have more bargaining power.
“Why don’t you go over there and get a picture with him?” Carrie suggested. “I heard that he loves to read. Maybe he’s read one of your books.”
The idea was horrifying.
“Heavens no,” Paige replied crisply. “I couldn’t just walk up to him and say hello. That’s crazy talk.”
Carrie pointed to the half dozen panting women that had formed a circle around him.
“They did.”
“More power to them but that’s not me.”
Paige took a big bite of her lemon cake and smiled. She’d needed this all morning. She liked New York City but she was a homebody normally, puttering around her Florida home in her pajamas and working on her books. Being around all these people was stressful. She’d had to put on a bra when she’d dressed today.
“He looks happier than he did a year ago when he got caught cheating on Stella Riley with those two women,” Carrie observed. “In fact, he always looked miserable whenever they were photographed together. He looked like a hostage being forced to play for the cameras. I wasn’t surprised when they broke up ugly.”
Paige had vague memories of the incident but she didn’t pay much attention to the press when she was in the middle of writing a book. The one thing she did remember was that he’d been thrown under a speeding bus by that America’s Sweetheart Wannabe.
“It was his own business.” Paige took a sip of her hot coffee. “A grown man had sex. Big deal. The press didn’t let up on him.”
“Stella said he cheated on her and those two females said he’s a kinky bastard. So much for that British gentleman image he has.”
“Honestly, no one can be that perfect so that wasn’t a shock.” Paige shook her head. “And we don’t know what was really going on between him and her. As for those two girls, I think it was awful that they spilled all his secrets online. It was a gross invasion of privacy. No one deserves that.”
“I’ll agree with that. The way Stella Riley went on and on for weeks you’d have thought they’d been together for years and not months. Some people said the relationship wasn’t even real.”
Paige frowned. “What do you mean not real?”
“You know, a showmance. They did it for the publicity and didn’t even like each other. You can’t cheat on someone you aren’t really dating.”
“I’ve never heard of such a thing and it honestly sounds stupid. You’d have to be pretty desperate to get your name in the paper to do something like that. Now what’s on the agenda for the rest of the afternoon?”
Carrie shook her plastic fork at Paige. “Eat up because you have a meeting with your new publicist in an hour. You’re going to follow her advice, aren’t you?”
No matter how painful.
“I already am. We’re going to that movie premiere tonight. Something I normally would never do but she’s said my appearance will help raise my profile so I can have more clout with the studios.”
The look Carrie gave Paige spoke volumes. They both knew it was going to take much more than one movie premiere. Paige had been warned. It was going to take a concerted effort over the next year or so and she was going to have to move out of her comfort zone. She couldn’t wear her beloved pajamas on the red carpet.
Paige followed Carrie’s gaze to where Nate Mason was now accepting his coffee and taking a selfie with the barista behind the counter.
“I know you don’t agree but I think he’d make an amazing Flynn,” Carrie sighed, her brows raised as they watched him thank the swooning girls and exit the coffee shop. Paige was almost positive she could hear the female hearts breaking as they stared at his gorgeous ass exiting. “Do you think he’d want to play him in the movie?”
“Right now there is no movie unless I cave and just hand it over to the studio to do whatever they want with it, and I can’t do that, Carrie. I just can’t. Flynn is…special. As for Nate Mason? It’s not worth discussing since I would never choose him. Besides, I’m sure he turns down offers every day. What would make this movie look enticing to him? In a completely theoretical world, that is.”
Carrie tapped her chin. “He plays a lot of bad guys. Flynn is a hero. That might be a nice change for him.”
“You’re getting way ahead of yourself. There is no movie. Not yet, and maybe never.”
Still staring at the door, Carrie sighed. “There has to be a way to make this film happen. I know that somehow it’s going to work out.”
Paige looked out of the front window at the bustling city street. “Let’s face it. Something drastic is going to have to happen to get this movie made, and at this point in my life I’m not sure I’d even survive it.”
But she wouldn’t give up.