My hair was in low pigtails and while yes, I was wearing a tight shirt that my mother would have been completely aghast at, baring cleavage and all… I was also wearing overalls.
I mean, they were cute overalls… but they were still overalls.
It was the kind of outfit that fit in perfectly at the Nickelodeon or Pixar studios where most of my previous clients hung out.
Milo had made it sound so urgent on the phone, I hadn’t thought to change before swinging over. But now my cheeks heated because good Lord, had I really changed that much since I was a teenager after all? Yes, I had traveled the globe with my clients, and attended some of the biggest movie premieres in the world, and my contact list was drool-worthy…
But standing here, riding the elevator to meet with the person named People’s “Sexiest Man Alive” and looking at myself in the mirror?
With my bright pink round cheeks, I still looked about fifteen. Dear God, there was no denying that I was a twenty-seven-year-old virgin, was there?
The elevator pinged and the doors popped open before I was ready.
And standing there in front of me, in tall and undeniable godly glory was—
“H-hi,” I said, then wanted to pinch myself for my damn stutter kicking in. Usually I was never starstruck. I’d trained myself not to be. I’d found that if you focused on a celebrity’s eyebrows when talking to them, they seemed just like anybody else.
But I just hadn’t been prepared.
I didn’t know which twin I was staring up at—Leander or Janus—but he was broad-chested, and bigger than he looked on TV. I mean, his chest really went on and on. He was wearing a grey thermal that was stretched taut by his muscles but still looked really, really soft at the same time—
“Are you lost?”
“Huh?” I jerked my attention back where he was standing in the foyer the elevator had opened into. He was looking at his phone but had glanced up at me, clearly dismissing me as he went back to whatever was capturing his attention on his phone.
“Oh. Oh no.” I stood up straight and shrugged my overly large bag over my shoulder. “No, I’m supposed to be here.”
Now it was time for the intimidating, tall sexy giant to blink, when he finally took another glance up from his phone. “Supposed to be here?”
Just then, rescue came in the form of Milo Pappas from around the corner. Milo was not only the twins’ best friend, he was their head of security/manager. As a fellow behind-the-scener, we ran in the same circles. He’d always seemed competent and kind to me, in an industry that thrived on corrupt and self-serving. Not to mention that he came in a similarly giant Greek package—
Oh shit, did I really just think giant Greek package?
I was going to hell. It was official now. The fires were coming. My cheeks flamed hot and I only barely stopped myself from fanning them.
I will not fangirl and faint in front of Leander-or-Janus Mavros. I will not fangirl and faint in front of—
“Seriously, you shouldn’t be on this floor. Do I need to call secu—” Leander-or-Janus started gruffly, only giving me more than a cursory glance for the first time.
His dark gaze paused on my face as he looked me up and down.
Our eyes connected.
It sounded stupid, but it felt physical. Maybe it was just the idiotic stray thought I’d had a moment ago about giant Greek packages, but I felt that gaze like a sizzle striking the back of my spine. Right down to the tailbone. And echoing around straight to my—
Milo finished Leander-or-Janus’s sentence with a wide smile and open arms. “Security? Nonsense. Janus, this is Hope Robins. She’s the publicist we’ve been waiting for. Come in, come in.”
Milo ushered me forward just as a curious twinkle lit in Janus’s eye.
“We’ve been expecting you. You’re late.” And then in a deep bass voice, he finished. “I don’t like tardiness.”
2
THE PROPOSITION
“Ignore him,” Milo said, ushering me in warmly with a hand at the small of my back. It was a move that Janus didn’t miss noticing, I saw.
The meatballs in my stomach suddenly turned back into butterflies. Dear Lord, I was gonna get vertigo at this rate. Why on God’s green earth was I reacting to this man this way when I never did to other celebrities?
I glanced over at Janus, inhaling at what it felt like just to be near a man of such… magnetism. Janus hadn’t even acted in over a decade and wasn’t technically a celebrity anymore. And it wasn’t even about that. He just had this potent… energy.
Milo led us into what looked more like a hotel room than any office I’d ever seen, an open concept space with a little sunken area full of couches in the middle of the room and a full kitchen off to the side. Mid-morning sunlight filtered through floor to ceiling shades. It lit up the modern apartment done in sleek blacks, grays, and creams.