Hollywood Princess (Hollywood Royalty 2)

“Kellie,” she says, oozing with fakeness, “I’m Christina. I’m so happy we could set this up.” She air-kisses both my cheeks. Then she turns and walks to the other secluded table set for two in the corner. I didn’t look around the restaurant before, but it’s all beige with red roses on each table. “Henry,” she says to the man who is sitting at the table going through his phone. He looks up, and his blue eyes spot me. His lips curl up into a smile, and he gets up and comes to me. He’s wearing black dress pants and a white button-down dress shirt with his first four buttons open and the hair underneath coming out. His thick goatee tickles my cheek when he finally leans in and inhales me while saying my name.

“Kellie, you look lovely,” he whispers in my ear and then holds out his hand to me. I grab it and walk to the lone table set up in the corner. He holds out the chair for me, and I sit down, facing the table where Brian is now being hugged and kissed by Christina, who takes a little bit too long kissing his cheek. She points at the table, and I have to stop looking when Henry talks to me.

“So this is nice, right?” he says, looking at me. I look at him, though my attention is on the next table.

“Thank you so much for inviting me,” I tell him with a smile as the waitress approaches to introduce herself.

“Good evening,” she starts, and I watch her. She is wearing black pants with a white button-down shirt and a black tie. A white apron is around her waist. “My name is Felicia, and I’ll be your waitress tonight. Before I start you guys off with something to drink, let me tell you about our specials tonight.” I look at her and listen to the special of the night, but my peripheral vision is on the table where Christina is pouring herself and Cori some wine, throwing her head back and laughing. Brian is facing our table with Cori and Christina on either side of him.

“Thank you.” I hear Henry say and look back at him smiling. He waits for the waitress to go away and then leans back to grab his glass of whiskey or bourbon. “Do you want some wine? I ordered when we got here,” he says, taking the wine and pouring me a glass. “I heard you just started a tour.”

I nod, picking up the glass of water and taking a drink. “Yeah, I’m excited. I think they said something about thirty cities.”

“That must be hard not to wake up in the same place from one day to the next.”

“It’s a bit weird, but it’s a dream come true,” I tell him, and then my eyes fall to the sound of high-pitched laughter coming from the other table. I look and see that Christina has her head thrown back and her hand on Brian’s arm. It looks like her chair has moved closer to him.

“How long have you been singing?” Henry asks, and I force myself to look at him and pay attention to him.

“From what my parents said, I’ve been singing longer than I’ve been talking.” The waitress interrupts us, bringing us soup. “I didn’t order this.”

“The chef has taken it upon himself to send out a selection of dishes,” she says, and I just nod. “The chef special tonight is cream of squash and roasted red pepper,” she says, and I smile at her, thanking her. Grabbing the napkin and placing it on my lap, I pick up my spoon and scoop up a bit. I blow on it to cool it, and then the flavor just takes over.

“So how long have you been acting?” I ask him between spoonfuls of the soup.

“I got lucky on my first day in town,” he says, taking his napkin and wiping his mouth when he answers me. “I ran over Steven Spielberg’s foot with my luggage.”

Now it’s my turn to throw my head back and laugh. “No way.”

He smiles at me, and the smile would melt anyone’s panties except mine. “Yeah. I said I was sorry, he looked me up and down, and the next thing I know, I have an audition in the morning.”

“That’s a great story,” I tell him, and for the rest of the night, we get to know each other. He gets up at one point, excusing himself to the bathroom. I look up at the table and see that Christina is almost in Brian’s lap; her chair has definitely moved. When I see that he also gets up and goes to the bathroom, I put my napkin on the table and walk over to Cori.

“Hey.” She smiles at me, and I can see that it’s a forced smile. “I’m a little beat.”