Hidden Hollywood

He must be doing this blind-date thing for some ulterior motive because there was no way he wasn’t meeting plenty of willing women at the bar where he worked. He probably went on these casual dates to tweak Hailey’s nose, but at the moment, Claire didn’t care. This worked perfectly for her. Just one date. One glorious day to drop all the trappings of her life and just relax.

They were paddling back to shore now. She’d picked up paddleboarding quickly. It was a core workout, something she regularly worked on with her personal trainer. Thank goodness. The last thing she needed was to take a dive in the water and have her wig come off. She had all sorts of disguises for those times when she needed to get in and out of a place without a big crush of people. She preferred not to hide, but sometimes she had to.

So far, they’d hardly run into anyone on the river. Just a couple of fellow paddleboarders. She actually relaxed. No one wanted a piece of Jenny. She could move about freely. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed that simple joy.

Josh got to shore first. He waded back into the water and helped her off her paddleboard as promised, unstrapping her ankle from the board leash and then lifting her by the waist and setting her on shore. His hands didn’t linger, merely assisted her in a gallant gesture. Total gentleman, as Hailey had promised.

“Thank you,” she said.

He flashed a smile that made her pulse thrum. “No problem. I’ll return these, grab our shoes, and then we’ll get the picnic dinner Hailey packed for us.”

“Hailey packed it? Oh, that is so sweet. Where is it?” She’d thought it would just be takeout from a deli or something.

“It’s in a cooler in my car. I’ll grab it and then we’ll hit the hiking trails. Just over that way.” He gestured across the road to the woods.

Here I go into the woods with a strange man. Alone. Vulnerable. Free.

“Can I get my cell?” she asked. She wanted to thank Hailey for the picnic.

He set one board down, pulled a remote key fob from his pocket, and aimed it at his white BMW, unlocking it. She headed for the car. There was something about him, something innately good that made her trust him. She’d spent a lifetime studying people, observing their mannerisms, gestures, expressions and how that either worked with or contradicted what they said. It was part of what made her a good actress. Josh just seemed authentic. A salt-of-the-earth bartender who looked out for his little sister. And book-club approved. You really couldn’t get any better than that.

She snagged her cell from the glove compartment and powered it on, watching Josh’s wide shoulders and back as he hauled the paddleboards to the stand. She glanced at her cell, punched in the code, and saw a text from Hailey. How’s it going?

Great! Thanks for the picnic.

Did you like the cake?

There was cake? She did a quick battle with herself over the calories and quickly decided the workout today warranted it. We didn’t eat yet. Just finished paddleboarding.

You paddleboarded? Cool! Do you like him?

She smiled. He’s awesome.

Yay! I gotta run. A big opportunity came up.

Big wedding?

No. More later. Have fun!

She tucked the phone away just as Josh was heading toward her, carrying her flip-flops. He set them near her feet.

“How you feel?” he asked. “Sore?”

She slipped her shoes on. “Nope. I feel great.”

“Awesome.” He retrieved his wallet and cell from the glove compartment and tucked them into his pockets. Then he hit another button to pop the trunk.

She followed him to the trunk, where he hauled out the cooler.

“Grab the blanket,” he said.

There was a green and white striped blanket rolled up with a strap. A picnic blanket. How cute! She grabbed it, tucking the strap over her shoulder, when it occurred to her a bartender probably couldn’t afford a BMW. He shut the trunk and locked the car remotely.

“Nice car,” she said.

He stared at the car for a moment and then turned to her with a sheepish grin. “Rental.”

“I thought you were from here.”

“My car’s in the shop.”

“So you rented a really expensive car?”

He lifted one shoulder up and down. “I wanted to see how the other half lived.”

An uneasy feeling went through her. Something wasn’t adding up. “Why?”

He grinned. “Why not? Come on.” He led the way through the gravel parking lot and across the road to the woods.

She kept up, wondering if she’d misjudged him. Had the pheromones distracted her? Was he not what he seemed? Something felt off. They stopped at a small wooden sign pointing the way to beginner, intermediate, and advanced hiking routes.