Hidden Hollywood

She’d just finished lunch when her cell rang. She snagged it, already feeling better seeing Jake’s name on the screen.

“Hey,” she said. “It was Blake who told the press about Jenny and Josh. I’m sorry I accused you.”

“Ah, fine, you’re forgiven,” Jake said. “Paranoid movie star.”

She laughed. “Thank you, bigheaded CEO.”

He chuckled. “So did you fire Blake?”

She sighed. “I’m stuck with him. I can’t afford to buy him out of his contract. He’s locked in for all three movies.”

He whistled a long, sympathetic tone. “That sucks.”

“That’s show biz.”

A silence fell.

“Well,” they said at the same time.

She laughed. “I’ll see you tomorrow for dinner if you’re free. The premiere with Blake is off.”

“Sounds good.”

“Okay. I’ll arrange everything and text you the details. Ciao.”

“Come on. Ciao? Could you be more pretentious?”

“Could you be more judgmental?”

He groaned long and loud. “How long until we can get out all this pent-up aggravation and channel it properly?”

“You’re a beast.”

“I am.”

She smiled and held the phone closer. “I kinda like beasts.”

“I know you do. I had your number from day one.”

“You did not.”

“All right, not day one Jenny. Day one Claire.”

“I looked you up. You didn’t tell me you were named Sexiest Bachelor in Silicon Valley.”

“I thought that went without saying.”

She laughed. “I can’t believe I just had a horrible betrayal from the guy I’m stuck with for the next two years and then you call and I can’t stop smiling.”

“Get used to it. Ciao, baby.”

She grinned. “Ciao.”

She hung up and left her trailer, nearly giddy with something that felt very close to love. She’d been in love a time or two, once in high school, too young too soon, and once while she was a struggling actress with another actor. That last one ended when she got her big break and her boyfriend didn’t. This felt different. Bigger. All capital letters kind of LOVE. She was getting goofy.

Her assistant rushed up to her as soon as she got back to the set. “Blake’s gone. We can’t find him anywhere. I think he left the estate.”

Dammit. He had a contract, and they needed him today.

She shook her head, coming down from the clouds. “Get his agent on the phone.”

~ ~ ~

Jake felt like a double agent with the hoops he had to go through just to have dinner with Claire. No wonder she was paranoid. He had to meet her at the back entrance of her hotel and take a Mercedes with tinted windows through some back-alley route to the service entrance of the restaurant where her assistant had made a reservation under a false name. Her bodyguard came along for the ride, barely saying two words to Jake. Once at the restaurant, they were quickly escorted through the kitchen, where the workers didn’t even blink at their presence, and then down a flight of stairs to a basement room with three small tables and three waiters. The space was cozy with dark wood paneling and glowing wall sconces.

He recognized one couple at the other two tables—a big-name actress with her rock-star boyfriend; the other table had two young beautiful people who could have been actors, musicians, or models. It seemed to be the place to go for the beautiful couples looking for privacy. Claire waved to the actress, her smile bright. He lifted his chin in acknowledgement and settled his hand on Claire’s lower back, guiding her to the only empty table. Claire looked stunningly beautiful, as anyone would expect from the Claire Jordan, in a sleeveless dress, turquoise on top, gold on the skirt. Her sexy gold heels had skinny straps that wrapped around her ankles.

Not that he didn’t appreciate her efforts, but he’d been just as drawn to her as Jenny with no designer anything and no makeup at all. He figured she had enough people in her life gushing over her beauty so when he first saw her all glammed up, he’d merely said, “Nice dress.” To which she’d said, “Nice shirt.” It was a white button-down tailor-made to his measurements. And that was enough with the compliments.

Once they were settled at the table, he leaned across it and spoke in a low tone meant for Claire’s ears alone. “No wonder you have such a big head. It’s like you’re the president or something.”

She puckered her lips to the side, looking adorably put out. “Ya know, insulting your date isn’t the way to beast mode.”