Hidden Hollywood

Claire took a sip. “Wonderful, thank you.”

The waiter smiled. “Very good.” He poured a little more in each of their glasses and left.

Claire raised her glass. “To love and redemption.”

“I’m not sure what that means in this context, but…” He went to clink glasses, but she held hers back.

“It means we’re both redeeming ourselves by showing our true selves.”

His voice came out husky with the emotion clogging his throat. “And the love?”

She gave him a small smile. “I don’t know. I had some feelings for Josh, but the jury’s still out on you.”

He couldn’t help but smile. “Touché.”

She smirked. He clinked his glass against hers and they drank.

He set his glass down. “Where do you live when you’re not filming?”

She lifted one shoulder. “I have a place in Aspen, one in San Francisco—”

“I live in San Francisco. Well, close by. Do the neighborly thing and stop by.”

“I’ll bring a picnic.”

He gazed at her warmly, remembering their first picnic. “Just bring you.”

She shook her head. “Why do I feel like you’re too good to be true? Like any moment this is all going to go poof!” She flexed her fingers in the air.

“Like you’re on a prank show.”

She looked around suspiciously.

“You’re not. This is real.” He took both her hands in his. “As real as it gets.”

The waiter returned with a first course of salad.

After he left, Jake watched Claire take tiny bites of salad and chew slowly. She didn’t have an ounce of fat on her. He wouldn’t mind seeing her with soft curves. He understood, though. If he was filming in the buff, he’d be working out round the clock and watching that scale.

She looked up. “I told Hailey about you and Josh switching places.”

“Yeah? What’d she say? Did she still like dinner? It was a three-star Michelin-rated restaurant.”

“Oh, that’s what he did? I didn’t know how he taught her a lesson. Huh. So he just took her to dinner, pretending to be you? She’s so mad I thought it was much worse. All she’ll say is he’ll never date in this town again.”

He burst out laughing. He could just imagine Hailey plotting some revenge. Probably tell everyone Josh had an STD or something.

“You don’t mess with Hailey,” Claire said.

Jake shook his head. “He took her out to show her she really wanted him not the billionaire brother.”

“You’re a billionaire?”

“You didn’t look up my portfolio?”

“No. I just looked up the basics—marital status, criminal record, sexiest bachelor titles.”

He chuckled. “I fell out of the ten-figure club recently. Anyway, back to Josh. Get this. He went through all that elaborate setup, but then he never did the big reveal, never rubbed it in her face. He just took her to dinner, took her home, and that’s it.”

“There must’ve been more to it than that.” She ate some more salad, looking thoughtful. “She’s furious. Something must’ve happened.”

“If it did, he’s not telling.”

“I’ll work on her. Women talk about stuff, especially Hailey. It’s really not like her not to share all the details. She is all about details.” She pursed her lips. “And he sounds like a jerk.”

“Hey, that’s my twin.”

“I know, but—”

“Yeah, it was a jerky thing to do. He’s all twisted up over Hailey. It’s really simple. You like a woman, you ask her out, seduce her, and screw her brains out. That’s my philosophy.”

She bit back a smile, but he could see the laughter dancing in her eyes. “You might’ve missed a step there.”

He pretended to consider this. “No, I don’t think so. That’s about it.”

She laughed. “I shouldn’t encourage you.”

“You really should.”

Their salad plates were whisked away the moment they finished. The entrees arrived a few minutes later. Everything was farm-to-table and organic. Claire had salmon with roasted vegetables. Again, no carbs. He had steak with sweet potato puree. He remembered the look of ecstasy on her face when he’d hand-fed her chocolate cake on their picnic. Now that he thought about it, she only had three bites. And that cake was fantastic.

“Don’t you miss carbs?” he asked.

“I have them between films. It’s fine.”

He sliced into the steak, perfectly medium well. “So what happened with that guy’s agent?” He knew he wasn’t supposed to say names when they were out in public, but he was curious what happened with Blake.