Reel (Hollywood Renaissance 1)

Maybe I’m disinterested.

I’ve always been guarded with men. It only takes your fiancé sleeping with your sister once for you to be wary. It’s beyond my cynicism, though. I need a man who doesn’t think that because he has a dick and I don’t that I should defer to him—shrink my dreams down to a more manageable size. I almost did that with Brandon. I dreamt of something else; something that brought me to New York, to that stage tonight, to this moment. And I almost reneged on my dreams for a man who cheated on me and got my sister pregnant.

So, yeah. I’m cautious not only about who I share my heart and body with, but I’m also protective of my dreams; of my ambition. I won’t endanger my future for a man who can fuck. Though . . . a man who can fuck? I wouldn’t turn it down, but it will take more than that to pique my interest.

“What are you getting?” Takira asks, leaning over to read my menu instead of hers. “Anything here meet your high standards?”

I roll my eyes. My standards aren’t that high. I’ve just cut out red meat and stopped drinking as much alcohol. My health demands it. “You’re the one who said my scalp would thank me if I changed my diet,” I remind her.

“Yeah, but you took it to that next level.” She elbows me and flashes a grin. “Always being extra.”

“I’m thinking about the salmon, but I—”

A chair scraping across the floor catches my attention. Wright’s friend has finally come inside to join us. The table shrinks immediately when he settles his imposing frame into the seat beside Janie. He peels the hood away from his head and I bite off a gasp.

It’s Canon Holt.

Like the Canon Holt.

The director I, and probably every actress at this table and in this dining room, would sacrifice a pinky toe to work with. Canon Holt is at my table sitting across from me.

Takira’s expression doesn’t register this massive earthquake of a revelation, but she kicks me under the table and hisses from the corner of her mouth. “Did you know?”

I pretend I need to reach for something on the floor so I can whisper back, “Do you think I would have kept my shit together this long if I knew?”

“True. True.” Takira casually glances up from her menu and smiles in Canon’s general direction, but he’s not looking at her. He’s studying his screen. He’s apparently in an exclusive relationship with his phone, and no one at this table tempts him to stray.

Which means I can look at him.

Good. God.

He’s not that handsome, but that’s irrelevant. Some might even call his features, examined on their own, unremarkable.

They’d be wrong.

It’s a Maker’s sleight of hand. Now God knew this man did not need lashes that long and thick, a paradox against the hard, high slant of his cheekbones. Canon hasn’t looked twice at anyone here as far as I can tell, but I’ve stolen enough glances to know there’s a fathomlessness to his dark eyes that is arresting. His unsmiling mouth is wide, the lips full in the blunt elegance of his face. A five o’clock shadow licks the ridge of his jawline. There is a geometry to him—angles, lines, edges—that disregards the individual parts and illuminates the compelling sum.

Our food comes out on steaming platters just as he lays his phone on the table.

“Excuse my reach,” the server says to him, distributing plates and drinks to the rest of the table. “Is there anything I can get for you, Mr. Holt?”

He doesn’t even blink when she calls him by his name.

“Macallan?” he asks. “I don’t see it on the menu, but—”

“We’ll figure it out,” she assures him with a smile.

I’m sure folks just go around figuring things out for him all the time at this point in his career.

“So Mr. Holt,” Janie says, all pink and flustered. “I loved your last documentary. I heard you’re working on a movie next. What’s it about?”

“It hasn’t been announced.” He truncates the words, his expression shut down. He looks over his shoulder like the restroom might offer an escape from this banality.

“Oh, you can tell us,” Janie cajoles.

One dark, imperious brow elevates. “But I don’t want to.”

Okayyyyy.

An awkward silence falls on the table. Seemingly oblivious, or uncaring, he picks his phone up and starts typing again.

So fine as hell, but a jerk.

My lady parts shimmy back into their shell. I don’t have time or patience for narcissists who think the sun and stars were made for them. I may find it hard to stop looking at him, but it’s increasingly easy not to like him.

“So when did you know you wanted to be on Broadway, Neevah?”

My fork is halfway to my mouth when Wright asks. I’m too hungry to forego this bite, so I take it, chew thoughtfully, and consider his question.