Hollywood Playboy (Hollywood Royalty 1)

“Gentlemen.” I smile at them as I walk by, and Jim looks up first.

“Well, my dreams have finally come true,” he says. “A whole month away with you. This is my chance to sweep you off your feet.” I shake my head, knowing he’s full of shit. He just wants my contacts. You learn really fast in Hollywood who your friend is and who isn’t, and let me tell you, I can count on one hand the number of people I trust, and Jim isn’t one of them.

I pick up my hand and cross my fingers. “Here’s to hoping.” He smirks at me and gives me a sly smile after, my eyes traveling to the ink on his arms. He’s inked on both hands. His chest is huge, and you know he spends a lot of time at the gym, which means he’s too worried about what he looks like to care about anyone other than himself.

Jake looks at me. “I owe my producer a hundred bucks,” he says, smiling at me, and I look at him in question. “I thought for sure you would have been left off the guest list for this one.”

“I am just as surprised as you are,” I tell him, and he just nods.

“Let’s catch up,” he says, and I nod at him. I hear commotion coming into the plane and turn around to see that it’s the last three journalists come barreling in.

“Who invited the sorority girls?” says Peter, the other guy sitting behind Jim and Jake. I shake my head, trying to hide the laugh, but he isn’t wrong. Ella, Erin, and Evelyn are all giggling and posing for selfies. They all have the same bleached blond hair with matching bleached teeth. If you were to tell me that other places on them are bleached, specifically places where the sun don’t shine, I wouldn’t be surprised. I walk out of the room and enter the third part of the plane where thirty-six bed pods are set up.

“Well, this could be difficult . . . My summer sleepaway camp nightmare come to life,” I say to myself. I look at the closed door in the back of the plane, wondering what treasure could possibly be behind that magical door, but then it opens, and Tyler stands there, a bed serving as his backdrop. “Fabulous. One person’s trash is another one’s treasure, I guess,” I mumble.

Trying to assuage an awkward encounter, I’m forced to address him. “I guess you aren’t staying with the commoners when it’s time to sleep?” He walks toward me without responding, and now that he isn’t wearing his glasses, I can’t look away from his bright blue eyes. He finally reaches me, and his musk fills my senses.

“It’s pretty safe to say you know that I don’t want you here,” he says, folding his arms over his chest and puffing it out more.

“It’s safe to say I don’t want to be here any more than you want me here.” I lean in to him, trying not to hiss. “The last thing I thought I would ever do was be stuck with you for thirty seconds, much less thirty grueling days.”

“You could always not come.” He looks down at me, my eyes looking up at him. I have never been this close to him. In the past, there’s always been obstacles between us, obviously in more ways than one.

“If that was even an option, do you think I would be standing here?” I tell him and see his eyes start to gradually change from the blue to a shade of gray, except for a little fleck of dark blue in his right eye. You would never see it if you weren’t this close, and now it’s all I can focus on.

“You get one chance,” he says quietly. “One fuckup and you’re out. I don’t give a shit if you have to walk home, even from thirty-thousand feet.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “I don’t know, Tyler, that kind of sounds like you are scared of me. What’s the matter, Tyler? Afraid I’ll uncover all those dirty little secrets you are hiding?”

He puts his head back and laughs, making me even more annoyed with him because it’s a good fucking laugh. “Even if I had secrets, you’re the last person I would tell them to.”

I put my hand on my chest. “My heart is broken.” I tilt my head to the side, and I’m about to say something else when I hear his assistant behind me.

“Jesus, can you give him space?” she says, and I turn to see Cassandra. “There are no questions until we land.” I roll my eyes at her. “Everyone is on board; we are leaving in ten.” She looks at him as she silently dismisses me. I don’t bother saying anything to him and instead walk back to my seat. On the way there, I see that everyone is buckled in and already typing away on their next story. I look around and see Yolanda and Yamina sitting together going over lists. There are a couple of production people who I know will be filming while we do this. I walk to the front and sit in the chair that has my purse in it. I look over and spot the backpack, finally looking at it and I groan inwardly when I realize whose fucking backpack it is. I close my eyes and then open them to look around and see if I can escape without much fanfare but come face to penis with Tyler. My head snaps up while he growls, stepping over me and moving his bag and sitting down. I tuck my bag under the seat in front of me and turn to see that Cassandra is standing next to me as though she is waiting for something.