This really was a small town.
Lana was gorgeous, no doubt about it, and I’d enjoyed our to and fro out on the deck a little too much. She was a woman who could give as good as she got and that was a real turn on. So I’d have to avoid her.
I’d spent the weekend learning lines so I hadn’t seen her again. I was biologically programmed to flirt with women as beautiful as Lana. I just couldn’t help myself. I might not be in a real relationship with Audrey, but getting caught cheating on her would potentially put my image rehabilitation at risk. A cheating scandal was not the way to show the studios you were reliable.
As I came out of the other end of the park, I got an uninterrupted view of the ocean. Growing up in Northern Indiana, I’d always enjoyed being a bike ride away from the lake. When I was around seven years old, I’d come to Maine with my grandfather. When I saw the ocean for the first time, I’d been disappointed it didn’t feel more different to Lake Michigan. But being here in Worthington this time around, it was nice not to feel such a long way from home.
I checked my watch. I had twenty minutes before my car got here. My shower would have to be quick. I had a reputation to uphold, after all. I turned up on time, knew my lines and didn’t do drugs. Ever. Even in the short time I’d been in Hollywood, I’d seen people who were white-hot stop getting scripts because they started to believe their own hype and behaved accordingly. I’d nearly been one of them. In my case it wasn’t that I’d believed my own publicity. I’d just thought I’d arrived and been a little concerned that it wasn’t where I wanted to be. But now I had my eye on the long game.
I stopped just shy of the steps to the deck of the cottage and leaned forward, my hands braced against my knees as I tried to catch my breath.
Lana’s screen door slammed and I turned my head to the side. Damn. She appeared in running gear that fit her like a second skin. Jesus, she had the body of a real woman. So many female film stars looked okay when you saw them in a movie but in person were just a bag of bones. Lana had the ass of a woman who liked a burger, but worked out, too. Seemed like the perfect combination to me.
“Hey,” I called out.
She snapped her head away from the ocean, waved, then headed down the steps toward me. Her breasts were pushed up, as if they were trying to escape her top. For a second I imagined myself running my tongue along the line of her cleavage and then erased the image from my brain as I stood. “You’re up early,” she said, looking up at me. She was a lot shorter than me, which was cute.
“Yeah, I have to leave for work at six and wanted to fit in a run.”
She shifted her weight from one leg to another, slightly swaying her hips. I wanted to reach out and pull her toward me. “I should let you go,” she said.
She didn’t ask me what I was doing, or where I was working. I didn’t need her to know I was a movie star. Not really. If she’d have asked, I’d have told her—I wasn’t a liar. But I wasn’t about to volunteer the information. I liked being just another guy to her. A man who knew as much about her as she did about me.
“You going for a run?” I asked, not ready for her to leave just yet. I knew I’d spend most of my waking hours on set in the coming weeks, and I might not see her again.
Which was a good thing, because I needed to avoid temptation.
“Dressed like this?” She swept a hand down her body. “No, I’m off hunting for bears.”
I paused and she broke into a grin. “Of course I’m going for a run.”
I chuckled. I really liked this girl. “You need to take that show on tour,” I said. “And make sure you wear your running gear. It’ll be a sellout.”
She rolled her lips together as if she were trying not to smile. “Thanks for the tip.”
“Anytime.” I smoothed my hand across my chin as I imagined how the soft skin of her inner thighs would feel against my palms. “I didn’t see you over the weekend,” I said, even though I’d been the one avoiding her. “You and your boyfriend didn’t drop by for that glass of wine.”
I hadn’t seen any evidence of a significant other, but I couldn’t imagine a woman like her could be on her own. The corners of her generous mouth twitched—she understood that I was trying to establish whether or not she was single. Most women would have fallen over themselves to let me know they were interested. Not Lana. It made her all the more intriguing.
“I had to work,” she said.
“What do you do?” Those legs would look good in a nurses’ uniform or a tight black skirt of a sexy office worker. Hell, her legs just looked good, no matter what she did.
“I design jewelry. I have a shop in town.” She glanced at the ocean as if she wanted to get on with her run. I was late for my shower, but I wanted our conversation to continue. She held my attention, and not just because she looked so incredible, but because I wanted to know more about her world that she seemed so confident in. It seemed so far away from the life I led.
“So you work for yourself?” I asked. “That sounds awesome.”
She gave me a tight smile and nodded. I expected her to ask me what I did, but she didn’t. I wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t care or because she thought it was rude to pry. “I’m so sorry, but I’m going to have to go if I want to fit in my run,” she said.
“No problem. I’ll be around tonight, though. Maybe I’ll see you then.” I wanted to know more about her, get to know someone who hadn’t already formed a view on the sort of person I was or what they could get out of a conversation with me.
“Maybe you will.” She ran off down the path between our houses toward the beach. I watched her glossy brown ponytail bounce away. She was just stunning. The kind of girl next door they made movies about.
When she disappeared out of sight, I glanced at my watch. Shit. Ten minutes. I sprinted back into the house, discarding my sneakers, shorts and socks in a trail behind me as I headed to the shower.
All I needed to do was get clean and throw on some clothes. On set, hair and makeup would sort out the rest.
The car pulled up as I yanked my jeans on. I scrubbed my hair with the towel and put a comb through it before grabbing a t-shirt. My phone chimed from my bed and Sinclair flashed on the screen. Shit. He’d probably heard from Audrey’s publicist about the split. I picked up my wallet and stuffed it in my pocket before I answered my cell.
“Are you on the way to set?” Sinclair asked without even saying hello.
“I’m just heading out to the car.”
“You don’t want to be late.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not going to be late. I’m right on time.”
“And you’re keeping it in your pants. No partying.”
I sighed as I locked the front door. I was pretty sure I could have left it wide open and it would be fine in this town.
“My pants are securely on.”