A Modern Cinderella. Kate Hardy

Then to her utter astonishment a burst of laughter—deep, rumbling, oh-so-very-male laughter—then a wry smile and a shake of his head. ‘It’s been a long time since anyone spoke to me the way you do.’

      Cassidy blinked some more. ‘Maybe people should do it more often.’

      ‘If they did they’d get fired more often.’

      The corners of her mouth tugged upwards. ‘Wow. Who knew you were a tyrant in the making, back in the day?’

      ‘I’m not a tyrant.’ He seemed surprised she thought he was.

      ‘No?’ Turning a little more towards him, she leaned her back against the passenger door and angled her head in question. ‘What are you, then?’

      ‘The boss.’

      ‘So no one can correct you when you’re wrong?’

      ‘They can put forward a different point of view, if that’s what you mean.’ He was forced to break eye contact with her to concentrate on where they were going. ‘No one ever does it the way you do, though.’

      Cassidy couldn’t help but allow the chuckle of laugher forming in her chest to widen her smile. ‘So no one actually looks you in the eye and tells you you’re wrong?’

      ‘Not in so many words, no.’

      No wonder he’d got so arrogant over the years. If no one ever stood up to him, or gave as good as they got, it would be a breeding ground for arrogance. Irrationally, it made her feel sorry for him. Everyone needed someone who cared enough about them to be brutally honest when it was needed. No one was ever right one hundred percent of the time, after all. Being blunt on the odd occasion to demonstrate another point of view showed you cared enough about them to try and save them from the kind of mistakes arrogance might make. To Cassidy, knowing no one did that for Will made him seem very…alone…

      ‘She’ll probably feel awkward when she sees him again.’

      Huh? Oh, he meant Rachel, didn’t he? Right—script stuff. Stay with the flow of conversation, Cassidy. ‘I doubt she’d have sought him out voluntarily.’

      ‘So we need something that brings them together.’

      Cassidy arched a brow. ‘You’re going to want him to rescue her, aren’t you?’

      The one corner of his full mouth she could see hitched upwards. ‘Who doesn’t like it when the hero swoops in to rescue the heroine?’

      ‘Sexist. Why can’t the heroine rescue the hero? Or rescue herself? Or just be in the same place as him searching for something when they both get in trouble and have to work together to get out of it…?’

      Will shot a brief, sparkle eyed glance her way. ‘Okay, then. He has to rescue her from something when they end up in the same place hunting for something.’

      Cassidy rolled her eyes. ‘Fine. But I’m fighting for a later scene when she has to rescue him right back.’

      ‘We’re not making Nick look weak.’

      ‘Vulnerable—not weak. Women find vulnerability sexy in a strong male. You should try it some time. Might get you a girlfriend…’ The reappearance of her errant tongue made her groan inwardly and avoid his gaze when he looked her way again.

      ‘You don’t know I don’t have a girlfriend.’

      ‘I told you, it’s none of my—’

      ‘I don’t have one right now. But all you had to do was ask.’

      Oh, for crying out loud. Not only had she just caused a self-inflicted wound at the idea of him with another woman, but now he’d managed to slip that little piece of unwanted information into the conversation it was only a matter of time before—

      ‘What about you?’

      Yep. There it was. Well, if he thought for one single, solitary second she was discussing the disastrous attempts she had eventually made at having a love life—long, long after he’d left—then he had another think coming. Not that it would be a long conversation.

      Lifting her chin, she smiled sweetly. ‘I don’t have a girlfriend either.’

      Will chuckled for the second time.

      The sound was ridiculously distracting to her. How did it do that? It wasn’t as if she hadn’t heard him laugh before; she’d heard him chuckle, laugh softly, laugh out loud—had felt the rumble in his chest and been in his arms when his body had shaken with the reverberations. She knew how the light would dance in his eyes, how he would smile the amazingly infectious smile that gave everyone around him no choice but to smile along with him. For a long time Cassidy had believed she’d fallen for his laughter first. Yes, his boyish looks, height, gorgeous hair, etc., etc. might have been what had initially caught her eye. But it had been the sound of his laughter and the first glimpse of that smile that had drawn her heart to him.

      Since she’d got to Los Angeles she’d wondered if she’d imagined the effect his laughter had on her. As if her memories were tangled up on some mythical pedestal she might have elevated him to over the years. But it was having exactly the same effect on her as before: skin tingling, chest warming—as if the sound had somehow reached out and physically touched her…

      Forcing her gaze away, she turned forward in the seat to look out through the windscreen, and was surprised to see the ocean beside them. ‘Where are we?’

      ‘Pacific Coast Highway. It’s the equivalent of Malibu’s main street.’

      ‘Malibu?’

      ‘It’s where I live.’

      It was? Malibu? Where the rich and famous lived? She knew he’d done well since he came to California, but that he’d done well enough to be able to afford—

      ‘It was originally part of the territory of the Chumash Nation of Native Americans. They called it Humaliwo—or “the surf sounds loudly”. The current name derives from that. but the “Hu” syllable isn’t stressed…’ When she gaped at him he looked away from the highway long enough to raise his brows at her. ‘What?’

      ‘Who are you?’

      The question was out before she could stop it, her words low and filled with incredulity. It was just the more he said the less she felt she knew him; it was as if he had somehow morphed into a completely different person when he’d moved halfway across the planet—and it was just so at odds with the many things that were familiar to her that it left her feeling a little…lost…

      Will checked the road again, then looked back at her. ‘You know me, Cass.’

      His saying it in a low rumble that made goosebumps break out on her skin and her heart do a kind of weird twisting move in her chest only made her study him even more intently. ‘How do you know all this stuff?’

      ‘About Malibu?’

      ‘It’s like you’ve swallowed an encyclopaedia since you got here. Hollywood-speak, movie industry stats, local history…’

      What looked almost like confusion flickered across the green of his eyes before he turned his head to watch the road again. ‘Hollywood speak is everyday language here. Movie stats I study as part of my job, and Malibu I just happen to like—it’s why I moved here the minute I could afford it. I hate the city.’

      Actually, the last part she understood. Home of Disneyland and movie stars, Beverly Hills and Hollywood, she knew Los Angeles had long lured people into its glittering fantasy world, with its endless sunshine, palm trees, shopping malls and beautiful people. The city was like no place she’d ever been before. But after so many years dreaming about it, she’d known in less than twenty-four hours that she couldn’t live there. Not in the city anyway. Too many people, too many cars, too much smog. No one saying hello to their fellow human beings in the street unless they were dressed as iconic movie figures and demanding money in exchange for a photograph