Star of His Heart. Brenda Jackson

lunch was over.

      Ethan watched Rachel leave before forcing his attention back to the two women standing in front of him. Tae’Shawna had all but invited him over tonight to go skinny-dipping in her pool. Of course he had turned her down. Paige had offered to come over to his place to help him go over his lines. He turned her down as well. For some reason, he wasn’t feeling these two. If truth be told, he wasn’t feeling any woman right now. Except for the one who’d just headed off toward her trailer.

      “So what are you doing for lunch, Ethan? We would love for you to join us,” Paige invited, interrupting his thoughts.

      “Thanks, but I have a few errands I need to take care of,” he said, knowing it was a lie as he said it. But in this case, he felt it was justified.

      “No problem. Maybe we can help with your errands and—”

      “Thanks again, but that’s not necessary,” he said, pulling his keys out of his back pocket. He had planned to wait until the weekend to shop for Kendra’s gift, but now was just as good a time since these two were beginning to make a nuisance of themselves.

      “I’ll see you ladies later. I need to leave so I can be back on time.”

      For a second Paige looked like she was going to invite herself along. Instead she said, “Then I guess we’ll see you when you return.”

      He only smiled, refusing to make any promises as he headed toward the exit. He was grateful for the additional hour and planned on making good use of it. Moving quickly, he reached for the door at the same time someone else did. The moment their hands touched he knew the identity of that person. Her scent gave her away.

      “Excuse me.”

      “Excuse me as well,” he said, taking a step back, opening the door and holding it for her to pass through. “You’re taking advantage of the extra hour, I see.”

      Rachel smiled up at him. “I think everyone is.” She glanced back over his shoulder. “Where’s your fan club?”

      His gaze scanned over her face and he saw a cute little mole near the corner of her lip. How could he have missed it yesterday? “My fan club?”

      “Yes.”

      They were walking together as they headed toward the parking lot. “Trust me, there are some fans you can do without.”

      “And you want me to believe you’re not flattered?” she teased, speaking in a low tone when a crew member passed them on the sidewalk.

      He slowed his pace as they got closer to where the cars were parked in the studio lot. “Yes, that’s exactly what I want you to believe.”

      She stopped walking and so did he. “Why? Why does it matter what I think?”

      Ethan thought she had asked a good question. Why did it matter what she thought? He knew the answer before he could pull in his next breath. He liked her, and if he had the time he would try to get something going with her. The thing was he didn’t have the time. He had to stay focused and doubted he would have time to pursue a relationship, serious or otherwise, with any woman anytime soon. He kept reminding himself that this was his big break, and he wasn’t about to mess it up by trying to get between any woman’s legs. He had gone without for six months, and he could go another six months or more if he had to.

      But that didn’t mean that he and Rachel couldn’t be just friends, did it? It would be nice to have someone who wasn’t interested in anything more than friendship. The little attraction that had passed between them yesterday couldn’t be helped. After all, she was a nice-looking woman and he was a hot-blooded man. But as long as they kept things under control, being just friends would be fine.

      “It matters because I like you and I’d like for us to be friends,” he said.

      She pushed a wayward strand of hair from her face as she looked at him. “And why would you want us to become friends?”

      Providing an answer to that question was easy enough. “The one thing I noticed yesterday was that you’re genuinely a nice person.” He chuckled then added, “Hey, you didn’t rag on me about being nervous. And it’s obvious everyone on the set likes you, from the maintenance man all the way up to the bigwigs. I figure with that kind of popularity, you can’t be all bad. Besides, you and Livia are the only two females on the set that I feel pretty comfortable around.”

      She lifted a brow. “Livia?”

      “Yes.”

      She tilted her head back as if to give him her full attention. “Not that it is any of my business, but I thought that maybe something was going on between the two of you.”

      He smiled. “There is, on the show. But it’s all acting. She’s supposed to be my new love interest for the next few episodes.”

      She nodded. “Your scenes earlier were pretty convincing.”

      He chuckled. “We’re actors. They were meant to be convincing.”

      Ethan glanced at his watch. “I’d better get going. I want to pick up something for my six-year-old niece from the Disney Store. After watching The Princess and the Frog she’s into princesses, so I thought I’d pick her up a Princess Tiana doll.”

      A smile touched the corners of her lips. “You have a niece?”

      “Yes, Kendra. She’s my older brother’s little girl and, I hate to say it, but she’s perfect.”

      She chuckled. “I believe you. And there’s a store in walking distance on Hollywood Boulevard. I’m headed that way myself to pick up something from the art supply shop.”

      He turned the idea over in his mind only once before asking, “Mind if I tag along?”

      He did his best not to watch the way her lips were tugged up in a smile when she said, “Sure, you can tag along, as long as we don’t talk about work. We need to give our brains a break.”

      He jammed his keys in his pocket as he resumed walking by her side. It was a beautiful August day, and he had a beautiful woman strolling alongside him. Things couldn’t get any better than that. “So what do we talk about?” he decided to ask her.

      She slanted her head to look at him. “You.”

      “Me?”

      “Yes.”

      “Hey, we talked about me yesterday.”

      Her mouth twitched in a grin. “Yes, but all I know is that you’re from Napa Valley and you have a niece.” She chuckled. “I guess I could go by what I’ve heard and—”

      “Read in the tabloids,” he said, finishing the statement for her.

      “No, I don’t do tabloids. It would be nice if others didn’t do them either, then they would go out of business.”

      He glanced over at her and laughed. “You don’t like the right of free speech?”

      She laughed back at him. “More like the right of sleazy speech. Ninety percent of what they print isn’t true, but then I guess that’s the price of being a star.”

      He smiled, liking the way the sunlight was bouncing off her hair, making it appear even more lustrous. He liked the short cut on her. “Yes, it’s one of the detriments, that’s for sure. I just go with the flow. As long as I know what’s true about me and what’s not, I don’t lose any sleep.”

      She didn’t say anything for a while, and then replied, “I hate being in the spotlight.”

      She kept looking ahead, but he’d heard what she said. Clearly. If that was true, he wondered how she managed it, being a Wellesley. The company her family owned was so connected with this industry, and had been for close to thirty years, they were practically an icon in Hollywood.

      He had researched information on Limelight when he’d returned to the States from abroad.