Could This Be Love? (3 page)

“Then why doesn’t he look happy?” Tynan asked.

Sijan sat waiting for the response. Jerry knew the pressure he was under. He’d been talking to Jerry about making some changes, only his agent kept tuning out what he didn’t want to hear. He didn’t want to hear his biggest client was considering a career change.

Jerry glanced at him, doing a quick double take, finally noticing he didn’t look particularly happy. “Huh. What’s going on with you, Sijan?”

“Well, I don’t think he’s PMSing,” Tynan said.

Sijan shook his head. “I warned you a year ago that things need to change.”

“What?” Jerry choked on his zero-calorie cola, looking like he was about to have a heart attack. “You were serious about that?”

“Did you read the screenplay I passed along to you six months ago?”

“Did some hot actress give it to you to read? Or your best friend from high school? I said I’d read it. Anything for you, Sijan.” Jerry started scanning the plastic menu as he read Dave’s specials. “Huh, don’t they have anything organic?”

“Let’s just say this screenplay is important to me.” His voice was sharp with a jagged edge. “Have you listened to a thing I’ve said over the past year?”

“You want me to make him disappear, Si? I can make it so even his own mother won’t remember him.” Tynan’s voice held just enough menace to shrink Jerry’s balls up in fear. “Why do you even bother with this bozo?”

“I’m beginning to wonder myself, but the reality is he has a good eye for scripts. A few times I’ve passed on a script after reading it through, but Jerry gets a feeling or a vision or something and we go with it. Jerry’s gut feelings almost always pay off.”

“Read the script already, Jerry,” Tynan said, turning his gaze on him.

“Oh, hell. Is this the brother who used to do the Special Ops stuff?” Jerry’s face paled as his eyes darted to Tynan. “Look, we have two scripts in the queue with the hottest directors in Hollywood willing to sign on as soon as you do. We have to get back to Hollywood and sign those contracts.”

“I don’t have to do anything until you read the script.” Sijan sat back in the booth, looking at Jerry. He was a great agent, but he was fighting any change to the status quo. And Sijan could out-stubborn Jerry any day. “I’m going to stay here in Climax until you’ve read the script and given it serious consideration.”

“Sijan, I told Spielberg and Ridley we’d meet with them when we got back.” Jerry’s voice cracked. “And Angelina.”

“Then you’ll have to read fast,” Sijan said, totally unconcerned. “Won’t you?”

“Damn it, I threw the script away, all right? Six months ago, you were deep into what might be an Oscar-winning performance. You knew the studio was strongly suggesting the one Spielberg and Bruckheimer were both drooling over, so I didn’t see the point.”

“The point was, Jerry, he asked you to,” Tynan said.

Jerry looked out the diner window and grinned as if playing his last card of a winning hand. “Looks like the paparazzi finally tracked you down. And you know they’re like killer bees. They don’t attack one at a time, but in a swarm. You’ll have to head back to L.A. to escape.”

Sijan glanced outside the windows with a frown. “What did you do, call them and give them my location?”

“I never liked this guy.” Tynan looked over at Sijan. “I could make him vapor. No one would ask any questions.”

Jerry’s face paled as his eyes darted to Tynan.

“I express mailed a copy to your office this morning,” Sijan told him. “Go back to L.A. and read the damn script, Jerry. I’m not leaving Climax until you’re done.”

Jerry looked like he was going to argue until his eyes locked with Sijan’s stubborn stare. He pulled some bills out of his wallet to cover his drink and a tip. “Fine. I’ll fly back, push back the meetings with all the interested parties, and read the script.”

“I will know every time you turn a page or take a piss,” Tynan said in a cold-as-sharp-steel voice.

“I’m out. I’ll call as soon as I’ve finished it,” Jerry said, backing out of the side door of the restaurant. “And you, sta—”

“Stay out of the headlines. I got it.”

Sijan and Tynan watched him rush past the paparazzi to his rental car. He laid down rubber on his way out of the parking lot.

The brothers stayed silent for a minute.

“Well, that was fun. Thanks for letting me play with your agent,” Tynan said.

“You’re welcome. Normally, I wouldn’t, because you can seriously be one scary dude,” Sijan said. “But he deserved it.”

“So, you wrote a screenplay, huh? You can tell me all about it over a beer at the VFW tonight. You’re buying.” Tynan got up from the table, rubbing his hands together. “But right now, let’s go and have some fun with your paparazzi.”

Chapter Two

A
very had to admit, from the moment she saw him in the flesh: Sijan Cates was one very hot man. And having spent a few years acting in Hollywood, she’d been up close to some very fine male specimens. She was surprised to admit she couldn’t pull her gaze away from his tall, muscled body, strong jaw, and bad-boy smile, complete with slashing dimples. Something in his smile swirled heat low in her belly. Her breath snagged when his silver gray eyes flashed over the crowd.

She ripped her gaze away to the almost carbon copy standing next to him. That had to be his brother, although his eyes were a different color. She’d never seen anyone actually look dangerous. Until Carbon Copy. Together, these men gave off enough pheromones and testosterone to alter the DNA of everyone around them.

And looking around, Avery could see plenty of women anxious to let them alter anything they wanted to. Cripes, she had forgotten what this was like.

“Not used to seeing it from the other side, are you?” Pia said. “Exciting, huh?”

“That’s one word for it. So, just to be clear, I’m in love with the guy on the right, yes? Not the edgy one?”

“Yes. The edgy one is one of his four brothers,” Pia said. “Not the cop. You talked to him when we were scoping the town out yesterday. I’m not sure which one, but I’ll happily research that if you need me to. I mean a ‘true’ fan would probably know, right?”

“Pia, one photo, that’s all I need. We don’t need to turn this into a method acting session. It’s bad enough you made me put on these clothes. Has anyone ever told you you’d make a very good pimp?” Avery said without taking her focus off Sijan Cates. She was looking for her best entrance, kind of like finding the best place to jump into a double-dutch jump rope game.

“Hey, you needed to look like a true groupie. And the extra cleavage is to help you get the photographer’s attention, so stop complaining.” Pia looked Avery over. “People always underestimate what we wardrobe people can do. Not everyone can pull off a Marilyn Monroe–meets–Daisy Duke look. You’ve got a very nice ‘I’m hot and willing to put out’ vibe going on.”

“Yeah, I probably just single-handedly set the feminist movement back ten years.” In Hollywood, beauty was a commodity. Avery treated hers like a weapon in her arsenal that she usually just ignored. Today, though, she used it to her tactical advantage.

“They’re walking this way. I’ve got my Sharpie and—darn, I forgot something for his autograph. Quick, peek through my purse and grab out a piece of paper.” Avery stayed cool and focused while Sijan worked his way down the line of screaming female fans, signing autographs and avoiding hands like a pro.

“Here.” Pia shoved a paper in her hand.

Avery glanced down, checking both sides of the paper. “Ack! No, that’s the annual company expense report for our accountant. Never mind, I’m up.”

While she might agree with Pia that this could end up in a train wreck, Avery still had to try. Matching wits and acting skills with movie star Sijan Cates? Dangerous. Watching Tansy waste away before her eyes? Heartbreaking. She’d take danger over heartbreak any day.

***

Sijan kept the smile on his face as he worked his way down the long line of screaming fans. And at this point in his career, it was work. He didn’t mind the autographs, but the hands that shoved phone numbers, love notes, hotel room keys, and panties anywhere they would fit on his person got old years ago. The hands that reached out to grab him were worse, feeling like a true invasion of his privacy.

These weren’t Climax locals, that was for sure. He didn’t recognize these women, and Climax was one of those small towns where everyone knew everybody. It was a sure bet Jerry had released his location to a radio station in nearby Greensboro or Raleigh to flush him back out to L.A. Fine. He’d meet and greet with his fans, let the paparazzi take their pictures, and then head to his parents’ house or his farm, where he could relax with friends and family. He and Jerry might be stuck in a Mexican standoff, but he sure as heck would enjoy his end of it.

“Holy Christ,” Tynan said from beside him.

“Yeah, you get used to it. Just part of the job,” Sijan said, moving on to the next teenage girl and her mother in line.

“No,” Tynan said, shaking his head and nudging Sijan’s attention further up the line. “Yeah, there. You do not get used to that.”

“Sweet Baby Jesus.” Sijan stopped moving, his attention frozen, so that Tynan, also staring up ahead, ran into him.

Sijan and Tynan looked at each other and said, “The hot blonde.”

Yesterday the Climax Grapevine had been on fire about a “hot blonde” seen talking to his brother Quinn. Looking at her, it was no wonder Delaney, Sijan’s future sister-in-law, had been knocked for a loop. Hell, he was around beautiful women all the time and he was knocked for a loop.

“I’m not getting enough blood to my brain,” Tynan said. “If you know what I mean.”

“She’s still a groupie,” Sijan reminded both of them.

“That does not seem to bother me one iota,” Tynan said.

“Yeah, me neither. Thank God she’s my groupie.”

Sometimes when you saw something up close, it never looked as good as it did far away. That sure wasn’t the case with the hot blonde. Christ, she was striking. White-blond hair almost the color of the petal of a white dogwood tree. Streaks of moonbeams and sunshine shot through so casually, it was either the world’s best dye job or her natural color.

As if reading his mind, Tynan said, “I volunteer to find out. I will take that bullet for you.”

“No, thanks.”

As far as groupies go, she was different. Instead of acting like she had the right to touch him, she stuck out a slender hand for a very polite handshake. He looked down into her Elizabeth Taylor lavender eyes and swore she gazed up at him with . . . whoa, what was that?

“May I have your autograph, Mr. Cates?” The hot blonde regarded him like he was a god. Something about her drew him closer toward her pink lips, which released a siren song of a voice.

“Sure,” Sijan said. “Do you have a photo or a piece of paper you want me to sign?”

“I’m trying to save the trees. Would you mind signing me instead?” A grimace flashed across her face, but it was quick and replaced so fast with an expression of adoration that he figured he must be mistaken. The hot blonde lifted her already short skirt up, exposing her lightly tanned and very sexy thigh.

Sijan normally had a policy against signing body parts, but for the life him he couldn’t remember why. He thought he heard the woman next to her choke down a laugh, but when he pulled his attention away from the blond goddess, the friend with spikey magenta hair silently mouthed, “I love you,” then turned to his brother and blew an air kiss. What? Something suddenly felt off. But when he focused on the blonde he couldn’t gather his thoughts enough to figure it out.

“It’s okay. I’m sure it’s beneath your dignity to take part in the dehumanization of women. I respect you for that,” she breathed in her sexy voice.

She dropped her skirt back down and leaned in close to his lips. Her warm skin and sultry voice drew him in. Then, in the next second, she whipped her head to face the cameras as the paparazzi snapped away at her wide, perfect smile just as other fans closed in. That snapped him right back to reality. She was just another starlet out to get famous. He was just another opportunity.

***

Avery sat across from Pia in the local Climax diner the next morning drinking coffee and eating fluffy buttermilk biscuits with homemade blackberry jam.

“How could they miss this shot? Look at this. My face is covered by someone’s autographed paper.” She tossed the tabloid down onto the table wanting to scream. “Do they just let anyone ruin the lives of stars these days? Can’t they at least make sure they can take a half decent photo?”

Pia delicately blotted crumbs off her lips with her napkin. “Well, I’m sorry to be the one to point this out, but they did get a great photo of Sijan. I mean, the guy probably doesn’t take a bad photo, but, um, yeah, they got him . . . and your cleavage.”

“What?” Grabbing the paper back up, she stared at the photo again. “Well, would you look at that. They focused the photo
on
my cleavage, which, thank God for you, Pia, is lifted and separated like nobody’s business.”

“I told you it would get you photographed.” Pia’s lips wiggled suspiciously, but she got serious when she looked at Avery’s face.

“I need a plan B.” She picked up a biscuit and slathered it with jam. “I Skyped with Tansy last night from my hotel room. She looks awful and she’s so pale.”

“It just so happens, while you were talking to Tansy, I was working on plan B.” Pia gently scooted the plate of biscuits out of Avery’s reach. “I ran into Sijan Cates and his brother at the VFW last night.”

“Those biscuits are a work of the devil.” She licked the jam from her fingers before reaching for her napkin. “Ran into?”

“Okay, so I saw them and followed them.”

“Holy heck, I’ve turned you into a stalker. I’m so sorry.”

Pia rolled her eyes. “Oh, yeah. It was terrible. You’re going to owe me something big.”

“Anything, Pia. So what happened? What’s plan B? I hope it’s better than my plan A.”

“Well, plan B is still plan A. Tynan was sweet enough to buy me a beer, which bought us some time. I told them both all about you, Sijan’s number-one fan. I’m not sure they’re convinced, since yesterday they decided you were all about getting discovered by getting your photo in the paper.”