Forcing Gravity (44 page)

He had
dark features, searing
,
almost black eyes and
a
sharp chiseled
jaw
.
We’d met a few times before as he’d been making his way through Hollywood.
Luiz
had been a mentor and a friend to him for years
, but I wasn’t his biggest fan
. 

“
Ah, Bryan,”
Luiz
said. “Are you having a good time?”

“I am,” he said, “but I realized there was a beautiful woman here that I didn’t know, so I wanted to come over and introduce myself.”

And that’s why I didn’t like him.

“Bryan, we’ve met,” my mot
her chastised him in a teasing
way, and I made a face, realizing she was trying to be cute.

Bryan laughed.

“I’m only joking,” she said, as she and
Luiz
laughed along with Bryan.

I wasn’t all that sure what was funny, but then again, I felt very much in the spotlight as Jase watched me speculatively from across the room, so my humor radar was probably off.

“
Bryan, this is my
daughter, Logan,”
Luiz
explained, putting his hand on my back to guide me close
r
to Bryan.
“You’ve met her before, but it’s been a few years.”

“She’s the one I was telling you about,” my mother said, and I realized
she was going to try to set me up with him. She’d mentioned him to me a few months back, and I was sure she was relishing in the fact that she could play matchmaker
. Of course she couldn’t pay me to go out with a tool like
Bryan Heller.

“Oh, wow, I remember you,” Bryan said, pullin
g me into a giant hug, his over
powering cologne flooding my nostrils and almost making me gag. “Alana, y
ou weren’t exaggerating
. Logan, you’ve grown into a very beautiful woman.”

“Um, thank you.” I wasn’t sure what else to say.

“Are you here with anyone?”

I glanced briefly at Jase, but he was talking to Ellie
as she clung to his arm
, so I shifted my gaze back to Bryan. “No, I’m not.”

Bryan’s face broke into a wide grin. “That’s very good news. We’re going to have fun tonight.”

Are we?
I
was sort of planning on wallowing
in the fact that I missed my chance with Jase Brady.

“We are?”

“Absolutely,” he said confidently. “Bryan Heller knows how to show beautiful women a good time.”

“Great,” I deadpanned.
U
g
h, I hated when people talked about themselves in the third person.

“It’s my pleasure
,” he answered, reading my faux enthusiasm wrong. “
Can I get you a drink?”

I glanced up and caught
Jase’s
eye.
He was
watching me, an expressionless look on his beautiful face. I noticed he was no longer touching
or talking to Ellie
, but she hovered nearby talking to a director I’d met a few times but whose name I couldn’t remember.

I saw a golden opportunity, so I turned my gaze back to Bryan and said, “Absolutely.
I’d love a drink.
” Then I linked my arm through his and started to follow him to the bar.

“Logan,”
Luiz
said, grabbing my arm. I turned to look at him. “You’re not driving tonight, are you?”

Luiz
didn’t care if I drank as long as I wasn’t driving. He
knew I’d do it anyway
and wanted to be sure I was safe. It was realistic and sweet.

I shook my head. “
I used the car service.”

He nodded his head in approval. “In that case, have fun.”

“So, are you an actress?
” Bryan asked me as the bartender mixed our drinks.

“Uh, no,” I said, making a face.

“Really?” he asked haughtily. “I just assumed since your parents are in the business that you would be to
o
. You could be an actress, you know. You’ve got the look.”

It wasn’t the first time I’d been told that. My mother had tried to get me into acting and had even tried to get me to meet with her agent who definitely thought I could make it in the business, but I’d never wanted that life.

“My dad’s an architect,” I deadpanned.

“Oh?
” Bryan questioned, looking over
at
Luiz
and then back at me. I realized
Luiz
had introduced me as his daughter. He’d done that for years, and I’d never really thought anything of it.

“
Luiz
is my step-father,” I explained.

“Oh, I got it,” Bryan said, nodding his head. “So, do you work out?”

Only in L.A. would that question not be odd to bring up ten minutes into meeting someone.

“I surf,” I said, growing more and more bored with Bryan Heller with every passing second.

He was your stereotypical narcissistic actor. I’d met guys like him more times that I could count over the years.
In fact, it was how I’d pegged Jase to be before I met him. I figured there was no way he could be that good looking and not have a
god
complex.

“Really,” Bryan
said, nodding his head and arching his
perfectly shaped
eyebrows. “That’s interesting. I took a surf lesson once when I was on vacation in Hawaii. It was fun. Have you ever been to Hawaii?”

I loved how he kept directing the conversation bac
k to things he could talk about
that showcased him.

I nodded. “Yeah, we went there a few years ago and
once
when I was twelve.”

“Oh, right on. I actually just got back from there. It was amazing . . .”

Brian kept talking, and I nodded politely. I might have wanted to get a word in, but he didn’t give me a chance. I glanced at his watch and timed him. Eight minutes went by, and he was still talking, and I was still nodding. He kept on talking for three more minutes, and then
Luiz
announced that dinner was served, and Bryan finally stopped.
By the time he was finished, so was my drink.

“Oh, well, I guess we should head into the dining room. I’ll tell you about my new Porsche over dinner.”

Super.

“I don’t like Porsche
s,” I lied, only because I sort of wanted to see if I could get a rise out of him.

“Oh, no way.
You’d like this one. It’s a 911 Turbo, and it’s
so
sweet.”

He chuckled to himself, and I bit my lip to keep from laughing. He was such a douchebag. What a waste of a hot guy.

As luck would have it, when we all assembled around
Luiz’s
dining table, I ended up directly
across from Ellie Carlisle, and
Jase was to her right. She was giggling and leaning into him, whispering in his ear as they sat down. He smiled at whatever she was saying.

“Hi, I’m Ellie,” she said cheerfully and stuck her hand across the table to shake mine. She
was a transplant from the Midw
est, Ohio I thought, and I wondered how long it would take for her to lose her friendly demeanor in the shark-infested waters of Hollywood.

“I’m Logan,” I said, shaking her hand and doing my best to smile at her.

“Nice to meet you,” she said genuinely.

“Hey
Ellie.
How are you?” Bryan asked
smugly.

“Go away, Bryan,” Ellie said, dismissing him and instantly impressing me.

My eyes went wide, and I did my best to hide the smirk on my face. Dammit. I liked her, and that was a bad thing when I really wanted to hate her.

“Is he your date?”

I realized her question was directed at me.

“Oh, um, we just met, but we’ve been talking,” I said when I realized Jase
was
eyeing me.

“We just met, but I feel a co
nnection, don’t you?” Bryan asked
, putting his arm around me.

I ordinarily would have s
hrugged away, but in the interest
of making Jase jealous, I leaned into Bryan as his colog
ne over
powered me. I didn’t like the scent at all.

“Don’t waste your time, unless you enjoy hearing the incessant rambling of his voice,” Ellie
said bluntly
, and she stuck her tongue out at Bryan
.

“Hey, I don’t talk that much,” Bryan defended, not giving me a chance to respond.

“Yes, you do,” Ellie whipped back
smartly,
and I wondered how they knew each other. “So do you guys know Jason Brady?”

I looked up at Jase, who was staring blatantly at me, and
caught his gaze. He smiled
, so I shot him a dirty look, but not before I felt that familiar twist in my stomach that came from his penetrating green eyes. I swallowed hard, remembering waking up next to him the weekend
before. Those green eyes had opened to greet the morning, and when they’d spotted me, they’d brightened. How had I read that so wrong?

“Hi, I’m Jason,” he said, lifting his beer glass in greeting.

Jason.

“Nice to meet you,
Jason
,” I said, greeting his Hollywood persona and wondering if he was trying to send me a message.

“Hey man, I saw your last few movies. Nice work,” Bryan said, as if he and Jase were in some sort of club. I knew it would now be good form for Jase to respond with the same kind of compliment.

“Thank you,” was all Jase said, and Bryan stiffened beside me. He’d also been expecting a compliment.

“Did you see the latest X-Men?” Bryan asked, and I knew he was fishing. He’d played one of the superheroes in the movie and had gotten pretty good reviews.

“I did,” Jase said coldly, but he didn’t say anything else. He was purposefully snubbing Bryan, and I wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t like him or if he didn’t like that Bryan was touching me. I
hoped it was the latter.

All throughout dinner, Ellie, Bryan
,
and I kept up a good conversation while Jase remained silent. He picked at his food, glared at Bryan when he picked up my hand and complimented how soft my hands were and played with my fingers in what I think was supposed to be a sensual way. It wasn’t, but I giggled anyway.

After dessert, Jase excused himself from the table and walked out to t
he terrace. I gave him a few minutes
before I excused myself and followed him outside. Bryan and Ellie hardly noticed. They were engaged in a heated debate about the best spas in L.A. and were arguing like brother and sister.
I’d learned over dinner that they’d met when Bryan had guest-starred on her Disney show a few times, playing her
cousin who’d visited her from out of town.

Jase didn’t turn around when I walked outside. He must have heard the door, but he kept his back to me as he leaned over the railing, taking in the view of
Luiz’s
spacious landscaped backyard. He did stiffen just a little as I walked toward him, my heels clicking on the tile.

“Hi,” I said softly.

“Hey,” he said gruffly, not turning around.

“What’s up with you tonight?” I asked, and he just shrugged. “You barely ate. Did you not like the food?”

“It was fine.”

I sidled up next to him, leaned on the railing and looked up at him. His jaw was rigid.

“Shouldn’t you get back to your date?” he asked coolly.

“Shouldn’t I ask you the same thing?” I fired back.

Jase didn’t respond.

“Jase,” I said, placing my hand on his arm. He looked down at me. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”
He glanced back out into the yard again.

I took a chance and snaked my arms around his waist, looking up at him again.

“Your boyfriend isn’t going to like that
.”

I rolled my eyes. “Jase, Bryan and I are just friends. My step-father is his mentor, so I’m being nice to him. Besides, you just saw me last weekend. You know I don’t have a boyfriend, so quit pouting. I’m the one who should be upset. You’re here with a real date.”

He tried to pull back, but I wouldn’t let him go. “She’s not my date. I know it looks that way, but our publicist set us up – we have the same one. It’s just for show. She wanted me to be photographed with someone since it’s been a
while since I’ve been seen with a girl
, and Ellie just bro
ke up with her boyfriend back home
, so ou
r publicist wanted to show she was over her ex.”