Fool for Love

by Mel Curtis

  Cora smiled, probably remembering Maddy doing just that.

  “And because I’m an idiot and a slow learner, I need to tell you this. My reality show was created in response to the actions of the Playboy Avengers, not the other way around. Their club wasn’t a publicity stunt, and neither is this.” He tried to smile. Failed. “My heart was broken recently by a woman named Maddy Polk. When I met her, I was hiding behind my pride. I was hiding because the things I thought were important – money and reputation and sex – were threatened. Maddy tried to show me I didn’t need those things.” Maybe not the sex part.

  “But I was too afraid to acknowledge the importance of love. I was too afraid to trust. I should have trusted in Maddy. I should have told her the truth about my fears and my feelings as soon as I felt something powerful between us.” Yeah, he was an idiot. He focused on Cora’s phone, imagining Maddy watching, imagining her realizing he was doing this for her. “Maybe if I’d wised up sooner, I wouldn’t have lost her. Maybe if I was a better man, I wouldn’t have crushed her belief in love. Maybe I would’ve realized the gift she was to me in time to solidify what we had. But I still care for her.” I still love her. “And I want her to be happy.”

  “And so I want to extend this invitation to Maddy. Please show up for dinner at eight o’clock on Tuesday night at Chinois. There will be a man there – the perfect man for you – if you ask the right questions.”

  Blue nodded at Cora, who stopped filming.

  She shook her head. “I hope you know what you’re doing. The paparazzi will be all over this. If you fail, if she doesn’t come, if she leaves without her happily-ever-after, you will be crucified by the Avengers and the press.”

  “I know. I know all that.” But he was willing to risk it anyway. “Post it to our website and all our social media.”

  Chapter 35

  Bad news should be delivered in person.

  That’s what Poppa Bert used to say.

  Maddy sat in her parents’ dining room, sweating on a seat cushion covered in plastic. She knew they’d probably received a Google Alert about Blue’s invitation. That wasn’t on her list of topics to discuss. The problem was she had a lump in her throat the size of Kansas and couldn’t seem to start the conversation. Limp spaghetti grew colder on her plate, colder than the odd silence in the room. It had to be broken.

  “I’m not going to run the dry cleaning business for you.” She braced herself for the storm. For her father’s disbelief and disappointment. For her mother’s disgust and guilt.

  “Thank heavens.” Her mother beamed.

  “That’s a load off my mind.” Her father smiled.

  Maddy looked around the house to make sure she hadn’t been transported to another dimension. Nope. Plastic still covered everything.

  “I thought you’d be angry.” She’d thought there’d be shouting. “I made a great deal with a network. I’m quitting my waitressing job.”

  Her mother looked confused. Her father looked confounded.

  Maddy shook off this alternative reality and tried to uncover the truth. “You don’t want me to run the business anymore? Aren’t you retiring?”

  “Yes,” Mom said. “Your brother closed his business.”

  “He’s bankrupt,” Dad explained. “Broke. Lost his house, too.”

  “He’s starting over.” Mom raised her voice, glaring at her husband. “They’re moving back here to live with us.”

  “And Carl needs a job,” Dad said.

  Anger stomped up her spine, straightening her backbone. “You didn’t ask me? You didn’t think I might have made plans for the future based on our agreement?” Talk about a communication breakdown.

  “You never wanted it, dear.” Her mother’s smile was gentle. “We thought you’d be relieved. And with your birthday coming up, we thought you should take some time to reevaluate what you wanted to do with your life. Hollywood didn’t seem to be working out.”

  “We thought you’d like to make a decision about your future without guilt or timelines,” her father said softly. “We didn’t think it required a discussion.”

  Relief softened her anger, her spine, her tone. “There’s no guillotine hanging over my head anymore. And I’m sure Carl is grateful.” And mortified that he’d fallen so far from greatness. “It’s just…you don’t seem to support me and now that I’ve succeeded, it’s almost like you expected it.” Even though they’d been surprised.

  “Carl has always needed us more than you, honey,” Dad said. “Things come so easy to him. He takes life for granted and that’s when he makes mistakes.”

  “Huge mistakes.” Her mother stretched across the table to take Maddy’s hand. “But you work so hard, that if it was meant to be, we knew you’d make it happen. We just didn’t want you to waste your entire life trying to make it happen. So many people in Hollywood do.”

  “Your mother can get impatient with waiting for things,” her father deadpanned. “Like kids to get their careers in order. Or husbands to retire.”

  “I get bitchy when I stress. It means I care.” Mom released Maddy and swatted at Dad. She began clearing the table. “I’m sorry to everyone, okay?”

  Maddy could hardly believe this was how her parents felt. All this time…they hadn’t talked. Just as she and Blue hadn’t talked.

  “Speaking of apologies and huge mistakes,” Maddy began. “I pawned Poppa Bert’s albums to finance the pilot.” She couldn’t look at the picture of Poppa Bert. “And I missed my pawn date. And now they’re gone.”

  “You…” Her father swallowed. “Gone?”

  “Long gone,” Maddy said miserably. She put her hand on the back of Poppa Bert’s chair. “I’m sorry.” So, so sorry.

  Mom stopped clearing the table. “And you couldn’t have done it without Poppa Bert’s albums?”

  “No.”

  “Then he would have approved,” her father said gruffly. “And so do we.”

  “Who is it?” Lyle Lincoln found Blue waiting in the shadowy hall leading to the restrooms at Chinois. “Who’s going to be Maddy’s man? Give me an exclusive and you won’t be sorry.”

  Blue smiled weakly, but said nothing. If he talked, he might lose the battle with the turmoil in his gut. The last thing he needed right now was vomit breath.

  “I paid five hundred dollars for a seat at the bar tonight and you won’t say a word?”

  Blue shook his head.

  Lyle pulled out his cell phone, snapped a photo of Blue, and began typing.

  It was five minutes before eight. There was no sign of Maddy, who was early for everything.

  A patron at a table close by caught sight of Blue and pointed his cell phone at him, clearly filming. “Who’s the lucky guy, Blue?”

  Blue’s smile tightened.

  And then Maddy came through the front door, wearing a green halter dress and sparkly flats.

  Blue hid behind a large plant. Based on her expression, she didn’t look ready to kill, but she didn’t look ready to make up either. She looked…curious.

  Maddy told the host who she was, and then followed him to the table Blue had reserved, hesitating before sitting down as she noticed the other chair at the table was empty. The host handed her the index card with Blue’s questions on it.

  Cell phones from surrounding tables came out, some flashing as a picture was captured, some simply recording the moment. The noise level grew.

  As agreed, the manager made the rounds, reminding each patron that Chinois prided itself on its discreet patron policy. Most people put their cell phones back on the table. That reprieve wouldn’t last.

  Blue retreated further down the hallway and called Cora. “It’s time. Send in bachelor number one.”

  “Hello, my Evening Star.”

  Maddy’s gaze went up and up and up, while her heart sank down, down, down. It wasn’t Blue. She hadn’t truly believed he’d been serious about finding her a man, but she misjudged him before. Now she knew how Kaya felt. “Hi, I’m Maddy.” />
  “I am Ren Du, pride of South Korea, center for the NBA Flash.” Seated, he was still tall, but perhaps not as intimidating, what with his puppy dog grin. “I am here to answer your questions and hope you find me acceptable, because – ” And here he leaned in to whisper. “I find you more than acceptable.”

  “Oh.” Maddy smiled ruefully. Blue had called her beautiful. Ren’s description was more fitting.

  Ren frowned. “Have I chosen the wrong word? I find you…what is the word? Heated!”

  Maddy laughed. “I think you mean hot.”

  “Heated. Hot. Burning. They are all the same to me.” He reached across the table for Maddy’s hand. Hers swam in his. “You will want to ask me questions about my manhood and my baby-making skills.”

  “You have children?”

  “Not yet.” He winked. “But the doctor says I have many swimmers.” His formal English, honesty, and exotic dark looks made him charming.

  “Okay, then. I have three questions. Are you ready?”

  “Yes.”

  She referred to the index card. “The man for me is a risk taker. What was the last risk you took? And how did it turn out?”

  Ren looked perplexed. “A risk? Like a wager?”

  “Not exactly, more like…” She struggled for the right definition. “Trying something you’ve never done before, something that makes you nervous.”

  “Oh.” He beamed. “I came here today to see if you will be my Evening Star.”

  “How am I doing so far?”

  “I like you.” He grinned. “We would get along because I do not watch television, so we would not fight over the television controller. My teammates have told me this is a big challenge in finding true love.”

  She laughed again, surprised to be enjoying herself. But then she glanced back at Blue’s prompts. “Have you ever cheated on a woman?”

  He drew back in surprise. “That is not honorable.” He gave an impatient wave of his big hand. “What is your final question?”

  “If we were to date, would you support my dreams in every way?” Not try to sabotage them like a certain Rule Breaker. Blue knew exactly what kind of man she was looking for.

  “If you have a goal, Maddy, my star, I will be the platform from which you launch it.”

  “You’re so sweet.” He’d given her all the right answers, but Ren wasn’t the man for her. “I wish I’d met you before someone broke my heart.”

  “I will wait for you until summer’s end. You are a worthy woman to consider bearing Du children.” He kissed Maddy’s hand, then rose to leave.

  Maddy tried not to fidget. Blue was around somewhere. She could feel him spying on her. But the only person she recognized in Chinois was Lyle Lincoln.

  And then she looked up and saw her next mini-date. “Oh, my God.”

  Kent Decklin, movie star, one of People Magazine’s most beautiful people and one of Amber’s dick-headed, ex-boyfriends, sat down across from Maddy.

  The cameras in the restaurant came out again, their flashes almost as blinding as Kent’s white smile.

  Failure squeezed Blue’s heart.

  Mistake. Huge mistake.

  “What’s happening?” Cora demanded on the phone. She’d been waiting outside with Kent.

  “He’s working it.”

  The movie-star smile. The suave confidence. Kent leaned toward Maddy with his elbows on the table, as if she was the most important thing in the world to him.

  Blue gritted his teeth. The most important thing to Kent was whatever available woman was in front of him at the moment.

  “You’re a brave man to put him in the line-up.” Contrary to her words, Cora sounded as if he’d made a bone-headed move. “Kent’s dated every starlet out there.”

  “And cheated on every starlet out there, too.” Not to mention he was in love with one starlet in particular – Mimi Sorbet, who was still in rehab.

  Ren said something Blue couldn’t quite catch.

  “Ren says to tell you that he has dibs if Maddy doesn’t want you.”

  “I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that.” The possibility was crippling. This was going to work. It had to. He propped himself against the wall and did a little mental recitation of the Rules of Attraction.

  He chose to love Maddy for the rest of his life. Blue closed his eyes, trying to capture the feeling of contentment he’d felt with Maddy in his arms. Life was about taking risks, she’d said, so Blue was trusting in the feelings he sensed Maddy had for him, because he was ready to welcome her as a permanent addition into his life.

  This life he was leading was a side show. Blue wasn’t the clown with top billing, as his father had been. He thought of himself more as the ringmaster. He had some dignity while coordinating the chaos that went on around him.

  Maddy laughed. The sound drifted back to Blue, tugging at his heart strings. She should be laughing with him.

  “How much longer?” Cora asked. “The natives are restless out here.”

  “Are you sure I can’t convince you otherwise?” Kent stood, playing the rejection card with grace. “You’d meet anyone and everyone who could make your career if we were together.”

  Maddy shook her head.

  “Bachelor number two on his way out the door,” Blue said with relief.

  If her third candidate was Blue, Maddy would know everything was going to be all right.

  But she wasn’t certain. And so she kept her gaze on her hands in her lap until she heard a chair being pulled out from the table.

  “Oh.” Disappointment speared through her as cell phone cameras clicked and people buzzed around her.

  Senge Tenzing regarded her with those unsettling, dark brown eyes. “I have heard that you are on the market. I will not submit to the twenty questions you have, but I will tell you this…Your twisted chakras have loosened and spread their wings. You are now a woman of great power who can offer a man a partnership both in and out of bed.” His gaze never drifted below her face, and yet she felt as if he was evaluating her goods.

  “You really know how to woo a girl, Senge.” She hitched up her halter straps.

  “You may call me, Master.” He inclined his head slightly. “I am looking for a partner to help me take Wicked Tantric to other cities in the United States. I could bring you to completion every day and you…” His eyes stroked her as he tilted his head this way and that. “You could tell the stories of my disciples with your camera.”

  The thought of sex with the strange little man creeped her out, but the idea of creating footage about what went on inside the studio was tantalizing. “I thought there were no cameras allowed in Wicked Tantric?”

  “There have not been. But I have seen what you have done with Blue. Chakras were unbound. Lives were changed. That is what I want for Wicked.”

  “Wow.” Maddy sipped her water, trying to gather her thoughts. Senge’s offer was more appealing than either Ren’s or Kent’s. But only to Producer Maddy. “Does this offer only come with the sex part, because I’m not interested in sleeping with you or having you try to create fantastic orgasms for me.”

  “It is a package deal.” His smile loosened the grip Maddy had on her courage. “I am currently without a mistress to minister to my needs.”

  The deal hinged on him getting laid? “And if I find you someone more willing to take on the role of sex slave?”

  “Then we could talk business only.”

  Maddy leaned in, beginning to smile.

  Chapter 36

  Senge was laughing. The man never laughed. He giggled. Hearty guffaws weren’t his style.

  Senge laughed some more.

  Blue wanted to grab him by his scrawny neck and show him the door.

  Maddy leaned across the table, her body language indicating she was fully into whatever they were talking about.

  She was interested? In Senge? Who the fuck could have called that one?

  “Hasn’t she booted that pervert’s ass out of the chair yet?” Cora demanded
over the voices of Ren and Kent. “I wouldn’t have let him sit down.”

  “I can’t tell what’s going on,” Blue whispered hoarsely. But it wasn’t good.

  “Are you kidding me? She picked the perv? I’m coming in.” Cora disconnected. Before Blue could pocket his phone, his sister charged through the door and made a bee-line for Maddy.

  “Time’s up,” Cora said to Senge. “Shoo.”

  Maddy and Senge twisted around to face her. This wasn’t at all what Blue had planned. He stepped around the plant and made it to the table before Cora could muck up everything.

  The restaurant diners quieted, watching the drama unfold.

  “Well, Dr. Rule,” Maddy said dryly. “I was wondering when you’d make an appearance.”

  The photo opportunities were blinding. The noise near deafening. The manager darted around the dining room, reminding his patrons – the ones he’d charged an extra $500 a seat – to show some class.

  “Have you made your decision, Miss Polk?” Nearly shouting to be heard, Blue kept his voice even, although his hand was fisted at his side, ready to pop Senge if the little man tried to leave with Maddy.

  “I have.”

  Blue’s heart plunged to his Italian loafers.

  “But I want to tell you alone.” Maddy waited while Senge and Cora retreated, bickering, to the lobby.

  Blue sat down across from her. It was too far away. He couldn’t touch her smooth skin, trace her enticing curves, or smell the flower scent that was unique to Maddy.

  “Are you filming me?” Maddy looked magnificent. Her eyes blazed. Her cheeks glowed. The green dress embraced her breasts the way his hands wanted to. “I couldn’t find a microphone on the table and didn’t want to be too conspicuous looking for one on the wall behind me.”

  “No.” But everyone else was filming her and his mind was committing her to memory, ready to store the moment in a mental file under Greatest Love Lost.

  “So this is just between you and me?” She eyed him suspiciously.

  “It’s always just been between the two of us, Maddy, from the first time I saw you in Amber’s office.”