by Elle Rush
“Can’t you stay?” Martine gave a half-hearted attempt to wheedle some more shots, but with her knowledge of Sydney’s plans and the fact the show was now involved in the fundraiser, she didn’t push it.
Neither mentioned the obvious fact the sweepstakes prize was AWOL and had been for some time. Sydney swung between disappointed and devastated. Setting aside the flirting altogether, which she was loathe to do, she’d believed Chris would have at least made an effort to keep up his side of their bargain. Still, his friends were honoring their parts, and she had things to do.
Nick walked her to the limo to get her bag. “So Layla and I will be coming to the beach with you and Chris, if that’s all right.”
“It’s great. But I think it might be just the three of us. Chris vanished about twenty minutes ago. Can you call him?” Sydney asked.
She could have sworn a frown flickered across Nick’s face, but he agreed and was dialing when she ducked into the empty trailer he delivered her to. Sydney slipped the dress onto the hanger and into the garment bag she’d folded into her duffel. The sandals came off, as did the fancy slip and bra underneath. She fought and fumbled with the racer-back sports support until everything was where it should be in the reinforced bra. Damn, the things were effective, but women had to be half-octopus to get them on. Sydney rarely wore them; the shoulder straps aggravated her skin, but on the beach it would beat the alternative. The Veggie Delights were a wonderfully vicious duo made up of the previous night’s other sake victims. She and Ashleigh had played them twice before, and they’d each won once. She’d need every advantage she could get, starting with her outfit. The board shorts and fitted T-shirt finished her conversion into a beach bum. Sydney washed most of the makeup off and pulled her hair back into the Pebbles Flintstone ponytail she’d started the morning with.
When she stepped out of the trailer, Nick was coming out of his own next door. He’d changed into beach clothes as well. “That was fast,” he said.
“Did you find Chris?”
“Um…”
That would be a “no”. She’d say this for him—he deserved the role. She’d been completely taken in by Chris’ acting skills. He was very good at his job.
It was tempting to call Ashleigh up and start badmouthing him to everyone in earshot, but he had gotten her a couple prize packs and some publicity for her events today. For a couple hours of her day, Sydney was willing to call it a fair trade.
Nick hesitated at the door to the limo. “Let’s give him a couple more minutes.”
“No. He knows—um, knew—I have to leave now. We need to get rolling.” She’d given him enough.
Nick nodded reluctantly. He jogged over to the soundstage and spoke to somebody hidden behind the door. Benny darted right through the open vehicle door and sat close to the driver’s window. Layla Andrews appeared dressed to kill. She looked good, but Sydney allowed herself a smile at the thought of those shoes being destroyed once they hit rough pavement and then sand. Layla was halfway to the limo when Nick finally emerged with Sean Glenn in tow.
“I’m sorry. We can’t find Chris,” Nick informed her.
“I’m not surprised,” both she and Layla replied in unison. Even worse, they said it for the same reason, and Layla, damn her, seemed to know it.
The redhead threw himself against the back bench. “There’ll be chicks at this thing, right?”
“Chicks in bikinis,” she promised, then laughed when he relaxed into the seat. None of the chicks she knew would be in bikinis, but it was volleyball on a beach in California. At least one woman had to be wearing one, despite the February weather.
She excused herself and started a flurry of texts to Ashleigh, discussing the raffle baskets, Chris’ abscondment, and how to spread the word that Ares, Hera, and Eros would be around for photos and autographs—at least for a few minutes—when they arrived. Sydney’s head popped up at one of her friend’s suggestions.
“I know you all don’t intend to hang out long, and I appreciate you coming at all. But if you did want to watch the game, my friend can arrange some seating with our guests of honor. There’s a private section on the sidelines where some of our charity recipients will be sitting,” she offered.
“No, thank you. I’ll show up and do my part, but I’m not comfortable being around sick people,” Layla said.
“Of course. Your comfort at an event for burn victims is my primary concern.” She should have simply refused Layla’s offer to attend in the first place. Sydney’s VIPs would never pass Hollywood’s entrance requirements, even after surgery. Sydney knew their self-consciousness could be fought but never completely conquered. They didn’t need someone like Layla reminding them of it and making them feel bad about themselves.
“I’ll watch,” Sean said. “My cousin plays on the national circuit.”
“Cool. We aren’t that good, but it will be a fun game.”
Nick shrugged. “I’m waiting to hear back on plans, but I’ll hang around until I do.” He frowned, and Sydney saw the wheels turning. “We should have grabbed Russ. And some guys from security.”
Neither she nor Ashleigh had considered that. Why would they? It wasn’t a problem for them. Her face must have said as much because he waved her off. “Never mind,” he continued, “I’ll call him now.”
“Where is Chris anyway? You didn’t scare him off somehow, did you?” Layla asked.
“Maybe it was the thought of spending time with you.” Dear God, that made it past her internal Mute button. Sydney bit her tongue, returned to her phone, and ignored the silence in the car.
Unfortunately, Layla was right. She had run Chris off. She’d seen him with his dates on various media outlets. She was never going to be movie star material, and she was okay with that. It was one thing for Chris to be photographed with someone like her for a contest or charity event. It was another for him to be seen out with her voluntarily. Gods like him and mere mortals like her were a bad idea.
The fantastic Mr. Banks started making a series of turns and slowed to a stop at the curb of Ocean Drive. Sydney sent a final “we’re here” text and slipped the phone into her bag.
“Can you give security some time to catch up?” Nick asked.
“Of course.”
It didn’t take that long. Apparently, the limo had caught the tail end of a traffic accident tie up. The chase car hadn’t had any problems getting to the beach in record time. A burly arm knocked on the limousine window almost immediately.
Nick smiled. “That’s Russ. We’re good to go.”
Sydney grabbed the closest basket of goodies and tucked them into the crook of one arm. She was reaching for the second one when Sean grabbed it. “I’ve got this one.”
“Thanks. Are you ready for this?” she asked them all.
She was blinded with bleached teeth smiles and nearly drowned in the exuded feel-good vibes. It was one man short of perfect.
Chapter 15
The set visit had gone phenomenally well. Aside from Sydney being overwhelmed by the photographers, the only other hiccup had been when Martine warned him off about being too handsy with Sydney outside his trailer. He suspected she was concerned about him violating the terms of service and the lawsuits that could follow, but he and Sydney had already covered that ground.
Chris was trying not to smile too hard. He didn’t want to put out the wrong vibe. Or seem too eager, although it was too late for that one. He was walking Robert Clancy to his car because the man who had his finger in four of the biggest blockbusters in the last two years wanted to discuss something with him. Karma was so worth it. He promised to help Sydney with her fundraiser, and it was going to reap him the leading man role. All he had to do was take a quick stroll and return with cake to celebrate and say thanks for her help. He might even have a piece. He stuck his hand into his pocket and turned off his phone. He only had a few minutes.
Then he realized that Clancy had spoken. Crap, he couldn’t let himself be distracted now. “I�
��m sorry, what was that?”
“You looked distracted so I asked what was on your mind,” Clancy said.
“Sydney’s cake,” he replied without thinking. “Before I ran into you I promised I’d get her some,” he rambled, sure he sounded like an idiot.
The producer laughed. “I was watching you two. You did a great job calming her down during the shoot. It says a lot that you’re willing to work on a publicity stunt like this. It was a bold idea that could have gone either way.”
A modicum of modesty would be appropriate. “I got lucky with Sydney.”
“I heard there was a mix-up when you first arrived. She wasn’t expecting you?” Clancy asked.
Chris had no idea how the man got that information, but it offered him a wedge. “She wasn’t, but she was a little star-struck. All she needed was a little guidance.” He was going to hell for that. Him guide her? Sydney had run him ragged from the minute she’d opened the door the second time. The producer smiled at his proclamation of leadership. “I knew the opportunity the sweepstakes could have for the show. Even though Sydney was a little unhelpful earlier on, I knew I’d be able to compensate for her.” He couldn’t stop his mouth from spewing the derogatory remarks. “Of course, when I found out she was volunteering at a charity event it was a no-brainer to get involved, although I must admit that Martine should get a lot of the credit for getting it set up so quickly at the last minute.” And the rest should go to Nick because God knew Chris sure as hell didn’t do the work.
“How is Sydney to work with?”
His ego overrode his brain. “She’s, well, sweet. She’s no actress, but I’m doing my best. To tell you the truth, I volunteered for this to use it to get High Note’s attention. I probably could have done better with someone more…Hollywood, but I think I’m doing pretty well with what I have to work with. This contest is going to bump the show to the next level when it comes to social media,” he bragged. “But I’ll be glad when it’s done and I’m back to working with professionals.” Chris shut down the part of his brain that was screaming his commentary was a bad idea. As long as the producer was smiling, he wasn’t going to stop.
Clancy nodded. “Your winner looks like she can be challenging, but what I’ve seen so far today has impressed me. We need a lead that can generate that kind of chemistry in a short time for our new project.”
“I’ve heard that you’ve already started to cast.”
It was a dance. Who’d heard what, who needed what, who offered what. Chris walked Clancy to his car, where they chatted about the project in general. Then he got into the passenger seat to continue their conversation. Clancy fired up the climate control and left the luxury sedan in park, and they took a few minutes to get into specifics. Really good specifics. They called Chris’ agent and got the ball rolling. It was not at all the way the business usually went, but Chris sure as hell wasn’t going to argue. Karma was finally on his side, and he wasn’t going to rock the boat.
Robert Clancy was actually a pretty nice guy. It was above and beyond for him to do this deal in person on a Saturday when he was supposed to be off work. “It would be premature to go out and celebrate, but you might want to start planning something for after you’re through with Sydney,” the producer said with a grin.
“I’m working on something already as a matter of fact.”
“Good luck with that. But I should let you go. I didn’t mean to keep you as long as I did, and it’s never right to keep a pretty lady waiting.”
Chris shook his head. “Sydney’s really good about stuff like this.”
He shook the producer’s hand and climbed out, waving goodbye as the producer pulled out of the lot. Then he took the direct route back to the soundstage but didn’t put on any speed. Martine was going to need a few minutes to show Sydney the charity stuff she’d arranged. The studio had gotten lucky with that one. The sweepstakes winner was getting all kinds of crap anyway. Throwing in some extra stuff for the sweepstakes winner’s charity was sweet PR icing on both Martine’s and Sydney’s cakes that nobody was going to argue about.
It was an easy walk back to the soundstage. He didn’t think anything of the empty street until he walked onto the set and all he found were a couple PAs clearing off the remaining food in the craft services area. The rest of the cast was long gone. He swept the area and found Martine sitting in a chair, shoes off, massaging her instep.
“Did you move the shoot?” he asked.
“What shoot?”
“Sydney’s shoot. The sweepstakes shoot. The one you didn’t warn me about but I got us here for anyway,” Chris elaborated. Now he was starting to feel bad. Sydney was uncomfortable enough on set. If she got dragged to somewhere else on the lot, he was not going to be happy. Sure, Nick would watch out for her; the guy felt guilty when he realized his surprise had almost screwed Syd over. But it was Chris’ job to keep an eye on her, and he didn’t want someone else stepping in, even for a few minutes.
“Oh, you mean the shoot that ended an hour ago,” Martine sniped. She slipped her stilettos back on and stood in his personal space. “The one you disappeared from without warning? The ‘slave for a day’ one we finished without the slave? It went pretty well, no thanks to you.”
The blonde was crazy. “An hour ago? I’ve been gone for fifteen minutes.”
She swept her arm around the building. “Get a clue, Chris. We’re ready to lock up and turn out the lights. The show’s over. I can’t believe you blew that poor girl off like that. Dick move. She was such a sweetie too. You can’t imagine how big you owe Nicky for stepping in.”
The place was deserted, but there was no way he was gone for an hour. Chris pulled out his phone and turned it on. The speaker erupted in a never-ending barrage of voicemail and text message notifications. The clock at the bottom of the screen showed a shocking “2:24 p.m.”. Chris snapped his arm out and pushed back the cuff. His watch confirmed it.
God damn it to hell. He couldn’t have taken that long with Robert Clancy. Five minutes to walk there, five minutes back, they talked for a bit, then the call with his agent, which ran for ten, maybe fifteen…Oh, crap. “When did she leave?”
“Half an hour ago-ish. She’s long gone. I doubt anyone can get that woman off-schedule. Did you know she organized the whole fundraiser for her Change the Darkness day?”
“Curse the Darkness,” Chris corrected. He could get Sydney off-schedule. All he'd have to do was lie to her again. Not much, just enough to mess up a day she’d been planning for months. “Please tell me she at least got the gifts we promised. And that Nick went with her.”
“Nicky went with her. So did Layla, Benny, and Sean. They took two gift baskets. We closed the sweepstakes site when she left. It was supposed to stay open until sunset, per the advertising, but with you gone we didn’t have an option,” Martine told him. She tucked a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear. “So you’re sprung for the day.”
“I don’t want to be sprung!” He wanted to push the clock back half an hour. Shit. He should have told Sydney where he was going. Or asked Clancy if they could meet the next day because he had to honor the sweepstakes contract. Hell, Clancy could have worked the whole deal through Chris’ agent.
Chris would have preferred he had. That impulsiveness his agent hated so much had reared its ugly head again. It was entirely possible Chris had weakened his position after his unguarded conversation with Clancy. A few thoughtless comments he’d made about his experiences today echoed in his head now. He wished them back now because if they ever made their way back to Sydney he wasn’t sure he’d be able to look her in the eyes again.
The irony was, because of the time he’d spent making them, he might not get the chance to anyway.
Martine dismissed his claim with a wave. “At least you know we’ll never ask you to do it again. You looked pretty enough in the pictures, but I thought you’d show a little more class than you did. Hell, you volunteered for it. We’ll know better next time.”
/> “If you shut down the sweepstakes page, why’d you send Benny?”
“Studio site. Charity function. We’re lucky she still let us tag along after we announced you were going to be there.”
“Look,” he pleaded. “I’ll get myself down there. I’ll finish being the contest prize. Keep the sweepstakes site running.”
Martine stared him down. “Why? Do you have any idea how pissed your girl was? She only did the shoot on the condition you’d help her out, and then you disappeared. If your castmates hadn’t covered your ass, the show would be screwed. She’s not going to give you another chance to give yourself good press. I don’t blame her.”
“She could. She will. I can convince her.” He had to or he could lose everything. The image in his head of a marquee sign with his name in lights faded into a picture of him escorting Sydney into her gala that evening. He’d be back in his tuxedo. She’d be wearing an evening gown that revealed only enough to get his imagination revving. He tried to hold on to that image, but it faded into Sydney giving him the look she’d given him at the Dobsons’, the one where she was sure he was going to disappoint her.
He hadn’t then. He’d saved it until it really counted.
Chris had no idea karma worked so damn fast.
Chapter 16
All a girl needed was a BFF she could count on. Ashleigh was hers. The event was in full swing when she arrived a little after half past two. Sydney spotted the usual suspects around the volleyball court, shilling raffle tickets to an enormous crowd. The prize bundles were lined up on a table with three charity staffers making sure the draws were set to go smoothly before the game. She set her Olympus basket in the prominent spot they’d left open for her and was nearly trampled by ticket holders. Sydney handed the spare off to a traitorous volunteer wearing a Team Veggie Delight shirt, who took off to lock it in his car until the silent auction that evening.
