by Jamie DeBree
"The studio is threatening to cancel your contract for this," Vincent said, rubbing one hand down his face. "It falls under the 'dubious moral character' clause. No nude photos, no porn, remember?"
Eddie frowned. "You said it was a picture of me kissing her in the bedroom..."
Vincent reached across the counter to the paper lying open on the other side. He closed it and slapped the front page down in front of Eddie. "It is. But the version on the internet doesn't have those nice fuzzy bars over the fun parts."
* * *
Holly's cell phone rang while she was sitting in the back of the car Eddie had so thoughtfully called for her. Tired, fighting back tears and more than a little irritable, she tried to make her voice sound normal as she answered.
"You are a genius! The press is going to love it, and your book is going to sell out before it even hits the shelves. How did you do it? How did you manage to sleep with Eddie Pierce?"
Closing her eyes, Holly rubbed her forehead. Sandra Newton, her agent was always far too cheerful in the morning, and apparently she had a more optimistic view of this photo than Eddie's did.
"Good morning to you too," Holly said finally, opening her eyes again as the car stopped outside her hotel. "Honestly, I haven't even seen the picture yet, and I certainly didn't set out to seduce Eddie into bed. The whole thing just sort of happened, really." She handed a few bills to the driver and went into the hotel, glad to see there weren't too many people milling around just yet. "Last night at the club, I was waiting in line and--"
"Save it for your interview," Sandra cut in briskly. Holly imagined her looking at her watch, in a hurry to get somewhere, even if just for coffee. "Maybe you could dress it up a bit, make it romantic. You're a writer, you can do that. Don't forget it's at two, so you need to be at the studio at one. Don't be late. Do you have the address?"
Holly yawned and nodded her head as she stepped onto the elevator. "Got it. Studio at one, interview at two. I'll be there. Anything else?"
"Just one thing - I don't think you should see him again. This is a great angle, but a relationship could get messy, especially with such a public figure. So blow him off if he calls again, okay? Trust me on this."
Holly nearly laughed as she got off the elevator and went down the hall to her floor. "That's not going to be an issue, Sandra." She reached her door and put her fingers in her back pocket for the card key.
Damn.
"I've got to go, Sandra. I seem to have lost my room key last night, so I need to call someone..."
"No problem. Good luck getting in, and I'll call you after the interview."
Holly disconnected the call and shoved her phone in her pocket. Giving her door one last wistful look and thinking about the shower and bed that lay just out of reach, she started for the elevator. A maid came out of a room and tossed an armful of linens in her cart, and Holly stopped, remembering to smile.
"I don't suppose you could let me in my room," she said, holding up a hand as the woman started shaking her head. "Please? I just locked my key in the room, and I really don't want to go all the way back downstairs for a replacement. Can't you help me out just this once?" The woman shook her head again, and Holly sighed, holding up both hands.
"Fine," she said, turning to go as the maid went back into the guest room. A tabloid paper lay sideways on the top of the maid's cart, and she glanced at the front page on the way by, then stopped, picked it up and looked again.
And froze.
"Oh. My. God," she murmured, holding the photo closer in hopes that it was just a trick of the light. It wasn't. She thought back to the moment it was taken, when she'd been riding Eddie slow, grinding down deep on him as he guided her hips. They'd been in perfect sync at that moment, and her face burned as she analyzed her own facial expression. With all the skin showing in the photo, her face exposed the most.
"Hey, that's you!"
Holly looked up to find the maid looking back and forth between the paper and her face. Nodding, she agreed, though she'd prefer to crawl under all those towels and disappear. How could this happen? Someone had to have either gotten on to Eddie's estate, or already been there - neither of which seemed plausible.
"Come on," the maid said, a sympathetic smile at her lips. "I'll let you in your room. I'd imagine you'll get enough attention over that today."
"Thanks," Holly replied, following the woman back down the hall. She pointed out the door, and was so happy when it opened she almost cried. She tipped the maid, and then headed for the shower, her phone trilling from her pocket. Taking it out, she looked at the screen.
"I don't think so," she murmured, tossing the phone on the bed as she headed for the shower.
* * *
Eddie disconnected the call, shrugging at Vincent. "She's not answering. Maybe she's taking a nap or something. We were up awfully late."
His manager shook his head, holding one defensive hand out. "Don't remind me," he said, leaning against the stone counter close to where Holly had been leaning the night before. Eddie grinned, thinking of how cute she'd looked worrying about water stains on the stone.
"You think this is funny?" Vincent straightened, his whole body tense and for a moment Eddie thought the man would take a shot at him before he continued. "Your little fling is a romance author who's about to go on TV for a live interview in..." he checked his watch, "...four hours. If she confirms this story on national TV, there's no putting it back in the box. No controlling the information. Your reputation could skyrocket or plummet based on what that woman says about you, and it might be a long time before that dies down. Do you really want to take that risk?"
"I really think you're making too much of this," Eddie said, gladly handing his coffee over to the housekeeper for a refill. "Holly isn't like that. She won't say anything bad. We had a good time. I'd like to see her again, to be honest."
Vincent shook his head again, hard enough to make Eddie worry about the man's brain. "No. Absolutely not. You can't see her again, no matter how awesome you think she is, or how great a time you had. She's a writer, you're a rock star. If you ever made her mad, she could skewer you in print so many different ways I don't even want to think about it. Stay away from her, Eddie."
Eddie frowned thoughtfully. "I thought you wanted me to call her and work out the interview thing. That will be hard to do if I'm supposed to stay away from her. I'll have to talk to her, at least."
Vincent sighed, running a hand down the side of his face. "You're right. Don't worry about that either - I'll take care of it." He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, and started tapping the screen. "I think I still have her agent's number here, I'll just give her a call on my way out to the studio." Looking up briefly, he gave Eddie a stern look. "Stay away. Trust me on this."
Eddie put his coffee cup on the counter and lifted his hands in surrender, careful not to say a word. After Vincent was gone, Eddie picked up his coffee and his phone, dialing the number Vincent had given him again.
"You're not going to listen to that buffoon, right?" Esther wiped down the counter with efficient strokes, glancing at him over her glasses as she worked. Never afraid to speak her mind, he could always count on Esther to share her honest opinion.
He shrugged, holding the phone to his ear. "Of course not," he said quietly, listening to Holly's phone ring back at him several times before going to voice mail. He disconnected the call, then chose a cinnamon roll off the plate she'd set in front of him. "Well, not until I apologize for this morning, anyways. Then it's up to her, but I did pretty much throw her out. I told her I'd call her later too, and what kind of a man would I be if I didn't do that?"
Esther snorted. "A normal one."
Eddie raised his eyebrows. "Well we already know I'm not normal, so I'll take that as a compliment." He stood, trying Holly's number one more time. "Still no answer. Guess it's time for Plan B."
* * *
Holly pushed ignore as Eddie's name came up on her caller ID, and dropped her pho
ne into her purse. Slinging the bag over her shoulder, she left the hotel and caught a cab to the studio, barely walking in the door on time. As soon as she gave the receptionist her name, she was whisked away by people talking about hair, makeup and her wardrobe, but the whole time all she really heard was her phone ringing every so often from the coat tree in the corner of her dressing room. It couldn't possibly be Eddie calling over and over - he didn't seem like that kind of a guy, but she had to admit, she didn't know him very well.
Finally she was hustled to the "green" room that was decidedly more beige than green, and thankfully out of earshot of the blasted cell. Sipping on bottled water and waiting patiently to be called out on stage, she was shocked when the door opened and a tall man in a gray suit with a rather imposing expression walked in.
"Holly Saunders?" It was more of a statement than a question, but she nodded anyway and stood up, suddenly grateful for the four-inch heels wardrobe had forced on her feet. She couldn't really walk in them, but they definitely put her on a more equal standing with this unpleasant interloper.
He took a set of papers out of the portfolio under his arm, and handed them to her with a pen. "I need you to sign these before you go out on stage. It's regarding last night's...uh...indiscretion."
She frowned, taking the papers and scanning the first page. "Who are you?" she asked, looking at the clock, and then back at all the legal speak he apparently wanted her to read and agree to in the next three minutes.
"Vincent Shepherd," he said, holding out a hand and nearly crushing hers when she took it. "Eddie Pierce's manager. We just need to do a little damage control, is all. Now if you'll just sign the last page, I'll get out of your hair. There's a paragraph just above the signature line that sums up the basic contract requirements." He reached over and helpfully flipped the pages in her hand to the last page, pointing to the last paragraph.
Holly read the section, then read it again before shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Mr. Shepherd, but I can't sign this. Aside from the fact that I need to run all contracts through my agent, even I know enough not to sign this. A non-disclosure statement would allow you to sue me for any little thing in my books that you thought might reflect badly on Eddie, even if it has nothing to do with him. I'd never sign something like that." She tried to hand the papers back, but he wouldn't take them, and she settled for letting them fall on the coffee table. Thankfully, the stage door opened, and a short, skinny man popped his head in the door.
"Ms. Saunders - you're on. Come with me, please."
She nodded at Eddie's agent and hurried out the door, forcing herself not to think about what the look on Shepherd's face meant as she climbed the metal stairs to the stage door. Suppressing a shiver, she pasted a smile on her face and stepped through the velvet curtain.
Chapter 4
The lights were hot and bright as Holly smiled her way through the introduction and initial small talk on stage. Sherry Ormond, the talk show host, was full of effervescent energy and combined with her high-pitched laugh and the apparently constant need to move, the woman was driving Holly insane by the third question.
"Now I was planning to ask you how you researched your sex scenes here," Sherry bubbled in a more serious tone. She peered over her tiny little glasses at Holly like a disapproving teacher, with a knowing wink toward the audience. "But I think we all know the answer to that, given the picture in the paper today, don't we? So how long have you and Eddie Pierce been...seeing each other? And how did you meet?"
The infamous photo popped up on the monitor, the black censor boxes over the relevant parts somehow making it look more lewd, rather than less. Since closing her eyes and hiding behind the chair wasn't an option, she merely lifted her chin and raised an eyebrow at the crowd. A mistake was only a mistake if you called it one, right?
"Actually, I have a confession," she said, hoping she looked appropriately contrite. "Since Mr. Pierce and I both have new offerings coming out soon, we decided to combine resources and give the fans something...memorable as a thank-you for buying our work. I think his music and my books make a great combination, especially considering the book I'm working on now. What do you think? Did you enjoy our little photo shoot?"
Applause erupted throughout the studio and she smiled again, nodding her thanks under Sherry's predatory stare. Mentally steeling herself against the onslaught of more questions, she waited patiently for the applause to die down. The audience had bought it, but she knew the hostess could still turn things around if she wasn't completely convinced.
"So this whole thing was just a publicity stunt?" Sherry laughed, her expression conveying her disbelief. "I have to say, if that's true, you two should be making millions as actors. It looks pretty real to me, don't you think?" she said, facing the camera. More applause, but Holly refused to give up. She shrugged, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.
"Oh come on, Sherry. Are you telling me you wouldn't get a little starstruck if you were in bed with a guy that good looking, even if it was just for show? Ladies? Would any of you have a hard time looking at Eddie Pierce like you want him?" She laughed, relieved when the cheers and whistles were much louder than they'd been before. Sherry sat back in her chair with a grin, conceding graciously with a nod of her head.
"Good point," Sherry said when the noise faded. "I think we'd all be rather inspired to have been in your position, and unfortunately, we're out of time for today. Thank you for joining us, and I know I'll be looking forward to your new book." She turned to the camera, gesturing at Holly. "Holly Saunders, everyone. Next up, the zookeeper has something rare and exotic to show us, after these messages."
Somehow Holly managed to shake hands and step down off the platform without falling on her face. Waving to the crowd as she walked off stage, she managed to keep her smile in place until she made it back to the dressing room. Once the door was closed and locked, she collapsed onto the couch, any energy she had left draining away into the well-worn cushions. She closed her eyes, and wondered if it would be possible to change her ticket and leave for home tomorrow. She'd planned to stay a week and turn the trip into a vacation, but now it all just seemed so overwhelming...
"Just a publicity stunt, huh?"
Holly's eyes popped open to see Eddie five feet away, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. She opened her mouth, but closed it again when she realized she had no idea what to say. He walked over to stand in front of her, his looming presence making her feel like a recalcitrant child.
"Because that's not how I remember things at all."
"What are you doing here Eddie?" Holly scooted up from her sprawled position on the couch and toed off the too-high heels. "If I wanted to talk to you, I would have answered my phone. At least one of the fifty times it rang this afternoon."
He sat down beside her, too close. Her body tingled with awareness and she wanted to move away, but forced herself to stay put. Sneaking a quick peek at his face, she could see he was confused.
"I tried to call three times this morning. My agent called once that I know of. Have you checked your messages?"
She got up and went to the coat rack her purse was hanging on, glad for the excuse to put distance between them. "I haven’t had time. I just assumed..." She opened her phone to scroll through the recent calls, all from the same unfamiliar number.
"At least you were thinking about me," Eddie teased as she walked over to show him the phone.
"So that's not your number then?"
He shook his head. "There are messages though. You'd better check them. Seems like it might be important."
She pressed the key to start the first one and held the device to her ear.
"You're going to pay for what you did last night, bitch. I'm watching you."
The high, nasally male voice assaulted her eardrums, and she cringed at both the sound and the message. Holding the phone out, she pressed the speakerphone button in time for the next message.
"You should be ashamed, doll - sleeping with t
hat trash and tossing it in my face. You need a real man to drape that body over."
Eddie reached for the phone, taking it from her shaking hands and then tugging her back to the couch as the verbal attack continued.
"I'm watching you on TV, babe. Make sure you keep those sexy heels. We're gonna need 'em."
Holly gripped the cushions as the last message played, needing to hear the rest even though she really didn't want to.
"I was going to wait in your dressing room, but it appears to be occupied already. Don't worry though, doll. I'll find you soon enough."
Eddie snapped the phone shut and pulled Holly into the circle of his arm. "I don't know what the hell Sean's trying to pull, but he's gonna regret it. Until we get this settled though, you're staying with me."
Holly pulled back to look at him, confused. "Sean who? You recognize the voice?"
He stared at her for a moment, waiting for...something. When she frowned, he shrugged. "I think my ego is officially bruised. The voice isn't familiar, but I think the only person who could be behind it is Sean Winston, right? Unless you pissed off someone else before I showed up to rescue you?"
"That doesn't make any sense though - why would he stalk me just for turning him down? Surely he's not that desperate. I mean, I'm sure he has girls falling all over him on a daily basis. Would he really be that stupid?"
Someone knocked on the door, and Holly jumped.
"Are you expecting anyone?" Eddie asked, getting to his feet.
Holly shook her head. "No."
"Stay out of sight. I'll handle it." He went to the door, and Holly moved behind a screen in the corner to wait, her heart pounding.
* * *
Adrenaline shot through Eddie's veins as he went to the door, hoping whoever had left those threatening messages for Holly was on the other side. Pounding on the bastard would feel really good right about now. Quickly checking to make sure Holly was hidden, he pulled the door open just enough to fill the space with his own body.
