Star Struck (Hollywood Heat)

by Laurelin Paige

  The idea of instant stardom didn’t bother him that much. It would be different, definitely would take some getting used to. But no big deal. What bothered him was what he knew the media would find out about him. Thank God he didn’t have a bunch of secrets he was hiding. Just the one. But it was a big one. And he was ready to spill it as soon as he was alone with Heather, which wouldn’t be until this whole circus was over. So if the prep time could hurry up and finish and the stupid interview could just start, then the whole thing would be over with and he and Heather could move on once and for all.

  Funny how he’d lost Erica because of lying, and now he was worried about losing Heather for lying again. Somewhere there should have been a lesson in that.

  After about a lifetime, Myrna finally appeared satisfied with Heather and her answers. Then the makeup artist returned to freshen up the star. And then Lexie returned to lean over Heather, and from the looks of it, prep her in an entirely different way than Myrna had. Unable to make out what they were saying, Seth crept closer.

  “I can still tell her it’s an off-limit subject,” he heard Lexie saying when he was near enough.

  Heather shook her head. “She wouldn’t go for it. Jenna demands full access. Besides, I want to talk about it.”

  He guessed they were talking about him, about coming out about their relationship. It made sense that Lexie would want to make sure Heather was okay with it.

  Lexie shook her head, a grin on her face. “I don’t know what you did with the real Heather Wainwright, but I’m starting to like this imposter.”

  “Oh, don’t patronize me.”

  “That’s my job.” Lexie adjusted Heather’s hair to fall gracefully on her shoulder. “Now, sit up straight. Don’t chew on your finger. Or say ‘um’ too much. And an occasional smile wouldn’t hurt.”

  “Oh my God. This isn’t my first interview.” Seth could feel Heather’s eye roll, even though Lexie hid her face from his view.

  “It’s your first Jenna Markham interview. She’s brutal. She makes everyone cry.”

  “She’s not going to make me cry.”

  Lexie took a step back and crossed her arms. “Are you sure about that?”

  “No.” Heather bit her lip. “But I’ll be okay if I do.”

  Crying? What kind of an interview was this supposed to be? Each second of this prep conversation was making him uneasy, and this wasn’t even the real deal.

  He took a step toward them, coming into Heather’s view, needing to assure himself that Heather was going to be okay.

  “Seth!”

  “Hey, princess.” She stood up and he took her hand, pulling her nearer. “Are you good? Do you need me to do something?”

  “No, I’m good. I really am. You look a little lost, though. Are you all right with all of this?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m good.” Her hand was sweating within his. Or his was sweating. Hell, he was sweating everywhere. “I’m kind of nervous,” he admitted, though she had to have already seen it. “How do you do this over and over again? It’s insane!”

  She took his other hand in hers and squeezed them both. “You get used to it after a while.” She laughed. “What am I saying? I’m totally nervous too. Like, so nervous. It isn’t usually like this at all. This is more preparation for an interview than I’ve ever had. It’s crazy!”

  For half a second he wondered if she was just saying that to make him feel better, but one look in her eyes and he knew what she said was true. “Well, be reassured that I’m right there with you.”

  She smiled. A happy, silly grin that made his groin pull. “I’m going to mention you when she asks me about the 24-Hour Plays. I’ll tell her we met then.” She let out a deep breath. “Are you okay with this? I could back out. I mean, I don’t have to mention you at all. Unless you want me to.”

  He pulled her close enough to lean his forehead on hers. “I want you to. You know that.” Then he remembered her conversation with Lexie. “Are you sure you want to? You aren’t just doing this because you think you have to, are you?”

  “No!” She pulled away so she could wrap her hands around his neck and meet his eyes. “I’m doing this interview because I want to talk. About you. About me. I’m excited about it. And I’m a mess of nerves.”

  There was something else he was worried about, and didn’t know quite how to say it. It wouldn’t have been an issue if he’d gotten to talk to her alone before the interview, but he hadn’t so he had to find the words. “Heather, would you mind not…would you mind not mentioning what I do?”

  “Oh baby, are you embarrassed?”

  He wanted to laugh. He wasn’t at all embarrassed. He was worried she’d look like a fool when she wrongly declared that Seth Rafferty was a carpenter on national television.

  “I’m not. But I don’t want it to turn into that—that I’m using you for your money, all that. The media will find out soon enough. And it won’t bother me when they do. But we don’t have to make their job any easier.”

  “Good point. It doesn’t matter to me anyway. What you do. Not anymore. And since it doesn’t matter, there’s no need to mention it.”

  Damn, he wanted to take her away from this insane scenario and make love to her for hours. He’d wanted so much to hear those words from her, and now she’d said them at a time when he could do little to cherish them.

  He was still soaking it in when Heather was called to her place. She pulled her phone out of her bra where she’d been keeping it and handed it to him. “Can you keep this for me? You are staying to watch, right?” she asked.

  He took her phone from her hand and stuck it in his pocket. “That’s why I’m here, remember?”

  “Good. Thank you. I know it probably seems weird, but it means a lot to me that you’re here. I wouldn’t be able to do this without you.”

  “It means a lot to me that you would say that.” His eyes skimmed down to her lips. “Will I mess up your makeup if I kiss you?”

  “Who the hell cares?”

  She initiated the kiss, placing her lips gently on his. Despite her blasé attitude, the kiss was chaste, but the sweetness of it tugged at his heart.

  He pulled her into a hug. “You’ll be amazing, Heather,” he said into her ear. “Have I told you I believe in you? Because I do.”

  “No, you haven’t. But I know.” She kissed his neck before pulling out of his arms. “I think you’re crazy, but I know.”

  “Crazy about you.”

  “Aww.” It was half appreciation, half groan. Maybe more than half groan.

  “Too cheesy?”

  “Pretty much.” She put her thumbs up. “But it’s good. I like it. Bring on the cheese.”

  Heather was led by an assistant to her seat, but it was another twenty minutes before they were ready to shoot. Only then did Jenna Markham make her first appearance since Seth had arrived, having spent all the prep time in Heather’s guesthouse. If Seth had to guess, he’d say Jenna was in her late fifties. She wore a cream skirt and jacket, a nice contrast to her perfectly coiffed brunette hair. She looked good next to Heather, sitting in one of the armchairs the crew had brought out to the deck. Heather’s light blue dress with cream trim seemed to match the older woman’s. With as much fuss and detail as had gone into the event, it wouldn’t surprise him if they had been coordinated.

  Seth bit back a laugh. He knew that Heather was known as the diva of Hollywood and that Jenna would most likely highlight that in her interview. But within seconds it was obvious that the diva on set was Jenna. Not only had her grip of assistants done her job while she sat back in an out-of-the-way location for the entirety of the morning, but once she’d appeared, it seemed the crew forgot all about Heather and focused every bit of energy on Jenna.

  Appropriate, he supposed, seeing how Jenna was their boss. But it made him tense, feeling as though his girlfriend had been left to the wolf in pretty clothing.

  It only took an hour for Seth to look relaxed. After ninety minutes he actually bega
n to feel relaxed. So far, the questions had been fairly routine. Jenna had asked about Heather’s career, starting from her earliest jobs to her more significant works. Perhaps her preparation off-set was more essential than Seth first thought. She was laid back with her approach, often stopping between questions to talk to Heather candidly before going back into interviewer mode. With so many breaks, no wonder it took several hours of footage to get a decent fifteen-minute piece.

  After two hours a catering crew arrived to serve lunch. Jenna again disappeared into the guesthouse, so Seth and Heather joined Lexie at a table near the pool. Even though everything seemed to be going well, Seth could hardly eat. Jenna hadn’t asked about him yet, and he knew that she was planning to. He noticed Heather barely touched her meal either.

  It was after lunch that the interview really took off. Jenna’s questions became more pointed and direct, less the standard variety. Each new word out of her mouth made his chest tighten and his body go more rigid as she asked Heather about her diva reputation, her ex-boyfriend, Collin, and about rumors of other affairs.

  Then the conversation turned to Heather’s charity involvements, and Seth stopped breathing all together.

  “You’ve done a lot of work with the Urban Arts Foundation,” Jenna said.

  Half of her questions weren’t even really questions, but statements that elicited a response from Heather. It was quite crafty.

  “Mostly the 24-Hour Play Events,” Heather said. “But I’ve done a lot of school visits as well.”

  “Why this group? What is it about Urban Arts that you’re attracted to?”

  Seth leaned forward in the director’s chair that he’d commandeered once filming began. He sat where Heather could look over at him if she needed to, though she’d kept her eyes off him most of the interview. Now her eyes flicked to him and he suddenly realized that Jenna’s question could lead to Heather’s past as easily as it could lead to him.

  “Well.” Heather’s eyes returned to her host. “They’re a fantastic organization. Their goal is to keep arts in schools and bring arts to schools that can’t afford it. The people who are involved are the most generous, giving, dedicated people I’ve ever met.”

  Seth had to cover his mouth to suppress his sigh. Heather had successfully escaped having to talk about her life growing up. Lexie surely must have given Jenna guidelines about what was and wasn’t off-limits. Not that he’d mind if Heather did talk about her past, but he didn’t think she was ready for that. Not quite.

  “Sounds like there might be someone special in the bunch?”

  Here it was—the moment when she’d mention him. God, he was almost giddy.

  “There is someone special. Seth Rafferty.” She smiled and he melted.

  Melted? Dude, what was going on with him?

  Whatever it was, it was pretty fuckin’ perfect.

  “Is Seth your…?”

  “Boyfriend,” Heather finished for him. “We’ve been seeing each other, um, well, since the plays in L.A.” She paused. Then with a deep breath she sat up straight. “But he’s not the reason I’ve been so dedicated to the foundation.”

  The hairs on his arms stood up as he suddenly understood what Heather had planned, why she’d agreed to this interview. It wasn’t for him.

  “What is that reason then, Heather?”

  It wasn’t for him and that made him damn ecstatic.

  “Because those kids—those kids who only survive their poverty because they’ve got something good to look forward to. I get those kids.”

  Seth closed his eyes so he could hear her next words without any visual distractions. So he could savor them with her.

  “I was one of them.”

  Eighteen

  There it was. She’d said it. It was out there for the world to know now.

  And it totally felt good.

  They’d planned it, of course. Jenna Markham wouldn’t allow an interview without hitting all the hard topics, and Heather knew that going in. But she’d wanted to talk about her past. Was finally ready.

  “Your father,” Jenna said now in that compassionate tone she put on for deep subjects. Man, the way she played the emotions, she could have been an actress herself. “He was a recovering coke addict.”

  Heather let out a pfft, half sigh, half laugh. “He was never recovering. Recovering implies he was trying to get better. He never tried to get better. Anytime he was clean it was just because he hadn’t landed the next score yet.”

  “And your mother?”

  She shrugged. “Drunk, usually. Daddy was more functional than her. I don’t know what was worse. At least I knew what to expect from Mama. I didn’t know what version of my father I’d get from one minute until the next.”

  Heather hadn’t prepared any of her answers—she’d tried, but thinking about it beforehand made her edgy. Instead, she’d decided to go with the flow. She was surprised at how easily her words came. That wasn’t to say that talking about her family was a picnic. It was more like throwing up—it felt terrible while you were retching, but afterward you felt kind of good.

  “Did he hit you?”

  Memories of slaps and shoves ran through her mind in a flash. “Not…um, sometimes. Not on a regular basis. Not like I feel like I was an abused child.” Most of her father’s hits had been when he was jonesing, when he hadn’t had a hit in days. When he was desperate. She just happened to be in the way.

  “You didn’t feel abused,” Jenna said, her words slow and drawn out. “Weren’t you, though? Abused and neglected by the people who were supposed to care for you?”

  Damn it. Jenna was going to make her cry. “Yes, I guess I was.”

  “And now? Are you close to your parents now?”

  Hell, no. “I’m not.”

  “Do you wish you were?”

  Hell, no times ten. “No.” She paused, deciding how honest she wanted to be. What was that they said about no guts, no glory? Well, she’d already had a lot of glory. Maybe it was time for the guts. “I wish they weren’t around at all. I wish they didn’t know how to find me. I wish they were dead.” She choked on the last word but didn’t regret it. It was honest. It was real.

  “Why is that?”

  Heather shook her head, unable to speak.

  “Why have you kept your family hidden from the media?”

  Tears burned at the corners of her eyes. “Because I was ashamed.” Then the tears were streaming down her cheeks. “I’m ashamed of them. I’m ashamed of me.”

  The next several questions were a blur. Heather knew Jenna asked stuff and that she’d said stuff, but the specifics weren’t clear. It didn’t really matter anymore. The point was that her biggest secret was out and she was fine. Better than fine. She no longer had to fear the press finding out. Her father couldn’t swindle money out of her. His threats would hold no water anymore.

  She was finally free.

  It was evening before the catering had been cleared and the crew had packed up and left. Then another good part of an hour before Lexie said her good nights, leaving Seth and Heather alone at last.

  Heather stood at the front door after Lexie left for several seconds before turning around to face Seth. She suddenly felt oddly nervous and needed a moment to gather herself. Actually, she felt like she needed several moments, but with the weight of his eyes on her back she had to take what she could get.

  With a deep breath, she spun around, a smile on her face. “What an insane day. I can’t believe it’s finally over.” Why were her hands so sweaty? The interview was done. She should be calm now.

  “Thank God.” Seth seemed apprehensive too. He stood several feet away, his hands in his pockets as he rocked back and forth on his heels.

  “I guess it’s not really over though, is it? This is just the beginning. I mean, the interview doesn’t air for almost two weeks. That means no one will even know about any of that stuff until then. Not about my past or my dad. Or us. Unless it gets leaked, or they use certain promo clips.” S
he knew she was babbling. She did that when she got nervous. It was easier than focusing on whatever it was that she was anxious about.

  “Heather?”

  “Or if someone that was here today talks. I don’t care, really. I just want to be prepared. And if you and I are already hanging out, the press will start talking about us because they’ll see us together.”

  “Heather?”

  Oh shit, maybe he wanted to wait. “Unless you want to stay on the down-low until the interview releases. I don’t know which is better. What do you think? Because I don’t want to hide anymore, do you?”

  “No.” His voice had finality to it. “I don’t want to hide anymore.”

  “Then we just go out and about and let it happen then. And my dad—well, I can’t worry about that. But shit, he’s going to be mad when he sees it.”

  “Heather?”

  She met his eyes. “What?”

  “You were amazing.”

  With those three simple words she understood why she’d been fretting. She hadn’t known what Seth thought about her interview. She hadn’t even asked his opinion about spilling her life beforehand, she just did it. Now she wanted—needed—his validation. “Was I really okay?”

  “You were. You planned that?”

  She nodded weakly, her voice too tight to respond.

  “I’m…” He took a step toward her and she could see his Adam’s apple bobble as he swallowed. “Is it patronizing to say I’m proud?”

  “No.”

  He smiled. “I’m very proud then.”

  Goose bumps skidded along her arms. She was naked now, she realized. Not literally, but more naked then she’d ever been before. Without the wall built up around her, he could see right into her. “I did it for you,” she whispered.

  “I…I never asked for that.”

  “That’s not what I meant.” So much for feeling like he could read her now. Apparently explanations were still needed. And that was fine because she wanted to tell him how she felt. “I meant, you gave me the strength to do it, and…and the desire to do it. For the first time ever, I wanted to move on. So I could move on with you.”