Ten Brides for Ten Hot Guys

by Donna Fasano

  When the girl came to the table, gushing over how great he was, Sean teased and flirted with her. Jenna didn’t bother trying to finish her tale. He obviously wasn’t interested.

  As usual, after they left and were driving back to Southampton in his BMW, Sean said, “Your half was twenty-six bucks.” The first time he’d surprised her with this kind of request Jenna had told herself she preferred to split costs when they went out. She was a modern girl, and this way she was holding her own, not acting dependent.

  But it disappointed her. She wanted to understand him and wondered if it had to do with something in Sean’s past. “My family had a lot of financial struggles when I was growing up, and I know that left its mark on how I see money and myself and the world. I read on the Net that you came from an upper class family in California. Is that fiction? Did you really have a hard time as a kid?”

  He laughed. “Why would you think that?”

  “Well, you never talk about your childhood. Tell me about it.”

  He shrugged. “It was all right.”

  “And?”

  “Well, you know, I played sports. Went out with lots of girls. Even then I was good at that.” He bobbed his eyebrows. “Heh, heh, heh.”

  Somehow his answers were even more disappointing than the behavior she tried to understand. “What made you decide to be an actor?”

  “Every time I saw a movie I’d think—I belong up on that screen.”

  “I wish I could be so sure about what I’m doing.”

  He shook his head. “Look, I know you put your all into dancing, but believe me, once the money and fame start rolling in, you’ll never look back.”

  Jenna nodded, but she wondered if Sean was really that simple of a person, or if she was just too complicated. She didn’t bother trying to explain or talk about it. She knew Sean wouldn’t understand.

  But Aiden would. He understood her in a way no one else ever had. In a few short days he’d touched something deep inside her.

  Sean dropped her at the lot where she’d parked her mom’s car. He was still trying to convince her to come home with him and looked disgruntled when she steadfastly refused him.

  When Jenna got to the B&B, she headed straight for her room. Or rather the room next to hers. She couldn’t wait to see Aiden. She felt certain they could talk out their misunderstanding and start fresh again.

  On the second-floor landing she went to knock on his door but noticed it was slightly ajar. “Aiden?”

  The door swung open at her touch. Her heart sank. Jenna had come home craving Aiden’s warmth, but instead she found an empty room, his luggage gone, the bed where they’d made love stripped bare.

  She turned and ran downstairs to the office.

  Her mom found her searching the files. “What are you looking for?”

  “Did Aiden Flynn check out?”

  “Yes. Early this morning. Why?”

  Jenna paused. “Just curious.” She knew if she went browsing through his file for a contact number, her mother would ask questions.

  She faked a smile and gave her mother a full report on how things went with the show this morning. But Jenna’s mind was elsewhere.

  On Aiden.

  Would he ever come back? Would she ever see him again?

  Chapter 14

  Aiden snatched the tabloid from the wire rack as he stood in the checkout line of the supermarket on Sixty-Eighth and Broadway. He stared at the photo on the cover, a storm of emotions whirling inside.

  Jenna Richardson.

  With Sean Risk.

  The new hot celebrity couple.

  Would it have been different if he’d stuck around? Would Jenna be his lady now instead of Sean’s?

  Or would the stargazing schoolteacher have amounted to nothing more than a minor blip on Ms. Richardson’s radar? An accidental anomaly caught in her snare while she was going for much bigger game.

  Lady thought she was getting a roll in the sack with a dangerous secret agent. Another exciting alpha male to add to her list of conquests.

  But then, why had she called him? He’d listened to her voice mail message at least twenty times over the past week.

  “Aiden, I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. I know I can really bungle things up, but you’re not exactly being fair to me. Let’s talk. Please.”

  He’d hit reply three times but quickly ended each call before it went through. And then he’d gone and watched Sunrise Lane a few nights ago.

  He hated the role they gave her. A hard, cold bitch. The antithesis of his fairy princess. But she did such a good job of it Aiden lay awake wondering which one was the real Jenna.

  And thanks to sharing those stargazing moments with her, he robbed himself of the one thing he’d found to cure his insomnia. He couldn’t look at the stars now without thinking of her. She’d even invaded his work on the new thriller. He couldn’t help imagining what she’d think if she saw certain passages on his computer. He pictured her laughing. She was so darn cute. He just didn’t know if he could trust her with his feelings.

  He’d spent the last week traveling the country, stopping in some of the poorest neighborhoods to work with school kids for the Wendy Brice Flynn Foundation he’d created to give underprivileged students a chance for a future. Normally he left that outreach work to the staff he’d hired to run the program. But after Nick Stiebler and his screaming toddler opened Aiden’s old family wounds, and Jenna reached into the heart he’d closed off after Wendy’s death, he needed the kind of healing he got from giving hope where there was none.

  “That’ll be fourteen dollars and seventy cents, sir. Sir?”

  “Oh. Sorry.” Aiden roused himself from his thoughts, paid the cashier and walked back to his apartment with his groceries, Jenna’s eyes on the front page of a tabloid peeking at him over the rim of the shopping bag.

  ~*~

  Jenna found it kind of silly. But you didn’t argue with your publicist or your agent or the powers that be on a successful TV series who said your job was to not only perform on screen but off screen as well. In this case, giving the public a glimpse of the show’s new star gallivanting around Long Island and Manhattan with its romantic lead.

  Lovebirds having fun.

  Of course, some dependable members of the press would be on hand to ensure the right kind of coverage. Although, there’d be no controlling the renegade masses armed with phone cams.

  “Anything to keep those ratings up,” super agent Marvin Davitz told her. “Get out there with Sean. Make yourself known. Not just for the show, sweetheart. Bilk this thing, and you’ve got yourself a career.”

  A golden Prometheus adrift on a ring of blazing light bestowed the gift of fire in his right hand as a blessing to the cold plane of ice at his feet. There in the shadows of 30 Rock and legendary Radio City, the skating rink at Rockefeller Center hummed with life. In fact, it had an extra buzz today with two stars from Sunrise Lane circling the ice.

  Wearing a red blazer-style jacket that cinched her narrow waist, red earmuffs, and tight stretch jeans, Jenna skated along in the icy cold afternoon, holding hands with Sean. Her dancer body craved to do more than just put one foot in front of the other. She began gliding on one leg, lifting the other behind her in an arabesque. It was different from ballet, where a dancer needed to turn her feet outward. In skating, she knew she had to keep the toe pointing in the direction she was going.

  One thing she’d learned from her years as a dance pro—a supportive partner meant everything. A dancer could overcome a slippery stage or awkward footing if an attentive partner had her back. With Sean, well, she could feel his irritation when a few people applauded her moves. At one point she even thought he tugged on her hand extra hard, pulling her off balance. But she managed to recover.

  “Okay, Ms. Dancer, let’s see what you got. Try this.” Sean let go of her hand, pivoted, and skated backward, then turned out his feet, shifting to the deep outside edge of his skates, leaning into gliding arcs.

 
; Applause.

  When he returned, Jenna said, “Not bad for a California guy. Now try this.”

  Having grown up on the North Fork, she’d done plenty of skating in the cold winter months. She remembered a spinning move she’d taught herself one winter when she was about fifteen. Reaching her arms wide, she used them for momentum, but tucked them close to her body once she went into a fast spin that to this day gave her a thrill. It brought oohs and ahs from their fans—and grumbling from cranky Sean.

  She’d always been somewhat compulsive and had practiced it over and over back then, analyzing the trick to staying on balance, even figuring out how to lift one leg without falling. So, of course, when Sean tried it she could see he’d be in trouble.

  “Dammit.” He nearly went down but caught himself in an ungainly lurch.

  “Try to keep your weight over—”

  “I don’t need you to tell me how to do it.”

  He tried again, this time with way too much force. With a scrape and a thud, Sean landed on the ice in a not-too-sexy position that garnered a few embarrassing laughs. She just hoped it didn’t make it onto the gossip sites.

  Jenna skated over and offered him a hand up. Which he refused.

  When Sean managed to get to his feet, he said, “Try not to let it all go to your head.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Telling me how to skate. Like you’re the big expert. All of a sudden you’re superior to me.”

  “I’m what?”

  “Yeah, you were a big hit with the viewers. Making a good first impression is always nice. We’re all very pleased. But that doesn’t make you the big star.” He brushed ice off his pants, giving her a hostile look. “My muscles are just sore today.”

  Jenna’s arms itched to give him a shove that would send him back down to the ice. Instead, she lowered her voice and said through clenched her teeth, “One: I do not consider myself a ‘big star.’ And two: what does that have to do with ice skating?”

  “You’re trying to make me look like a fool in front of all these people.”

  “No, Sean, you’re doing quite a good job of that without my help.”

  He leaned close to her ear, his arm around her shoulder. “Don’t forget, we’ve got company. Let’s keep a nice smile and show our fans how adorable we are together. So just check the ego.” Sean gave her a peck on the cheek and said to Jenna for the benefit of onlookers, “Want to get some hot chocolate?”

  She smiled and nodded, but murmured quietly to him, “Not with you.”

  Chapter 15

  Aiden snatched the tabloid from the wire rack as he stood in the checkout line of the supermarket on Sixty-Eighth and Broadway. He stared at the photo on the cover, a storm of emotions whirling inside.

  Jenna Richardson.

  With Sean Risk.

  The new hot celebrity couple.

  Would it have been different if he’d stuck around? Would Jenna be his lady now instead of Sean’s?

  Or would the stargazing schoolteacher have amounted to nothing more than a minor blip on Ms. Richardson’s radar? An accidental anomaly caught in her snare while she was going for much bigger game.

  Lady thought she was getting a roll in the sack with a dangerous secret agent. Another exciting alpha male to add to her list of conquests.

  But then, why had she called him? He’d listened to her voice mail message at least twenty times over the past week.

  “Aiden, I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. I know I can really bungle things up, but you’re not exactly being fair to me. Let’s talk. Please.”

  He’d hit reply three times but quickly ended each call before it went through. And then he’d gone and watched Sunrise Lane a few nights ago.

  He hated the role they gave her. A hard, cold bitch. The antithesis of his fairy princess. But she did such a good job of it Aiden lay awake wondering which one was the real Jenna.

  And thanks to sharing those stargazing moments with her, he robbed himself of the one thing he’d found to cure his insomnia. He couldn’t look at the stars now without thinking of her. She’d even invaded his work on the new thriller. He couldn’t help imagining what she’d think if she saw certain passages on his computer. He pictured her laughing. She was so darn cute. He just didn’t know if he could trust her with his feelings.

  He’d spent the last week traveling the country, stopping in some of the poorest neighborhoods to work with school kids for the Wendy Brice Flynn Foundation he’d created to give underprivileged students a chance for a future. Normally he left that outreach work to the staff he’d hired to run the program. But after Nick Stiebler and his screaming toddler opened Aiden’s old family wounds, and Jenna reached into the heart he’d closed off after Wendy’s death, he needed the kind of healing he got from giving hope where there was none.

  “That’ll be fourteen dollars and seventy cents, sir. Sir?”

  “Oh. Sorry.” Aiden roused himself from his thoughts, paid the cashier and walked back to his apartment with his groceries, Jenna’s eyes on the front page of a tabloid peeking at him over the rim of the shopping bag.

  ~*~

  Jenna found it kind of silly. But you didn’t argue with your publicist or your agent or the powers that be on a successful TV series who said your job was to not only perform on screen but off screen as well. In this case, giving the public a glimpse of the show’s new star gallivanting around Long Island and Manhattan with its romantic lead.

  Lovebirds having fun.

  Of course, some dependable members of the press would be on hand to ensure the right kind of coverage. Although, there’d be no controlling the renegade masses armed with phone cams.

  “Anything to keep those ratings up,” super agent Marvin Davitz told her. “Get out there with Sean. Make yourself known. Not just for the show, sweetheart. Bilk this thing, and you’ve got yourself a career.”

  A golden Prometheus adrift on a ring of blazing light bestowed the gift of fire in his right hand as a blessing to the cold plane of ice at his feet. There in the shadows of 30 Rock and legendary Radio City, the skating rink at Rockefeller Center hummed with life. In fact, it had an extra buzz today with two stars from Sunrise Lane circling the ice.

  Wearing a red blazer-style jacket that cinched her narrow waist, red earmuffs, and tight stretch jeans, Jenna skated along in the icy cold afternoon, holding hands with Sean. Her dancer body craved to do more than just put one foot in front of the other. She began gliding on one leg, lifting the other behind her in an arabesque. It was different from ballet, where a dancer needed to turn her feet outward. In skating, she knew she had to keep the toe pointing in the direction she was going.

  One thing she’d learned from her years as a dance pro—a supportive partner meant everything. A dancer could overcome a slippery stage or awkward footing if an attentive partner had her back. With Sean, well, she could feel his irritation when a few people applauded her moves. At one point she even thought he tugged on her hand extra hard, pulling her off balance. But she managed to recover.

  “Okay, Ms. Dancer, let’s see what you got. Try this.” Sean let go of her hand, pivoted, and skated backward, then turned out his feet, shifting to the deep outside edge of his skates, leaning into gliding arcs.

  Applause.

  When he returned, Jenna said, “Not bad for a California guy. Now try this.”

  Having grown up on the North Fork, she’d done plenty of skating in the cold winter months. She remembered a spinning move she’d taught herself one winter when she was about fifteen. Reaching her arms wide, she used them for momentum, but tucked them close to her body once she went into a fast spin that to this day gave her a thrill. It brought oohs and ahs from their fans—and grumbling from cranky Sean.

  She’d always been somewhat compulsive and had practiced it over and over back then, analyzing the trick to staying on balance, even figuring out how to lift one leg without falling. So, of course, when Sean tried it she could see he’d be in trouble.

  �
��Dammit.” He nearly went down but caught himself in an ungainly lurch.

  “Try to keep your weight over—”

  “I don’t need you to tell me how to do it.”

  He tried again, this time with way too much force. With a scrape and a thud, Sean landed on the ice in a not-too-sexy position that garnered a few embarrassing laughs. She just hoped it didn’t make it onto the gossip sites.

  Jenna skated over and offered him a hand up. Which he refused.

  When Sean managed to get to his feet, he said, “Try not to let it all go to your head.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Telling me how to skate. Like you’re the big expert. All of a sudden you’re superior to me.”

  “I’m what?”

  “Yeah, you were a big hit with the viewers. Making a good first impression is always nice. We’re all very pleased. But that doesn’t make you the big star.” He brushed ice off his pants, giving her a hostile look. “My muscles are just sore today.”

  Jenna’s arms itched to give him a shove that would send him back down to the ice. Instead, she lowered her voice and said through clenched her teeth, “One: I do not consider myself a ‘big star.’ And two: what does that have to do with ice skating?”

  “You’re trying to make me look like a fool in front of all these people.”

  “No, Sean, you’re doing quite a good job of that without my help.”

  He leaned close to her ear, his arm around her shoulder. “Don’t forget, we’ve got company. Let’s keep a nice smile and show our fans how adorable we are together. So just check the ego.” Sean gave her a peck on the cheek and said to Jenna for the benefit of onlookers, “Want to get some hot chocolate?”

  She smiled and nodded, but murmured quietly to him, “Not with you.”