April, Dani - Superstar (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Dani April

  “It doesn’t have anything to do with your dad, Chrissie.” He put his arm around her and she cuddled up against him. “I just can’t stay with you here.”

  “What is it?” she kissed his chest and asked him.

  “Next month I’ll be twenty-two years old. I still live at home with my mother. I’m unemployed. I still don’t have a bachelor’s degree. I drive a fifteen-year-old Honda, and I have less than two hundred dollars to my name. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I’m pretty good with computers and graphics. I’ll probably eventually be able to get a job that pays pretty well for Canyon Creek…but, Chrissie, I can’t kid myself. I’m not in your league, and I never will be.”

  She sighed and snuggled in against him tighter. They were silent for a moment as she seemed to digest what he had told her. “I think you’re more talented than I am, Scott.”

  He wanted to say Nice try, but I don’t believe you. However, he kept his mouth shut and just stroked her body beneath the bubbles of the Jacuzzi.

  “I’m really not very talented,” she told him. “Oh, my voice is decent, and I’m learning how to act. The only reason I’m famous is because of my dad. He pushed me in my career from the time I was three. I never got a chance to be normal. Now I never will.”

  “And I never will be a superstar,” he said and realized they had just summed up why their relationship would never work, why it was over and after tomorrow they would most likely never see each other again.

  * * * *

  A bright southern-California sun was shining over the circle drive in front of Chrissie’s house the next morning. Scott was relieved his brothers had seen the need to leave early that day and not prolong the pain of inevitability. He had given both Peaches and Cream a last pat on their heads and then walked Skipper out to their truck.

  They were alone on Chrissie’s property as her servants had the day off. She walked out to the truck with them. The guys had already loaded up their bags.

  Chrissie was wearing a short sundress, and when the rays of the sun hit her golden hair, Scott knew she had never looked more beautiful. He longed to take her back into the house and make love to her one last time, but of course he knew that could not be. He and his brothers had been extremely fortunate to have these few days with her and to get to know the woman behind the superstar, but that all-too-brief period of their lives was over now.

  Scott watched as Brad took Chrissie in his arms and gave her an enormous hug. She seemed to be returning the embrace with even more strength. Scott knew his brother well enough to know when he was hiding his emotion behind a tough-guy exterior. Already, Chrissie had tears in her eyes.

  “You’re going to be okay now?” Brad asked her, still not releasing her from his protective grip.

  “Yes, I will.” She nodded, and her voice was choked. “And don’t you dare forget about me, you hear?”

  Brad took her back in his arms. Scott didn’t think he would ever let her go. “If you ever need anything, you’ve got my number,” he told her.

  “You’ve got my number, too,” she told him.

  Brad just nodded and continued to squeeze her tight. Scott looked down at the well-manicured lawn at his feet. He didn’t like to see so much emotion flooding through his brother’s normally calm exterior.

  When Chrissie left Brad’s arms, Ethan was there, and she fell into his. They clung to each other for a few moments without words. More tears were pouring down Chrissie’s face.

  “I’m going to miss you, tough guy,” she told him in a small voice.

  “You’ve got plenty of tough guys out here.”

  “None that are as honest as you.”

  “You know, Chrissie…” Ethan started to say something. Scott was surprised to hear a crack in his big brother’s voice. The only time he had ever seen Ethan look like this before was on the day their dad died.

  “What?” She looked up into his eyes.

  He shook his head. “Just promise me you’ll take care of yourself.”

  “I’m going to be just as tough as you from now on,” she promised him.

  “I’m not worried. I know you will be.” He gave her a kiss on the lips.

  Scott realized his two brothers were finally starting to come to grips with what had struck him when they first pulled into Hollywood yesterday. They had lost Chrissie, had never even had a chance with her. This world was where she belonged, and they belonged in Canyon Creek.

  He was drained from wrestling with the sadness of closing this important chapter of his life. When Chrissie stepped up to him, he just looked at her. He would fall in love with her if he kept staring into her beautiful eyes.

  She reached out and took both his hands in her own.

  “You going to let me give you a kiss good-bye?” she asked him.

  He bent down to her. She took him in her arms. They kissed long and hard, their passion for each other restrained due to the circumstances. He tasted the salt of her tears streaming down her cheeks.

  “Our week together, and our time at the cabin, life doesn’t get any better than that. You will always be a part of me, Chrissie.”

  “No, I won’t,” she whispered in his ear. “Just go on and get out of here.” Her voice was a painful throb against him.

  His brothers were just climbing inside the cab of the truck. Scott turned from Chrissie and headed for the backseat of the truck. From inside, Skipper, his tongue lolling out of his mouth, was waiting for him.

  “Scott, wait a minute!” Chrissie’s voice behind him brought him to a halt.

  He turned around to find her running up to him. She threw her arms around him again. When she pulled away from him, he saw she was holding a sealed envelope in her hand. She looked up into his eyes with a pleading look on her face. She thrust the envelope into his palm, crumpling it in the process.

  She pulled away from him and reached up to dry her eyes with a hand. “Don’t open that until you get back home.”

  “Chrissie, what…”

  She shook her head, not wanting him to speak. “You’re more talented than I am, Scott.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “When you get home, take some time and think about what you want, and then you can make a decision.”

  “Chrissie, tell me what…”

  “Just go.” She reached up and forced him down for a final kiss. “Remember, I’ll always be right here. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Scott looked down at the small envelope he now held in his hand. He had no idea what it was, but he knew it was important. She backed away from him and was waving good-bye to all of them.

  He climbed in the backseat and slammed the door behind him. Ethan already had the engine idling, waiting for him. He took a last look out the window. Chrissie blew him a kiss.

  Scott looked down at the envelope. He knew he would do as Chrissie had told him. He would not open it until he got back home.

  Late that night when Scott got back home and was locked away in the privacy of his own bedroom, he opened the envelope. There was nothing inside—except an e-mail address for him to send a résumé to.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chrissie was sitting outside on the terrace of a posh Hollywood restaurant. It was noon. The establishment was packed, although there was lots of space for privacy between each table. This was an entertainment industry movers and shakers place.

  Several weeks had gone by since she had returned to her home from her brief adventure with the three handsome brothers. She had received e-mails and texts from both Ethan and Brad. Brad had even sent her a letter in the mail. She had answered each message and even sent a few unsolicited ones of her own. The tone of each message had been casual, that of old friends catching up and keeping in touch, and not that of former lovers. Sometimes when she was reading one of the messages or writing a return, it brought her pain because she wanted to hear so much more from them and wanted to say so much more to them.

  She had not heard from Scott yet, and she k
new why. He had opened the envelope she gave him on their last day together. From her correspondence with the other two, Scott had apparently not shared anything with them yet, either.

  Maybe the guys were happy in Canyon Creek. Maybe they were finding other girls, normal girls they could build a future with. For her part, Chrissie had been celibate the entire time and had no plans for romance any time in the near future.

  Perhaps Scott had already forgotten about her. He probably could not have forgotten about the mind-blowing sex they had shared, but he may have just filed the memories away in his mind under erotic experiences with a famous person. She knew that was what men did all the time. She could have blown out of proportion what she thought she had with the guys. But just in case she hadn’t, just in case the guys hadn’t moved on and put her behind them, she had come here today for a meeting.

  She stood up as the hostess showed her father over to her table. She smiled when she saw him. He took her into his arms and gave her a kiss on her forehead.

  “You look well, baby,” he told her as he took the offered menu from the hostess and had a seat across the table from her.

  “Daddy, how are you?”

  “Still mad at my crazy little daughter, but I guess I’ll live.”

  “Daddy, don’t start again.”

  “No, it’s all right. That’s just the way us overprotective dads feel sometimes.”

  Chrissie took a sip of her grapefruit juice and watched her father peruse the menu trying to read his expression. When she had met him the first time after her Rocky Mountain adventure, they had gone through the unavoidable fight. Actually, it hadn’t been a fight at all. It had been more like a war. They had both said things they didn’t mean, and after it was over, Chrissie had cried herself to sleep.

  The next day, her dad had called her up and apologized for everything, and he assumed full responsibility for what had happened in her life. He had promised her he would not interfere in her life or career anymore unless she asked him to do so. She knew this was hard for him, and he was still backsliding all the time and trying to tell her what she should do and what mistakes she was making. But their relationship had changed dramatically. It would never be the way it was again because now her father was viewing her as an adult woman and not a child.

  “So you’re working for a new agency now?”

  Chrissie smiled and laughed at her dad. “No, Daddy. I’ve hired a new agency, and they’re working for me.”

  Her dad held up his hands, not wanting to argue. That was good. “Have you decided to do that new project for Paramount?”

  “I told them I wanted the script changed, and they agreed. I told them I wanted the production schedule set back a few months and the shooting schedule in a more reasonable time frame. They also agreed. So the answer is yes. I’ll be signing the contract at the end of the week.”

  “Your new agent must be a hard-nosed negotiator to get all those concessions from Paramount.”

  “Actually, I negotiated this one myself. The agency is just handling the legal work.”

  Her dad had a soft smile on his face, something she hardly ever saw. “You’re really taking over your own career, aren’t you, baby girl?”

  “And I’m going to make it work, too,” she assured him.

  After their Caesar salads arrived he seemed to take a good look at her for the first time. “How are you really doing, honey?” he asked her.

  Chrissie had to think about this for a minute. She wasn’t used to getting this kind of question from her dad. “I think I’m in love, Daddy,” she finally told him.

  “Is it the guy you were with in Colorado? The one I spoke with on the phone?”

  “The guys,” she corrected him. “There are three of them. They’re brothers, and they’re gorgeous.”

  He sighed and looked away, but she detected a tempering of his attitude. He wasn’t as angry as he used to be. “Oh, Chrissie girl…what am I going to do with you?”

  “That’s okay, Daddy. They probably don’t even love me. I may have just been a movie star to them. Something interesting like a bug under a microscope. But I still think about them and the time we spent together every day.”

  Their main course arrived, and Chrissie played with her food, not eating any of it. She was putting herself on a diet for the new film. She was going to have to wear a tight-fitting costume in it and needed to lose twelve pounds in a hurry.

  “Don’t worry, Dad,” she told him as he was finishing up. “I’m confident it will work out. I’m in control of my own life now, and that’s what really matters.”

  “I believe you, Chrissie,” he told her. “I admit I’m a little sad, however. I feel like you don’t need your old dad for anything now.”

  Chrissie favored him with her most winning smile and reached across the table to him. “Actually, I do have a favor to ask of you, Daddy.”

  He raised an eyebrow, but she had his attention.

  “I know a talented computer graphics designer and a talented carpenter.”

  “And?”

  “They’d be really good out here. CPU Graphics is designing animations and special effects on a lot of the films now. They even have a contract to work on my upcoming project. You know the cofounder of CPU Graphics, don’t you?”

  “I do.”

  “And the other thing,” Chrissie went on before her father had a chance to think. “You know each of the studios always needs a good carpenter to build their sets. Those are huge projects, and if the carpenter is talented enough, they’re as valuable as a good producer.”

  “And your point is?”

  She wrapped up his hand tightly. “I want you to make some phone calls, Daddy.”

  * * * *

  Ethan boarded his flight to LAX on time. He stowed his bag in the overhead compartment and sank back into his seat to relax. As soon as the flight was in the air he ordered himself a drink—a scotch on the rocks, and he relaxed even more.

  The business man seated next to him in his suit and tie was all harried. He was on his cell phone with someone from his office all the way up until takeoff when the flight attendant told him he had to put it away. Ethan didn’t envy him. The businessman was obviously busy trying to make a name for himself at his office and make his fortune while he was at it.

  Ethan had just given all that up. At least for a while. He had just sold his father’s business and his own business. For the family business, he had made well over six figures. Of course, he had given it all to his mother. She would never have to worry over money for the rest of her life. His personal business had netted him considerably less, but he still had enough to kick back for a few months and relax and contemplate where he wanted his life to go next.

  So that was what he was doing on this trip out to California, just relaxing and taking it easy. He had never been much for long-term plans. Instead, he had the confidence to know that once he figured out what he wanted he could make it happen for himself.

  As soon as his flight was in the air, the businessman next to him got out his laptop and busily started typing in numbers to a spreadsheet. Ethan flipped around on some of the in-flight channels on the TV screen mounted on the back of the seat in front of him. He lowered the shade of the window a touch to prevent the glare of the sun outside.

  He had to stop once he reached a certain channel. This channel played nothing but the latest and the hottest music videos from leading industry superstars. Chrissie Murphy’s latest video had just started. She was on an exotic soundstage with bright, flashing lights and backup singers and dancers strutting their stuff behind her as she belted out the song.

  In love with three brothers.

  Don’t know what to do.

  One is so beautiful I melt in his eyes.

  One is so kind makes me wanna cry.

  One is so cruel—but think I love him, too.

  Being in love with three brothers makes me want to die.

  Ethan sat back farther in his seat as he listened t
o Chrissie’s video and slowly drank his scotch. He smiled to himself and looked out the window and down at the clouds.

  * * * *

  When Ethan got into Los Angeles, he rented a car and then checked in at a touristy hotel downtown. He had an appointment for later that morning, and so he didn’t have much time to waste.

  He got lost three times on his way and had to pull over twice and ask directions at service stations. He still hated the traffic out here.

  The movie studio north of the city was set apart by itself on a rolling lot with huge soundstages built along avenues, giving it the feel of a city within a city. Ethan had to park out on a lot far away from the main entrance and then had quite a walk to make it back to the lots where shooting was in progress.

  There were several upcoming Hollywood blockbusters for the following season being shot on these lots today. Over a thousand people were at work in the various complexes. As he walked down the avenues, he was passed by trucks carrying various pieces of equipment to and from film locations, and the occasional go-cart transporting someone of importance who had to make it to their shoot in a hurry.

  Ethan looked down at a little card he was carrying to make sure he had the right building. Here it was in front of him. Soundstage A14, a sprawling building that looked to Ethan more like a warehouse or factory than a movie studio. It had no windows, and numerous loading docks for large delivery trucks were built all around the structure.

  A chain-link fence separated the avenue he was walking down from the entrance to A14. As Ethan stepped forward, a security guard came out of a little booth.

  “I’m sorry, sir. You’re not allowed in this area.”

  “I have a pass.” Ethan handed over his card to the guard.

  The guard took it from him and frowned down at the card for a long while. “Okay, you can go on through.” The guard finally relented and handed the card back to Ethan. “No cell phones, cameras, or any other electronic devices are permitted inside. You’ll have to leave all of that here with me. Please step through this metal detector over here.”