SWINGING ON A STAR
The Hollywood Showmance Chronicles
Book Two
By
Olivia Jaymes
www.OliviaJaymes.com
SWINGING ON A STAR
Copyright © 2017 by Olivia Jaymes
Kindle Edition
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
SWINGING ON A STAR
It’s all make-believe. Smoke and mirrors for the press and paparazzi.
Carrie Johnson, ordinary businesswoman, has agreed to a fake romance with mega movie star Maxwell Hayes. He needs to show he’s not heartbroken after his nasty and public divorce. She wants her family and friends to believe she’s not devastated after being dumped by her fiancé. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement.
Carrie’s not the type for designer gowns and expensive jewelry, but she finds herself getting dressed up, walking red carpets, and posing for the cameras. With Max at her side, she’s dancing the night away and having a ball. Life with the gorgeous actor is better than she’d ever dreamed.
Max may play the handsome and charming prince for the tabloids, but Carrie’s no princess. This relationship has an expiration date and there will be no happily ever after. It would be crazy to let her heart get involved. Wouldn’t it?
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
About the Book
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
About the Author
Other Books by Olivia Jaymes
PROLOGUE
Two days ago…
Max wanted to bang his phone repeatedly onto the bar until it was smashed into a million tiny pieces. Then maybe his soon to be ex-wife wouldn’t be able to get a hold of him. She’d randomly called him this evening to let him know she had a truck backed up to the house they’d shared in London and was loading it full of their belongings.
The house she’d abandoned months ago, along with him.
Instead of losing his temper, he’d coolly responded that he was glad to see all the rubbish go that would have reminded him of her. Now he could start fresh and she could have the castoffs from their marriage and think of him every day.
However, when he’d hung up it was all he could do not to sling his mobile into the nearest brick wall. He didn’t give a shit about the furnishings. It was only things and he could buy more. It was the feeling that he would never be free of Alana. If it wasn’t her calling him to brag about something shitty she was doing to him, it was the press taking sides in their divorce. He supposed he should be happy that most were on “Team Max” but it was small comfort that so many people felt sorry for him. Like he was a stray dog without a home or a family. A mutt nobody wanted.
He’d thought about going out to the London clubs and picking up some lovely young thing but that wasn’t what he wanted. He’d long grown tired of the single life. He wanted to settle down, have a family. Sleeping with a woman he barely knew wouldn’t bring him the satisfaction he was seeking.
He shouldn’t have even come to Nate and Paige’s party tonight but he was the best man. Max had to make sure that his friends actually tied the knot. Knowing one or both of them, there was a very real possibility that someone might get a case of cold feet. If they needed a push down the aisle, Max would be there to do it.
Stepping outside the back door of the restaurant for a cigarette he shouldn’t be smoking, the warm breeze tousled his hair and he pushed it out of his eyes. It was longer than he liked it but he needed it for his next role.
He lit his cigarette and looked out at the water, realizing he wasn’t alone. Soft crying was coming from the end of the small dock that overlooked the water. At first, he thought to turn around and leave whomever it was in peace but then he recognized the sapphire-colored dress as belonging to Paige’s assistant Carrie. A sweet and efficient young woman with expressive light brown eyes that contrasted with her fiery red hair. Paige swore up and down Carrie was a miracle in human form and kept her organized and on time.
“Are you okay?” Max approached the woman carefully, not wanting to pry but not feeling comfortable just leaving her here by herself. “Do you want me to get Paige for you?”
Carrie’s head jerked up and she shook her head. “No, please don’t. I don’t want her to know that I’m out here crying. I don’t want to ruin her wedding.”
“I’m sure she wouldn’t think you were ruining her wedding. Are you sad that Paige is moving to London?”
Max was aware that their future domicile had been a bone of contention between the happy couple and he was glad they’d come to some sort of compromise.
“I’m happy for her,” Carrie said quietly. “This doesn’t have anything to do with her.”
He knew enough about women to guess. “Is it some bloke? Your fiancé? I’ll go inside and tell him he doesn’t deserve you.”
He’d thought he might get a chuckle but instead she burst into a fresh spate of tears, her shoulders shaking with sobs. Startled and worried, he placed his arm around her shoulders and tried to say something soothing although that wasn’t something he was good at.
“It’s okay. It’s going to be alright. Do you want to tell me about it?”
Sniffling, she dabbed at her cheeks with a tissue but there were already tracks of mascara under her eyes. “I don’t have a fiancé. Not anymore.”
He glanced at her left hand which was still wearing a ring. “You two probably just had a little row. It will be okay in the morning.”
She snorted rather indelicately. “It won’t. He’s left me for the ex-wife he divorced five years ago but now they’re back together. I’ve suspected something was going on with him for awhile. He told me last week but tonight he called me.” She held up her phone. “He wants his ring back so he can exchange it for another one. You know, for her.”
Clearly this fiancé was an idiot. Plus, the infidelity was a personal pet peeve with M
ax. If a person wanted to be with someone else, they needed to man up and just say so instead of sneaking around. If Alana had just told him that she didn’t want him a year ago, they could have gotten a civil divorce and moved on with their separate lives.
“What a horse’s arse,” Max growled. “That’s a man that doesn’t deserve to have a good woman. You’re well rid of him.”
“I know that. I really do. But now everyone–”
She broke off and turned back toward the water.
“Let me guess, you think everyone feels sorry for you,” Max said. “I know exactly how you feel.”
Looking over her shoulder, she frowned. “You think people feel sorry for you?”
He shoved his hands in the pockets of his trousers. “Are you Team Max or Team Alana? Jesus, I hate that shit. I’ve seen the way people look at me, like I’m a big fucking loser because I couldn’t keep my wife happy.”
He’d made her smile although he wasn’t sure what she found so entertaining. “Max, I’m not sure that people feel sorry for you. I think they feel sorry for her.” She held up her hand when he started to protest. “In that, they think she’s been an idiot for leaving you and going to him. That relationship has trouble written all over it, let me tell you. Personally, I think you’ve escaped and should be celebrating. Whatever the divorce is costing you, it’s worth it.”
He straightened at her words. It was Alana’s loss. He’d treated her like a queen and she’d never appreciated it. “It’s not so bad. We had a prenuptial but as we speak she’s loading up all our belongings from our home and taking them away in a truck.”
“You could sic your lawyers on her.”
“I could…but frankly I just want to be done with it. I never wanted this war in the press. That was all her. She wanted to humiliate me.”
Carrie looked at him curiously. “Why?”
Lifting his chin, he shook his head. “From what I can tell she hates me, although I don’t know the reason. I tried to be a good husband but maybe I failed spectacularly. Everything seemed good until after the wedding. Then we started arguing like cats and dogs over the littlest things. She did say I drove her to cheat. That I was a boring husband, in bed and out.”
“Ouch,” Carrie replied, her brows pulling down. “That’s a shitty thing to say. You know, I never liked her acting and this publicity can’t be good for her career.”
It was through his friends that Alana had landed her last two movie parts. “You might be right, although she’s of the opinion that all press is good for her career.”
“Then she should be winning an Oscar this year,” Carrie said sarcastically. “She’s all over TMZ with that skeevy guy. If that was her type, what was she doing with you?”
Max highly suspected marrying him had been a savvy career move. “Availing herself of my moviemaking contacts. Good luck to her.”
Carrie stepped toward him. “I’m sorry you’re going through this. It makes my problem seem kind of small.”
Rubbing his chin, Max shook his head. “Hardly. Your problem is important to you. Besides, this isn’t a competition. Who’s the most miserable tonight? That’s not a contest you want to win.”
She laughed and blew her nose with a fresh tissue from her purse. “True. So we both are trying to hide something from Nate and Paige. Neither one of us want them to know how unhappy we are. Well, your secret is safe with me.”
Max inclined his head. “And yours with me. We make quite the pair, don’t we?”
As soon as the words came out of his mouth, a lightbulb went off in his head.
An idea.
Maybe a terrible idea.
But it would benefit them both greatly.
Did he dare?
Would she even agree?
He was tired of being the object of pity, and she didn’t want that either.
He could help her. She could help him.
He liked the idea more with every passing moment.
“Carrie, I’d like to talk to you about something. You’re familiar with the word showmance, right?”
CHAPTER ONE
Present day…
On shaking, stiff legs Carrie Johnson accepted her passport back from the unsmiling man behind the passport control counter and shoved it back into her handbag. After an eleven-hour flight from Tampa, Florida, she had finally arrived in London, a city that was much colder than the one she’d left. She didn’t have many cold weather clothes so a shopping trip was high on her to-do list unless she wanted to spend the next several weeks and months freezing her ass off. The man who had been sitting next to her on the plane sure wasn’t going to keep her warm. His demeanor the entire flight had been decidedly chilly. He was put out that she had turned down his offer of a showmance.
Seriously, of course she’d said no. No one in their right mind was going to believe it. An ordinary girl with an ordinary life wasn’t going to be the next girlfriend of one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. He’d have to deal with his own problems, just as she’d have to deal with her own.
Since Carrie hadn’t had much to pack, she’d carried on her bag so she breezed by the baggage claim and went straight to customs. It took only minutes to walk through the Green line that indicated she had nothing to declare. It was on the other side he would be waiting.
Him. Max.
The world knew him as Maxwell Hayes, star of stage, screen, and television. Or Haden from the Thunder movies as so many people referred to him.
Tall, dark, and handsome with crystal clear blue eyes, he was one of the most popular A-list actors in Hollywood at the moment. Coming off an Oscar nomination for some boring art film she’d fallen asleep in, he was in demand by everyone who was anyone. And Max Hayes was a big deal someone.
Two days ago, the night before Paige and Nate’s wedding, he’d proposed a fake relationship – a showmance, if you will – to keep people from feeling sorry for them because of his cheating soon to be ex-wife and Carrie’s unfaithful fiancé. She’d said no and Max had taken the answer well outwardly but he’d spent most of the flight to London either glowering or sleeping. They’d shared the flight but little else. Paige and Nate had insisted that she fly back with Max but when she’d agreed she hadn’t known this entirely sticky situation was going to come up. Now she was planning to share a taxi with a man who was pissy about being turned down. She was sure that was an unusual feeling for him. Everywhere he went women seemed to come out of the woodwork to throw themselves at him and the plane had been no exception.
Perhaps she had been a tiny bit rash to say no.
She’d been hurting that night at the dinner party, heartbroken and crying when he’d found her. He’d made it sound so simple and so seductive. Instead of friends and family patting her on the back and pitying her, they would be happy for her, or at least envious. She’d landed one of the most sought after men in show business. Of course it was all one big lie, but they didn’t know that.
But she would know and she hated the thought of deceiving people, even strangers. Living a lie wasn’t something she thought she could do.
“Are you ready?”
Max seemed to come out of nowhere, wearing shades and a hat to lessen the chance of being recognized. Her own gaze swept the arrivals lounge but everyone seemed immersed in their own reunions, not bothering with anyone else.
She hadn’t known him long but when he wanted he could act like a pretty regular guy. He could also act like a pompous prick, looking down that patrician nose at her. She’d been sitting next to him for eleven hours and he’d said maybe a dozen words to her. He was making this more awkward than it needed to be. He should be thanking her. She was hardly his type and none of his friends were going to be impressed that he’d landed a slightly chubby personal assistant with great hair. That was her best feature. Her hair could star in a shampoo commercial if the rest of her wasn’t so ordinary.
For now, she needed to make the best of things. Max was a close friend of Nate’s, who was now the husband
of her employer and best friend, which was why she was here in London. She was planning to spend a lot more time here in this city and she didn’t want it to be weird.
“Sorry I took so long.” She shook her head when he reached out a hand for her bag. “It took awhile to get through passport control. I don’t think the guy likes Americans very much.”
Max had sailed through the line for British citizens with a promise to wait for her on the other side. “I’m sure that’s not the case. Please let me get your bag.”
Wrinkling her nose, Carrie shook her head. “You didn’t see his face when he saw my American passport. Definitely not a fan of the colonies.”
“Carrie, give me your bag.” That deep voice he was so damn famous for. She looked up and his brows were raised in question and his hand was still out. Waiting. It didn’t appear that they were planning to move until she handed it over.
Something else she was beginning to realize. He was bossy too. Those dozen words he’d spoken to her during the flight? All commands to do something. Close her eyes and sleep. Eat something. Have a drink. Use the blanket if she was cold.
“It’s on wheels,” she protested, looking down at the small suitcase. “And not very heavy. I only own two sweaters so there wasn’t much to pack.”
His full lips turned up at the corners. “It’s not about how heavy it is. It’s about how my mother raised me. Now please let me deal with the luggage.”
Oh. That was different. Still bossy but different.
Relinquishing the handle, she followed him outside to the taxi stand where she quickly found herself in the back seat of a real black London cab heading to Hampstead where Max and Nate both owned homes. Carrie would be staying at Nate and Paige’s until she found a flat for herself.
Carrie leaned forward in her seat to get a better vantage point. It was an early Monday morning in the UK and the streets were jammed with commuters, but it gave her a chance to see the sights.
“You said you’ve never been to London.”
Carrie shrugged. “Never had the opportunity. Visited France and Greece though. Really enjoyed it. The food was out of this world good.”
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