Chapter 44
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
New York City
Ten Days Later
Camille was still fast asleep in their bed when Ryan left the apartment in the early hours of the morning. Stuffing a baseball cap firmly over his head, he made his way downstairs to where a town car with blackout passenger windows was waiting.
Stepping onto the sidewalk, Ryan checked left and right, relieved when he only spotted the Royal security guys standing near the door. The one good thing with leaving the building at this ungodly hour was the lack of fans lurking around in the street.
Apparently even stalkers needed their beauty sleep.
As the car pulled away from the curbside, Ryan glanced up at Camille’s bedroom window.
I hate leaving you like this.
He was worried. Last night Camille had only made it to eight o’clock before calling it a night. When he’d come to bed, she’d confessed she’d been struggling to keep her food down, and had been feeling off for close to two weeks.
When he offered to call for a doctor, Camille had growled at him. Ryan had let the subject drop. For the moment.
The apartment he was supposed to pretend he lived in was located on 5 th Avenue. The super express elevator took him all the way to level 25, where he stepped out and into the open-plan residence. The view out the main windows of the living room was nothing short of stunning. “Wow,” he muttered.
The luscious green expanse of Central Park, lay spread out below. Between the thickets of leafy trees he could spot glimpses of the various ponds and lakes. And was that the Central Park zoo?
“Yes wow, it is a hell of a view. But for the sort of money we are paying to rent this place for the next four months, it would want to be amazing.”
Ryan turned from admiring the view as Derick Stad walked out of one of the bedrooms. Ryan’s heart sank. This was the last place he wanted to be, and Derek was high on his list of people he never wanted to see again.
It was bad enough being contractually bound to do the show, but having to play nice with a snake like Derick Stad was a stretch. The former host of Bachelors on the Beach had officially taken over as the producer and showrunner for Ryan in Love , so there was nothing he could do but suck it up and deal with it.
The sooner Bryce and the legal eagles at Royal Resorts found a way out of this contract, the better.
A reluctant Ryan took Derick’s offered hand and shook. He didn’t bother smiling at the guy who’d upended his and Camille’s life. Given half a chance he’d rather punch the asshole square in his heavily Botox altered mug.
“Good to see you, Ryan. I’m really looking forward to working with you on this new and exciting project,” said Derick. His mouth was the only thing which moved on his expressionless face.
The past four years have not been kind to you Derick.
“I understand we are just meeting this morning to get some logistics sorted. Full filming won’t start until later in the week. So, let’s get on with things and then I can get out of here,” replied Ryan.
They were determined to hold him to the contract, but nowhere was it written that he had to be anything other than polite to the network people. He couldn’t care less if they let it slip after the show that he had been ‘difficult’ to work with during filming.
If you’re expecting me to be grateful for this opportunity you are sadly mistaken.
Derick didn’t bat an eyelid at the obvious chill in Ryan’s tone. “I could ask how things have been for you over the past four years, Ryan. Though from what I hear you just walked off the set of Bachelors on the Beach and quickly disappeared. The world happily forgot Ryan Collins. That was until you seduced a sexy little French heiress. Way to get ahead Ryan.”
The gloves were off. This was going to be a tough twelve week shoot if he and Derick continued to spar, then retreat to their respective corners.
Not that I intend to make it all the way to the end of the shoot. The second the legal team can find a loophole, I’m out of here.
Derick was still grinning like the Cheshire Cat as he walked away. He headed back into the bedroom from where he’d just come. When he returned, he was followed by a young woman.
Ryan recognized her immediately. It was Kaylee from Bachelors on the Beach .
What the…?
Kaylee held out her hands to him. “Ryan! Oh my god, it’s so good to see you.” The way she spoke, in a forced, breathy tone immediately set his nerves on edge.
From out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a guy holding a handy cam. Where had he come from? The camera was pointed in Ryan and Kaylee’s direction. But why were they filming?
Derick let out a tired sigh and yelled, “Cut!”
He clapped his hands together and approached Ryan. “I know it’s been four years, but you can’t possibly have forgotten the golden rule. You don’t look at the camera. You should be looking at Kaylee. Making the folks at home get all gooey and emotional over you two star-crossed lovers.”
Kaylee moved forward once more, and attempted to drape her arms around Ryan’s neck. He took a step back and gave a firm. “No.”
She turned to Derick. “You have to make this work, or I’ll walk. I’m not being humiliated on national television because you can’t get the stiff to fall in love with me.”
Ryan blinked. The stiff? And who was meant to be falling in love? “What?”
Derick put an arm around Kaylee and dropped a kiss on the top of her immaculately coiffured hair. “Don’t worry sweetheart. We’ll get this all sorted by the time we start shooting properly. How about you take a break, and I’ll talk to Ryan.”
Kaylee shot Ryan a haughty glare then turned on her heel and disappeared back into the bedroom. Ryan was still staring at the now closed door, when Derick approached. “You’re going to have to work a lot harder on that love struck look. The viewers aren’t going to buy it otherwise.”
I’m missing something.
“Why is Kaylee here? I thought this was meant to be a show about me searching for love. I don’t understand.”
The bachelorette from Bachelors on the Beach was here in New York and clearly under the impression that she and Ryan were going to be a thing.
They can’t be serious.
One look at the showrunner’s face told him they darn well were. Derick patted him firmly on the back, then spoke in a voice which dripped with barely restrained fury. “How about you be a good boy Ryan and call your agent in LA. He can walk you through what we have agreed. If you don’t want me setting the network lawyers on you, you’ll be back here later in the week, bright and fresh, and ready to shoot the reunion scene.”
Teeth gritted so tightly that his jaw ached, Ryan headed for the door. He was tempted to call his agent right away, but the past few weeks had taught him to wait until he was somewhere private before attempting to have that sort of conversation.
The second he got home, Ryan called his agent. He quickly regretted it. In a day of bad news, what Lee had to say only compounded things.
“I was wondering when you’d ring. I’ve just finished a call with Derick Stad. He’s not a happy man. Said you were being difficult this morning.”
“No, just sticking to the letter of the contract. Like everybody else.”
Ryan could just imagine Lee staring daggers at him down the phone all the way from LA. “Ok, that’s your career funeral. But Derick wants it made clear, they’ve decided to take the show in a new direction. They’re calling it Ryan and Kaylee: A second chance at Love . And when filming starts later this week, you’d better be on board.”
He’d just hung up the call when Camille appeared in the doorway to the kitchen.
His day wasn’t going all that great, but she looked totally beat. Exhaustion lined her face.
“Hey,” he said, drawing her into his arms. She rested her head against his chest and sighed. “I got the sample of the yellow cab dress for the show finalized—well most of it. I was going to do some more work on the jacket, but I can barely move. I think I might just go take a quick nap.”
It was eleven o’clock in the morning. Ryan put a hand to her forehead, but it was cool. Whatever she was coming down with didn’t cause a fever.
“How did your meeting with the show people go?” she asked.
Camille was sick, but he couldn’t lie to her. They had agreed to be honest with one another.
“Terrible. They’ve decided they want to make it a second chance romance series. They’ve cast Kaylee in the show, and now expect me to fall in love with her all over again. Sparks and love hearts in my eyes. All that crap,” he huffed.
“Love isn’t crap,” she whispered. At hearing her words, Ryan’s chest tightened. Soon. Soon he was going to have to tell her how he truly felt. How he had fallen deeply in love with her. How she was the only woman he wanted in his life.
He didn’t want to throw ‘I love you’ into the mix right now. Not when Camille had so much on her plate. She wasn’t well, and she was still trying to get the final pieces of her fashion show ready.
Telling her he loved her, heaping that sort of pressure on. It wasn’t fair.
And what if she didn’t feel the same way he did?
That could make the next few weeks impossible for both of us. Not to mention awkward as…
Camille had to know he would never fall for Kaylee again, that she was the woman who held his heart. But the prospect of millions of people all buying into the fiction of him and the bachelorette finally getting together, made Ryan feel sick to his stomach.
“I’m going to call Bryce again, and tell him what has happened. See if there is anyone else, he can talk to who can find a way to rip up this contract,” said Ryan.
“Hmm. That would be good if he could make it all go away. Because if this bug thing that’s knocking me around doesn’t go away soon, I’m going to need every spare minute of your time,” said Camille.
Ryan took a hold of her hand, and raised it to his lips. “And you will have as much of my time as I can give, I promise. We can’t have you getting run down and sick. You are going to be the star of New York fashion week, and that’s non-negotiable.”
Whatever it took he was not going to let her down. The producers. His agent. Kaylee. And most of all that snake in the grass Derick Stad. None of them mattered. Only Camille.
A year ago, Camille had designed the concert wardrobe for world famous popstar Chloe Fisher’s smash hit Las Vegas residency. And recently she’d created Chloe’s gown for her wedding to Camille’s cousin Jordan. If anyone in the Royal family owed Camille a favor, it was her newly minted cousin-in-law.
Camille smiled for the first time in days as Chloe answered the phone with a cheery, “Chloe Royal speaking.”
“That is so weird hearing you say your new name. I’m not sure if I’m ever going to get used to it.”
Chloe laughed down the line. “I just love answering the phone that way. You should have seen the looks on the faces of the executives at the record company when I told them I was changing my name. They are spending a fortune on the rebrand. Though to be honest so am I. Just buying the domain name has set me back almost six figures.” She gave a happy sigh. “But being married to Jordan makes it all worthwhile.”
If they’d had this conversation a few months ago, Camille would have rolled her eyes at Chloe’s love struck words, but now with Ryan in her own life, she got it. Got why being with someone special could make a person giddy with happiness.
“So what can I do for you babe?” asked Chloe. She was a straightshooter, always ready to ask people what they needed.
“I need a favor. A big one. My PA, Ryan…” she began.
“Don’t you mean the hot all American hunk of a man you are currently knocking boots with? I’m up with all the family tea. But yes, what about him?”
“Well, Ryan was on a dating show a few years ago.”
“Yes, I watched every episode of Bachelors on the Beach .”
Thank heavens they were on a phone call. If Chloe could see how brightly Camille’s face was burning right now, she’d laugh herself hoarse. Camille took a deep breath; and proceeded to tell Chloe just about everything that had happened over the past couple of months. She left out the spicy bits.
At the end of it, Chloe let out a low whistle. “Fark. That’s some messed up stuff. But you’ve come to the right place. In fact I’m more than a little annoyed that Bryce hadn’t already raised the subject of the contract with me.”
She didn’t want to get her cousin into trouble with his sister in law. “We’ve been keeping quiet about it while the Royal Resorts legal team combed through the contract. They said it’s impossible to break.”
“Of course it is—it’s an LA entertainment contract. Those things are so watertight, you could fit a sail to one, and take it on a cruise to the Caribbean. But there will be a way around it, I promise. Let me call my agent Nancy, and she’ll get in touch. If anyone can free your toyboy from his tv contract it’s her.”
“Thank you. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I just need…him.” She managed to squeak a tiny second. “Thank you,” then hung up the phone.
The second she did, Camille burst into floods of tears. This was ridiculous. All this angst over a contract.
That’s all this emotion could be about, couldn’t it?