Chapter One #3
“Go. Start with the gold gown. I have to take a call,” Rose calls out to me. “I’ll be right back.”
Take your time, I think. I can use a break from being constantly on for the bubbly French woman.
I have just stripped out of my last pair of designer-label jeans and sigh as I reach for the gorgeous gown. Knowing my bra won’t work, I pull it off, unzip the back, and step into the beaded, delicate dress.
Since I can’t reach the zipper and need Rose’s help, I place one hand on my hip, holding the material in place with the other hand, and pivot toward the mirror for a first look.
My cleavage spills out from the low V in front, but not in an inappropriate way.
In a take-notice kind of way, for sure, but even I have to admit, I look good, I think, excited to show the stylist.
The fitting room is stuffy, so I head out to wait for Rose in the bigger, airy sitting area.
I am still falling out of the unzipped dress, but since it is just Rose and her assistant, my nearly exposed boobs don’t overly concern me.
I’ll be tucked in soon enough, and Rose will probably come running with Spanx to hold everything else in place.
I step into the main sitting area and stop short, shocked to find a man standing there, leaning against the wall.
Jet-black tousled hair, piercing blue eyes, strong jaw, and full lips I once experienced gliding over my body, bringing me to a fevered state of arousal, and kissing me like I’ve never been kissed before.
In our short time together, Ben Hollander ruined me for all other men.
I never expected to see him again. Not since our affair while I was on Star Power, and his subsequent firing for fraternizing with the talent. He ignored my calls and disappeared from my life, never to be heard from again.
Until now. He stands in my dressing room, eyeing me with cool detachment, but as his gaze rakes over my body and lands on my nearly exposed breasts, it darkens with a heat I recognize. Because I’ve seen his eyes hooded with desire before.
My nipples harden, but I have no jacket to grab in order to cover myself, so I fold my arms across my chest and meet his steady stare.
I finally find my voice. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m your new bodyguard. And if how easily I got in here is anything to go by, you desperately need one.”
He’d worked security when she’d known him last. Now he was her bodyguard?
“Seriously? You’re worried about how easily you got in here? I thought the PR people were just being cautious.”
He narrows his gaze. “I don’t take anything about my job lightly. Not anymore,” he says pointedly.
Direct hit, and I wince at the overt reminder of our awkward past.
I never did know for sure how the producers found out about my relationship with Ben, but if I had to guess, Tawny Renee tattled.
From the minute the other girl and I met early on during filming of the show, Tawny buddied up to me, and I thought she was a friend.
Until the night Tawny turned on me, the end result being a girl fight video that went viral—me trying to get away, Tawny going after me for some imagined slight.
Only later I discovered that Tawny staged the whole thing in an effort to build ratings.
Just as she hoped, America tuned in. And voted.
She increased the rivalry that I would have preferred revolved around our voices, not our personalities.
Unfortunately, prior to that incident, I trusted her.
Enough to fill her in on my time with Ben—because stupidly, I thought Tawny was a friend, just as I thought I meant something to Ben, because he sure meant something to me.
But, as I realized later on, the same girl who staged a cat fight would have no qualms about turning me in for violating the rules about sleeping with people working on set. No doubt she hoped they’d let me go due to the infraction, leaving Tawny as the front-runner on the show.
At the time, I tried to get Ben’s job back, begged the producers, explaining our affair was mutual.
I even was willing to sacrifice myself, but they opted to make an example of Ben, firing him instead.
They claimed I was too popular—a front-runner even before Tawny’s staged event—to eliminate from the show.
I tried to call him and apologize. I texted my desire to talk and explain in person. He ignored my every attempt. From the tense set of his jaw, I doubt he cares to hear my explanation even now.
He studies me intently, clearly letting me process the shock of seeing him and accepting his new position in my life.
I analyze and come to one conclusion. “I really don’t think you being my bodyguard is a good idea. You know, in light of our history.”
“If I can handle it, I’m sure you can. Time has passed. We’re both adults. It’s business.” His cold voice tells me exactly where I stand.
“Fine.”
If he doesn’t mind being around me and protecting me, then I’ll make the best of the situation and pretend his icy exterior doesn’t hurt my feelings at all.