Chapter 36
Ingrid pushes the doorbell at Alec’s Malibu beach house.
She almost didn’t come. She has no idea who Alec is.
Just because some strange man can make her feel sexy for a minute and numb the pain of Kyle’s betrayal, doesn’t mean it’s smart.
But then she saw the Deadline article that popped up, Hailey Jane Madison in Talks to Star in Summer Rain, and it made her throw back a scotch.
She called up Charlie angrily. “Did you leak it?” He’d agreed to let her handle Camila gently, to minimize the blowback to both of them. Mostly to her.
Charlie swore up and down it wasn’t him. “Must have been Hailey’s team. But I don’t think it’s a bad thing. Now that it’s all in the open, you can have a conversation with Camila.”
She’s going to love that.
“Cheer up. You know who called after the article came out? Harper Evanston. Apparently she and Hailey are close.”
When Charlie mentioned the name of one of Ingrid’s favorite female directors, one she’s been trying to get a meeting on the books with for weeks, she warned him to stop playing.
“I’m not. She wants to direct! Can you imagine Summer Rain directed by Harper Evanston, starring Hailey Jane Madison?”
She could imagine it. She closed her eyes and pictured the think pieces. The critical acclaim. The Oscar noms. It was a vision so dizzying, it sent her on a complete adrenaline rush. Which is how she ended up on the steps of Alec’s beach house.
She can hear people mingling on the rooftop above. The ocean breeze blows between her legs. She wore a strapless black jumpsuit for the occasion. Sexy but still professional. Could she pass as one of those hot young Realtors on Selling Sunset? She can, she decides.
Alec opens the door, looking even more attractive in a half-buttoned white linen shirt and light blue shorts. He’s holding a dirty martini. “You came!” he says, grinning.
Ingrid smiles. “Just for a bit. I can’t stay for long…”
He takes her hand and pulls her inside, planting a kiss on her check. “Yes, you can,” he whispers into her ear.
—
One martini turns into three, turns into sea moss–infused shots, turns into Alec leading her up to his bedroom to show her some art after the party.
By now it’s half past one, and everyone’s pretty much gone home.
Ingrid knows she should leave, too, but she pictures Kyle in his hotel room in Amsterdam, and who knows wherever else, and she lingers a little longer.
Alec comes up behind her and starts kissing her neck. He slips a finger under her jumpsuit.
She should leave now. But his touch feels so good.
She finds herself closing her eyes as he kisses her neck and shoulders and starts unzipping her jumpsuit.
She turns around to face him as it drops to the ground.
He takes in her fully naked body. She half expects him to say he’s changed his mind, but to her surprise, he comments on how beautiful her body is.
“I want you,” he says against her lips. As he takes her to his bed, all she can focus on is how good it feels to be desired. To be enough.