Glancing to my right, I gave him a quick nod.
“Jetting off somewhere again, I see,” Janice Rothwell said, batting her fake eyelashes at me. Janice was the leading lady playing opposite me in the movie we were finishing up. The director had called some of us back to reshoot several scenes he wasn’t happy with. The movie was set to be released on Christmas Day, so he’d insisted that we spend a week in San Francisco to finish it up. Most of the film had already been shot there.
I flashed Janice a smile. “I am.”
“Where to this time?” she asked.
“I’m heading to Florida.” It was a lie, of course; I was heading to Boston. So far Bree and I had been able to stay out of the press, and as far as everyone knew, I was still very much a bachelor and enjoying my life just as it was.
Janice walked over and ran her finger down my cheek, leaned up and whispered against my ear, “I could join you, Luke.”
Taking a step back, I quickly glanced around. The paparazzi were always hanging around somewhere. Last month, they’d taken a photo of me sitting outside a café with my friend Rich’s future wife. The couple had flown in from Boston to spend a few weeks with me, and Rich had asked Mary to marry him while they were in Napa Valley. We’d gone out to eat that night, and I’d been holding her hand, looking at the ring. Someone took a photo, and before I knew it, I was engaged to a secret woman. Never mind the fact that Rich had been sitting next to her, with his arm around her shoulders.
Luckily, I had snapped my own pictures of the happy couple, and my manager had released one of them with a statement saying I was having dinner with two old friends and had been admiring Mary’s engagement ring. I had called Bree the moment I found out it was on some news outlets. She, of course, hadn’t even seen it. Another thing I loved about her. She didn’t keep up with the gossip mill.
Love. Another thing I loved about her…
I couldn’t help but smile. I was in love with Bree and had every intention of telling her tonight at dinner. It had been easy to fall in love with her. I was pretty sure I fell the first time I turned and saw her looking up at me with those big doe eyes of hers.
“Goodness,” Janice said, “what are you thinking about that’s making you smile like that? Me joining you?”
Right, I hadn’t answered her. “I’m going to Florida for business.” Turning to look at Hank, I asked, “Did you get that meeting set up for tonight?” Knowing he would know I was talking about Brighton.
He gave me a quick nod. “I did.”
“Great,” I said, clapping him on the arm and then looking at Janice. “Janice, it was a pleasure working with you, as always. I’ll see you at the premiere.”
Her smile never broke. She was indeed a very good actress, and me giving her the brush-off didn’t appear to faze her in the least.
“A pleasure, Luke. Enjoy your…business trip.”
“I will,” I said as I leaned down and kissed her softly on the cheek. “Tell Phil I said hi.”
That caused her smile to falter for the briefest moment. Phil being her husband and all.
By the time I got to the airplane, I was about ready to bounce out of my own skin. I couldn’t wait to see Bree. It had only been three weeks since I’d last seen her, but I usually tried to make it back to Boston every weekend if I could. My mother would kill me if she knew how often I had been home and hadn’t told her. Every so often, Bree and I would join my parents and sometimes my sister for dinner, but most of the time we were holed up in her place or mine the entire time. My favorite thing to do was order food and sit on Bree’s sofa and watch movies. She had a strong love for Gene Kelly, so we always played at least one of his movies while we were together.
I stared out the window of the private plane before I turned to Hank. “What time are we landing?”
He rolled his eyes, most likely because I’d asked him the same question at least five times already. “Six forty-two.”
I nodded. “And you told Brighton dinner was at eight, right?”
Now he sighed. “Yes. I told her eight, and you texted her about it earlier. She’ll be there, Luke.”
I pulled out my phone, looked at the last text from Bree, and smiled. I had never met a woman like Brighton Rogers before. She had no problem saying what was on her mind, and didn’t take shit from anyone. I hated that we couldn’t have a normal relationship, but it didn’t appear to bother her. At least not yet.