Harlequin Desire January 2021--Box Set 1 of 2 by Maisey Yates (inspirational books .TXT) 📗

He’d made her admit to having looked him up. How else would she have found Rosie’s photo of him returning Wasabi? Even Kat had missed it, and she received Google alerts for even the slightest mention of his name. Julian had asked her what had drawn her to writing. She told him about the journals she’d kept since childhood. He recalled how she’d pried the red leather-bound notebook from his hand. Then she asked him to tell her about the time he worked as a valet at the hotel.

“You remembered!” he said, teasing.

“Oh! Just get on with it!”

So he told her about the time that he’d spotted soap opera actor Tony Cash on the same balcony that he and Nina had stood on the night before. She recognized the name of the soap star. “He played a gambler on Set the World on Fire.”

“That’s the one.”

He had just started his shift when the actor stepped out to soak up the last rays of sun and the adulation of his fans pressing at the hotel gates. He flashed a smile, waved then turned his back on the growing crowd. Julian was then dispatched to retrieve a Land Rover and ran off with the key jangling in his pocket. Up until that point he had never considered acting. He was no artist. The summer he’d worked building sets for a local theater company in England had convinced him of that. But he was also convinced that the man on the hotel’s balcony wasn’t setting the world on fire with his acting abilities. If the bar was set that low, couldn’t he step over it?

“How did you get your start?” she asked.

“It wasn’t easy.”

It took leaving Florida for California, sleeping in his car for weeks, forgoing expensive acting classes and attending cheap matinees instead, getting laughed out of auditions then slowly, eventually, receiving callbacks and an offer to play the recurring role of a paramedic on Riverside Rescue. It was something. It was a start.

“Ah, Malcolm!” She twisted onto her side, facing him. “I loved him.”

Pride sparked in Julian. “And he loved the ladies.”

She laughed. “He sure did!”

And they talked like that well into the night.

Out of habit, he fumbled around for his phone to check the time, weather and news. The phone rang in his hand, rousing Nina from sleep. Julian fought the urge to reach over the pillow partition and soothe her. The last time he’d touched her without warning, she’d leaped out of her skin. She was a bit jumpy. He silenced the ringer but couldn’t ignore the call. It was Amelia Chin, longtime family friend and his former landlady for all of one week. He’d promised to take her to the orchid market in Homestead. Was that today? Crap! That was today!

“Hey! Amelia! Good morning.” Nina squirmed next to him and disappeared under the bedspread. Amelia suggested he pick her up before ten to avoid traffic and heat and all the rest. “Sounds reasonable. What time is it now?” Nina slipped out of bed and tiptoed across the room to the bathroom. Did she think he was talking to another woman? He was, of course. But Amelia was old enough to be his grandmother. And it was precisely because she reminded him of his grandmother that he was taking her out flower shopping. “Eight thirty? I better get a move on, then. See you soon.”

Julian kicked back the sheets and rushed to knock on the closed door between them. She opened almost immediately, her toothbrush in her mouth, something hard in her eyes.

“What? No good morning?” he said, teasing. “I saved your life last night.”

She pulled the toothbrush out of her mouth. Again, he had to fight the urge to wipe at the smudge of blue toothpaste on her lower lip. “You were on the phone. And how long are you going to keep that up?”

“Until it gets old, and it hasn’t yet,” he said. “Want to go orchid shopping today?”

She stared at him, confusion marking her sleep-creased face. But she didn’t say no.

* * *

Julian sent for his car and driver for the trip to Homestead. When it arrived, he waited in the back seat of the Escalade for Nina to come down. Pete, the driver, sat drumming the steering wheel, humming a tune, as the wait dragged on. Julian was just so relieved that she’d said yes that he didn’t mind. No question, this outing would be more fun with Nina. They never seemed to run out of things to talk about or, more accurately, to tease and taunt each other about. And the long trip to Homestead promised to be tedious. He loved Amelia, but shopping for orchids wasn’t his idea of a good time.

Finally, the gates parted and Nina stepped out in a pair of denim shorts and a cotton halter top, sunglasses on top of her head. Both he and Pete reached for their door handles. “Not so fast,” Julian said, stopping him. “This is my job.” He sprang out of the black SUV and held the door open for Nina.

“Sorry I kept you waiting. I don’t do well with last-minute invitations,” she said. “I’m not that spontaneous.”

He helped her climb in, taking a moment to admire the curve of her bottom. She might not want to sleep with him. He could make no such assertion.

“I gave up on you,” Julian said, sliding in next to her. “Pete here kept me going.”

“Hi, Pete,” she said, tugging the seat belt across her torso. “I’m Nina.”

“Good morning,” he said, and pushed the start engine button. Julian had previously given him the itinerary. They’d make one stop in the neighborhood of El Portal before heading south to Homestead.

Nina arranged her tote bag on her lap then eyed him with suspicion. “Orchids, huh?”

“Okay, you got me,” Julian said. “We’re location scouting.”

She brightened at this. “For a film?”

He nodded. “I need a clear field to land a helicopter. In the scene, I jump out and