Page 3 of Country Road Romance

Way to go Charlie Garrett,he thought.We haven’t even met yet and already you’re turning me into a morning person.

It had been quite a while since he’d been out this way, and it was like revisiting old friends. Despite what he’d said to Rebecca, in the years since he’d moved to Huntington he’d really taken the town to his heart, and he basically felt like a native son. He liked to think that the city felt the same way about him, though there were times when he had his doubts. People like Councilman Rhodes had made their animosity toward queer people abundantly clear but, so far at least, the allies were standing firm.

Off to the right Jared saw Camden Park, complete with its clown sign. He’d always thought that it looked a bit demented–like something out of a horror movie–but he was always smart enough not to say that where anyone from the town could actually hear him. He’d never managed to make it to this little amusement park, despite the fact that his friends had ribbed him mercilessly about missing out on such a quintessential piece of city life.

One of these days,he thought.

He kept on driving, through the small towns of Ceredo and Kenova, and then at last he turned onto the road that wound up to the airport, rolling down the windows to let the clear, crisp autumn air inside. Already the leaves were showing their autumn hues, luxuriating in the first rays of the sun, and Jared felt that pinch in his chest that always came with fall. It was his favorite season, and he couldn’t imagine being anywhere other than West Virginia.

No one does fall like the Mountain State,he thought, and he was glad that they were having the film festival at this time of the year, when his beloved state was at its finest.

At last the airport came into view, and Jared sighed. There was no mistaking the hulking private jet that took up one of the airport’s few runways. He grimaced, thinking of how much this whole situation was going to disrupt air traffic. It wasn’t as if the Huntington Airport wasthatbusy, but still, couldn’t Mr. Hollywood have taken a commercial flight?

I just hope that having Charlie Garrett as a headliner is enough to get people to come to the festival,Jared thought grouchily.

Jared pulled into the parking lot, got out, and began walking toward the airport entrance. He wasn’t sure just what he was supposed to do or where he was supposed to go, one more disadvantage of being awake before everyone else, including Rebecca, who might at least have given him some guidance as to what he was supposed to be doing. Then again, he probably should have asked for said information rather than being so committed to being a smartass.

That wasn’t very smart of me,he thought.

Fortunately, a smartly-dressed woman who must have been Charlie’s publicist came out of the airport and stalked toward him, stiletto heels clicking on the asphalt.

“You,” she said, pointing at him. “I recognize you from the photo that Rebecca sent. You’ve been sent to take Charlie to his hotel, right?”

The woman’s tone rubbed him the wrong way, but he wasn’t going to start a fight right off the bat. So, instead, he just plastered on that plastic smile that he always used whenever he confronted people he didn’t like and who clearly thought they were better than he was.

“Why yes, I am,” he said, adding just a bit of a twang to his voice. It was all part of the act–since he was from the northern part of the state he usually sounded more like he was from Pittsburgh than West Virginia–but she ate it up.

“Where’s the limo parked?” she asked, and Jared almost laughed at her.

“No limo I’m afraid, ma’am,” he said, jerking his thumb at his truck. “All we had was the truck.”

She frowned, but she clearly knew that this wasn’t going to be an argument she was going to win. Besides, the sooner they got Charlie Garrett away from the airport–and any particularly intrepid reporters–the better. From what Jared had been able to learn about him, he was prone to saying things that got him into trouble and caused his communications and public relations team no small amount of headaches. While Jared would have been just as happy to let him spout off, he didn’t want an off-color comment to torpedo the goodwill they’d managed to get for the festival.

“I suppose that’ll have to do,” she said. “Just try to keep him out of trouble, okay?”

He gave her one of his best fake smiles. “Of course, ma’am. It would be my pleasure.”

If she sensed that he was being disingenuous she didn’t show it. Instead she just turned back and gestured toward the airport entrance. A moment later Charlie Garrett came bounding out–annoyingly chipper for it being so early in the day–and Jared got his first sight of the man who was going to be his charge for the next hour or so.

He’s like a golden retriever in human form,Jared thought.

Charlie’s California blonde hair was swept back from a face that looked like it belonged on an Abercrombie & Fitch model, and his tight-fitting T-shirt and jeans left little to the imagination. Broad shoulders rippled with muscle and, as he jogged over his shirt rode up a little, baring his midriff. Jared spent a fair amount of time in the gym, and even he couldn’t help feeling a bit jealous.

I guess I would be able to have a body like that too if I had all the money in the world,he thought grumpily, even as he also felt more than a little stirring of desire. He’d seen quite a few pictures of Charlie Garrett, but none of them had really conveyed the man’s raw, almost incandescent, sex appeal.

Charlie stepped forward and gave him a wide smile that was so familiar from his various movie appearances. Jared fought down the urge to roll his eyes, but even he had to admit that there was something almost magical about it.

Maybe Rebecca was right,he thought.Maybe I do have a little crush on him.

“Hi!” he said, sticking out his hand, “I’m Charlie Garrett. And you must be Jared Russell. It’s so nice to meet you in person!”

Even though it was clear that Charlie had gone to a great deal of effort to sand away the edges of his southern West Virginia accent, Jared still heard it, and it almost made him like him a little more.

“Yes, I’m Jared,” he said, a little stiffly, offering his own hand to shake. When their skin touched, he felt a little flutter in his chest.

Don’t be an idiot,he reprimanded himself.This is Charlie Garrett. He gets paid to be charming. None of this is natural.

At the same time as he thought this, however, Jared also couldn't help but acknowledge that there was something effortless about the way that Charlie moved through the world, as if this was just the way that he was, nothing more and nothing less.

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