Page 12 of Her Movie Star's Secret Plan

“Yeah, she bribed us with brownies and chocolate chip cookies,” Chase said.

“She got us to do a lot of stuff because brownies were involved.”

“I can’t hang around her too much, or I put on weight,” Chase admitted. “She’s always convincing me to try her newest creation.”

“Does she come up with a lot of new recipes? I remember that a lot too.”

“She’s constantly doing that. And it’s weird stuff, like lavender-peach cake or rosemary cupcakes. You think it’s going to be gross, but somehow she makes it amazing.”

“She could start her own cooking show. Weird recipes that are actually good,” Owen said.

“I’m not sure she’d appreciate that description, but she might go for the cooking show idea. Think you could pull some Hollywood strings for her?”

Owen laughed. “I don’t think I have those kinds of strings to pull. But if she’s looking for stunt work, I could probably hook her up there.”

“I can’t imagine Alexis doing stunt work,” Chase said.

“You never know. Some girls are full of surprises,” Owen said.

Their server came out with their food.

“This looks good,” Chase said, digging in. “I’m starving.”

Owen grabbed a piece of bacon and took a bite.

“I saw you talking to Alexis and Tessa at the restaurant at the grand opening.”

“Yeah, I stopped by and said hi.”

“Do you have a thing for my sister?”

“We’re just friends.”

Chase gave him a disbelieving look. “You sure about that?”

Owen laughed. “As far as I know.” Was he that obvious? He’d have to be more careful about checking out Alexis in front of her brother. What was he going to do, anyway? Alexis lived on the other side of the country. It wasn’t like he was planning to pursue anything with her. Plus, she was his best friend’s little sister. Dating her would be weird.

“Don’t get any big ideas about her. She’s off-limits.”

“Dude, chill out. I’m not going after your sister.”

“You’d better not.”

“Do you grill all the guys she talks to?” Owen asked.

“I don’t know of any. She doesn’t really date.”

“Why not?” He wanted to add that she was gorgeous enough to be swarmed by all the single men in Maple Creek, but he didn’t dare say something like that to Chase. He was already cranky enough about Owen checking her out.

“She’s too focused on her career to date.”

“And she has you scaring off all the guys.”

“Not really. Just you. Until recently, I was away too much to scare anyone off.”

“But now you have a house in town, and you can chase all the guys away.”

“You’re the only guy I’ve seen hanging around her.”

---