Page 7 of Her Movie Star's Secret Plan

“No.”

“I guess I didn’t say anything about it last night.”

“You didn’t.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. But that only distracted Alexis because it made his arm look nice. Too nice. She really needed to stop crushing on him before she made a fool of herself.

“Sorry about that. I just assumed you knew.”

The entire town probably knew, including Tessa. How had she been so oblivious? Was she too busy thinking about his abs to notice that he was the newest business owner in town and now her hottest competition? Hottest in more ways than one. She gritted her teeth. She really had to stop fangirling. She was going to be so busy drooling over him that it would be the end of her. He was stealing all her customers right from under her very nose. And he was doing it with the most gorgeous smile she’d ever seen.

“So you’re in town to make sure your restaurant opens successfully?”

“That’s right.” Great. Just what she needed. How was she supposed to compete with a celebrity restaurant with a pastry chef that good? He probably flew the guy in from LA or someplace in Europe. And he was probably paid a bazillion dollars an hour.

And in the meantime, Alexis was watching all her dreams slipping down the drain. She had to do something to step up her game, to stand out. She couldn’t allow everything she’d worked so hard to achieve to be taken from her.

She expected Owen to take his food and go, but instead, he settled at one of the tables. He pointed to the single rose she had in a small vase on the table. “Are these the roses you were picking up from Layla’s flower shop yesterday?”

“Yep.”

“That’s a great idea. It’s nice to have fresh flowers out on the table.”

“I’ll probably have to cut back on them soon.”

“Why is that?”

“The roses are too much of a luxury now.”

“How’s that?”

“Business is tight.”

“I see,” Owen said.

“Not like you would understand any of the financial struggles I face daily. You have your millions from your film career to finance your restaurant.” All she had was a business loan she’d been able to get. And if Owen kept taking her biggest customers, she wouldn’t be able to pay it back.

“I’m sorry?”

“Are you thinking of stealing my fresh flowers idea too? I should be the one stealing ideas from your restaurant. You probably go to all the finest restaurants in LA, nicer restaurants than I could ever imagine. How can I ever compete with you?”

“I didn’t realize it was a competition.”

“I just have to accept that I can’t compete with you.” So she had to stand out with what she had to offer. And that was a personal, small-town feel. She was homey and friendly. She just had to hope that her customers would remember that and decide that they valued it enough to stay with her instead of switching to Hadley’s.

“I’m sorry if I’ve caused a problem for you. That was never my intention,” Owen said.

“But you have anyway.”

“Is there something you’d like me to do about it?”

Alexis thought about that for a moment, but she couldn’t come up with a single thing he could do. So she asked him a question instead. “What’s it like to open a restaurant you’ve been working on remotely all this time?”

“It’s been easier than I thought it would be.”

“Of course. Everything seems to come easy for you.”

“It hasn’t always been like that.” Owen kept his voice low, and a dark look crossed his features for a moment. He reconfigured his expression into a pleasant, easygoing one. “But yes, I’ve been lucky over the past several years. Thanks to Chase.”

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