Page 1 of Kiss Me, Darling

Prologue

His ability to render people stupid with his good looks

Lucy

Iswallowed hard. For reasons I could never understand, being in the same room with Scott Kaine made my heart beat faster. But standing inches away from him? My body and my brain went into the kind of full system meltdown that was, quite frankly, embarrassing.

As his agent I understood strangers having this reaction to him. Scott was famous. He had smoldering eyes that could convey a dozen different emotions without a single word. His double dimple smile was panty-melting. Seeing him in person rendered men and women alike speechless.

But I saw him all the time. We spoke on the phone almost daily. I shouldn’t have these silly feelings anymore. And certainly not formy client.

And yet I couldn’t stop it. Trust me, I tried. I employed every method I could find on the internet. I even went to a hypnotist. Nothing worked. So here I was, standing beside him at a cocktail party for the launch of Travis Brantley and Kristen Holt’s new album, trying to keep from swooning like an idiot.

“You feeling well?” He quirked an eyebrow at me.

I waved him off. “The noise is getting to me.”

His eyes moved over my face with concern. “Want to take a walk outside with me?”

Oh dear God, no!

“No!” I almost shouted.

Fuck. Smooth, Lucy.Real smooth.

“I mean, that’s not necessary. You should mingle anyway. It looks like you’re babysitting me.”

His beautiful eyes flashed and then darted down my body. At least I think they did. It was always hard to tell if he was flirting with me (because in my head I wanted him to want to flirt with me) or if I was making it all up because of my inability to think coherently around him. I always told myself he was just nice and it was nothing more.

“I would rather talk to you than anyone else in this room,” he said, his voice a little lower and growly.

Panties. Melted.

Nearly a year of yearning for my off-limits client was taking a toll on me. When he was in town we always met. Totally normal agent-client relations. But that somehow seemed to bleed into extra lunches, him needing me to go along to certain meetings.

“I’m nervous I’ll say the wrong thing and start another scandal.”Years ago, when Scott first burst onto the Hollywood scene, he got caught up in party drama with Brighton Sanchez, amongst many others. The kind that followed him around for years between the rumors and the pictures that liked to surface at the wrong times. I could understand wanting to never go through that again.

But all the lunches and meetings meant spending time talking and driving and being in the same room.

When he was out of town it got easier. He was busy working. Sometimes his hours were completely different from mine. But then he’d need something, or I would have to go over something with him. The phone calls would start, then the text messages.

I liked many of my clients and was friendly with a few, but not like this.

Never like this.

“Yes. Well—” I didn’t get a chance to fumble through some sort of response because at that moment Lorelei Soprano walked up to his other side.

“Hey Scott. How ya doing?”

Lorelei was a secondary character in their latest movie. She was beautiful and her star was quickly rising. Scott complained to me that she flirted with him all the time, but this was the first time I got to see it in person.

He went stiff as soon as she appeared and I swear he leaned closer to me. “Hello Lorelei. Are you enjoying the party?” He purposefully kept one hand on his glass of seltzer and the other in his pants pocket.

Meanwhile Lorelei stood as close as possible without actually touching him. “I can’t wait for the band to play. How have you been? Did you make it to Italy?”

Is it bad that I hated that she knew anything about Scott? Maybe it was my silly crush or maybe it was how panicked he sounded on the phone over the weeks on set with her. One way or another, it got my protective instincts working.

I channeled it into my role as his agent. “I heard from Amos that you landed the lead in the new Michelle Howard movie. Congratulations.”

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