Page 2 of See You There
No more.
“What if Chandler goes with you?” Victor asked, bringing her back to the conversation. “The two of you are going to have to get back together for the run up to the movie’s release. Might be a good idea to be seen in public together. Makes it more believable.”
Dahlia’s lip curled. She was all too familiar with the public relations machine necessary to launch a film. As far as the public was aware, she and Chandler, her love interest in the movie, had been involved in a passionate on-again, off-again relationship for the last year.
In reality, Chandler made her teeth ache. He was handsome, and when they first met, he had been friendly. She had even foolishly hoped he might be an ally of sorts. However, once he realized she wouldn’t have sex with him as a perk of their fake relationship, he seemed to make it his mission to make her uncomfortable.
He found a way to touch her when she couldn’t get away without making a scene, crowding her space, brushing her ass every chance he got… If he had thought he could seduce her with his bullshit alpha moves, he was mistaken.
There was still a part of her, deep down, that she generally tried to hide, that still fought against expectations. Though no one who knew her as the starlet, Lia Everton, would ever believe it.
Loneliness sent a pang through her chest. No one even saw Dahlia anymore. She simply wasn’t there. Only Lia.
Victor’s head swung as someone pounded on the trailer door. “We need Lia back on set,” a production assistant called through the thin aluminum.
“Please, Doll.” Victor’s eyes were almost pleading, which was new. “It’s just one night. Crawford can pull a lot of strings. His mom owns some massive media company.”
Dahlia inhaled through her nose and then exhaled slowly, blocking out everything around her, including Victor. She just needed to finish this movie, get away from Chandler, and find a new agent/manager the second her contract expired.
She could do this.
“Fine. One night.”
CHAPTER ONE
Atlanta
July
“If you’d toldme you had snacks, I would have made the jump to private practice a lot earlier,” James Bloom said, pawing through the basket of goodies in the kitchen of his brother Luke’s law offices.
“And here I assumed it was the fact you could bill an hourly rate instead of working eighteen-hour days for government pay,” Luke joked, as he opened a water bottle from the refrigerator.
James arched an identical dark eyebrow at his twin. “It certainly was an excellent incentive.”
“I’m glad you’re here,” Luke said. “My case load has gotten crazy, and there’s only so much my junior attorneys can do. I need your trial experience. Besides, now I can concentrate on my golf game and only take the attractive clients.”
James narrowed his eyes. “That’s not funny. You don’t want to get a reputation as—”
It took everything in Luke not to roll his eyes. “You have got to lighten up. It was a joke.”
A muscle ticked in James’s jaw. “What we do is serious. If you aren’t going to take it seriously, then maybe it was a mistake to come work with you.”
The words ‘work for me’ were on the tip of Luke’s tongue, but he didn’t want to goad his brother. One of the reasons he was so happy his brother had come to Atlanta was he hoped, by working in the same office, they could regain the closeness of their childhood. They might be identical twins, but they were polar opposite personalities. Luke sighed and tried again.
“I’m sorry. I won’t be flippant. I am really glad you are here.”
“Why are you being nice to me? It’s weird.”
“Why are you so suspicious?” Luke asked with what he hoped was a disarming smile, but his brother only snorted.
“Thirty-three years plus nine months in the womb with you?”
Luke lifted his hands and laughed. “We’re in the honeymoon period, I guess.”
It was true. In the month James had been back in Atlanta, they were getting along better than they had in a very long time. But it was still tenuous.
Growing up, they had been competitive, but their different personalities had pigeonholed them with their friends and family. James was the serious, responsible one, whereas Luke… was not. The differences between them were highlighted when they both enrolled at the University of Georgia.
