A New York Love Story (19 page)

N
EW LOVE ON THE HORIZON FOR THE
P
RINCE OF
H
OLLYWOOD
?

No confirmation yet, but the pictures taken last night by one of our contributors speak for themselves.

The actor Cade Harrison, the subject this fall of a lot of gossip and speculation because of the hot, troubled ending of his relationship with the actress Alice Brown, is back in the news. Having disappeared from the scene for the last month, the handsome soldier of
No Man's Land
was caught last night with a mysterious red-haired woman, in one of New York's Greenwich Village restaurants. The couple had been seen in what appears to be an intimate situation, not taking their eyes off each other as they left the pizzeria together and got into a dark SUV.

Who is the woman who has won the attention of the most desired man of the moment? And how long has their relationship been going on? Cade Harrison seems to have recovered quickly from his break up with Alice Brown. Love at first sight for the redhead? Or just a romantic interlude in the magical holiday atmosphere of the Big Apple? We will keep you posted!

Cade left the bedroom, ignoring the other emails. While going down to the kitchen, he automatically dialled Scott's number. He wasn't sure yet how to deal with the whole situation.

“Jesus! Finally!” Scott answered at the first ring. “Where the hell have you been?”

“Damn it! It's ten in the morning! Don't I have the right to sleep?” Cade burst out. “I just want you to shut those bastards up! I don't care how you do it. Just do it! I don't want any problems…”

“Unfortunately, homicide is not an option, so give me some other ideas on how to handle this.”

“Make a statement in my name, but do not confirm
anything
. Fuck… at times I wonder, why do I have to go through all this shit?” He gave a loud sigh.

Cade had finally gained Clover's trust, and now his fame was threatening to ruin everything. He recalled how many times Clover had re-iterated that she didn't want anything to do with his world. But he was deeply immersed in that world, and he had absolutely no control over the gossip or the tabloids! Yet Clover had the right to choose and she should be protected from this mess. He really wanted to have more time to understand the nature of their relationship before facing the press. Something had begun between them, but it was too early to risk whatever it was because of some nosy publicity hound with a camera!

He had to stay calm; to stall as long as possible to repair any damage and to better understand what he and Clover had together. But he also needed to give the journalists a statement immediately to avoid them inventing a story about the mysterious red-haired woman.

“The fact is that we were with other friends at the restaurant! We were a group of five people… this is the point which you should insist on… and she's my personal shopper. I'm here to spend my Christmas holidays with my family and she helped me with gifts for them. I don't see anything wrong with that!”

“Yes, although usually dinner is not included with the shopping service…” Scott mumbled.

“Keep your comments to yourself! I want you to throw cold water on this story right away! I want this article to appear as a piece of trash, written by someone who didn't have anything more interesting to write about in his junk magazine! I did some shopping in New York and I was invited to a dinner party at a restaurant. That's all. I want to enjoy a vacation, as every young man of my age does – especially after that mess with Alice. Listen Scott, I definitely don't want them to upset this girl. They have to lose any and all interest in her. Immediately. Get it?”

“Well, to be honest, you two looked pretty intimate…”

“The quality of those shots is horrible… and I have pictures taken with my sisters, Heather and Cecile, that look more compromising than these… come on!”

“Okay, I will pass this information to the press office and let them deal with it. I will call you back to keep you posted.”

Cade hung up. Then he listened to his voicemail messages. Some were from his mother and his sisters; they were curious to know about the news. He will have to give some explanation to them too. Fuck! It seemed that nothing in his life could remain unobserved and private…

Suddenly, he remembered that Clover was sleeping upstairs in his bed and wondered how he should tackle the issue with her. Maybe she would never even know about this article – she didn't read tabloids – if Scott could put an end to all this gossip right now. The idea of having to worry about his every step and every word, really bothered him. All this made him feel so sad, yet there was still some time before Clover had to go to work. He wanted to enjoy every minute of it. He decided to wait a while before telling her about the article.

When he returned upstairs, he found her awake, sitting on the bed. She wore his shirt which was way too big for her… she was still sleepy and so beautiful.

“Hey,” he came over to her. “I thought you were still sleeping.”

“I opened my eyes, and you had disappeared…”

“I went downstairs to get a glass of water.” Cade sat next to her and hugged her. “Did you sleep well?”

“Well… but not enough.” She buried her face in his neck.

“Why don't you call Liberty and ask her for a day off?” He caressed her back. “I promise to let you sleep for a few hours…”

“A
few
hours?” She looked at him with her eyes full of irony and expectation.

He felt a wave of desire and slipped his hands under her shirt, stroking her naked, hot skin. “Let's say a
few
minutes…”

Clover embraced him tightly. “This afternoon I have some important appointments, but I can stay until two o' clock. Why don't we go back to bed?”

“Don't you want some breakfast?”

“Food! With all that I ate last night? No thanks… I will be on a diet for at least a whole week!”

They went back under the blanket, the sheets were still warm. Embracing, they turned the TV on… Cade wouldn't have ever imagined that spending a morning in bed watching
Home Alone
could be so pleasant! But with her in his arms, everything was different: fun, exciting, sweet… Everything about Clover enchanted him. He felt at home with her.

Around one o'clock, after a quick lunch, Clover looked out of the window. “It's becoming really cloudy. If it starts raining, my afternoon will be very stressful…”

“I imagine it won't be fun going out shopping around the city in a storm.” Cade was lying comfortably on the sofa.

“No, in fact… especially if your client is a mom who doesn't have a sitter for her little children, and has to bring them along to the appointment…” Clover sighed.

“Don't go! Stay with me.”

“I would love it…” Clover seemed undecided and came over to him.

Seeing her sitting on the sofa's arm, Cade thought maybe he had convinced her. He put his arm round her shoulders, trying to pull her closer. “Did you change your mind and will you stay with me?”

She leaned over him, whispering, “It sounds very promising, but… actually, I was just looking for this!” smiling, she showed him the remote control in her hand.

Cade sighed with disappointment. “I'm here, completely at your disposal, and you want to watch TV!”

Clover laughed, “I just want to check the weather report!”

While she was searching for the channel, Cade pulled her over to sit on the couch next to him. “If they say it is going to pour with rain all afternoon, will you stay at home?” He kissed her neck.

“No, but I could cancel a couple of the later appointments.”

“Okay, I will try to be content with that.” Cade bent over to kiss her, when he heard his name mentioned on CBS news. He felt paralyzed. He should have known: news spreads quickly.

The journalist was briefly reporting the scoop about Harrison's new love interest. Cade, worried about Clover's reaction, focused more on her face than on the screen. He saw her eyes widening, while the images of the photos were shown. At first she looked incredulous. Then she became serious, as she concentrated on the news, but her expression was inscrutable.

After the news, there was the weather forecast, but neither of them paid much attention to it.

“I'm sorry,” he mumbled, examining her face for reaction.

“It's ok… I'm not too bad in those pictures,” she surprised him with a cheerful smile.

“Don't you care about appearing in a trashy tabloid? Doesn't it bother you that everybody will speculate about us?!” Cade asked, deeply confused by her reaction. “Are you aware that they will come looking for you! Right now, they will be trying to discover who you are…”

“What can I do about it? I can't go around wearing a ski mask for the rest of my life!” Clover stood up, “Don't worry about it. The reservations at the pizzeria weren't in our names, and the car is not yours. It would take a while before they discover my identity and the place where you live now…”

It will take much less time than you believe
…
Cade thought, discouraged. The media worked better than the FBI, when celebrities were involved!

Clover gave him a light kiss on his lips. “I'm going home to change and then I'll run to the store. Will I see you tonight?”

“Sure…” Cade watched her as she put on her jacket and left the room – not the least bit upset, but with a calm, peaceful expression and bright eyes. He wondered why he had thought that the situation would shake her confidence… he had imagined her creating a scene, a big drama, protesting against the invasion of her privacy. On the contrary, she seemed almost… prepared for the possibility of this event.

Once again he felt a pang of uneasiness. He didn't want to believe the remote possibility that Clover
had hoped
that something like this could happen. No, it wasn't possible! Yet, some doubts kept gnawing at him… he couldn't honestly deny that Clover's attitude towards his celebrity life had changed dramatically since their first few encounters. What had caused her change of heart?

“Here she is, our star!” Zoe exclaimed, as soon as Clover stepped into the store.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, but she had an amused smile on her face.

“Look at you! You have the classic expression of someone who spent the entire night rolling around naked in bed with the sexiest man alive!” Zoe shook her head, pretending to hold a grudge. “Now I'm the one who envies you!”

“Stop! It's not what you think…” Clover tried to protest, but soon she burst into laughter, saying, “Actually, it's exactly what happened!” She collapsed on a chair and covered her face with her hands… she was blushing just at the memory of her night with Cade. “I'm still floating in a river of ecstasy… I can't believe it's true!”

“It's not an everyday thing to be the chosen one of a Hollywood star!” Zoe sat next to Clover at her desk. “So – how was it? Is he good in bed? Is
everything
as beautiful as it looks?”

At that moment Eric came in the room. “Let me guess, Zoe! Are you asking for details about Cade Harrison's sexual attributes?”

“Clover is the best source for this… this kind of information is not available in tabloids.” Zoe focused again on Clover, who was smiling mysteriously.

“I would never tell you any details like that!”

“You're cruel and ungrateful!” Zoe shrugged, “however, looking at your insanely happy expression, I already have my answer…”

Clover didn't reply – her dreamy smile still on her face.

“And what about the rest? Is everything fantastic?”

“Much more than fantastic… It's like a dream. Seriously, almost too good to be true.”

“Try not to bring bad luck to yourself!”

“You know, I don't believe in those kinds of things,” she looked at her friend with shining eyes. “Zoe, I don't know if this
thing
will last, or even how we could carry it off, especially now that the media have found out that Cade is in New York. But I know that nothing like this has happened to me in my entire life! I feel dangerously close to desperately falling in love with him – so, help me god!”

“Have you talked about what's happening between you two?”

“No… everything has happened too fast. I'm not sure what Cade is thinking. I know he is attracted to me,” she thought of the last hours with him, she recalled his passion and blushed again. “
Very
attracted to me. Beyond that, I don't know anything else…”

“For sure it's not only about sex. I've spoken with him on the phone, when he contacted me to organize the surprise party at the pizzeria. It was clear to me that his desire to surprise you was genuine. He had noticed how sad the dinner with your mother and brother was, and he wanted to do something to cheer you up. He has been very sweet.”

“Yes, this is what I adore about him.” Clover stood up and started to walk around the room with a dreamy expression. “He's so sensitive and generous. He listens to me and cares about what I want. He makes my heart race, like nobody else does…”

“I'm sure that everything will go well, in spite of those obnoxious journalists.” Zoe encouraged her.

Clover huffed, bothered just by the thought of the episode. “Cade has immediately become very nervous about that article. The journalists that invade his privacy really drive him crazy – especially after all the mess he went through with his ex…”

“And you? How do you feel about being at the center of all this latest gossip?”

“I hate it! And I'm also terrified… It bothers me a lot, but I've restrained myself with Cade. I pretended to be almost indifferent when we watched the news together. I don't want Cade to worry about me, but I hope the media will take a while before they find out who I am…”